Business Matters - Part I - Single Word

I've decided to instigate some weekly posts on my blog. One of these will be "business matters" and I will discuss something relating to selling online, or marketing, or selling jewelry or.......

The topic for today is 'single words'.

For starters, we are going to look at branding. As I've been working on SEO for my website and deciding on goals for this year for my business, I've been going through different thought processes.

One of the first ones I did was to try to describe my product - my jewelry - in one word. This relates to the branding of your product. But branding is not only my perception of what I create - but also the perception that others have of my creations.

So the word I came up with is "whimsy" or "whimsical". Whimsy to me conjures up something that "makes your smile" - ie my tagline and more and more as I was looking at my business in the last couple of weeks, I realized that this is my overriding goal: I want my creations to lift people's spirits - even if just momentarily.

Now it's your turn. What one word would you choose to describe my creations? Please add it in the comments section. No filters necessary - any word you use will be helpful to me. And add a link too to your own website or blog, and we can do the same for your creations.

The second part of the "single word" posting relates to the New Year and an idea I read about from Christine Kane and Tonya Davidson. Instead of having New Year's resolutions that just flitter away, I decided to go with the single word approach again. What word would be a good word to guide me through the year? The word I have chosen is "unique". The word resonates with me - and I can see it as a "direction" through this year, both in my personal life and my business. I'll keep you posting on how it directs me.

So if you chose a word for yourself, what would it be?

Sound of Music....

Do a deer, a female deer,
Re a drop of golden sun,
Mi a name I call myself,
Fa a long long way to go,
So a needle pulling thread,
La a note to follow So,
Te a drink with jam and bread,
That will bring you back to do!
Do, re, mi, fa, so, la, ti, do.

Now who has never seen the Sound of Music? and enjoyed family Von Trapp...........

And before you think it is my all time favourite movie and that's why I have made cufflinks of the do re mi's, I will have to disappoint you. Sorry. Yes, of course it's a great movie - especially for families! But the cufflinks came about from local choirs.

When I moved to California, and started singing here, I was amazed that the choir directors teach solfege - do, re, mi's - as the method to sight read music. I had never done this - I can sight read pretty well, but we never really had a method....yet I'd go to a rehearsals here and everyone around me would be do, ti, fa-ing and I'd be making this non-descript consonant and vowel sound - hoping no one would notice - but generally singing the correct note......

And when you are doing it quickly, I couldn't even the remember the correct order! And I could go whole rehearsals never singing "so"! Yes, I'd sing the note -but could never remember the "word"!!!!!!

So, solfege isn't my thing - but it seems it is used alot in California - and it really does work. It impresses me - but it seems like adding an additional step for me so something extra instead of a useful tool.

Anyhow, I'm heading down to Grace cathedral shortly to sing there - I sing most Sundays there - so thought today is a good day to be thinking of my solfege.......

I made these cufflinks for my musical guy friends! I can just picture them all dressed up smartly for a concert and as they sing, they keep lifting up their cuffs to see the solfege! I suppose it would have been good if I'd made a solfege necklace for myself for rehearsals, as a little crib sheet - but then I'd have had no excuse for mumbling!!!

I also made them as guys don't get many opportunities to wear "jewelry" - and these have a whimsical style to them. Most men don't wear "whimsy" either but they do occasionally if it is cufflinks.

So for all those male singers who wear cuffs........But beware - observers may well break out into song aka Julie Andrews and the family Von Trapp!!

Anyone can ........fly a kite

So here is my latest "Anyone can...." piece. A necklace entitled "Anyone can....fly a kite"

It shows my new friend, Anyone, holding on tight to his new kite and you can just picture him loving that feeling as it takes to the skies and pulls on his arm - and then just for that split second, it takes you off the ground.




This picture here looks like he is just willing the kite to fly......that feeling when you want to blow and encourage it....try as you will, the wind hasn't quite got below it...

But then, the wind gusts and up the kite goes, and you are excited and you let out more string and then it feels like you can fly too!

What a lovely thing kite flying is. Yet you see very little of it nowadays...or is that just here? Maybe there aren't any empty beaches or parks anymore .....?

Anyhow - I hope you like my new Anyone and he gives you the feeling of up, up and away......

If you haven't met Anyone before - be sure to check out "Anyone can fall in love" and "Anyone can whistle".

The secret garden

My parents came over a couple of months ago and we met them in Vancouver, BC, then went on a little touring trip around Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. While in Seattle, we went over to Bainbridge Island and Whidbey Island. When we were on Whidbey, we called into the Meerkerk Rhododendron Gardens. It was the perfect time of the year to see the Rhododendrons. It is a testing garden where they try new varieties of Rhododendrons. So many different colours and types of rhodos. It was all laid out so beautifully too with natural paths through into different sections of the gardens...you couldn't see the big picture of where you were going, you just explored little by little....it was like coming across lots of new surprises.
There were some funny short earred rabbits there too. Initially, we couldn't tell what they were - they looked so funny with their little ears....

But as I was wandering around, to the hidden little ponds on little mulch or grass paths....finding one new little area after another, it made me think of lots of little "secret gardens"... Do you remember the children's story book? I remember watching it televised on the BBC when I was a little girl. I just loved it so much. And so while I was wandering around, I created this new necklace in my head. It is an old wooden garden gate, with tiny little hinges and a latch...and a little window to make you curious to see what it behind it. You undo the latch and there is a little flower garden.


Your very own secret garden to wear. I love the element of surprise, and also that you can keep it as a secret from others.




The fact that there is movement in the piece is what appeals most - I am really focusing on jewelry that moves right now - so here is my little "secret garden" necklace, in fine silver.

Coneflowers

I first came across coneflowers when we moved to New Hampshire. We had lots of them in our garden there and they just seemed so unusual to me with their raised cone center and the petals hanging down below. Their botanical name is Echinacea - which comes from the Greek "echinos", meaning hedgehog! And they are prickly too! I have lots of hedgehog stories - but another day for those...

Anyhow, the first time I tried carving in metal clay, I was doodling and trying to decide what to carve that wasn't too difficult...had a little bit of a cut-out in it that I could patina to stand out...was easily recognisable...
Well I was still making quite a lot of silver flowers at that time and so the profile of a coneflower came to me.

The shape of the piece then just seemed to follow the flower shape and having a textured background where the cutout would show through just seemed to all come together.

I keep seeing lots of flowers lately - not just seeing them, but taking note of them, so I feel I'm up for a resurgence of flower jewelry...but maybe as the summer is ending, I'm too late??? Never too late for flowers. Maybe some new ones will appear soon...

Featured artisan - Rena from LilyCobWeb

I'm happy to feature another artist today so you can hear about her work and what got her into her creations. Her name is Rena Roohipour and her store is called LilyCobWeb. She has stores on Etsy and Dawanda.

I asked Rena to share with us something about her work....and this is what she said:

I’m fairly new to selling online, but not new at all to crafts and crochet. I first learned to crochet at the age of eight or nine. I was taught by a neighbour of ours who did beautiful Irish crochet, and I used to marvel at her skill and patience.

I stopped doing any handcrafts for years, with occasional forays into making christening shawls for family members. I came back to crochet about three or four years ago, in a very roundabout way……

I'd been an art teacher but decided I'd give that up for family reasons - ie I have four children! I’d started painting, loved it, but realised that my lifestyle was too busy to allow the time I needed. Then three years ago, I went to Boston to visit my eldest daughter who was studying music there. As I was walking down Newbury Street, I visited the Boston Society for Arts and Crafts Shop where they had a jewellery exhibition. And that was the first place I saw bead and wire crochet jewellery! I couldn’t believe you could crochet wire! I went straight to Windsor Button, on the other side of Boston Common, bought myself some 28-gauge wire and some beads and I was off! I made so much bead and wire jewellery and had no trouble selling it. I’ve since gone back to yarn and thread, but I still use beads and wire a lot to make my creations. I don’t exclude any material, and I experiment a lot! Crocheting leather is my latest favourite thing!

The beaded cuff in the photo is one I made for a commission. Beaded cuffs have now become quite a trademark with me. I love making them as they combine yarn, beads, wire, ribbon and magnetic clasps-all the things I love! Creating them is quite a challenge, as they have a lot of stages in the making.

Crafting is more precarious than teaching, but a much more fulfilling occupation. I struggle to get as much time as possible to develop my ideas, and get really frustrated sometimes when ‘life’ gets in the way. My time management could definitely be better!

Creating in the medium of crochet is very satisfying for me. Crochet always amazed me with its possiblities. It’s very sculptural and I love that. In a strange way, it links me to my childhood and my home. Rudolf Steiner, the educationalist, says crochet has a link to breathing because of its rhythmic qualities. It relaxes me and energises me at the same time! I love the design process, experimentation with new yarns and old ones, and playing with colour.

At the moment, I’m obsessed with leaves and flowers and ways to crochet them. I want to do a series of leaf pendants connected with Celtic tree lore.I like to feel a link to nature, and I think that finds its way into my work.

Selling online is a whole new challenge. It involves having a bit of business sense and taking good photographs, neither of which I’ve perfected yet. But I’m getting there!