What Happens When You Buy My Work?

The first thing I do every morning is check my e-mail.  This morning, I found someone had purchased my "Butterfly Collection" necklace.  What happens next never ceases to amaze me!

I feel tremendously energized when someone decides to buy something I have made. I wonder if this is true for all makers?  Let me show you how my morning went.

First I auditioned velvets to be made into the box liner for this work.  I want the buyer to feel good when she opens her purchase.  I want my caring about the work I do, and about her purchase, to be visible in my presentation.  I decided the white allowed the work to show itself to best advantage.



Then I traced my pattern on the velvet, cut, pinned, and stitched it up, still in my nightgown, mind.

All this time, I am thinking about a new piece that has just occurred to me.

Then I created the shipping label, and discovered my print profile over charged her by $.70.  Rats!  So I processed a return for the over-charge, and stopped on my way up to the printer to pull out some materials for this new idea I have.

I hustled back to my studio and typed up a bit of info about the work, taken from my listing.  What I was thinking when I make it, why I chose the colors I did, why there is a tiny flower component, why the white pearls, why the fiery sparkle.  Because I am fully aware this buyer will have her own meanings to ascribe to this work, but I want her to know mine too.  We now share these ideas.  I have said before, and will always believe, her choice to buy and display my art on her body/gallery is for me, the final creative act in the process.  I add some care instructions for the beadwork, like, avoiding perfume, hairspray, lotions, things that can damage bead finishes, a great lesson from the Etsy Beadweavers Team.



I tied a little orange ribbon around the box, wrapped it in tissue, put it in its Priority Mail box, afixed the label, and out to the mailbox it goes.  (I did put on my robe for this part, in case you are concerned.) Then I made my breakfast, and ate it looking at the materials I had collected, and dreamed about how they will come together.

I had written in my listing (use the link and scroll down if you want to read it):
"I love this piece, and was not sure I wanted to sell it, but how many pieces of jewelry can a girl own?"  

I think there is some magic in sending work out into the world. I can draw some analogies, like sending a child off to college or to a first job.  My part is done, and now, that beloved baby has to stand on its own.  But I think there is also a new space left in my soul for further creation when my work sells.

I have spent the last year learning to write tutorials, and while I am a very long shot from perfect, that skill is functional, I think, and it's been interesting and rewarding.

But I think making is my first and best love.  And I am so glad today to celebrate the potential for more making, created by a simple sale.  How do you feel, when your work sells?

Finishing the Things I have Begun - Featuring Cherry Creek Jasper!

August has been a joy so far!  My new bead storage system has allowed me to find what I am looking for quickly and finish projects I have started over the last year.

A Brassy Blast

First, I finished a piece I began last Winter.  I have named it " A Brassy Blast of Autumn."  In February it was more about being colder than a witches... well, you get the idea.  When I put this together initially, it felt too crowded; desperately in need of breathing room. But now at the end of summer, surrounded by bounty and lush abundance, it seems fine as it is. Maybe even perfect. Someone suggested it looked like nuts and seeds, and I love that. Time sometimes heals my aversion to my work.  :)

I culled these cabochons from a big group of Cherry Creek Jasper, pulling just the golden green ones.



I thought it was done, but the tips of the three primary cabochons seemed blunt to me... so...



I contemplated a more substantial component as the drop.  But as soon as I laid it out, it looked like a little pursed-lipped, pouty face with a long beaky nose and slanty eyes.  Can you see that???  ACK! It is so easy to do that by mistake with symmetry.

So, you can guess what I did with that little component?

Earrings!

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

And then there was this other half finished piece... a spiral chenille rope and some cabochons.  I wanted to imply an animal, and had two pieces of stone that looked like a hoof print. But then I found this yummy marsala Cherry Creek Jasper teardrop and rounds, from Rainbow Artifinds, a lapidary couple in St. Paul, whose work I really love.  All kitties really have four toes, and a more oval central paw pad, but these had enough suggestive tiger-ish illusion when put together, to allow me to create "Jungle Boogie."

I like how the broken edge around the bezel kinda blends with the broken edge of the Chenille.

When I started this necklace, I was thinking specifically of a piece of fabric I have. I love animal prints, and will maybe make something for myself with it.  So I tried to think clean, simple, and bold, because the print is very busy!  The piece will need to be displayed on a plain (looks great on black!) ground, so the fabric could be a jacket, or skirt maybe.  Otherwise, the camo will eat the necklace!

  

Someone on Facebook suggested a jacket and LBD, and that sounds pretty good to me! But who knows when that might be.  It's funny, although I still have my Etsy shop, it almost never occurs to me to sell my work these days.  Maybe it should.  

I had fun with these claw/talon beads.  I am not sure of the official name, but I am quite sure they are Czech.  I give everything I make a "test wear day", and I put this on this morning, and when I looked in the mirror, I thought "claws out!" Brings up all the cat fight stuff floating about in my head.  If there were a buyer for this, who would that be?  Makes me smile thinking about it!

I could not resist the claw at the end of the extender chain! 

So, to list, or not to list.  I have some other beady work to list in a week or so, pertinent to another project. I'll contemplate between now and then, I guess.  

In the mean time, it feels good to be both organized and caught up.  Now there is only one thing to work on at my beading bench, but it's a long-term project, and it might wait a little while.