Etsy!

I finally put stuff in my Etsy shop! I didn't put much in there - after getting photos ready to post (took forever!) I realized that I need to re-shoot pretty much everything. So I only have my earrings up. I'll be re-shooting the necklaces this weekend. 

Here are some examples

 

 

I decided to wear some - those photos were not easy! But I like to see the relative size of things and wearing it seems to be the best way to show that. Also - that little metal thing holding up the cards? I made it in one of my very first metal smithing classes ever - in high school! It was for some kind of soldering exercise. Apparently I liked it so much I decided to keep it for going on something ridiculous like 15 years (give or take). I'm glad I did b/c it came in very handy! I think I may keep using it to photograph my pieces...

Procrastination - aka My Etsy is still not up - aka if Time Managment were a class I would probably fail it. And that's really the point - not failing.

I was putting off writing this post in the hopes that I would not procrastinate and have my etsy shop up and running by now. This post is evidence that that hasn't happened. If you've clicked on the "my etsy" link on this blog this is what you will see:



That's right - nothing. That's not true this is what you see:

Very close to nothing.

The thing is - posting on Etsy is a lot more difficult then I ever thought! I know my life is so difficult. Well it's way more time consuming then I ever thought it would be. I really thought I would get it done in one evening.  Which brings us to my horrible time management skills. There really is nothing more to say on the subject than that - I'm really bad at managing my time. I try to squeeze way too much stuff into a little tiny window of time. Add to the mix that I'm a huge procrastinator and here we are at least two weeks after I said I'd have my Esty shop up, and well, I have a banner done... even if it is the same banner from this very blog. It's a start!

In my very first post I declared that I would use this blog as a way to hold myself accountable (as you can see I need it b/c I put things off!). But why am I putting this off - I need to sell my pieces (and stop wearing them - we'll get to that). I think everyone who has/is/or will put themselves "out there" has had this moment. The moment right before it begins when you haven't failed b/c you haven't begun. So to be completely truthful I haven't put my Etsy shop up yet b/c if I don't - I can't fail - I can't succeed either but that's not the fear.

In one of my meetings with my business consultant he said to me "I usually don't like working with artists because they can't seem to let go."... Yep! It was true when the university wanted to buy one of my metal pieces and I said "No way - I want that" You know where it is now? Not at the University of Iowa on display for all time - it's in my bathroom holding hair ties.

Evidence:

And it's true now when every time I make something new and I say to myself "Ooh, I like this - I think I'll wear it tomorrow." But will you (collective universal you) like it!?

Photography

So I'm not the best photographer - this is why I like screen printing and metal smithing - b/c with these mediums when I picture something in my head I can usually recreate it exactly as I see it in my minds eye, no problem. The same is not true when it comes to my photography. I never seem to get the correct angels and don't even get me started on lighting! My main problem with this art form is  that there is so much that is out of my control that I haven't learned to manipulate to my advantage yet. I have no problem using a torch to make metal completely malleable but shadows in photography make me cry with frustration. The whole point of this is that I'm trying to learn how to shoot my pieces - and I'm never completely satisfied with the outcome. Below are some examples of my latest attempts.

My opinion - meh. But! I won't give up! I should probably just cough up the money to get my things photographed professionally but it seems more practical for me to do this myself - or rather learn to do this myself as I need to take pictures as I'm creating and it just doesn't seem practical to make weekly photography appointments.

Here's a really bad one!

Okay maybe these aren't so bad and I'm just being hard on myself (maybe I should stop comparing myself (a newbie to this) to other who have a lot more experience!).

But I believe this is a very important skill especially because I am attempting to sell my pieces to people that can not feel or see (or try on) these things for themselves in real life - so the photography really needs be spectacular! That's how I shop - I've noticed that if the picture doesn't really do the piece justice I will move on (I'm assuming most people are like me - which may not be the case - but I'm still going with this generalization).

At any rate - I'm behind my schedule of posting my pieces to etsy so I'm just going to use what I have at the moment and continue to re-shoot until I'm satisfied. 

I'm expecting as I continue with this that my photography skills will improve or I just need a magic camera that is incapable of taking a bad photo... yes, I think that's my answer - magic.

Accomplishments - Kind of

So, while I feel like I haven't really accomplished that much in the past week (or two) since I last blogged - now that I'm actually writing it out I think I have! I have a preliminary business card.

I couldn't decide on colors - so I picked two!

This is just the front - it's sort of a prelim logo design. I can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to design. I will redesign something to within an inch of it's life - so, I'm not completely satisfied with these. But I like the colors... The thing is, my business consultant told me I should come up with a logo; but not a text logo. However, I'm a bit of a font enthusiast so I like the idea of just using a font; but I understand where he is coming from. People need to be able to easily identify my brand.

But when I think about it I kind of like this design - maybe I should listen to my gut and go with the text... Well, that's what I'm going with at the moment. I'm also having a stamp made (it's similar to the above but slightly different) to stamp my packages when people start buying my pieces.

Speaking of buying - I'm still getting the photography straightened out (remember that perfectionist comment?) But I've found the packaging I want to use (exciting!) and soon I'll have my stamp! So maybe I did accomplish a bit more then I thought - logo, business cards, packaging. Oh, I've also come up with a display idea - more on that later!

So, in other news - my assumed business name was published... incorrectly. This will be the confession portion of this post. I can be a pessimist at times. As hard as I try there always seems to be this little voice in the back of my mind going "this won't work". And well, when I saw the incorrect posting I thought "is this a sign, that this won't work?" No. I called the Chicago Reader where it was published and the woman was very nice and fixed everything for me! She even called the city people (not sure who "the city people" are) to make sure this wouldn't set me back - and it won't! So all good on that front - I am now an official business in the City of Chicago - yay!

Next stop - Etsy. I'll be posting my store to Etsy this week. Look for that!

ETA: after reading through this post I feel I should have titled it - It's Official! - or something more positive to that effect and lead with the fact that I am now an official business. Having said that, narrowing my business card colors down to only two was way more difficult then registering my business...