Sneak Preview

Will and I have been working on our Etsy store side project in between all the eBay work, and are finally almost ready to list some things!

A bit of background... I found Etsy about a year ago, and often go there to oooh and aahh over all the beautiful work. I have had much restraint though, and only purchased one pair of earrings that I decided I couldn't live without. It would be extremely easy to go broke on that site!

I noticed that a lot of people sell jewelry there, at pretty good prices. I love to buy vintage costume jewelry at the sales, and I've sold (well, practically given away) some on eBay at auction, but none out of my store. I also have a lot of flawed jewelry - missing a stone, etc. - that I didn't know what to do with.

So, I proposed the idea of opening a shop on Etsy for the good costume jewelry, as well as taking some good and some flawed and re-creating new pieces that I am calling (for lack of a more creative name) Assemblage Jewelry. Other people on Etsy already do this, I don't know if I am joining the party too late or not, time will tell I guess!

Anyway Will liked the idea, he used to make jewelry back in his hippie days and really knows his way around a pair of needle nosed pliers, let me tell ya. So we set up a craft table and have been happily playing with piles of bits and bobs and jump rings... It is a great creative outlet for sure, and I think we are lucky that I am allergic to most metal now, or I would be keeping most of what we have made!

We could have had some things listed a couple of weeks ago, but we are struggling with the photos. Photos on Etsy are a whole different ballgame than on eBay, they are in a whole other league, actually. It's almost like creating an atmosphere that surrounds what you are selling, rather than just snapping some decent shots that show people what they are buying.

I want all of our photos to be unified, I don't want us to have to spend time setting up different backgrounds and scenes for every necklace like I see some people doing. We just don't have that kind of time! So it's been a struggle to come up with something that is quick but still interesting. We have gotten a couple of shots finally that I really kind of like, though I don't think we are all the way there yet...


I really like the sheet music background, it is interesting but not overwhelming. But I also like the sheet music cover photo that I put at the top of the post too, though I worry that it doesn't fit in with all the pieces we have made, just some of them. The music notes are general enough that I think they would work with anything. Maybe? I guess I am still deciding. ;)

We have plans for other things to go in the Etsy store too, mainly supply type things - ephemera/paper packs for people's collage and altered art projects, vintage craft books and kits, and blank books/journals. The possibilities are really kind of endless!

I'll definitely post when we have a few things listed, but I wanted to share what we have been up to, and I would love any comments or suggestions that you all may have! :)