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Tuesday, January 1, 2008

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! :)

3 comments:

  1. hey there, just dropped by (its me monica, the previous vintage goodness person) I've enjoyed reading through and really like the jewelry you've designed, but maybe the tonality of the sheet music is too close to the jewelry? Maybe you should try some vintage subtly shaded fabric behind the necklaces?

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  2. Hi Monica! I'm so glad you came by and that you like what I've done with the place! ;) I was kind of thinking the same thing that you were about the sheet music, the jewelry doesn't "pop" as much as it could...

    I have a few other things I am going to try before I make the final decision. It is hard to find something that is generic enough to work with every piece, but at the same time interesting enough to add a bit of atmosphere. I will definitely try something with a bit of color, thanks for the input!

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  3. Love the jewelry creations!

    The music composition backgrounds are just too cool. Now you've got me thinking about using better backgrounds for our images.

    Have a great week - I'll be posting some photos of the Russel Wright dinnerware once we get back into town early next week.

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