New pretties...

My artists market market was on again last week, so I spent a bit of time at the torch and got a few new pieces of jewellery made. They will be available at either my Etsy or Artfire stores in the near future. The market was a bit quiet compared to the first month, but its still a great opportunity to promote my beads and jewellery, and my 'Flaming Hot Beadmaking Classes'.

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?

Solar Flare Creations

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.

Lights, Camera, Action!

The blog topic on Flaming Hot this week is about photographing beads for sale. I used to be a bit haphazard about the style of my bead photos, but after experimenting quite a bit over the years, I am now fairly consistent with the style I like. A lot of bead artists photograph their beads as strands, sometimes even with crystals or silver spacers included. That works really well for some people, but I have never felt 100% comfortable using that approach. I feel like I am putting preconceived ideas into the heads of potential buyers, as to how the beads could be used in jewellery. And I know that jewellery designers can come up with some amazingly creative ways to string beads (Just check out my friend Lisa's site for an example!). So, I have discovered that I am happier with a more random display of my beads, what appears to be a haphazard arrangement, (but that usually took ages to arrange!), generally combined with some clear overhead shots of the beads arranged flat, so that all the details are clear. I also think its really important to ensure the holes/ends can be seen clearly (as these can often be 'problem areas' on newbie beads), and both sides of major focals. I love being able to include multiple images, to show a range of combinations and viewpoints. I'm so glad I finally worked out how to use a html template for the auctions sites, so that I can upload as many images as I like, while only paying for one image to be hosted. The other thing about the way I photograph beads... I am a shocking procrastinator. I only seem to take photos when I have a great pile of beads cleaned and ready to go, and then I force myself to my little 'studio' set up. I have a very small, portable, fabric softbox to diffuse my lights - high wattage from the hardware store, and they are incredibly bright and hot. It is physically uncomfortable due to heat and glare, and I have burnt myself on the lights more than once. So, I do have an excuse for putting it off... really.