Weekly update. . .still waiting

I am still waiting on my ring order, but I at least have a tracking number and some idea of when it will finally be delivered. 😏 In the meantime I'm still not really happy with the new dragon's tail, I did remove the mobius rope section and tried again, then removed that and tried a modified byzantine. It's ok, not ideal but I may just go with it to get this one finished. 

The art photography project is still on going, slow but progressing, I may be at it until the end of the year though. 😅

I am mostly happy with the shots I'm getting, but there is a limited window of time each day when the sun is right and the kitten often decides that is when he wants to play. 😏 The other day I had to stop because he tried to eat the cactus.

Ok so it's a "succulent" not a true cactus but still spikey and not really cat friendly for chewing. 😑 Plus for continuity and consistency of website photos it would really be best if he didn't eat my photo props. 😕

Weekly update. . .weird week

Times are weird and things are hard, here's your weekly blog post. 😅 That's a joke based on an old Christmas card if you don't get it, I'll understand just know that I'm laughing.  😉 

It has been one weird week and ended with a dental cleaning, so you can probably guess, not as productive as I had planned. I did photograph some paintings, but I haven't added or updated listings yet. I did work on the new dragon but I'm not liking the tail. 😒

it may sound crazy, but I am thinking of taking the last few inches off, I'm just not happy with the pattern transition, actually not happy with the pattern either 😏 

I think I will likely remove the rings in between and just take the mobius rope off the end and extend the boxchain portion a bit and try transitioning to a different pattern. It would likely be easier if my damn ring order would arrive, so I had the right color in the in between size I need to do the taper properly. 😔  I placed the order about 3 weeks ago, normally it would have arrived by now, but it hasn't even shipped yet due to. . .well let's not get into it (tariffs). 😶 

On a happier note, my birthday is coming, I'll be 49 and my big plan is to do . . . Nothing. 😆😅 That's right I chose nothing, my husband spent weeks asking about various plans and trips and what I want to do, and the truth is I don't want anything. I don't want to go anywhere, travelling with 3 cats is not easy but I'm not leaving for days and leaving them home. I don't want anything; I have everything I need and I'm not really a materialistic person anyway. 

Oh, sidenote he lost his iphone the other day and when he found it, it had been run over. 

so, if you have ever wondered this is what the inside of an iphone that has been run over by a semi looks like 😂😆

Weekly update. . . September!

Another week gone and minimal progress has been made. 

She has scales, but the wings are not attached, and I haven't decided on tail patterns and length. 

My shoulder has been bugging me which makes me work in shorter intervals and is slowing me down. 😒 

Hoping this week will be more productive. 😉 I am a bit frustrated with myself, the weather, the needy kitten and all the other factors involved in the art photography project not getting done. I can't believe it's September and I still haven't finished. 😔

Weekly update. . .is it fall?

Well technically it's not September until tomorrow and actual fall is still weeks away, but this shifty weather has it feeling a bit like fall already.  It's been another week of just doing the same things, photographing art and working on the new dragon project, neither have progressed as quickly as I would have liked but I also have cats. 😅

Little Merlin has been a bit needy of late, wandering through my photo shoots and jumping on my workbench, he's a great little distraction. 😏 His demands for attention are often very poorly timed and thoroughly unhelpful to me actually getting things done. 

But he is precious and adorable and I do love him, so when he shows his butt and demands I hold him, I do stop working and love on the baby, if I don't give him the attention he wants, he gets petty and destructive, walking through my rings, knocking things over. 😅  That being said I did manage to get a few paintings relisted and have photos for a few new listings too. 

Some progress has been made on the dragon project

There are wings and a body now, I just have to attach the head to the body through the scale fringe, then ya' know add a tail and cover it in scales and . . . finish it.😅

In business news: I have removed all art from MakerPlace and it is now exclusively available on goimagine.com also I removed all international shipping options from my etsy shop. 

Weekly update. . .what's next?

Well, this will be a short post, another week has passed, and I have continued to add art to the website, even though the weather has not been helpful in trying to shoot photos.  Since my workbench has been "cleared" I am now starting a new chainmaille project. 😎

I need to order some more scales and rings. I want the large scales in more colors, and I am running out of rings in a certain size, so I'll have to start a list. 😉 For now I'll just end up with a few red scales in a mostly pink dragon. 😅  

I have eliminated all art listings from MakerPlace and I plan to remove the Canadian shipping from my etsy. These steps to shrink my business are part of my plan to focus more on goimagine.com which is now the only place the art is listed. Also, I have never liked international shipping, the costs, the forms, the delays, so I'm just going to stop doing it. 😐  

Weekly update. . .50!

Well, it is mid-August, so it has taken months longer than I planned, but I have made serious progress on re-listing the art. There are now 50 paintings available currently, I have photos ready for more, and I'm getting ready to activate the framed vs unframed categories very soon. 😉  

I'm actually happy, I'm starting to feel like I'm finally getting somewhere. 😇 Although, I do have a bunch of art still to go, I think I'm close to halfway. 

I have also finished restocking several styles of bracelets, including all 4 chain patterns in all 4 house colors. 

Now that my workbench is clear, I am looking forward to starting on something new. 

Weekly update. . .all about effort

"You get what you give"

There are a bunch of variations of that saying, "you get back what you put in", you gotta give to get, you have to work for things if you want things to work.  There are exceptions, situations where no matter what you do you don't get the return you think you deserve, but when it comes to business you have to keep trying because the alternative is to give up and quit. 😏 

Honestly, I have given up before on a previous business, not because it wasn't working but because leatherwork became too much for my hands. I took some time and came back with RainbowMaille, a whole different business with different products. I started over from scratch, and while it has not been everything I had hoped for, I have kept at it for 10 years through multiple platforms. I am currently on 3 platforms, but others have come and gone over the years, I am currently thinking of ditching MakerPlace and going back to just etsy and goimagine. 

I am not a business expert, I do not claim to be an SEO guru, but what I have learned in all my years on many online sales platforms is the more listings you have, the more keywords you can cover, the more likely you are to be found in search. 😐 It is actually pretty simple and common sense based if you think about it and it has been my experience on every platform. Currently, my etsy is down below 50 listings and they are all jewelry my views have gone Way down, but I still get occasional sales because the jewelry listings I left have a sales history and etsy likes that. I have been continuously adding new listings to the goimagine restoring all the art and my views there are triple my etsy because there are triple the # of listings, and I am regularly pinning my new art listings on my pinterest.

Seriously pinterest is a huge source of traffic for my shop

But I also have all my social media linked to goimagine, I do not advertise etsy at all, etsy has plenty of money and advertising they don't need my help. I advertise for the site I would prefer my sales happen on, which is goimagine because not only are my fees slightly cheaper but part of it goes to charity. 😇 

For all the sellers still on etsy because they still get sales there, I totally get that, I'm still there, but if you never even try to point your customers to a better alternative you don't get to complain about how your goimagine doesn't get traffic. As a business owner it is my job to advertise my business for better or for worse. I'm not getting rich over here trying to sell art, but that's no one's fault but my own. Art is totally subjective and a hard sell, but I chose to sell art. 😏 I chose a difficult path. 

In my recent photo re-do of all the art, I ended up doing a complete inventory reconciliation and was surprised at just how many paintings I have sold over the years. I am still not done photographing them all, and it is a lot of work, but you can't sell what isn't listed. 😉