Ok, so first, I fixed the pictures from last time. Second:

All of these were made by Rosie of EclecticTea.  What I love is that she had a bunch of these thick bangles (the 1st bunch) and just improvised with what she had.
TUTORIAL:
So here's a heads up. The tutorial is coming out in two or three days. As usual, I'm going to offer a special coupon to you guys on this here blog for 2 days. So... the last one was  21 pages or so, right? So far, we have one 7 page sub-tute all about oxidizing. Then I have a 33 page main tute. That's 33 pages so far. Cuz I have a little bitty project that I could add to it as another source of possibilities cuz the elements are dimensional. . . or I could say fuckit and done.
So y'all kidding with the video tute, right? Like, I'd have to figure out how to work a video camera and the only one we have is hubs professional-grade huge... and then edit!?!?! are you trying to kill me!?!?!

So look at this sweet thing. I got it for my little sister as a housewarming present. Well, really it was just a way to get her to get rid of this hideous thing she and husband got in Dominican Republic once. Which is so crazy cuz I just remembered that's stuck on to Haiti, where this is from! Anyway, it's this workshop of artisans called HaitianMetal who make these  out of old oil drums. So really it was just an excuse to support them and get some cheap gorgeous art.
This one is 24" across, and I think even more tall and it was $85!

<-While I was at it I also got her this one. They also make switchplates and house numbers and mermaids with dreads and angels and Mommas on bicycles.

 Has anyone been having any sales lately? I'm not complaining cuz my tute sales have more than made up for it, but... Is it tax season or because I'm not constantly posting new things cuz I'm working on the next tute? I don't mind. And I actually sold something today, it's just been really weird... 

Sparrowsalvage is having a sale and you can get the coupon code on her blog. These.This.These. 

And her photography shop's also having a sale.

<-Like this one.

You get the idea. I gotta eat something.

Oh so Numinositybeads convoed me to thank me for putting up pictures of what I got from her and said that it had given her her first sales bump on etsy. She mentioned something about selling things as fast as she got them up. So I got curious. Next thing I know, I was purchasing the following even though I haven't used what I already got from her and haven't been making any jewelry and haven't been selling and am going to Uruguay to buy stuff and and and:

This is on a flippin rusty nail for Chrissakes.

Like, I actually couldn't stand the thought of anyone but me owning these things. Which is insane in an if-I-can't-have-you-no-one-will kind of way. And I'm not like that. I'm a sharer. I'm a lover not a fighter.  I'm a maker not a breaker! ...

I don't know what I saying again.

Busy as I am w/the next tute, I have no pictures of my own to show. I do however, have some more grandkids:

↑These from the lovely enollah who seems to be without any linkage. How retro!

Happyfallout also→

Both of you ladies did excellent work. But I will be  getting you addicted to the ways of oxidation in the upcoming tutorial. Y'all asked for it, I am but your humble servant.

And once again it might be getting all long and unwieldy. I'm thinking I'm going to stick to the 25MB or less thing. Maybe. Well, I'm going to try to keep it contained. It's just that same thing of "oh this is a synch" until it comes time to actually explain a thing. Suddenly the history of astro-dynamics, the stock market crash of 1893 and the mythology of the pre-Olympians comes into play. Except that I have no idea what I'm saying. I edited a thousand photos today, is what.

Oh but before moving on, I wanna share a bead collection in Happyfallout's shop right now:
She uses raku techniques to get results quite unlike anything I've ever seen. So the shiny ones and the charcoal ones are both raku! ok?










From lana guerra...

↓

These are all in her shop, BlackLodgeJewelry.


Except for these which she tells me sold within 30 minutes of listing:
Girl ain't shy with the color!

Then TuscanRose who'se been making these since before she bought the tute, so I don't know if they count:

And in her sold section:
I love her incorporation of the measuring tape.

OK, so here's a vid because my tits are the size of watermelons. And if that sentence made no sense... See, a while ago I used to put up cute animal videos every time I was PMSing... cuz it somehow made me feel better... . Whatever. You need to turn the sound up or it makes no sense. I mean, it'll still make no sense...

Listing tips with unrelated proud momma photos of bangles.

I make listing items on etsy easier by writing the text previous to listing, with its title on top. I have a simple program called TextEdit, you all proly have something similar on your PCs that is just the simplest thing for writing up notes with minimal frills?
OK, once you have that text ready and your photos all edited and good to go, find the item in your shop that is most similar to the one you're listing and click it. On top you'll see a blue bar with several options. Click 'Copy.' You can also do this with sold items.
Now you will be in the 'list item' page of that item- but it won't be that item! That item is still safe in your shop. Now remove all the pictures and upload the pictures of your new item you're listing. Remember, etsy gives you 5 chances, use them all. Show the backs of your items, show a size comparison, let the person really know what they're getting. Also, the 1st picture has to be your 'eye-catcher.' This might be a portion of the item, it might be the item in a rumpled pile- it just has to be your prettiest picture.

Beatnheart

Next go to your text where you have it opened in a window, highlight it and click controlC to save it. PC users I think also have a right-click way to do this. Mac users will actually click the apple icon and C. Go to the description area, highlight all the text with title and press controlV to paste all the new text. This is also useful if there's a part at the end that you like to include in all your texts. Some people like to mention shipping, a sale or maybe there's a description of the piece that is similar to your new and copied listing. This way you can just not highlight that part when you paste your new text. Don't forget to change your title too! Triple click the title section to highlight it all and press delete. Go to your text where the title is in the beginning of it, and triple click it, drag and drop it into the title slot. Can someone please remind me what the little boxes you write shit in are called?

readbetweenlines 

Now go to the tags, remove what doesn't fit, and add whatever needs adding. This will be especially easy if you have a series of similar pieces or if you make a lot of beads in the same style or material.
Anyways, then click Preview and then Publish. Das it!

By the way, if you make beads and sales are slow, try splitting your beads into smaller lots. Remember people are cheap! buying a whole strand for $20 is a big commitment! Also, the reason people always need to destash is from having to buy whole strands of beads but only having plans for, say, 3 of them. So try selling in batches of 3. You don't need to change your pictures or description, just add '3PCS' to the title and in the description, include "You will receive three (3) pieces."

potterygirl1

Nonsense since my camera batteries aren't charged....

From my faves. Here.

Sale was a rousing success. (Have you noticed how many times in writing we use expressions that we read somewhere that we'd never actually say? Like 'rousing success.' What the hell is 'rousing?')
A particularly sunny spot was that 5 of the purchases were coupon-less. Which means A- people still lurve me even without the coupon. And B- blog readers are mostly fellow starving artists, somewhat separate from my pool of buyers, as you can see in my jewelry maker graphic.

lost in thought

Forged Bottle Openers 

Yesterday I had fun making pretty packages and then less fun with printing labels and such. Which reminds me! There is no reason you should ever buy packaging supplies. For example, the packages I made today were priority mail boxes stuffed with ripped up styrofoam egg cases, cardboard boxes, the plastic my toilet paper 24-pack came in and you know those little baggies us jewerly makers are always swimming in? (Us and drug dealers, doncha know.) Well I'm stuffing those with my paper scraps and making little padded bags o' padding-->

From.

Open your pantry, you have a zillion boxes you'll just toss. those make awesome stuffing, but they also make awesome packages in and of themselves, if you don't do priority, which most don't.

From.

From.

Another bit I keep forgetting to tell y'all! Go see shipwreckdandy's dos and don'ts for polymer beginners. She posted a link in the forums a while ago. I'm a polymer non-starter but even I could see how much sense they made.




**P.S.- If etsy doesn't bring me back my rollover text I'ma loose it.

From.

From.