Moving, virtually this time!

So I'm sure many of you who follow this sporadic blog have seen that ArtFire is shutting down their basic accounts.  I'm one of them.  I'm not pleased with their reasoning, and since I was on their basic account to see if sales might be better there, and to see if I wanted to sign up with a Premium account for $10+ a month, this offers me no incentive whatsoever to get one.  While I understand that they want to make money, they need to understand that in order to ask for money, their service needs to be worth it.

It's one of the same reasons my Etsy shop has dwindled.  They are not about letting the sellers sell (at least not their few prized features, who we see on the front page day after day, week after week, month after month - 90% of us NEVER see the front page, no matter how many sales we've made, how professional our photographs are, or how awesome our work is), they have turned into a social network which is more focused on networking friends than they are about bringing "strangers" in to buy the lovely things in our shops.

So I have moved... My ArtFire studio will disappear when the basic account shutdown occurs. My Etsy shop will empty eventually, since I no longer have the online-fee budget to keep renewing items.  (However, there are notices everywhere that if someone wants me to list an item there, I will list it for them so they can purchase it - even a small purchase will replenish my Etsy fee budget at this time.)

I am trying out Zibbet, which made a very prominent and bold announcement through email to all of their members (including me, who had been a member for perhaps a few hours when I got the email) about how they felt about what ArtFire was doing, and invited in all of the sellers being thrown out of ArtFire to join them, as they would NOT be removing their basic accounts, with the understanding that someone's not going to pay for something they do not feel is working for them.  I just made my shop there public - check it out!  Not all of my things are there yet, but more will come as more time goes by.

I also looked into Silkfair - which I DO NOT recommend, as they require a credit card to sign up at all (not a debit card or gift card, a CREDIT card such as Discover, AmEx, cards that are not linked to bank accounts), and they do not accept PayPal - meaning purchasers would have to put in their credit card information directly to the site - which I am not a fan of. Simply put, I told them I would absolutely NOT recommend them to anyone for this policy.

I am also setting up a shop at MadeItMyself - I am still in the process of doing this, so there is nothing up there yet.  Though please keep checking my shop - now that I have Zibbet set up, I can work a bit more on this one.  This place seems to focus more on the PERSON behind the work - which I like a lot.  Their bio is the first thing you see, followed by their items at the bottom.  You get to know the person who created the lovely works of art they sell, instead of just seeing an item, buying it, and only possibly clicking to find out more about them.

I do have one more site I am looking into, which will be in my next post; I have not done enough research on it to give it a thumbs up or a thumbs down.

In the meantime, I'm continuing to work, to design, and trying to get over an ear infection I've had for more than a month... It was well over a month before I finally saw a doctor for achey ears, and found out that I've had an infection long enough that I got The Glare.  I'm taking my medicines as I'm supposed to, don't worry; at this point I'm well on the mend.  In the meantime, I've gotten some interesting ideas for new works.  (NyQuil/Antibiotic/fever haze; you know the one - "the pretty colors say you're my friend, and the little blue men say that I should wander outside naked!")

... but I'm extremely stubborn...

My first Heartsy.me deal didn't go through, even with 42 votes instead of the required 30.

So I'm trying again, and this time spreading the word as far as I can get it to go, and encouraging people to help me get featured.  This time, my deal is here, so go, vote, and hopefully you or your friends will get a chance to save 50% or more on my jewelry through Heartsy.me!



For a while, this discouraged me - knowing before they changed the "view your votes" system that more than 80% said "Definitely not".  I started to doubt my work, but then I realized, I got 42 "Yes, Definitely" votes in the 72 hours.  I know some people don't even make it to 30... so that cheered me a little.

I almost gave up on the idea... but I'm extremely stubborn... and I won't let it go that easily.  I want the word spread. I need the word spread.  I put heart, soul, time and love into each piece I make, and SOMEWHERE out there are the online buyers who want my simple, sparkling, elegant works of wearable art!

Long days....

Long days behind, long days ahead.

I know, I've been neglecting my blog again. Can't blame me much; since Dad died, it's been a mess - literally as well as figuratively.

The winter found us packing his things for storage in the barn, which was not a fun task.
The winter found us realizing there was definitely something missing at Christmas.
The winter found us working harder to stop the hurt.

... It mostly worked.

It's not so raw, at least for me, now.

One thing that did help me while away hours I might have spend moping was creating. I placed an order for Valentine's Day stuff and St. Patrick's Day stuff.
.. It came the day after Valentines Day. Oops.

No worries! I got the St. Patrick's Day stuff done early enough - which featured the debut of a new line.
That's right. Dream Weaver now does RINGS.

I'm still a bit of a beginner, but, yes, I can do rings now. The first one was posted with the other St. Patty's Day things - the Lucky Clover set - listed separately.

Here is the Lucky Clover Ring.


Here is the Lucky Clover Bracelet to go with it...


Here is the Lucky Clover Pendant...


And finally the Lucky Clover Earrings.

I also decided to be adventurous.

I created an Artfire Studio to see how I do there. So now, DreamWeaverJewelry is now on Artfire.

Only a handful of things up right now, but one of them is the Spiral Bridal Set I was working on last year. I debut my sister, Cathy, as the lovely bride model for this set - and plan to offer a complimenting bridal party set that will feature the spirals, but with fewer. The bride has to stand out, after all!

The bride's set is priced so she won't break the bank and wind up spending as much or more than she did on her dress! The bridal party's sets (Bridesmaids and Maid/Matron of Honor sets will be different) will also be priced so her attendants won't break the bank either.

I will also be offering all of these things as packages for those brides who gift their attendants with the jewelry.

I know from personal experience how hard it is to find jewelry to 1. match the dress, 2. compliment the bride's set, and 3. DO BOTH. When Cathy was married, my other sister and I searched quite a few places, and we couldn't do ANY OF IT ... unless we had things custom done... which would have cost more than the WEDDING.

So I decided to offer to do a little of both.

This may be the first one I have geared directly towards a bride, but any of my work can be worn for bridal - and this won't be the LAST bridal set I'll offer, for sure. I have other ideas!

But it DOES take time to make ideas into jewelry... As I learned quickly while hand-tooling those spirals. The first ones were not uniform, the wire crimped on me, I swore an awful lot, tried again, and after many many MANY hours, I started making spirals that were uniform, got the hang of it, and the earrings were the first, and easiest. The bracelet was a longer time in forming, since the spiral had to be uniform on both sides AND fit the crystal in the center, and by the time I made the necklace, it wasn't so hard anymore. I'm pleased, but not TOTALLY satisfied with the outcome. But then, I'm an artist. I never WILL be.

I also found, through Facebook, a site that I decided to throw my hand in, and leave things to fate. I found Heartsy.me.

On this site, deals and discounts are offered, and I've read good things about it from other Estyans, other sellers, and buyers both.

To be considered as a feature, you must get 30 votes in a 72 hour period on your link. Mine is here. Before even 12 hours had passed, I got my 30, so I'm being considered now for a featured deal. I am hoping that this will lead to a few sales; I'm waiting now to hear back. I am hoping this will bring new clicks, customers, and more sales!

In the meantime, go check them out - sign up, get deals of your own, buying OR selling. There are some BEAUTIFUL things there, and I lost a couple of hours last night clicking through things and voting.

For now, I have work to do. On my Facebook, I have promised new spring colors, and since those colors are waiting for me, I should attend to them. I did get two new colors in of the butterflies I'm so fond of, so I need to make them into the cascades, and possibly a ring or two. So I'm off to do that.

Thanks everyone for reading!