I've Been A Busy Beading Bee

It's about time  to write a refresher course on the land of the eclectic lady. Or Drunkenmimes Ecclectic LadyLand,  that is. There have been so many things to do and create, and so much to learn. It's been a blast making new things with polymer clay, and learning about all of the amazing effects that can be made with it. One successful mica shift pair of earrings, and a lovely floral magazine transfer pendant are just a couple of my favorites.
Layer style necklaces can be especially fetching when the placement of shape is used to please the eye. For that, this is my best example:

Pretty soon my family will have to organize an intervention to get me to stop beading. It will never happen. They'll have to drag me kicking and screaming. Oh look, there's a bead on the floor, gotta go! But, before you leave, check out the pendants I've been hand painting as well.

Five Things I Love About Artfire

You may have heard of Artfire before...and if you haven't, I may have to rescue you from underneath that rock. Or maybe you had it in mind to check it out, but you got busy making delicious pies out of sherbert, shaped like sliced watermelon. Or maybe you forgot because you were preoccupied, trying to cajole your husband into keeping his dentist appointment? It's okay, I forgive you.

Today I am going to share a few of the reasons I am more than satisfied as a handmade seller on Artfire.com. It is a wonderful venue for people who want to sell their creations, art, extra supplies, and vintage goods on the internet. I have been a member for just over a year now, and feel a great sense of kinship with the staff and selling community.

Number One: It's a class! A class full of helpful teachers and alumni! Advice, tips, tricks, are readily available from folks who know. The site administrators are quick to answer any questions, and so is the community. Artfire has a strong and well-deserved reputation for listening to their customers (the sellers), including our ideas and input in their brainstorms, and making us feel valued and respected.
There are help guides on every aspect of online selling, and they do all they can to teach sellers the ropes, making it easier for artisans to spend more time creating. I have yet to find customer service like this elsewhere.

Number Two: Tools, glorious tools. I can create coupons, globally edit my listings, customize my own shop (including my studio categories), export and print sales data/invoices, and choose from a number of different payment processors, just to name a few. One of the funnest perks is curating my own "Collections." These may be featured on the sites front page, or even pasted on a website or blog with the widget codes provided.

Number Three: Shopping on Artfire is fun and easy. I do a lot of shopping online, but when I'm looking for unique gifts or particular supplies, this is where it's at. I did my Christmas shopping for on Artfire, and found really special things for my family, things that are 100 times better quality than anything from a department store. I also find it really convenient when I need particular supplies for my jewelry making.

Number Four: I live in a small town and often find it difficult to sell at many shows, particularly at ones that are cost effective. With Artfire, I can share my work with the whole world for a very low monthly rate. Our items are fed to several search engines, and this relieves me of the technical aspects and headache of trying to run my own site. For those who do already run their own sites, the more the merrier. Artfire can help!

Number Five: It's quite personal. When people come to my studio through search engines (which is the majority) or from a direct URL, they think they are visiting my website, not Artfire. I can customize everything, including my banner, layout, colors, featured items...I even pasted a widget code for a chat box so that visitors can speak with me live.

So that's my testimony, straight from the heart ♥.
If you are considering opening a shop on Artfire, you can come test the waters with us. There's no risk of sharks! You can start with a Basic (no fee) studio and get things listed and settled in. I have a special referral code that let's you have your third month of Pro free.

Happy crafting!

Handmade Perfection

gorgeous purple perfection

Now here's a shop where you'll find some really pretty handmade treasures for your Christmas shopping. Lamata Designs has a great selection of different items to choose from. Paper beads are pretty popular, and you've probably seen quite a few. But the craftsmanship on these is quite impressive. If you've ever tried making paper beads, you know that it looks a lot easier than it really is to get such clean-cut and professional looking results. Lamata's paper beads are so perfect that you can't tell right away that they're paper until you read the description or someone tells you.

 She's got finished pieces or loose beads you can put under the Christmas tree for your crafty friend or loved one. The craftsmanship on each individual bead is really impeccable, and you can tell they were made with meticulous love and care.

Amazing, the way they look like glass! I love to see up-cycled/repurposed materials come out looking so finished. Be sure to check out this shop and see all the different goodies, as well as Artfire's Unique Gift Guide for more creative gift ideas!

Gift Ideas

Sometimes it can be a challenge, figuring out what to give loved ones for Christmas-or any other special event. I like to think of myself as kind of good at it, lol. I tend to remember what people like, or mention that they need. But some folks just stump you. Sometimes their tastes change sporadically (esp. teenagers), or maybe they seem to already have everything. Whatever the case, Artfire makes it really easy to find great, unique gift ideas. The categorized search tools help narrow it down a lot! Unlike shopping at an over-crowded big box department store, on Artfire you can find one-of-a-kind items that are guaranteed to surprise and delight.
I'm doing all handmade shopping this year for Christmas, and I'd love to share specifics-but this is top secret stuff!! All I can say is, I've got two down, three more to go, and it's not even Thanksgiving yet.
I don't have children, and my sibs are all 13+, but I saw some adorable handmade toys on Artfire, and made a kids collection:

Wonderful Toys For Girls and Boys

   Curated By: Drunkenmimes

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

I Won a Treasure

from DivaPixie! a.k.a.
Fools and Jewels. Beautiful wire wrapping in copper.

She has quite an eclectic mix in her studio, and I really like the steampunk. Here are some of my favorites:

What a crazy-beautiful clockwork piece!

And these are gorgeous:

Ya' know, I've had a few wire wrappers tell me that it's "actually pretty easy" or "not as hard as it looks." Nonsense. I know it must take a lot of patience and practice just to have your loops consistent, and figuring out how to get the most from each gauge/type of wire...
I tip my hat to DivaPixie, and all the other wonderful and talented wire-wrappers I've met on Artfire-the best place to shop for handmade gifts.
This Drunkenmimes Ecclectic LadyLand Jewelry, signing off. Happy Wednesday.

The BEST Forum Post Ever

'Do Lower Prices Win The Sale'
by Dads Wooden Toys


Under-priced items have you concerned?
have you lost money you should have earned?

To another seller who prices so low
for all of their time there is nothing to show.

The answer of course is unknown for sure
did one of your customers bite at their lure?

But allow me to give you some food for thought
perhaps things are best with the prices you've got.

Pricing the lowest may not win the sale
it's not all buyers want in each case without fail

unless you are selling supplies such as beads
quality craftsmanship is what each buyer needs.

Assuming your content and pictures are great
the question is: How will your product rate

next to a listing that is under-priced
will your sales be stolen by prices so sliced?

If what you are selling requires a skill
and if it's on Artfire most likely it will

then your price tells more than what they should pay.
Confidence in workmanship you also display.

The time you invested into your piece
will appear to be more than the one priced the least.

When buying a commercially produced doodad
comparing just price will make buyers glad.

But when dealing with makers of handcrafted wares
a price that's too low may only get stares.

"Surely they couldn't have worked very hard
perhaps the seller is a fat lazy lard.

I'ld rather pay money for items that last"
They'll say as they remember stuff bought in the past.

Oh sure there are buyers who buy just whats cheap
inside their closets there is most likely a heap

of broken items long since discarded.
But not in the closets of those who are guarded.

Discerning buyers are those that you need
who see that your price is not fueled by greed.

Those buyers are out there don't think that they're not
Artfire is probably their favorite spot.

So make sure your description and pictures show
the work you invested so the buyers know.

It's worth it to buy from your quality store
even when paying a few dollars more. 

Pop Art, Pun Intended

Check out one of my latest collections on Artfire! It includes some really cool up-cycling. I love it when people make beautiful things out of materials that might otherwise be discarded.

Pop Art

   Curated By: Drunkenmimes

ArtFire.com

Craft Tutorials

Artfire Group Deal Video

Nathalie shares some important information!

Spelled it Out

Just to make things clear:

You're missing out if you haven't
checked out the new Group Deal.
Visit Artfire, the best place to find great, unique, handmade gifts

My Me-Collection

My Twisted Spectrum

   Curated By: Drunkenmimes

ArtFire.com

Unique Gifts

Upcycle Your #6 Plastic!

Today I am going to share with you a neat craft project I found on the interwebs a few years ago. You know the clear plastic lids from the goodies you get at your store bakery? From pre-cut salad and fruit trays? Strawberry cartons? Look for the tiny triangular recycling symbol, save the #6 ones, and come along with me.

I have chosen the lid from a 13x9 cinnamon roll tray. You are going to need a baking sheet, parchment paper, a hole puncher (making holes is optional), scissors, permanent markers, and your imagination. To maximize how much you can make with one lid, you'll want to soak any labels, and as gently as possible, remove adhesive with rubbing alcohol or Goo-Gone.

I took a round lid from one of my bead containers and used it to draw six 2.5 inch circles on the #6 lid with a black Sharpie marker. (I cut off and discarded the ridged sides of the lid). You can cut out any shape you like, but shapes with protruding edges, like stars and diamonds, will curl up in the oven (we'll get to that), and you will wind up with a completely different shape. I made a peace sign once, which came out great. Another time, my brother and I experimented with the side of a foggy-clear #6 drinking cup, and it resulted in what looked like a white seashell.
So I started with these discs, and punched holes in the tops. On the last two my puncher started getting dull. Drat!

 I made different designs on each pair with some sharpie markers, doing one color on each side of the plastic. Red/orange, Green/Teal, Magenta/Purple. If you want to use colored pencil, roughen the surface of the plastic with sandpaper first. What will happen when I put these in the oven, is that they will shrink and thicken, and all the color will be condensed. In the case of the colored pencil method, the abrasions will make the result white underneath the pigment, instead of clear. Now these are on a parchment lined baking sheet, and ready for the 300 degree oven. They will only bake for about 5 minutes.

The result?

 They shrunk to less than half their original size. What's weird is that each pair kind of distorted the same way. Both greens bowled up, but the orange-reds stayed almost flat. The color discrepancy you see is just the difference between the lighting in my kitchen and my photo lamp, which is white light.                                                    




                                                                                  It's fun not knowing exactly what you're going to get! The possibilities of different kinds of doo-dads you can make are endless, as well. For these, I was thinking earrings:

So, in the end we have a great project, that while far from perfect, is fun to play with, and keeps some plastic out of the trash can. Now I'm thinking about Christmas tree ornaments and refrigerator magnets. How about you? Send me photos of your #6 creations, I'd love it-And leave a comment if you enjoyed this post. Happy Crafting, cheers!