i hate epoxy

all you crafty etsy friends of mine, how in the world do you use 2-part epoxy without making a huge mess?

here's what i did today:



note that some of these are very... gluey. take this one for example:



it got this way because i wear gloves when i work with epoxy (i thought i was being smart!), and when i press the bail down after applying the epoxy, the goop gets on my gloves, which gets all over everything else, as you can see. what do my fellow etsians do to prevent this? and furthermore, how do you keep the goopidge under control when squirting it out? if i use a little, it looks good but doesn't stick, and when i use this amount, it sticks but looks like crap. or am i the only one who cares what the back of a pendant looks like?

as if my epoxy woes weren't enough, i'm also having magnet problems. it turns out that sometimes i use too little glue when attaching the magnet to my wood pieces for my magnet sets, so the magnet pops off when attached to the fridge or wherever. i feel really bad about this, as i have sold a few of these sets. i hope if my customers have a problem, they'll let me know so i can fix the situation. but also, i've given sets as gifts! ugh. i gave a set to my mom for mother's day, and she was the one who told me that one of her magnets popped off. i feel really bad :(. i guess i will try using epoxy to attach them in the future, and i'm also going to try using smaller magnets. until then, i've removed all circle magnet sets from my shop. the star magnet set is fine, so that's good, at least.

hmph. what a day!

but i did manage to get this pretty little thing listed:



'kyoto'. see, i was able to make a few bails attach with epoxy with no problems (ahem, last week).

maybe today just isn't my day?

by the way, i only have 4 more tile pendant necklaces left in stock! if you love 'ginkgo in green', 'ginkgo in chai', 'chiyo', or 'scribble scrabble', grab 'em while you can!

alright, time for me to remake a gift set i sold today (to a fellow austinite! how cool!).

♥,
melissa

eddie izzard, new items, and the day i was bombarded with sales

i've just added this cutie to my shop! this is the first piece of my new collection of aanraku bail pendant necklaces, which i am calling washi-scape pendants. the piece above, 'sugar blossom', is a "portrait scape" pendant necklace (being more tall than it is wide), and i have also made another style, which are "horizon scape" pendant necklaces (which are wide).

these little ones are about the size of a scrabble tile, at 1" x 3/4", but in no way am i going the scrabble tile route! that market is way oversaturated, and i always try to find ways to do something different. brandon cut each piece of wood for me, and i filed them all down, one at a time, to make them perfect. also, this is the line i was refering to when i was talking about my epoxy problems. i think i've got it all under control now :p.

i really like the aanraku bail style. at first i was hesitant, but they do look really nice, and i was able to inflict my own style on these so they stand out from all those scrabble tile pendants on etsy. it's my hope that these are a big hit :).

and oh! my sale is going really well so far, too! i've sold 10 tile pendant necklaces so far this month, which is great! i've gotta make room for all the new stuff i'm planning, in addition to my washi-scape line ;). if you have your eye on one of those tile pendants, grab it while you can! and if you see one in my "sold" section that you want, let me know and i'll make one specially for you and it will still be just $4 throughout this month :).

i also listed this pretty piece:



this is 'peace crane', part of another, small line i am doing call "deluxe pendant necklaces". let me tell you, you wouldn't think so maybe, but a lot of work went into this little guy! i am very proud of it :). it's got a glossy sealer on top, giving it a very shiny look that is different from the other items i sell. also, the washi paper (such a cute crane!) is mounted on a stainless steel pendant plate, making it heavier than my other necklaces. it comes on a pretty white organza ribbon and it neatly tucked inside a matching pendant box, all for $17 :).

okay, now i've got to tell you about my saturday! saturday was eddie izzard day, and he was amazingly hysterical as always :). like i said in a previous blog, no cameras were allowed, but i took a picture of the shirt i bought and my ticket stubs for you to see:



the only disappointing aspect of the show was that he didn't dress up in his normal garb (he jokingly refered to himself as "an off-duty transvestite", haha). but his act was very funny :).

eddie wasn't the only good thing to happen on saturday, however. by the time i got home, i had accumulated 3 orders from my shop! woohoo! i sold 9 things in all, just on saturday! this means that i am only 10 sales away from my goal for the month. i think i can make it ;).

well i suppose now i'd better get off the computer and play around with some washi paper. cheers!

♥,
melissa

lots of updates (very long)

1. i went to the chuck palahniuk event last night, and it was AMAZING. i mean, beyond amazing. i was even one of the lucky people who got a wristband to meet chuck and get my book ('snuff', his new one, which he was there to promote) personalized! here are some pictures:

chuck talking up 'snuff'. i loved hearing him talk about his work, his thought process, and his reactions to how the world perceives him and his writing. also, when asked what some of his favourite books were growing up, he cited ray bradbury's 'the martian chronicles', which just so happens to be one of my favourite books, as well!

my copy of 'snuff' and my ticket stub for the event. i will treasure them always ♥.

so here is one of the blow-up sex dolls that chuck threw into the crowd. some friends we made while in line for the signing caught one, and let me and jason take pictures with it. then we all had fun making fun of his non-anatomically correct body parts. see: his mouth is red only inside his lips. see: his horribly-drawn chest/chest hair. see: his heart-shaped head. there were other discrepancies, but i'm trying to keep this blog rated-pg :p.

my signed and personalized page of 'snuff'. too funny (and sweet, in a weird chuck way)! he even sprayed several of the pages with a -really really good smelling- cologne. mmm, i can smell it any time i want and remember that moment :). and i LOVE his handwriting.

me with chuck! ♥ ♥ ♥. i was so starstricken that all i really could manage to say was, "i'm enamoured!" to which he said, "oh!" it was a magical moment. as you can see, i was pretty happy with his arm around me and everything. oh, and look - well, you can't really see it that well, but i'm wearing a necklace from my new line that will be revealed soon in my shop :).

so that was my wonderful chuck night :). it was everything i hoped it would be and more. i really didn't expect i'd be able to meet my absolute favourite author. he's such a great guy :).

2. one of my pendant necklaces, 'pollen', got featured in two treasuries yesterday! thank you, tizz, for being of the currators :). not only that, but i came home from chuck at almost 1 in the morning to find that i had actually sold the necklace! sweet!

this got sold to my first canadian customer (yay!), and she also bought my 'ambrosia' pendant necklace, each for just $4 (remember my clearance on my tile pendants? yeah! go take advantage of that! :D).

3. i am designing my newest line of pendant necklaces, which are going to be similar in style to the tile ones, but better! for this new venture, i needed to get familiar with epoxy. i've always kind of stayed away from it because of all the health hazards, but it was necessary to use for what i'm trying to do.

me, prepping my pendants for epoxyness. sexy, i know. :p.

anyway, the point of this story is that melissa is clueless when it comes to epoxy. well, not anymore, i guess, but i sure was when i started this project! my experiment was... not meant to be. at least, not on the day i tried it the first time. first, i wanted to work outside because of the fumes from the epoxy, so i set up everything on my front patio. i went back inside to get the epoxy, and when i came back out, i found that a big wind gust (it has been very windy the last few days) blew all my wood pieces and all my metal findings all over the yard. ugh. this did not bode well for the rest of my task. so i moved everything inside, to the living room (which is very open) and proceeded to work. everything was going fine more or less, but later i realized that i didn't use enough epoxy, so the metal findings i was attaching to the wood pendant popped right off, even when i waited several hours for it to cure (it says usable strength in just 1 hour on the package, so clearly i did something wrong). i was just trying to avoid having a huge clump of glue on the back of each pendant, but i guess that's how it's actually supposed to be. i'll try again on sunday. hmph. but at least i provided you with a picture you can make fun of me forever with ;p.

4. the eddie izzard performance is tomorrow, and brandon and i are excited! we're not allowed to take pictures at that event, though, so i won't have anything like that to show you :(. but i will let you know how it went :).

okay, i'm off to package that order that's going to canada!

♥,
melissa

'japanese wedding'

i just made a new batch of my japanese washi fortune cookies! these feature cute little white cranes in flight. cranes are a staple of japanese weddings.

these are now listed in my shop :). to read more about them, go here.

i needed to actually make some so i could take pictures for the listing, so i went ahead and made the 20 of these i needed, but with my wedding 'thank you' fortune inside. now that i'm done taking the pictures for the listing, i can mix these in with the sakura ones i made for my other washi fortune cookie listing! if i hadn't done this, these cookies would have just gone to waste, because i make these custom-ly per customer. how effecient of me, yes?

also, don't forget to stop by my shop and check out my $4 tile pendant necklace sale! i've got to clear them out of my inventory so i can replace them with aanraku bail versions :).

♥,
melissa

may summary, june goals

here are the things from my goal list that i managed to accomplish in may:

• complete my first wholesale order
• order new moo business cards
• finish the semester of school (i even got all a's!)
• buy my wedding dress (yay!)
• list cool and cute things in my shop
• entertain friends at my house (i think we had people over at least once a week in may)
• read some books for fun

i didn't:

• reach 300 hearts. i'm at 290, which is close! and i did gain 70 in may.
• sell 20 things in my shop. i sold 17, which is more than april, though :).
• have a give-away. i decided to scrap the idea i had. i did list some great deals in my shop throughout may, however.
• begin my biology class. what can i say, i'm a procrastinator!
• start to study my french stuff. i'll get around to it :p.

overall, i'd say that may was a good month. i didn't quite meet my selling goals, but i did come up with many new ideas and improvements on current items. june will be a great month for introducing all the exciting things i have planned :).

so here are my goals for june:

• sell 25 items in my shop, bringing my total to 81 items sold
• look into another wholesale opportunity
• clear out my tile pendants (i've got a new and improved version planned!). and just so you know, all throughout june, all my tile pendant necklaces are just $4!
• reach 360 hearts
• have lots of fun! i'm going to a book signing/reading of my favourite author, chuck palahniuk, this thursday, then saturday brandon and i are seeing eddie izzard! my best friend sarah and i need to plan my bachelorette party, too. and i want to read a bunch of the books i just got in the mail :)
• join an etsy street team?
• work on my french and biology stuff

well, here's to an awesome june, the internet!

♥,
melissa