Friday 25 April 2008

Twilight Zone moments...

Things have been quiet around here lately. Well, as far as having interesting things to talk about goes. In actuality its been crazy at my place for the last few weeks. Jason has been working almost everyday, which is unusual in itself (and has meant I've actually had to cook dinner every now and again! *gasp*), and I have been crazy busy with work and rehearsals. Only 2 weeks till we open, which after last nights rehearsal, is a very scary thought. Add in all Jason's SCA training, some tennis lesson (yes, I've taken up tennis), an overnight Professional Development training and the odd day of weekend work for Jason as well, and we have been the proverbial ships passing in the night. My kiln has also been broken for 3 weeks, so no new pretties to show off (and the timing sucks, as the magazine article comes out in a couple of weeks). By now you are probably wondering why the twilight zone was mentioned in the post title. I had the strangest couple of coincidences occur at the PD yesterday. Seriously weird.
There were about 74 teachers at this workshop, and in the afternoon, we were asked to pair and share something we had been working on. A young lady asks me if I'm working with anyone, and she explains that she was a student at the school I teach at. So, I check her name badge, to see where she teaches at, and lo and behold - she works at the school that I went to. Weird. So, we then wasted a good 10 minutes wandering down memory lane and seeing what teachers were still around.
At the end of the day, on the way home, I'm waiting in the car park to get my keys from the attendant. Another lady is waiting also - one that I had sat next to twice that day. She grabs her keys and walks off, I follow shortly after. "Your car is the last on the right" he says. As I walk through the car park, I see my car ahead, and realise its on the left, not the right. I think disparaging thoughts about the attendant and his ability to identify left and right, heading towards 'my' car. Only to see the door open, and the other lady hop in. *huh?* She points across the car park "Yours is over there". On the right. We had the same model and colour. And that is actually pretty unusual, as its not silver, or white or something, but an odd reddish tan colour, which I've only ever seen on that model car. As she drives out past me, I notice her car is also missing the rubber strip on the door, as is mine. Just weird.
Just to continue the theme of coincidences, I stopped in a fast food place on the way home to use the loo, and another car of the same make and model was parked behind me. Honestly, they are not that common...

Tuesday 1 April 2008

Where to put the beads?

The Flaming Hot topic for this week is asking 'What does your website do for you?'. That's interesting timing, as I am in a quandary at the moment about my options regarding my best online selling venue.
My website has not worked particularly hard for me so far. I have received a few queries from it, particularly for my historical beads, but no sales from the jewellery available there.
Because I don't make beads full time, it's sometimes difficult to divide my work between the various venues, as I don't make enough to keep them all stocked. So, I chose a while ago not to sell loose beads on my website, as Just Beads was working better for me. Unfortunately, it has not been selling well at all this year, and I haven't had anything up there for awhile - I've been paying auction fees for nothing. So, do I put the sets I have up on my website, or in my Etsy store? Or do I make it into jewellery and sell it to friends and colleagues? That used to work well for me, but I have dropped the jewellery making way back, as I didn't have enough beads for both.
Next month I am going to be the featured artist in one of Australia's major beading magazines. I am hoping that will get a lot more local attention to my website (currently 99% of my customers are from the USA), so I am leaning towards putting the bead sets up there. Perhaps I should get a proper online store organised before then? Do you think people are more likely to buy if they can just click a button, rather than email you?
So, while my website might not have been earning it's keep so far, I'm hopeful that things can improve? What other suggestions do people have? Any feedback on my current site?
On a slightly different note, as I havent posted any eye candy in a while, here is a photo of a bracelet I made for a friends birthday last week.