By Contributing Columnist Jay of Haffina Creations

Not many people know, but I am the mother of twin boys, and as such I understand how challenging it can be to be creative with twin bundles of joys dancing like a whirlwind through your house. Now let me introduce you to another mother of twin boys, who creates beautiful items whilst being a fabulous mom to her darling boys. Teri Landow is the driving force behind The Beaded Branch and my featured ArtFire artisan.

What will people find when they drop into your studio/store? What types of items do you sell?
An eclectic mix of bead jewelry, sterling silver chainmaille, Bug Bag pouches, and of course, my very own line of Present Past Treasures.

How did you come up with your studio/ shop’s name?
The name for my shop came about by combining several ideas:
1) I really love trees, and wanted to incorporate the idea of trees into my business name somehow.
2) I loved the idea of “branches” being related to arms, necks, ears, etc of a person and them being decorated with my jewelry.
3) When I started out, my designs were very simplistic bead earrings, necklaces and bracelets. I never really thought I’d expand out past the beaded branch of jewelry making. Of course, I was wrong, but I still try to incorporate beads in everything I sell.

How long have you been selling online?
I started my own online shop over 10 years ago. I ran into the trouble that so many do, though. After I got married, and started a family, the huge time commitment of having to maintain a website just got to be too much. So, I started exploring my options, and came across Etsy, then ArtFire. In November of 2008, I opened my Etsy shop, and then in May of 2009 I opened my ArtFire Studio. I still have my own website, and might actually get around to updating it now that my children are actually starting school.

What lead you to join ArtFire?
Many, many factors lead me to joining ArtFire. The sense of community was the main thing, but other than that, all of the wonderful features that AF offers. The guilds, the ability to have ten pictures of each product, the coupon and gift certificate codes, being able to edit everything in my store with a few simple keystrokes, the list goes on and on. The real clincher for me was when I made my first sale in my ArtFire Studio. I was so excited, I tweeted it on my Twitter page. When the owner of ArtFire sent me a direct message, congratulating me on my sale, that meant the world to me. I’ve never deleted that tweet, and still read it when I need a little boost. The fact that he took that time to do that was a real sign to me that ArtFire cares about the artisans that choose to sell there.

What is your favourite feature on the site?
I have to pick ONE? (lol) It’s a toss up between the coupon codes and the bulk editing feature. I love how easy it is to set up coupon codes for my customers. The fact that I can pick what code for the coupon will be is awesome, because it makes it much easier for me to keep track of when it was used.
The bulk editing feature is awesome. Being able to go in and reprice everything in my studio, or add tags to everything with just a few keystrokes, is wonderful and so time saving. It’s just so easy and convenient.

What tips/advice would you give to others considering joining the site?
Read up on how to take really good photographs of your products. Make sure your photos are nice, clear, and in focus. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Learn how to market using blogs and social networks. Figure out all of your shipping prices before you start listing. Set aside money for advertising. Join guilds and participate. Make a lot of friends in the crafting world. We are the best support to each other when sales are slow, and we need a little mental boost.

How do you want people who visit your studio/shop to feel, what mood are you attempting to create?
I try to create the feel of a cozy and relaxed slightly upscale boutique where you never quite know what’s going to spring up next.

What types of things do you do to try and create that feel/mood?
I don’t necessarily revolve my stock, but whenever I add pieces, I always try to make sure that I add an assortment of pieces in a new line at the same time, as a boutique would do when they received a new shipment, instead of one piece here and one piece there.

What is your favourite tool or material to use at the moment?
Right now, at this moment, I don’t really have a favorite. Actually, at any moment it would be hard for me to narrow down my favorite of anything to one thing. I love pearls, and would incorporate them into every piece I make if I possibly could. I’m also currently exploring materials and techniques that are new to me. Polymer clay and epoxy resins are the big ones right now, and since I’m still in the learning phase of those two mediums, I get to play with them, and learn how to make pieces that are good enough to sell.

Are there any skills or techniques that you would like to learn, or materials that you would like to work with, aside from what you already do?
Oh, several. I would love to learn to work with glass, and also I want to expand my knowledge of polymer clay, epoxy resins, metal clays, painting, and sewing. I love to learn new skills and techniques that can cross over from one medium to another, seeing how and what I can combine to create some new, unique pieces.

Are you still selling the same kind of items as when you started selling, or has it changed with time?
Yes and no. Yes, I still sell my basic bead jewelry. I’ll never fully get away from that, and wouldn’t want to. But, because I get distracted easily, and my desire to explore new techniques often overwhelms me, I switch off what I’m working on at any given moment, and my lines are continually expanding and growing. That’s the one problem with having so many friends who are so very talented in different art forms. I see their work, and think “Ooohh, I’d like to try that!”, and I do.

Which part of being an online seller do you find the most challenging, and what do you do to deal with that?
The whole process of listing products in my Studio- pricing, photographing, descriptions, tagging, all of it. It can really drag me down. The way I deal with it is to just bite the bullet and do it. Generally, I wait until I have a stockpile of products made, and I do a several day long photo shoot of everything. Then I spend another day editing the photos, and then another day or two listing. It’s a very draining week or so for me, and I always refer to them as my “necessary evil” days.

How do you balance your online and offline life?
I try to keep it balanced, but there are some days when the lure of the online world is just too great, and I’ll spend all day chatting, and drooling over my friends new works. There are other days, however, when I have no desire to go online at all, so I just check my email once or twice those days, and leave it at that. Having kids helps keep the balance, because their needs come first. So, I do have to spend time offline feeding them, playing with them, reading to them, and doing arts and crafts with them.

What kind of supplies do you always seem to buy, even if you do not really need them?
It used to be beads. Now, I have to admit, it’s pretty much whatever comes into view that I think I might be able to use. If I find a new craft that I find intriguing, I’ll buy just enough of the basic supplies to try it out. But even that I’ve slowed down on. I need to use up what I have before I buy anything more.

To see more gorgeous creations from The Beaded Branch check out her ArtFire Studio.

By Columnist Pam aka ElectricPenguin
Orange spiral disc photo courtesy of FlameCrazy

Have you ever ordered supplies on-line, only to find that when they arrive they aren’t anywhere close to the size you thought they were? Sometimes it’s a good surprise and sometimes it’s more along the lines of “whoa, that’s a very large bead!!” I have to admit this happens to me much more often than it should!! You’d think after a while I’d be able to closely estimate how big a 10mm bead is, but nooooo. I finally found these two things help me keep the surprises to a minimum:

First, I have a clear ruler that has both inches and centimeters on it, along with outlines of 2mm to 12mm circles. Mine was a freebie from a supply shop, but I’m sure you can find them for sale (probably at supply shops!). This gives me a visual representation of how big that elusive 10mm is. For most people, that would probably be all the information they need to order correctly. Unfortunately, that didn’t always work for me! There were still times I ended up with things that were the exact size they were advertised as – but not the size I wanted.

Photo courtesy of GenerationsLampwork
So, my solution was… actually have a bead of the size I want on hand while ordering! Seems pretty obvious, right? It really does give me a much better idea than a flat ruler.

I do most of my ordering during lunch at work. In my desk drawer I have a string with round glass beads of 8mm through 16mm on it. All are marked with permanent marker (the 8 was fun to do!) so I don’t have to remeasure them or anything. I also have short lengths of .5mm, 1mm and 2mm string. No labels but those are easy to remember. Now all I have to do is pull the string or bead samples out of the drawer, compare it to the item on-line, order, and the size I really want arrives in my mailbox!!

MiaBellaCollection

Hopefully these ideas will help prevent you from an unexpected surprise in your mail!!!

Slide photo courtesy of SassyPantsGlass
Edited by Barbra aka: All About The Buttons

By contributing columnist aka Haffina Creations

As a jewellery maker, one of the items I love to use the most is Artisan Lampwork beads. There is a very talented Handmade Lampwork Bead Artisan who happens to have a studio on ArtFire. Her name is Jamie Rose and she is the incredible talent behind her ArtFirea> studio is always worth a visit, with new items added regularly. I wanted to know some more about workings of < so I asked Jamie some questions, which she kindly answered.

What types of things do you do to try and create that feel/mood?
I make fun and whimsical beads. I make characters with smiley faces and love to use bright colors.

What is your favourite tool or material to use at the moment?
My favorite new glass is CIM, Creation Is Messy. The colors are bright and vivid, and very unique.

Are there any skills or techniques that you would like to learn, or materials that you would like to work with, aside from what you already do?
Right now I use soft glass which has to be kept warm so the beads don’t crack. However, I’d love to use Boro glass, a harder glass, which isn’t so temperamental outside the flame. You can get much more freedom to work with the glass without it shattering if it’s not in the flame.

Are you still selling the same kind of items as when you started selling, or has it changed with time?
Pretty much. Once I started making fun faces and whimsical character I just couldn’t stop!

Which part of being an online seller do you find the most challenging, and what do you do to deal with that?
Marketing is very challenging. It’s so time consuming, and can be costly. However, there are many website that make it easy to post listings and pictures of your newly listed items to one site, or multiple sites like Twitter, facebook, Plurk, Plaxo and other networking sites. Facebook has a great application called RSS Graffiti which will go into your websites that have an RSS feed and pick up newly posted items. Anything like that makes marketing so very easy! Ping.fm is nice because you can add a toolbar to your browser and with just a couple of clicks you can shoot out info about one of your items or your shop to multiple websites.

How do you balance your online and offline life?
Balance? LOL! Well, my kids are grown and it’s easier for me to spend my free time marketing. I love making Lampwork beads, so for me that’s easy because I run to the torch whenever I can. Marketing is something I do while I’m watching TV at night. I’ll list new items and shoot out links through all my networking sites, and chat with my friends on Plurk. My husband bought me a laptop for Christmas so I wouldn’t be stuck in the back room with my desktop all the time.

What kind of supplies do you always seem to buy, even if you do not really need them?
Glass, glass, glass and more glass!! There are many different manufacturers and so many colors to try out.

I really do recommend dropping by Glasstastic Treasures on ArtFire, it is well worth a visit.

Photo courtesy of YoursToAdorn
Article by columnist Pam aka Electric Penguin

My name is Pam and I suffer from Organizational Envy. There, I said it!!! I recently saw a video on the blog of one of my favorite Etsy artists. She had an entire room devoted to her art, sigh. The best part was the tables set up all around the perimeter that were completely covered with open topped organizer trays (like printer’s boxes). Ahhhh, my dream set up!! She could easily find whatever bead she was looking for without having to dump anything on the kitchen counter!

I have all my supplies in three short drawers and two shelves of my dining room buffet. Not much space to be had! So for those of us who don’t have the luxury of that wonderful craft room, here’s a few things that really helped me get the beads corralled into a reasonable sense of order:

Plastic Round Carry tote with 5 (or 6?) multi chambered boxes on the outside: these work great to keep all the jump rings, crimp beads, and lobster clasps separate but still sorted. I use one of the little boxes for each metal color.

By contributing columnist Donna Knox of GlassandWireGems

This is the first of a series of articles featuring studios from ArtFire. Today we are featuring Diva Pixie…Fools and Jewels.

Cindy, the studio’s creator, is a full-time elementary school teacher and an amateur actress/singer. She is native to Minnesota but is currently residing in southwestern Kansas. She moved there eight years ago to teach and has been there since then. Cindy does a lot of volunteer work at the local community theater. She has been onstage and backstage for many productions and enjoyed every minute of it.

Cindy is a creative person by nature and has always had an interest in many different hobbies. She took a bunch of art classes in high school and in college that encouraged her creative urges. She didn’t get into jewelry design and creation though until she moved to Kansas. She saw a set of jewelry tools over Christmas break and found them intriguing. She bought the set and some wire and started playing with them but she didn’t really start making anything for another few months. She hurt her foot the first day of spring break and was confined to her couch. That’s when she really started creating jewelry. Cindy has been trying out new materials and techniques with wire ever since.

Cindy said that she loves creating jewelry because it keeps her hands busy and allows her brain a sort of “creative break”. Cindy finds nothing as relaxing as sitting down and working with wire and other materials. It focuses her energy on something positive and the completion of a piece can give her a great feeling of accomplishment at the end of a long, hard day.

Cindy shared the following about her handcraft:

How did you come up with your shop’s name? I also am an avid sewer. A friend of mine had given me a pattern for fairy tale hand puppets around the time I discovered online selling. I was most attracted to the jester puppets. So I made a bunch of them. They are adorable. I have three left. One day I was playing around with my jewelry stuff and looked over and saw a jester grinning at me. The name just popped into my head and I started an online shop shortly afterwards.

Why are you selling on ArtFire? What makes it a special place for you? I love all the tools and community that ArtFire provides its artisans with. I am also enamored with their studio setups, layouts, and in studio blogs. It just makes your studio feel like a “one stop shop”. I have met a lot of neat people on ArtFire in the short time I have been there. I feel that ArtFire is going to be the next big thing in online handmade selling very soon because it is so well organized and run.

What do you like most about your handcrafted items? I love the color and design of my pieces. I think they are one-of-a-kind and so unique that you are unlikely to find anything like them anywhere else. I also am very proud of the fact that I do NOT use any chemical adhesives in my wire wrap pieces. If there is an occasion where I need to use such a thing, I will state so in my descriptions but it hasn’t happened yet.

How do you create your items? Explain a little bit your creative process. Honestly, I often wonder how I can say I am a designer and creator. I essentially look at the wire and start bending and twisting but the wire decides the shape for me. I allow the wire to do as it wants and go from there. I then look at the frame or shape and decide the color palette and materials used from there. The tools are really the biggest key for me. I have a basic set of tools I use for everything. I also have a flat piece of steel and a small hammer for pounding. I am very color sensitive though. Color combinations and choices are important to me. I always try to select colors that will pop against each other without detracting from one another.

Do you have a favorite material that you like to use and what is it about this material that makes it your favorite? I prefer copper wire and beads of various materials. Copper is just such a beautiful metal to look at and compliments so many other colors. It’s easy to work with and easy to find as well. It also oxidizes nicely and can have a very “antiqued” look.

When someone looks at what you’ve created, what would you like to hear them say? Wow! Now that took some skill. Or maybe…Wow! Now that’s gorgeous.

If there was one thing that you could hope for for you personally and then for your business, what would it be? I hope that I can get the word out into the public and reap the benefits of more sales from that. I want people to see what wonderful things I can create and wear them as pieces of artwork. I would like to see more custom orders as well. I LOVE to create things that are specific to the customer and that they will cherish in the knowledge that it’s a one-of-a-kind piece that was made just for them. And I hope that I can continue to create lovely things and vent my energy into something positive.

Is there anything special that you would like to let people know about you or your business? I also do bead and wire repairs and can replace broken jump rings and restring vintage beads. I will repair jewelry that does not require solder or metal-smithing work. I am also someone who likes to upcycle so reimagining a broken jewelry pieces into something new would be an easy task for me. I am willing to work with a customer on any of these as well as create something new for them.

Cindy’s beautiful creations can be found at Divapixie

ARTICLES by Gimme that thing:

Tracy Smith of Cinnamon Jewellery

What inspires you to create and how did you choose the medium you work in? Every artist/designer has a story to tell ~ I compared notes with four Jewellery Designers on Folksy to find out what stories lie behind their creations.

A love of jewellery, going to a beading class, a horse~riding accident and beads themselves are what started these Folksy sellers making their own jewellery.

Becky of Folksy shop Red Bird Jewellery tried every craft from mosaics to knitting but it was after taking a beading class that she started making jewellery. “It’s like a bit of an obsession. I find myself talking to people’s necklaces instead of them, as I try to figure out how it was put together. I just can’t get enough of it. I’ve got lots and lots to learn, and I’ve just bought a soldering kit, so I’m going to try a bit more metalwork. I’m very excited!” I asked Becky what inspires her designs ~ “It’s a bit of an old cliche, but I do love nature, the colours and shapes of leaves and flowers, rivers flowing – there’s so much to inspire. I also look to other craft types to figure out what colours would go together, and would love to try to incorporate more fabric into my jewellery – look out for some pieces later in the spring”

Lorraine of Folksy shop FairlyGirly also took a jewellery making course at a local Arts Centre. “I have always loved wearing jewellery and this was my chance to make some for myself. After making items for myself and friends, they were so delighted with them that they persuaded me to start selling them and that was how FairlyGirly was created”. Lorraine’s inspiration comes from the beads themselves. “I love the shapes and colours of them and the ability to design something that is unique. I offer a custom made service to my customers and it is lovely to be able to make something to go perfectly with an outfit or bag. It is very pleasing to see others wearing your creations.”

A crafting weekend in 2001 where she learned to bead using seed beads, a needle and thread is how Jean of Folksy shop Talking Beads first started making jewellery. “I taught my friend and together we increased our range of stitches and eventually started to teach bead weaving and took our work to craft fairs and opened up a web site. We no longer teach but still sell online and supply a local shop with our jewellery.”

Jean’s inspiration comes from colour. “Having a box of beads in front of me, peace and quiet and a few hours to spend…… bliss. I spread out my beading mats and do a ‘pick and mix’ of my beads and they seem to come together of their own accord. When I buy beads I just top up colours and shapes with no particular project in mind. I then have the beads when I am ready and feeling arty! I enjoy commissions, being asked to create a special piece can be daunting but I love to take the finished item to my customer. In fact, my customers inspire me to do better and better designs.”

Amanda of Folksy shop Gimme That Thing wanted to make jewellery from the age of 14 but it was only after an accident that she actually started. “It was only last August, when I had a riding accident and broke a vertebra, that I was unable to pick up heavy bags of clay to work on my ceramic designs, and started making glass beaded jewellery, as it was something that I could do sitting down. I have now discovered the versatility of precious metal clay and am moving forward with more adventurous and creative designs”.
Amanda is inspired by “Nature’s amazing and sometimes surprising colour combinations, fireworks and the sea. I like to put colours together that shouldn’t really work, such as pink and red.”

Finding your inspiration to create a piece of beautiful jewellery is only part of the process. Finding the right beads and findings is also important. The internet has opened up a huge world of beads and jewellery making supplies at our fingertips. I asked Becky, Lorraine, Amanda and Jean where they source their materials…………………

Becky: “I would love to buy locally as it would be nice to see what I’m actually buying when it comes to gems, etc, but I usually end up buying online. I can also spend a fortune at bead shows. I wish there was somewhere around here that I could pop along to, but I’m figuring out now which are the best online suppliers”.

Lorraine buys all her supplies from UK online stores. “A lot of my purchases have to be online as I only have local access to one shop, and I like to use a wide variety of beads and findings. I also purchase handmade lampwork beads from other UK artists, as I like the opportunity to support them and use their wonderful beads in my designs. The disadvantage of buying online, is that sometimes the quality and size of the beads when they arrive aren’t as expected. When this happens I don’t use them, as I have set myself quality standards which I keep to! Once a year I do get the chance to visit a bead fair, there is nothing quite the same as handpicking the beads yourself. It usually ends up being an expensive day!!”

Amanda also buys her jewellery making goodies online. “I have worked my way through most of the good bead and findings suppliers and now have 4 favourites that always stock what I need at good prices.”

Jeans buys everywhere. “I am afraid that I do not buy everything from any particular shop. My first stop for toggles and clasps as well as crystals and swarovski pearls would be “Noseks Just Gems” and for pearls my first stop is “Sandstones“. Both online shops are very good and respond quickly to a request. In the beading world we always want the beads NOW PLEASE and we cannot wait for 3-5 days delivery. The shop I visit is Bijoux Beads in Bath. Dangerous, as there is no such thing as popping in to look.”

I’d like to say a big “Thank You” to Becky, Lorraine, Amanda and Jean from Folksy for taking the time to answer my questions and making this such an interesting article. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it!
Now enjoy their slideshow!

Donut bracelet pic courtsy of Art and Candies

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Hi, I am Andy.

A few years ago my wife Julie’s art took an interesting and exciting turn. Angels began showing up in her drawings and paintings more and more often. These angels seemed to take on a life of their own.

One day she announced that she felt inspired to begin a project of creating 1000 angels. When we showed her work we kept hearing the same comment again and again.

“THOSE ARE INCREDIBLE ANGELS…” this led to incredibleangels.com and our incredibleangels.etsy shop.

While following her inspirations we both re-discovered ceramics. I felt like I had found my medium, and Julie began making even more “incredible angels”, but now the angels were in 3 dimensions. While she was creating her incredible angels I headed more toward beads and pendants. This led to our incredidiblependants shop.

We both love to sculpture and experiment and learn. We have both been artists and crafters all of our lives. We often collaborate, and create together.

I am a business consultant by trade (which I also love doing) so I was the natural choice for the marketing side of things. Marketing online is new to me and I am having a blast learning the ins and outs of it. I love sharing what I know and what I learn, in the business side of the world as well as in the arts, or anything else for that matter.

I love to communicate, Feel free to contact me.

I’m also the technical liason for Indiesmiles, so when you see all of the great new articles, website design, etc. chances are that I’ve been involved in the background of what’s happening!

Articles by Incredible Angels:

Do a search for your sweetheart.

Hello! My name is Tracy Smith & I’m a new IndieSmiles columnist writing about all things Folksy!

I’m a UK based jewellery designer living in Eastbourne, on the South East coast of England. Eastbourne is a busy seaside town, situated on the edge of the beautiful South Downs. It’s also famous for the cliffs at Beachy Head ~ a notorious suicide spot!

Browsing the internet looking for earrings one day five years ago is how my jewellery making adventure started. I found lots of handmade earrings & thought to myself ~ I could do that! Armed with a book & the internet I bought the tools & beads I needed & started making basic glass bead & Sterling Silver earrings. I discovered a whole new world of beautiful beads & findings via the internet ~ Lampwork, Semi~Precious, Swarovski, Freshwater Pearls……… I became addicted! I taught myself new techniques & started stringing bracelets as well. I decided to start selling, mainly to justify buying more beads!

Three years ago I was given Sharilyn Miller’s book Bead On A Wire & that was it ~ I was hooked on wirework!

I love the freedom working with wire allows, and the fact that you are only limited by your imagination. My favourite metal has always been Sterling Silver but I’ve recently discovered the beauty of oxidised Copper ~ previously only used as my “practise” wire.

Making jewellery is a kind of therapy for me. I get out my bead boxes, tools & wire, become totally engrossed & completely forget about everything else ~ lunch is forgotten, endless cups of tea are left to go cold & before I know it the day has gone & it’s dark outside! I’m always looking at new techniques to learn in order to progress my skills & designs ~ there’s so much more I want to do!

When I’m not letting cups of tea go cold I also enjoy reading crime novels, swimming, horse~riding, visting family on the Northumberland coast (where I picked up the pebbles I use in my photos) & checking out beautiful beads on the internet!

I love my family, my cats & chocolate (not always in that order!)

I hate rude people & parsnips.

I currently sell my wirework jewellery on Folksy & Etsy. Folksy is a UK based website allowing UK designers & crafters to sell their creations. Although much smaller than Etsy, Folksy is growing & developing everyday. Find out more about Folksy from my articles!

I sell under the name Cinnamon Jewellery & can be found on Folksy ~ http://www.folksy.com/shops/cinnamonjewellery

and on Etsy ~ http://www.etsy.com/shop/cinnamonjewellery

My blog, not surprisingly, is about Wirework jewellery, great stuff going on on Folksy, oh, and I may mention chocolate occasionally! You can check out my blog here ~ http://www.cinnamonjewellery.blogspot.com

I’m also one of the Team Leaders for Indiesmiles, I’m responsible for the both the fantastic Folksy and Artfire columnists!

Share our Cinnamon Jewellery’s bio on Facebook!!!

Feel free to contact Tracy at:
spiralchick@gmail.com

Articles published by Cinnamon Jewellry:
What’s Folksy

Behind the counter!

We all are a wee bit nosey!

Sweet Inspirations

Look at me!

Clever Sew and Sew