On to Day 8 of our 25 Days Of Christmas Celebration!!! We'd like to welcome another wonderful artist, crafter and lady,
Diana of
Charmed Baubles'nBeads! She is not only an amazing jeweler, but also an amazing person with a lot of interesting stories to tell. Moreover, she's got such a great storytelling talent, that you will absolutely love reading her interview!
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"Don't take things too seriously; not even your Etsy shop!"
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Keep reading and find out a tiny bit about her creativeness, her charm and also learn some great advice that any seller should be aware of!
1. Please share a little something about yourself!
Ah, what to share. That I’m the disinherited, only daughter
of a fabulously wealthy family? That I practice white magic at midnight to
combat the evil that lurks? Or how about the truth? I bet that’s what you want,
right?
I’m a woman of 60+ years who has finally begun to acquire a smidgen of wisdom
and is learning to let go and just be. Ahhhh, it’s like a lovely, cool breath
of fresh air.
Nothing lasts forever, neither the good nor the bad. Hold the good close and
when it’s bad, just hang on and act like it’s good.
I love the romantic, the whimsical, the silly, good fun.
Don’t take things too seriously; not even your Etsy shop!!
Parkinson’s bludgeoned it’s way into my life a few years ago and my old
pursuits were closed to me. It seems very odd, but I can manage the beading and
even the finishing, something I thought I’d have to leave to others. However,
there are constraints. More later.
2. Tell us about your shop – what made you open your shop
and when did it happen? Also, what items do you sell?
Frankly and bluntly, I needed an outlet for my output. Jewelry making is a therapeutic hobby for me. One day I looked around and said,
“Yikes! What am I going to do with all this?” I donated to various charity
auctions, gave gifts. But there was still a LOT
left. Then someone said “Etsy”. And I said “Really? Me?”
I make and sell jewelry. It’s mostly necklaces and bracelets, but ID and
eyeglass lanyards, too. I don’t do many earrings. Somehow I just don’t seem to
have a “feel” for them. I do make matching earrings on request and occasionally
I am inspired to make a few pair.
I opened my virtual shop doors on April 1, 2012. No foolin’! It was a state tax
thing that caused me to choose that date. I believe the official Etsy date is
January, but the shelves were empty ‘till April 1.
3. What’s the story behind your creations? What got you to
create the items you’re making?
A badly designed commercial necklace started it all. The
clasp was nearly impossible to do, even for my nimble fingered daughter-in-law,
so I cut the wire!
That was about 200 necklaces ago.
I just love the beads! The colors, the shapes, the textures. I find
manipulating the wire, beads and even the tools to be quite forgiving. If I
need to just stop and put everything down, I can. Fabric, patterns and the sewing
machine are much harder for me to deal with. I’ve given them up completely. I
only do the occasional small handwork task.
Jewelry making and beading provide a wonderful creative outlet.
4. Please pick one of your items that you feel is most
representative for your shop and tell us what makes it the most special?
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| "I just love the beads!" |
This necklace is what I choose as being representative of my
shop.
A. It is multi-layered.
B. It is diverse, eclectic.
C. It “works”. The pendant doesn’t match anything in the necklace, but it
brings the whole piece together.
D. While there are a number of disparate parts, it’s really simple and not at
all complicated.
That’s Charmed Baubles N Beads. I don’t have one style. Each piece I do depends
on the materials I choose. Sometimes I want to experiment with a new technique.
Until now, all my jewelry was beads strung on cord or wire.
Lately I find
myself tentatively moving into using chain more and doing a little bit of wire
work. I love knotting, too. But it’s very, very, labor intensive for me and I
can’t do too much. If you see something where I used knots, it is very special,
indeed!
5. Please share a little wisdom on time management! How do
you organize your time? How does a typical day selling on Etsy look like – time
spent on orders, on teams, promoting on social media etc?
Time management. If that means how time manages me, then I
can relate ‘cause, I don’t feel like I manage my time at all! When I am able to
work I do. When I can’t work, I can piss and moan because I can’t.
I’m afraid I’m one of those people who, when they get into a task, just want to
run with it, and other tasks can suffer.
I do have a very loose framework for my time. But I never know how much time
I’ll be granted to work before I start “experiencing technical difficulties,”
i.e. my “parts” quit working.
My Parkinson’s is hemiplegic. It affects the right side more than the left.
Sometimes I end up doing a lot of one handed typing. It's time consuming and
tiring. Still, I prefer it to just sitting.
6. Speaking of Etsy teams, what do you look for in them?
What makes you choose a particular one?
I haven’t been on any teams for very long and I’m still
learning what a team and I can do for each other. I’m just so impressed by SPS
Team! It is very active and practical. I feel like some teams just have
activities for the sake of activities, but the activities don’t really bear
fruit. Not so here!
Also, I really like the people I’ve met on this team. They are very helpful and
friendly.
7. What’s the best advice you received when you first began selling?
Also, what advice would you give to new sellers – whether it’s about promoting
items, shipping, photography, communicating with clients or whatever else you
feel that new sellers should be aware of?
My advice is photography, photography, photography!
I know that, as a buyer, if a picture is dark, out of focus, or worst of all,
published sideways, I don’t even give it a glance. People kept telling me my
photos were “good enough”. “They’re good enough for Etsy.” I didn’t have much
choice and published what I had. But I definitely felt people were wrong; so I
kept trying to better my pictures. Then, earlier this year I got a handout on
photography. Revelations! I began to be able to understand my camera better and
to be much more effective in my shots. When I photograph my pieces now, they
look more like what I am seeing live.
I learned about white balance and cobbled together a light box. My son has one
professional studio light that he rarely uses and I definitely think that helps
my pictures, too.
I wish I could say re-shooting almost everything in the shop opened things up
and sales skyrocketed. But they didn’t. Sigh. However, I definitely started
getting more notice and pieces were getting picked up for treasuries. It was
the same jewelry, but more effectively presented.
Our customers have nothing more than the picture we present and a brief
description. We need to have those things in tip-top shape. Then everything
else can flow from that, namely, communication, prompt, reliable shipping with
careful packaging.
8. What are your goals regarding your shop for the near
future?
My goals are modest, keeping the shop open, trying to add
new things more often. I have finished jewelry. Getting it photographed, writing a description,
unfortunately, I’m always behind on these tasks.
I want to explore new areas, whether it’s a technique I want to try or a color
combination or a mix of beads. I want to balance learning the new with improving
the established. I want to keep my jewelry fresh, current.
Maybe it will keep
me fresh and current, too!
There's no doubt about it, Diana is - as i was saying at the beginning - a great crafter and a great person. The
SPS Team is grateful to have had the pleasure of interviewing her and we wish her the best of luck!
Visit Diana's shop for more beautiful jewelry:
PRESENTED TO YOU BY OUR LEADER:
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I'm Andreea and along with my husband we create "paper miracles". We make cardstock boxes of various shapes and sizes, but also other paper goodies such as die cuts, envelopes, table numbers, gift tags, coasters and more! We truly hope that you will enjoy them just as much as we enjoy making them!
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