Completed commission for gloves

    For my favorite Etsy customer I created these custom gloves. They have been framed in a shadow style box and are ready to be shipped out to her tomorrow. My apologies for the glair.

Here is a detail of the first glove I finished in the set

One Last assemblage piece

       I am about to pull out the polymer clay and start working on new pendants and designs. But before I commit to the clay, I had to create one last assemblage necklace. I added vintage glass and crystal rhinestones, that were already in their own brass settings, to a modern military inspired element. I used old chains and pearls to dangle down almost like this was a hanging epilate.  Then I wire wrapped beads to make a pretty rosary style chain.  Simple but pretty.  Hope you all enjoy.

vintage assemblage pieces

    I have been having fun creating vintage assemblage pieces lately, but starting back today I am pulling out the clay and creating new steam punk designs. Please look back to see them as they emerge from dreams to reality.

Creating an embellished cuff

Goodness, but it was a lot more labor intensive than I thought. 

 I started out by wrapping a metal cuff base in two layers of cream wool felt. I sewed the felt closed on the top and started decorating in the middle adding on the large glass cameo set in a metal finding. For extra stability I decided to sew everything I could on the wool felt using jewelry floss.   I do not regret sewing on the embellishments, but boy oh boy ,it took forever to get everything in place.   I used a light glue to hold the Rhine stone chains in place as I determined their lay out and then sewed them on as well. From there I added a few items such as a mother of pearl dove pin and vintage earrings.  Last I filled in all the blank areas with medium and small pearls topped with ab crystals.    I believe it turned out lovely but I don't think I want to do it again anytime soon.  

 Let me know what you think and any hints on how to make the next one a bit less labor intense

The hardest thing to do is start back up what you have left sitting for far to long

I would like to thank everyone for their patience. I have been having hard time with my depression lately it ruled me for far too long, putting my life and crafting on hold. Finally I see some light and am able to create lovely things to give to the world. Please enjoy

Profit or pull even?

I just did one of the hardest things I have yet to face on ETSY. I took a serious look at my prices and had to change then appropriately.  It all started when I began to restock my craft room. I have run out of so many items and was in desperate need of crafting supplies. But when I drained my pay pall account and realized I still needed more and had dropped nearly 250.00 I was shocked beyond belief. For one, that's a lot of money. I still didn't get everything, and I spent all my profits that quick.

                 I realized I had been under pricing my items so badly that most were just barely covering cost.  I have always prided myself in having fair to low prices, but realized I could not continue creating if I didn't actually make a profit. I took a look a polymer clay and vintage finding necklace to calculate.

Sold for 27.75

About four dollars in fees between etsy and pay pall                                      4.00

Five dollars in polymer clay used                                                                               5.00

Six dollars worth of vintage beads and findings                                                  6.00

Three dollars in modern findings                                                                               3.00

A dollar and a half in branded packaging to send it out                                    1.50

Let's say in paints sealers pigments est. three dollars worth used                              3.00

And then I try to add a complimentary gift valued at five to ten                  5.00                                                                                                                                                                                                        ----------

This totaled is                                                                                                                    27.50

                I made twenty-five cents in profit, but when you consider I spent a total of four to five hours creating it. Paid minimum wage at 8.00 an hour totaling labor cost at 40.00.  I lost 39.75  

So in reality I have been grossly cheating myself and my family of both time and money. Something I can no longer do. I have to create, its not only part of who I am but necessary for my therapy and treatment of disabilities. But to continue on ETSY I have had to raise my rates to include at least half the time I spent creating each item.

I would have had to charge 67.50 on said item to pull even and additional for a profit. I could not bring myself to raise my prices so high even after reviewing, but at least now I will make sure that the high quality supplies I use and a portion of my time spent can be recovered.

I hope everyone understands and I do not lose too much business

Please let me know your opinion on the subject.

When the wind blows the cradle will rock

                I really don't know where I get these ideas. When I create I have to start somewhere. On this, it was seeing these cute little doll house babies on clearance at hobby lobby.  The only problem was when I pulled them out of their pink and blue blankets, they were ugly, I mean really ugly with bug plastic flashing, poor paint job, and creepily real skin tone. So nail polish to the rescue. I pulled out my teen's requisitioned black nail polish and painted on two coats. While the second coat was still wet, I dipped the little baby in a bottle of gold pearl powder. With surgical precision I whipped out the dreamel and pierced him through the toushey. Yes I put a big hole in his little toushey to string him into the wire wrapped birds nest.  I don't like to throw anything away I may one day use and the birds nest was a great way to use up the end of the spool wire bolts and pre-bent pieces I keep in a little jar.  The blossoms are transparent fimo clay rolled through a pasta machine and cut out with tiny cookie cutters. I detail them with a rounded edge tool and dry brush with oil paints. A few metal findings such as leaves from B'sues boutique. And a few yards of dyed ribbon latter and my baby is snug in a nest on a flowering bough.

Suppliers on etsy used in this creation

Lifestyle Inspirations

bsueboutiquesupplies

Goshen