A little about myself, my family and my practice – Feb 2012

For those of you who either know me or are already fans of my blog you may already know all about me, but for those of you who are new, here’s a little info about myself!

My name is Melissa, I am 24 and I live in a pretty village in Cornwall called Gunnislake. I have a little girl called Chloe who’s 17 months, and an ever suffering partner, Ian, who’s forever putting up with finding clay all over the house, or me glued to the computer “working” whilst NOT cleaning the house!

Most of my work is inspired by the countryside surrounding the South West. I work in porcelain, often slip casting and hand building. As well as my porcelain bowls and decorations I make loads of buttons! I love buttons – as does chloe who enjoys arranging them!

To see more of my work please go to my website or facebook page!

So this is the end of this post! I hope you have enjoyed hearing a bit about myself and my work.

Etsy – Timewaster or Moneymaker?

Having had an empty shop on etsy for a while I have recently decided to really take the plunge and push to get some sales through etsy! (hopefully)
So having read the zillions of blogs / posts / forum notes about “how to sell on esty” I THINK I get it (maybe?)!

In theory these 4 points will help me build a successful etsy shop!

1. Network through the etsy teams and forums!
2. Good / 5 photos
3. Lots of Listings / 2 pages plus
4. List items every day.

Network… I have joined to date 14 teams and try to chat in them as well as reading, but its difficult – I don’t know these people, so what do I say… “Hello! I dunno what to say, but hi, oh and have some virtual cake!” – seems pretty silly and pointless. I also update my listings on the “new things threads”, but personally I only ever look at the page I have posted on and only if I have to look at other posts to write mine – Is that just me???
Another part of networking is making “treasuries” where in you compile a list of 12 items from different shops all following a theme of your choice – there are teams to join which set a theme to help and get added coverage. OH but wait… you can’t use your own products – the hope is that others in your joined teams might show your product. These treasuries are so time consuming, I am sure I am slow as a beginner but 2 hours… REALLY! But then I did want to get it right! There are also circles, as I understand it you add a shop to your “circle” and then all the people who have circled you can see this new shop… This becomes a news feed when you add new items, renew listings, etc!
2. Good photos – this makes sense and I am in the process of re-photographing all my products, slow but necessary.
3. Lots of listings – people seem to recommend at least 2 pages. It was described to me like this…
“If you walk in to a new shop in a shopping mall which only has a few products on its shelves chances are you will walk straight out!”
This makes sense, but at $0.20 per item, it adds up fast.
4. Add a new item everyday – Cost!!! But this does keep you at the top of the listings which means added coverage for your shop!

So..
I am doing my best to follow the advice, which is turning me in to a hermit… I think at this point if I was to network as much as I “should” I would spend more time on the internet than making and socialising with real people.

I have come to the conclusion that etsy is defiantly a timewaster but weather it is a money-maker I really don’t know yet (though at £6 an hour I wonder!)

Social Networking – Is It Worth It?

I am rubbish at blogging… I have a fit of doing it for weeks on end – then something else takes over – this time it was facebook – I have spent months updating, networking, updating and yet more networking – and in fairness to facebook it works (I think) – I have had orders and publicity through it, but what I want to know is … Is it worth it?

It eats time, the constant “thank you for visiting my page” or “hello from @melissaceramics, I like your…”. Hands up if you have had to rack your brains for something nice to say because lets face it you HATE what the person produces, but you need to comment because they commented on you (and those are the RULES!) or there is the tiniest possibility that one of there likers might maybe see your post and like you then their friends friend friend might maybe if your really lucky make an order (in 10 years time!). Well maybe that’s OTT or maybe not – I don’t know!

I think of it like a craft fair… You see many people all of whom you make polite but generally useless conversation with, maybe one or two will buy, sometimes you have good fairs and sometimes bad, but the way you act is always the same! The beauty of facebook is you can do it when and as you like while getting on with work at the same time and you don’t have to come home with an aching face from grinning insanely all day! However at a fair people are there to buy, on social networking sites you have to keep doing it for it to work and you have to find your customers!

Overall as much as I complain I enjoy doing it – finding inspiration from other artists and crafts persons. And while I enjoy it I will keep doing it!

What do you think?

Creative Space Thursday!

For the second week I am joining in with kootoyoo’s Creative space! Remember to pop over and have a look at the other posts or add your link if you are joining in!

Today I have had bitten the bullet and got on with photographing my buttons, much needed for a long time, and not something I am very good at, anyhow – here the pictures are…

These are my small heart shaped buttons with butterfly and heart print, they come in red, yellow, green, blue, orange and purple.

They can be used as additions on clothing, textile projects, card making, as wedding favours or even to add to your wedding bouquet!

These are my porcelain heart shaped personalised letter buttons, also available in red, yellow, green, blue, orange and purple.

I had planed not to mention these again as I have blogged about them so much but, I am really pleased with how this picture as it shows them off well!

All these buttons and more are available in my facebook shop! Please come and “like” me to help me reach 100 likers!

That’s all for today! Thanks and remember to pop over to Kootoyoo’s blog to view more creative spaces!

Handmade Monday – New Letters

Welcome to my third handmade Monday post, and thank you again to Wendy over at 1stuniquegifts!

My last kiln firing cooled today so this morning was filled with suspense and excitement while I waited and waited and waited for the kiln to cool enough to open! I must have spent about an hour watching the numbers on the monitor gradually lower, while wondering has everything survived the firing, what will my new letter pieces look like? How have the glazes come out? Well, finally at lunchtime it was cool enough to open – only a crack at first (that is even more infuriating because I can sort of see all the top layer looks great, but I am still not 100% sure! Then WhooHooo! I can open it fully and the pieces are OUT!

The picture below shows the kiln and pieces ready for firing.

Kiln ready for firing!

I fire the kiln to 1260 degrees and then wait for the kiln to cool! It is always exciting to open the kiln and see the

results because the colours always change in firing – these become much brighter and bolder!

Porcelain Letter Pendants

The letters are something I have been working on for a while and are NOW available to buy through my facebook shop only! Remember facebook page fans get 10% discount in the shop and today (valentines day)I am offering a free gift with every order!

 

So thats me done for handmade Monday! I would love to see what you have made so head over to 1stuniquegifts and post your link!

Creative Thursday – Porcelain Personalised Buttons

“My creative space” is a bit of fun hosted every Thursday by kootoyoo. To play along just pop over to her page on a Thursday & add a link to the post showing what you’re working on that day.

So What am I making today…

BUTTONS again….

I am working on an 18th birthday order, here is the porcelain being worked on – still loads to do – but I needed a break!:

I also had to sew these buttons in to a gift box, I think a valentines gift:

And here is is all packaged up and ready to go!

These personalised buttons are available from £1.50 each in my facebook shop here

Thank you to kootoyoo for hosting. Remember to pop back over to her page for more Creative Thursday posts!

Tamar Embroideries – Free Tutorial – Finishing a Thread

This is the second Tamar Embroideries Tutorial – This covers Finishing a thread!

Finishing a Thread

When finishing a thread the idea is to secure and hide the thread end. There are several ways you can do this, the method you choose will depend on the fabric, thread and stitch you are working.

Method 1

Feed the thread through the back of the stitching – weave it backwards and forwards until it is secure. Cut off the remaining thread.

Method 2

Make two or three slip stitches that will be hidden by the embroidery stitches; feed the end of the thread through the back of the stitching, then cut off the remaining thread.

Method 3

Make two or three tiny stitches on top of each other that will be hidden by the embroidery stitches, or a button, bead or sequin; then cut off the remaining thread.

Thank you to Katy at Tamar Embroideries for producing these tutorials and letting me use them! Please check out her shop for fantastic hand dyed threads and fabrics.

Tamar Embroideries Hand Dyed Fabrics

In case you missed the last tutorial (starting a thread) click here to view!