Fringe

Well, the great twitter experiment to get fans to pick the wunderkammer there failed miserably. There were a couple of people that gave it a go, but perhaps my timing was poor. I'm taking another tact and giving it another go. Head to the wunderkammer to see the details for the newest version of the great Wunderkammer experiment. If it works, it will be an ongoing feature, if not...we'll try to forget that I tried this at all.

I finished up the arm band yesterday and used facebook to debut the pictures. I did end up putting fringe along the whole piece. I took a photo of it as a necklace first and I wasn't certain it would make a good arm band, but after biting the bullet and changing out of my warm clothes for a photo shoot, I decided that it does indeed work as a convertible piece. It might be listed as early as today. I'm still wavering on the price. It's not a particularly complex pattern, but the extra steps, like the fringe and the ribbon make it more time consuming than it might appear.

You can see the other photos on my fan page on facebook or you can wait until I list the piece and they will all of course be there. I've got to get back to the task of remaking now that I've gotten a few new things made. I think I'll use my new gray to make another arm band with black ribbons after this one has been listed a while. I like to see if it has any chance of selling before I start making more and I imagine this one might need to find a niche audience since it's not exactly every day wear.

One more quick thing. I was excited this morning to discover that my brand new facebook fan page, less than a week old has already acquired over 100 fans including one celebrity...no really, there is one, go look. Also, the etsy store is just a few hearts from getting 5000. Of course those go back and forth so much that it might take another week or so before that occurs...it's still pretty cool.

Deep Purple

Have I got a surprise for you. Yep, I have a picture...oh, wait...I have two pictures. I know, I know, you can hardly contain your excitement. The first here is my slave bracelet pattern made with my brand spanking new hand dyed thread I've been speaking of. Now, I'm not normally a fan of variegation in thread. I'm a solid colors sort of gal, so the offer of hand dyed thread made me a little leery over those "natural" color variations. That being said, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the subtle color variation with this thread. It seems to give the piece and depth rather than the rainbow color effect that I am not so fond of.

I was going to start a brand new design with the new thread as well, but as I also mentioned, it's way more costly than the off the rack thread. I decided rather than fair an experiment with it, that I would bust out the good old black thread to work out a new design. This one was prompted by a comment by Kersti...the tatting queen. She said arm band on twitter when I asked what I should make. I thought it would be easy after a sample of arm sizes also from my twitter friends, but the design proved elusive. I wanted a little, you know luxe, fancy, indulgent, but I couldn't settle on an elaborate thick design or a thin band. Of course there's also the question of how to close the piece so that's it's easy to wear.

What I finally did was settle on a pattern. After combing through vintage books for inspiration, I found a frankly horrible looking edging with potential. How anyone wants to tat with stretched out, uneven images like this beckoning them is really beyond me. I took the basic design and tweaked it a bit for a much more stable and less stretchy structure and yes I am adding the fringe. I think I am going to fringe every other motif rather than all of them, but I'm still in the planning stages here. I also noted that many of the fiber based arm bands currently for sale are marketed as convertible pieces, meaning that you can wear them multiple ways, as necklaces or bracelets for example. This led me to an idea for a ribbon closure idea that may have the ribbon running the length of the design. Again, planning stages, so it could go either way.

The Contest

I just noticed that there have been a striking lack of photos here lately and well it because I've nothing new to show you. All the mask making was the same old, same old. Of course you will have noted that this non pictureness is not changing today, but I shall try to make something with one of my new thread colors today, so I have something to share on tomorrow. Though I believe a blog need not be crammed with pictures to be interesting.

As is my way, every time I enter a new space, I blather on about it until the shiny wears off. So today, it's back to the facebook. Look, it's not amazing, or groundbreaking, but I do like this whole fan page business. It allows me to be unapologetically self involved. People are there to see what I'm tatting, selling, etc. so I don't have to feel guilt that this is the only thing that I'm talking about in that space. I mentioned a contest yesterday and it has been started. It's really a win win for me. Basically, one becomes a fan, acquires some of my tatting, not necessarily in that order, takes a picture wearing it, uploads it to the fan photos and I randomly pull a winner after the first of the year. See, I get a gallery full of customer images that I've always wanted and the "fans" get a chance to win free stuff. Well, that's the plan anyway.

I am also being put into a state of constant shock at the speed with which my "fan" base is growing there despite my lack of efforts to that end. I suppose I just waited so long to jump over there that everyone who liked me was already there. I always assume that I will reach a saturation point at some time. You know the point at which anyone who would like my work has already seen it and there are no more eyes to reach, and though the hearts on my etsy shop have slowed in recent months, they continue to grow as well. In fact, I'm less than 20 away from 5000 of the suckers. There are towns around here with fewer residents. Anyway, shocked, I am...happy of course, but shocked. I'm sure that I will be a ball of annoying ego as soon as that 5000 rolls around, so you best prepare for it...or maybe just avoid the blog post entitled 5000. That should keep you safe anyway.

So, enter the contest if you have some of my tatting and you've succumbed to facebook. I want to see all your pretty faces and wrists and necks and whatnot. I can't promise you'll win anything, but it could be fun right?

Well, I'll Be

Well slap me on the rear and call me Nancy. No, I have no idea what I just said...I was merely trying to express my shock at the immediate response to my brand spanking new and frankly unfinished facebook fan page. Only two days after its inception, TotusMel Tats has over 60 fans. I'm not going to discuss the weirdness of the term "fans" here, but I am excited that people actually want to keep up with my tatting and the store. In the next couple of days I will announce the inaugural contest for that space. So if you're at all interested and have already succumbed to the 'one of us' call, go ahead and fan the page, of course only if you really want to. I'm also working on a way to somehow integrate my other spaces there so there, but I think it's going to take a lot of time and poking around, so don't hold your breath.

Mask season is over I think. Today would be the last day to buy a mask and receive it in time for Halloween, so I don't think I'll be selling anymore for now. The shipping upgrade will disappear this evening before I slumber and I'll relist those that have sold as custom pieces, since they no longer 'need' to be ready to ship. There are also a few more pieces that I've yet to relist or remake that will soon make an appearance again and the push for holiday shoppers shall begin. If you've been around a while, you've probably already gathered that marketing is not my strong suite. I try to announce things of course, but I rarely make a concerted effort...so that thing I just said about a push for customers was of course all hot air. Just thought I should clarify.

So along with some of the other contest like ideas I've been kicking around, I've been thinking about getting other people more involved in the Wunderkammer. I have thought of having guest posters, but with the speed that some things sell, I don't know who'd be up for a one day deadline. The newest idea is to use twitter to get other people to pick the theme and then populate it with their own picks. I might give it a go in the next week or so and see if it's a viable option. If it works without too much hassle, it could even become a regular occurrence. I find that people love having a sense of ownership to a place, even if it is small. Though, again, it all depends on whether this idea makes more or less work for me...because I sure don't need to make it any harder.

That's it for today, though I keep thinking that I wanted to mention something else. I got in my new threads, the gray and purple. Though that's not what I wanted to tell you. They will get used as soon as I catch up with ankle corsets and all that other stuff I already mentioned. The colors will get added to the custom color list that anyone may choose from right away. I was going to increase the cost of pieces made with the hand dyed, since it cost me much more, but I think I'll eat the cost for now. Still, that wasn't what I wanted to share and I can't think what that is, so I'll off anyway.

About Face

I did it...I know I tried not to. I avoided it like the plague. I even reveled in my avoidance, but I suppose now that it was inevitable. I have joined...facebook. I know, go ahead and mock if you wish. I clicked through to the damned site on more than one occasion, only to back away quietly then promptly run. Finally I reached the point where my curiosity outweighed my better sense. i bit the bullet and joined.

It took forever and a lot of poking around for me to even get my confirmation sent to my damn phone. I've decided that the site is needlessly complicated. There are links littered around like toys in a toddlers room. I was so annoyed that I almost gave up and shut the whole thing down, but I persevered and set up a fan page for the etsy store. You can find the link for that over in the left column here. There's not much there I'm afraid as I've no clue what I've doing, but it's there, you can be my fan should you wish and I'll try to get it together soon. If you've any advice on this front, feel free to spew it forth...I've no illusions of competence here.

Some more etsy store news for you though. It's not too late to buy a mask for Halloween. All the ones listed are ready to ship and I've added priority shipping at no extra cost so they can arrive on time...you know, should you actually want one. I'm still working overtime to get a few pieces remade. I wanted to get some stock ready for the winter gift giving holidays, but I don't know how I'll do at that either. I work fairly good under pressure, so perhaps I'll just wait until I'm under fire. If any of you were looking for holiday gifts, particularly custom ones, order early so I can get on it...I beg of you.

Alright, I think that's it for now. So to recap, facebook sellout, masks ready to ship, get holiday gifts ordered early, yep that's it. Hopefully tomorrow will be less promoty.