Meet my followers : Julie

On Sundays, I like to introduce you to someone who has been a follower of my blog and show you their work.  I hope you enjoy meeting them. Today I want to introduce you to Julie Blanchette.  She has been a follower of my blog for quite a while now.  She told me that she first came across my work on Craftgawker. If you aren't familiar with craftgawker, you should take a look. It definitely is a good way to be seen by a lot of people.

Geeky maths gnomes by Julie - notice the maths symbols on each gnome

Anyhow, Julie asked to interview me in February 2010 for an article on Handmadespark - The Five Sparks interview.  We chatted back and forth via email, she did a lovely interview, and that was how I came to find her work!

Felted Bunnies by Julie

Julie is a French Canadian from Montreal and now lives in Sydney, Australia.  In between caring for  her three children, she makes animals and figures by needle felting. Needle felting is a process where you repeatedly stick a barbed needle in and out of wool roving so that it mats to make felt.  You then sculpt figures by adding more wool to certain places.  It's quite sore on the fingers when you accidentally miss the wool and stab yourself with a barbed needle!

Julie sells a tutorial in her Etsy store on how to needle felt, teaching you to make a little pocket gnome! I can just see her kids carrying these around in their pockets at school!

It's lovely to hear Julie describe her life in Australia with beauty all around.  She lives on the coast and does her needle felting sat on an old church pew in a room in her home, looking out over the water.

Mother and Child by Julie

I hope you've enjoyed meeting Julie and seeing her work. Hope all is well with you Julie.  Come back and see who I interview next week...it may be you!

Monday's Millinery Musings:

By guest blogger Jennifer

This summer I received an email from a Sonoma photographer, Megan Clouse,  who found me on Etsy. You never know who is following your Etsy shop! Perfect example: Ruth and the New York Times.

Megan asked if she could  photograph my studio for her blog. Now, I must admit, my workroom is an absolute unrelenting shambles every day of the week all year long. Dangerous, teetering piles of what-not threaten anyone who has the courage to enter. So a few things spoke to me about this request: I would be forced to clean up the space, and, it was interesting to imagine how someone else would view the studio, and what would be attention grabbing enough to photograph. So I agreed to it . Reluctantly.

All the photographs included in this post were taken by Megan.

I spent the entire day before Megan's visit digging out the room and moving half of its contents into Dave's office. He was very lovely about that and agreed to remain lovely as long as I moved it all back after the photo shoot. 

It was hard to decide what hat Vivian should wear and in the end Megan decided on the gold metallic rose fascinator.

Vivian

I may not have mentioned Vivian to you before. That is a terrible oversight on my part as she is crucial to my operation. Vivian is the Queen of my Etsy shop. She  models every hat and allows me to photograph her at any time day or night. She is always enthusiastic, never tires, and her hair and makeup are flawless. She is chronically beautiful. Vivian is handmade from a vintage mould of a 1940's department store mannequin. She was made by Deco Eyes, a small family-run business. Did you ever see that wonderful movie, Lars and the Real Girl? It's a bit like that with Vivian and me, although our relationship is strictly professional.

Doesn't this bookshelf look neat? Too bad we don't have before pictures.

Thanks to half  the contents of the room being in Dave's office, it was finally possible to move furniture! When Megan came the space seemed so roomy, inviting, and dare it be said, tidy. This has been a great boon since I had been avoiding the studio for a month. It was too far gone even for me. But it has become a place to dream and work in again. I have so many ideas that need a place to be nurtured and grow into what they are meant to be. The French author Colette has written, "Orderliness cures everything".

All the hats are sewn on my mother-in-law's vintage Singer Featherweight sewing machine.

And so, it is time for me to get back to work. Did I mention that this is my last post? Ruth has been so kind to let me try out my little water wings in the vast cyber sea of blogging, and I haven't drown. Thank you to those who have taken the time to read my posts. Thank you, Ruth, for giving me the chance to blog. It has been so much fun.

Monday's Millinery Musings - Goofball Photography

By guest blogger Jennifer
Jennifer's Etsy Store

Look what Ruth has given me to play with! Cool, huh? Don't you want one?

Oh what is it?

This is a light box that is going to make my life easier. With some coaxing it will pretend to lie flat only to spring back in my face menacingly. Other than that it is a nice pet. I can drape an antique linen sheet inside and take "studio" style photos of my hats and accessories. As you can see, now that it's summer I have moved my operation outdoors to a temporary work space under the arbor. In the winter I'll set this up in the dining room and shine opposing light sources into the box. It will look like a dog box with aluminum earmuffs.

I'm having a big laugh about my abilities as a photographer. You would too if you could see some of the goofy get-ups, props and make-shift lighting I've been forced to in the name of learning to take photos for my Etsy shop. Etsy is an on-line artist's marketplace and every item listed in the shop requires FIVE, not one, photos. This can be a challenge for the photographically impaired.

In an odd way I feel somewhat successful in this pursuit. So far, I can use my dinky, pocket-sized digital Konica Minolta (formerly used for hiking trips) on the automatic setting. If there is one technique, it's that I crawl all over the subject and shoot it from as many angles as possible: here and there, near and far, this way and that.

With the help of my geriatric Mac and woefully outdated iPhoto software I can operate 2 magical buttons to great advantage: CROP and ENHANCE.

When a decent photo accidentally appears I am crazy with happiness.

It seems to me that we all have so many gifts within us.  Often just a good play day can give a strong glimpse into what we are capable of doing on our own.  For me, it has happened around photography. I surprise myself at times and that is a beautiful thing.

At the end of the day, we always know so much more than we think we do. 

It's June 21, and the first day of summer. Have you surprised yourself lately?

Merry go round - Networking

It''s time for another ride on the merry-go-round! Jump on and join a group of 9 artists/crafts-women as they link around the world and tell you a little about their lives in art and craft.

This month's questions that we will answer are:

What do you do to network?

In what ways does it work or not work?

A dictionary definition of "Networking" defines it as "a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest."  I like the "supportive" part of that definition.  And also the "sharing" part too. In all my networking, I try to pay attention to the fact that it is not just a one way ticket and an opportunity for me to get my work out there, but that it is also important that I listen and see what others are doing and creating and offer them support.

Here are some of the internet based ways I network and what works for me:

• Blogging 

I really enjoy blogging and think it's a great way to connect with people - both potential buyers, other artists and also, family and friends ( who are, of course, potential buyers and  great for word of mouth marketing).  I publish my blog here on Blogger, and then it is set up to also automatically publish on:

• my own website  www.birdlandcreations.com
• Facebook - both my personal page and my business page
• Twitter

This means that one action gets to hit 4 different avenues which I really like!

In addition to my own blog, I also read and comment on lots of other blogs too.  I have quite a few blogs set up to come to my Google Reader and generally read them every day or every other day.  I love Google Reader as it brings all your favorite blogs to one place so you can read them all together rather than keep searching lots of different sites.

• Etsy

While I have my storefront on Etsy, I'm not one who likes to hang out in the forums and chat. For some people, I know that is a great networking opportunity, but it's not my thing.  However I am part of the Etsy Metal Clay Team and that is a lovely way to stay in touch with other artists using the same media as myself.  It's a friendly team and both inspiring and supportive.  I've met a few members face to face and look forward to meeting more in the future.  We have our own team website and blog and so promote each other and metal clay.

Having a store on Etsy seems to be a great way for other stores to find your work too and I've had quite a few wholesale requests come from Etsy.  While I don't really do much wholesale work, as my pieces tend to me one of a kind, I am working on what could possibly be a great wholesale project at the moment for a company that I really like...so fingers crossed for that - and they found me on Etsy.

• Dawanda

As well as a storefront, Dawanda seems to offer me quite a few interview opportunities and features in other people's blog. This Monday, in fact, I am going to be interviewed for the Dawanda blog, so hopefully that will generate some interest.  Last week one of my products was on their newsletter which got me three sales that day, a blog feature and an interview request. 

 

And of course this "merry go round" originated from other sellers I "met" on Dawanda and the merriers are definitely a supportive networking system!  I do love Dawanda!

  Cartoon by Oliver Widder

• Facebook

I initially joined Facebook as just somewhere to publish my blog...but now I enjoy it as a place to catch up with friends, previous customers, family etc.  While I'm not one of these facebook addicts, I enjoy seeing what everyone is up to and it's a great, easy way to keep up to date with everyone.

• Twitter

I've never really got into Twitter. I don't do anything there except let my blog automatically publish there.  Maybe one day I'll get it....but then maybe not!

• Flickr

Flickr is probably my most recent networking avenue.  For ages I couldn't really see the point of it, but then I gave it a try and have been featured on a few other blogs from people seeing my work there, and it's a great place to see lots of beautiful things.  I guess I'm quite an inconsistent Flickr user but that suits me.

• Online galleries

There are few of these around where you can submit a photo for consideration for their gallery.  Craftgawker is one that I really like and  has brought me several customers.  You need to submit a photo of your work from your website or blog as it has to have some content associated with it - not just a photo.

A couple of blog style galleries are Try Handmade, Etsytacular, and Must Have Cute.  Must Have Cute sent me an amazing number of viewers after featuring my Nate and Kate octopuses.  They found my work - I didn't submit it - but I got hundreds of visitors from them.  They do have a submission process too but I'm not sure how often they use what is submitted as opposed to what they find.

I've found and purchased some wonderful things from these galleries too so they are definitely worth looking at.

What are your most successful networking efforts?  Any you'd like to share or suggest?

Take a look at how other friends on the merry go round network by visiting their blogs via the following links.  Remember that we live on different time zones so some may post later than others.

Alison at Tweed Delights - http://idreamoftweed.blogspot.com
Mitsy at ArtMind - http://artmind-etcetera.blogspot.com
Kim at Vilt a la Kim - http://viltalakim.blogspot.com
Sara at Crafts of Texture - http://sarastexturecrafts.blogspot.com
Fabienne at Easterya Jewellery Creations - http://easterya.blogspot.com
Mariana at Florcita - http://www.florcita.eu/
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent - http://lebarduvent.blogspot.com
Lily at Lily Pang Art and Design - http://lilypangart.blogspot.com

Perched Treasury

I finally made a main treasury on Etsy! I've never quite got the waiting around part of it that is involved.  There are only 333 available and you have to wait for a split second when one expires to grab another....but I've finally done it.

I entitled it "perched" and show it below. Hope you like it

1. Dolan Gieman 2. Twisted River Clay 3. JMaz 4. Soul Harbor Jewelry

5. Birdland Creations 6. R Roberts Photography 7. Department 63 8. Rochelles Little Ones

9. Digger Bren 10. Milica Bubanja 11. Tracey Capone Photography 12. The binary box

13. Artisan Lyn 14. Hilaria Galleries 15.  The Candy Shoppe 16.  Beauty is Art Studio

Monday's Millinery Musings - A Fine Straw Hat

By guest blogger Jennifer

Jennifer's Etsy Store

I generally make spring and summer hats from parisisal straw which I shape by hand and on the rare occasion starch and shape on a wooden hat block. I much prefer the organic, free-style approach to hat-making - a pleat here, a tuck there, a prodigious amount of steam, and sometimes wire to hold a particular shape, instead of formal blocking. In either case, however, parisisal is key to my operation.

Parisisal hood

The word parisisal is made up of two words that describe the straw: pari, the name of a particular weave structure, and sisal, the type of fiber used.  This straw is very fine, indeed. Beautiful, supple, durable, and is found in a wide spectrum of factory dyed colors. Parisisal comes to the milliner as either a hood (used to make small brimmed hats) or capeline (used for large brimmed hats) both generally referred to as "hat bodies". They are not hats. They hold the potential to become hats.

Parissal hoods in colors

Parisisal hat bodies are mostly made in China. The stunning fact about them is that they are made entirely by hand. It takes a skilled weaver about 25 hours to make one hood. This does not include the additional 4 hours to prepare the straw prior to weaving. Work begins at the "button" or center and many thousands of strands of sisal are used to weave the hood. The finished edge is  tightly woven to prevent raveling. At this point the hood is sent to the factory for finishing.

I appreciate deeply that I can begin my own work with what is already a wonderous work of art! I often think about the ladies, the homeworkers, who spend their days manufacturing these amazing hoods that require so much skill and focus.

A parisisal hood is ironed to make a hat

There is only one straw hood factory in the world now, and it is in China.  The culture there is changing rapidly and weavers are leaving their profession to take better paying jobs doing other things.

A parisisal hood is wired to make a hat

Parisisal hoods are becoming very exclusive.

A parisisal capeline is starched and shaped on a vintage  wooden block to make a hat

 

One day, like many things in millinery, parisisal hoods will disappear and that will be a sad day. But as happens with hatmaking, milliners are spurred on by lack and search for new materials that will shape their imaginations - new vehicles for their inspiration, wit and skill. Life is never dull for a milliner, there are always new frontiers to explore and new hats to make.

Etsy Treasury East

Etsy have created a new treasury "outlet" called Etsy East which means you can make as many treasuries as you like without the waiting.

Currently there are three that people have kindly shown some of my pieces in.   The treasuries are larger than before so sorry I can't take a screenshot of the whole thing!  If you click on the link, you'll see the full 16 items.

The first one was created by FavreBijoux and entitled Metalsmiths and Fine Jewelry on Etsy and features my necklace "anyone can dance"

The second was created by Stephanieburciaga and entitle Metal:Wood and features Rupert the Bird

The third features members of the Etsy Metal Clay team and was created by Lorena Angulo  and is entitled Metal Clay  + Craftsmanship = Etsy Metal Clay Team and features my birdtracks bracelet.

It's always lovely when people feature your work.  Many thanks for that.

In celebration of all these lovely treasuries, I made one myself too, featuring the Etsy Metal Clay team. It's entitled "Bloomin' lovely" and shows lots of floral works.

Please walk on the grass

Just finished a new necklace this week..."Please walk on the grass" - thinking of spring and Easter and mother's day and......

It's a family of little birds, taking a stroll in the grass.

Just listed it on Etsy and it's featured in a lovely treasury made by Cyn.  I've shown you some of her treasuries before - she always brings such interesting pieces together.  Thanks Cyn.

Guess the day....

I'm not around today.....can you guess why if I give you a couple of clues?:

So what have you learnt about me then from the clues?????? Did you get them all?

Etsy Metal Clay Team donates to Haiti

The Etsy Metal Clay team made a charm bracelet after doing charm swap, and I listed it this week on the Hearts for Haiti Etsy store. The bracelet is a hand made silver bracelet with 25 silver, copper and bronze charms, each made by a different member of the team (if you look carefully, you'll see Quentin there!).

All the money from sales goes to Doctorswithoutborders.org, to help those in Haiti.


The bracelet sold within a day! We raised $350 for Doctors without borders!


It was a great team effort and I'm sure the owner will enjoy having the work of 25 different artists around her wrist!

Great work also by those who are running the Hearts for Haiti store. They are giving so much time to list donated art and craft to raise money. Well done Victoria, Nora and others.

All I want for Christmas

The lovely Lori got another treasury entitled "All I want for Christmas - a few luxuries" that features my "be as a bird" bracelet.

All the other pieces are made by the Etsy Metal Clay Team too. Click on the photo to see larger pictures.

The poem by Victor Hugo that is depicted on my bracelet is:

Be as a bird,
who when pausing in flight,
alights on a bough too slight
yet continues to sing
knowing she hath wings.

Lap of Luxury!

My necklace "Nesting Place" is featured in The Storque this week. It is featured in their category 'Lap of Luxury'!


As Emily from Etsy, who wrote the the feature says "We all deserve a treat now and then, so what better way to surprise and delight than with luxury gifts on Etsy? For today's Etsy Finds, I've put together a mouth-watering collection of some of our best splurges and most tempting treasures."

Thanks Emily. Always great to see that big boost in viewer numbers on Google Analytics (which is how I found out my piece was featured)!

Mint tint hint Etsy treasury

The lovely Cyn has included my rose window earrings in her latest Etsy Treasury - Mint Tint Hint. She always puts together such pretty collections. Here it is:

Commissions - III

Someone on Etsy just asked me to make a couple of pieces for them, similar to ones that I have done before.

The first was some birdhouse earrings. I just finished them today. They turned out larger than the last pair I made. Wish I'd made myself a pair at the same time!


Two different styles of birdhouses - one is a rectangular house with sloping roof and the second one is a round house with shingle roof. Wonder which one the birds would prefer? Each has a little perch by the door to ease your way in.... I've often wondered how birds can fly straight into birdhouses and not just hit their head on the back of the house.....No headaches for my birds - they get to land first, and then go inside :=D


As I was making them, I first made them too large - so I'm also doing necklaces with the large version! Show those soon.

Hope you like the earrings...... Which one would you go in first?

Etsy video contest

Etsy is holding a video contest at the moment encouraging people to make a 15 sec or 30 second video which gets the message across about what Etsy is. Two people in my Etsy Metal Clay group have made videos.

The first one is by Teresa from TZTUDIO - look carefully and you will see one of my pieces - let me know which it is!!





And the second is by Jen Kahn from JENKAHNJEWELRY



To see all the submissions and to comment and vote, click here

Well done - and good luck to you both.

Featured in 2 Etsy Treasuries today

Thanks to Milanca Bubanja for featuring my little bird cage necklace "You can fly" in her treasury "Hot! Hot!...Cold"


What great colors! Milica is also a metal clay artist, from Slovenia.

It's been hot, hot, hot here lately with temps in the 100 degrees -but I think today will be a little cooler. Not very conducive to switching on a kiln to fire some pieces!

Thanks also to Nicola from Murano Silver for featuring my "hanging out" necklace in her "Clayology" treasury. Nic is a metal clay artist from England and part of the Etsy Metal Clay Team.


If you click on either photo above, it will take you to the treasury when you can click on any item that catches your interest and find out more about them - and leave a comment if you feel so inclined.

Business Matters - Marketplaces - Review

In my business matters posts over the last couple of months, I've given you my point of view and experience with a variety of artisan marketplaces where you can sell your creations. Each one is different, they have their own rules and their own styles. If you want to look at back at my posts, here are the links:
Boundless Gallery
Smashing Darling
Dawanda
Nest
Etsy
Not on the High Street
Zibbet
ArtFire

I hope what you have garnered from my discussion is that you get different things from different places. And while you may think the only place you want to be is where you get good sales, I encourage you to not let that restrict you. These marketplaces offer many things as well as sales - such as exposure, networking, friends, inspiration, connections, ideas for marketing, publicity, support,......

So if you are just using them for selling, I think you are missing out! Try somewhere new and see what you get and also what you can give to others. It's rewarding - and some of our most precious rewards aren't financial.

Here's some links to other sites I haven't mentioned that may be worth considering and there are plenty of others too:

1. http://www.ecrater.com/
2. http://www.bigcartel.com/
3. http://www.rubylane.com/
4. http://www.silkfair.com/
5. http://www.yessy.com/
6. http://www.supermarkethq.com/
7. http://www.elsewares.com/
8. http://www.indiepublic.com/
9. http://www.shophandmade.com/
10. http://www.1000markets.com/
11. http://www.trunkt.com/
12. http://www.winkelf.com/
13. http://www.folksy.com/
14. http://www.artsefest.com/
15. http://www.madeitmyself.com/
16. http://www.lollishops.com/
17. http://www.icraft.ca/
18. http://www.lov.li/
19. http://www.handmadecatalog.com/
20. http://www.coriandr.com/
21. http://www.youcraft.org/
22. http://www.youcraftylot.com/
23. http://www.fuzzb.com/
24. http://www.pinkdoodle.com
25. http://www.americanhandmadecrafts.com
26. http://crafthaus.ning.com
27. http://www.artfulhome.com
28. http://www.wholesalecrafts.com
29. http://www.craftmall.com

If you sell somewhere else and have a good experience - do please let us know in the comments section.

I'll be starting a new theme of "business matters" next Wednesday. Look forward to seeing you then.

Business Matters - Marketplaces - Etsy

So, in writing a weekly post about different artisan marketplaces, you just have to include Etsy in there sooner or later! Etsy is the largest and has the highest traffic ranking of all artisan marketplaces.

Etsy has lots to offer - with good support, there are loads of groups you can join, an-overly active forum (which gets a bit too heated for me), virtual trunk shows, alchemy, community interactions,....gosh, it just has so much.


And while that top ranking is great in getting numbers of potential buyers, you can also easily get lost in Etsy and no one will ever find you.

It's quite daunting in a way. You list one of your items and in a few seconds, its buried in the millions of other items and only 6 people ever viewed it! Personally, it seems that only a few months ago did it get so overwhelming. When you listed something new then, it would always get a good number of views - but now, you blink and it's gone.

And if you haven't joined yet as a seller already - it is tricky to begin with. You do need to be found from the depths. When I first started, I did do two showcases. These are where your pieces are highlighted for the day and you pay a certain amount for that. While I didn't get any sales from either of them, I did get a lot of views and a lot of hearts. Hearts are the system that Etsy uses that people can tag your item to show that they like it - or they can tag a seller to add them to their favorites. I believe it is my wonderful team of taggers who are the ones that, some time down the road, become the buyers. To check out who hearts you - click on this link. Here's a view of my Etsy store:


Apart from showcases, other people favor posting often on the forum to promote their store but the forum messages change so quickly, unless you have a lot of time to do that, it seems the occasional comment just isn't going to have an impact. Others create a lot of treasuries which is where you make a collection of other people's items and these then get published and viewed. I'm afraid I'm just not quite the treasury maker. I wish I was...... but there are so many people wanting to get one that you have to sit and wait for one to become available. I don't have the patience for that.

What I do find that works for me is listing new items regularly. Nothing does better than this I think. Something fresh for people to see with good photos. Then also link to your Etsy store from outside of Etsy.

To be a seller on Etsy, it costs 20c to list an item for four months and then Etsy takes a 3.5% commission on what you sell. Most transactions come through paypal although there are other options.

There are lots of how-to guides, lots of ideas, and I think you just need to find your niche. Some people love it, some people hate it and some people are indifferent - but you can't get away from it's size!

I actually like it a lot. I get a reasonable number of sales, meet some lovely buyers and enjoy being part of the Etsy Metal clay group. If you are one of those people out there who isn't selling on Etsy - I hope you have taken a look at least!

For the rest of us, buried in the vast number of sellers and buyers - keep your head up and keep listing!

Business Matters - Marketplaces - Art Fire

This week's artisan marketplace for review is Art Fire. Art Fire is a new marketplace and has taken off with great popularity.

There are two sellers accounts you can try - basic and verified. Basic is free - free to list and free to sell. No commission - nothing. No monthly fee. Just a place to sell your items and keep the money for yourself! Surely that is worth a try? And it can be free forever! Maximum 10 items for sale at any one time. Includes google analytics and many other features. It may be called "basic" but it actually does alot.


The second account is a verified account. Here there is a monthly fee of $12 (it was $7 and has just gone up - and will soon go up to $20 - it is their incentive price to get artists to join). Apart from the monthly fee, there is nothing else to pay - no listing charges, no commission - just your monthly. Take a look at what you spend on Etsy a month and see how it compares. For your monthly fee you can list as many items as you want.

They have lots of little extras - for example, if you look at my sidebar on the blog - just scroll down a little way - you can see that they have a Rapidcart that you can add to your blog or facebook. You choose which items you want in it - or let them be random from your store and then people can buy directly from your blog without haven't to go into ArtFire or any other store.


ArtFire automatically submits your items to google base, and has "share this" buttons so you can bookmark a store on your own computer, email it to someone else, or bookmark on Digg, Delicious, Stumble Upon, Twitter and many more.

Another feature is "markethub". This is a place on your store where you can link through to all your other stores and social networks. You can even link through to your Etsy Store. I've linked to Etsy, my own website, my blog, Facebook, Twitter.....etc etc. It's a great hub so someone can see the other places you sell and frequent! Below you can see the buttons to the links (sorry, not active in this snapshot)...


I haven't actually spent much time on Art Fire yet but have started a store there........and I think, like all these marketplaces, you need to put in the time to get noticed initially - so that is on my to do list!! It is very similar to Etsy but with a few added features and not as large (yet!).

If you look at the traffic rankings of marketplaces, ( RANKINGS ) ArtFire is pretty high up considering it only started a few months ago. It's definitely one to watch I think.

Business Matters - Part 3c - No man is an island

Over the last couple of weeks I've written in the "business matters" posts about support from others - either face to face, or through the internet.

I know I feel amazingly supported by so many people and it's that support that keeps me going when I have doubts and difficult times. But today I want to turn that around and remind us that there are plenty of people out there who need our support. So what do we do to give support?

One of the key things I am trying to instigate on Dawanda is to set up a mentoring group of people who have been selling there quite a while, so that they can help people setting up a new shop. We can share our experiences and talk about what we find works and help them if there are problems. Whilst Dawanda hasn't quite got on board with this - they are supportive of it, but just don't quite know how to set it up I think - myself and some others have been offering mentoring to other shop owners.

I know I have spent quite a bit of time working with a several sellers, reviewing their store, their profile, their photography....And whilst I'm no expert - I do know Dawanda and how my sales improve and just lots of little tips and hints. Of course the sellers are free to do as they please with my comments - they are just my suggestions that they can choose to accept or ignore, but I've had some good responses to my reviews. And someone else just contacted me today for help....so it continues...

I also seem to have quite a people approach me about using metal clay and how can they get into it and what kiln do I suggest and...........There are lots of questions when you are looking into starting something new - and I'm more than happy to let people know what I do and what works for me but also what others tend to do if different. It's nice to be able to spread the word about a fun product that I love to use and I'm sure others would enjoy too.

Locally I'm also trying to help a friend set up her first venture into selling on line by setting up an Etsy store. We are looking at what she wants to say and then I'll help her put her banner and avatar and things like that up on her store......

So these are just a couple of ways that I try to give back and support others in their art and craft. What about you? Do share some things you do and it may encourage us try something different.