Wednesday listings are in the shop

Enjoy all of the glass and enamel choices tonight.

They are all pairs for easy earrings for upcoming summer shows.

If you don't see something you need in the shop, just ask, I may have it in my inventory.

I also welcome custom orders there is about a 7-10 day wait right now.

Thanks for visiting.

Giveaway winner

Congratulations to Beverly of Beads by Bev

You are the winner of a collection of Gardanne glass and enamel beads and jewelry components valued at $75.

Please contact me via my etsy shop with your contact information and I will get your winnings in the mail ASAP.

Thanks to all that gave me feedback on whether to include my bead stash with my handmade items as coordinating collections.

The majority of customers preferred to have the handmade beads on their own, since they may already have some coordinating beads in their own collections. However, there was also enough interest included in the feedback regarding purchasing collections of stones, Czech glass, vintage beads,etc. from my stash.

So based on this feedback I will open a destash shop, I am not going to say that I will never make any jewelry again but the supply end of my business definitely gives me more pleasure.

I will reserve the jewelry making to an occasional local show, gifts for family and friends, and a local shop that has been working out well for me. 

The name of this new shop will be 
Gardanne Etc. 

I will keep you posted when the shop will be opened.

Other ideas generated from your feedback:

- I will not mix my handmade beads with my destash shop, however I may make some glass and enamel color combination suggestions in the product descriptions that I feel would work well together. Of course I could always be contacted via my etsy shop for any color questions, and I could also send photos.

- As with my Gardannebeads shop policy if the colors do not work for you they can be returned no questions asked.

- Another advantage of selling small collections of beads to you is the ability to purchase higher end stones without investing in an entire strand. 

- I don't have all the details worked out yet but there will be benefits to shopping in both my shops. Probably one shipping fee if purchases made in both shops, I could also combine the value of purchases from both shops and if they are over $50 you would get free domestic shipping.

- Of course there are always coupon code ideas, especially as etsy continues to expand our coupon code options.

So thanks so much as you can see your feedback has helped me a great deal, so please don't hesitate to offer more suggestions, the goal is always to meet your needs.

We will see how this goes and once my stash is gone there is always the chance that I will keep the shop going, time will tell. It is important to me that this shop can't take away from my first business  priorities  which are the Gardannebeads shop and my shows.

On the road

Well I am in Marlborough , Massachusetts for the innovative bead expo, and I will not be back until Tuesday. The shop as always will remain open but I will not be able to ship any orders until I get back on Tuesday.

Last Reminder that I will be picking a winner for my bead giveaway on Tuesday. 

So if you have not already head over to this blog post for all the details.

See you when I get home, I will have all the etsy shop update dates for May.

Copying, my thoughts

First of all I hate the c word because it means different things to different people, and I have seen very few posts that addresses the issue in a fair and reasonable way.

So here goes....

I have been enameling brass stampings for over three years now, I started torch firing because I purchased Barbara Lewis's tutorial and bead pulling station on line. 

It was not incredible talent and creativity that started me enameling on brass, it was just because I did not know that the conventional wisdom is that you cannot.

When Barbara's book came out and I read that you "can't enamel on brass," I panicked. Because I already had been selling enameled brass components for over a year, I called Thompson enamel and they too said it can't be done. 

I had visions of angry customers calling me with enamel falling off all their jewelry. But the reality was that I had been selling these components for over a year and no customers had complained of the enameling failing. I did not know what I was doing right but it was working.

Over three years into this and I still have a perfect track record ( I probably just jinxed myself). The great thing about enameling on any metal is that if it is going to fail it fails immediately, so those pieces never make it to my shop and my customers.

So why am I writing this post...

I am starting to see artists enameling on brass stampings, I am actually surprised it took this long. If I could figure this out by accident someone else could as well.

These new and vintage brass stampings are out there for all to purchase, not just me.

But what I am starting to see is people enameling on the exact same stampings I enamel on, even altering the stamping in the same way that I have.

 Is this copying? No I still do not believe it is copying. Like I said before these are manufactured stampings that are out there for all to purchase.

The part that frustrates me is that the stampings that I choose to enamel took a great deal of trial and error, failed experiments, and cost. I have mountains of brass stampings that did not work that I have no use for. 

OK, I vented that feels better.

The bottom line is you don't need my permission to enamel the same stampings that I use, but I would like to encourage you to also explore and experiment on your own as well. You will discover like I have little tips and tricks that result in a beautifully crafted enamel component for your customers. 

The good thing about competition is this will push me to get more creative and unique with my enameled components, which in the long run can only benefit my customers and I.

P.S. I only put copying in the post title to get people to read it.

I welcome any of your thoughts on this topic.

Addendum:  I have received quite a few messages today stating that I think copying is OK. The purpose of this post was to bring attention to a specific issue regarding my enameled components, and that is where my opinions end. Please do not read more into this than what is written. 

Bead giveaway reminder

Here is a link to my blog post with the details of my bead giveaway. I am not picking a winner until I return from a bead show in early May so you have plenty of time to enter.

Thanks so much to those of you that have already commented on my question, I feel like I have my own personal focus group. Your feedback has already generated some interesting ideas that I have regarding a destash shop.

Some housekeeping:

My dear friend from high school passed away this week so I will be traveling and not be home until late Monday. 

All orders I have already received will be shipped tomorrow, the rest will be shipped on Tuesday.

Thanks for your patience.

Late update, in the wee hours of Thursday

It is going to be past midnight east coast friends, some unexpected personal business came up.

Check back in the morning, and thanks for your patience.

Bead Update and Giveaway

First the bead update, today is a listing day so new glass and enamel beads will be headed to the shop later this evening. 

As usual I will keep you posted on facebook and here as I get closer to the listings going live.

Second...

I have a question for you, and you know when I have questions I usually have a giveaway. This is my way of thanking you for your help in guiding my decision making.

I have been thinking of ways to destash, not for my handmade items, but for all those beads I have in my stash. As you know jewelry making has taken a backseat to my supply shop. Sometimes I feel guilty about that, but the reality is my supply shop and bead shows keep me very busy (thank goodness) so the supply shop needs to be my focus for now.

So I have all of these wonderful beads and natural stones collecting dust...

The question for you is, would you like to see me including some manufactured beads and/or natural stones with a few of my enamel and glass choices? I am thinking of small collections that would coordinate with my handmade beads.

For example, if I was selling a focal in the shop I would include a small collection of natural stones and/or manufactured stones that would coordinate with the focal. It's up to you whether you would like to use them together or save the extras for a future project.

The reason I am thinking of this is to not only send my massive collection of beads to homes where they can be made into jewelry, but also after speaking to my customers at the beads shows I am realizing that many towns do not have access to a bead shop like I do. So this would hopefully be an additional way to meet some of my customers needs.

What about cost? These coordinating beads are not handmade so they would not add a great deal to the cost of the handmade bead. 

Here is an example of some glass I have been making this week with some coordinating Czech glass. 

*This photo does not represent the giveaway*

So if you could tell me what you think of this idea, and as usual your honest opinion is appreciated, I will not be offended if you think this idea s_ _ _ _ . 

Leave your opinion in the comment section, and this will entitle you to one vote.

If you would like to link to this post that would be great, however there still will only be one vote per entrant. 

I have an out of town show coming up the first weekend in May so the drawing will be after I get home on Wednesday, May 7th. 

What will you get?

I don't have a photo of what I will be giving away. But trust me it will be good, it will mostly be glass but I probably won't be able to help myself and I will throw in some enamel, there will also be some coordinating czech glass and natural stones. So I am thinking the value of this giveaway will be at least $75.

Thank you ahead of time for participating, and please check back later to see the new glass and enamel listings in the shop later tonight.