I am so excited!! I cannot wait to have my creative space, to have my paint easel set up again. 😇
Sunday, October 27, 2019
moving house = new shop space
It has been a long process (months) but we bought a house and after all the remodeling of the bathroom and painting all the other rooms and many other projects I am finally getting around to making my new work space. 👍
I have been working by myself all week on clearing the room of excess stuff and started painting the trim and walls.
This weekend the husband helped with painting the ceiling and floor. I was very grateful for the help as a short person painting the ceiling was looking like a bit of a nightmare. 😏
We also took down the ceiling fan before painting the ceiling and plan to replace it with some new better light fixtures, not sure exactly what yet, I need to go shopping and pick something. 😉
Under that end window there is plumbing stuff in the floor already which is incredibly handy for the utility sink I plan to have for the paint studio end of the room. 😁
This will be the last wall as it is currently holding the stacks and stacks of drawers and bin units. The door goes into the office and storage closet. The closet on the right has all the boxes, paper, packing and shipping supplies. The office of course has a desk and filing cabinets, etc. The stacks of drawers need to be sorted, the black ones are the base of my original workbench, the butcher block tops are leaning by the door. The drawers that are left after the bench building make the base for the multi-drawer bin units to stack on, otherwise known as storage central.
I am so excited!! I cannot wait to have my creative space, to have my paint easel set up again. 😇
I am so excited!! I cannot wait to have my creative space, to have my paint easel set up again. 😇
Thursday, October 24, 2019
material notes. . .
There are a lot of different types of rings not just sizes (diameter) or gauges (wire thickness) but actually different materials (metals).
Before you buy chainmaille you might want to consider what kind you want, how often you plan to wear it, what it may be exposed to while being worn, as it may effect the longevity or appearance over time. Some may tarnish but can be cleaned, some may lose their coating and once its gone its gone. 😕
I have used several different types of rings over the years from different suppliers. I have favorites and I have some that I consider junk and will not use ever again. I do not like and will not use the rings sold in retail craft shops, as many things as Darice makes their rings, generally speaking, suck I had a friend buy some because she liked a specific color but the not being round and bad ends (junkness) made them a nightmare to work with. I have tried stainless steel and although there are quality rings available, the harder stiffer metal is very hard for me to work due to some personal health limitations like having had broken wrists. 😏
I personally prefer anodized aluminum rings from TheRingLord, they are good quality, come in many excellent colors, and are easier for me to work with while still being strong. Also I mostly use the *saw cut version which is fairly color consistent and I plasti-dip my pliers to prevent/reduce scratching/marring the surface.
Here are some notes from TheRingLord on various metals/materials they offer, prepare for information overload. 😉
Stainless Steel Rings
Stainless steel doesn't rust and is strong and clean.
The shine level of our rings can vary - it can be compared to a stainless kitchen sink. If you need to shine up the rings you will need to research steel shot tumbling techniques.
Spring Stainless - We also offer our 16 ga and some 14g in a spring temper which is twice as hard as our standard stainless.
Spring stainless is VERY difficult to cut by hand but only slightly more difficult to cut with our machinery. Typical tensile strength of the spring stainless is 220-280KSI. This material makes the strongest armor. Use good pliers with teeth as this stuff fights back !
Titanium
Titanium is strong, corrosion resistant and hypo-allergenic.
The colors are beautiful and show the subtle reflective nature that is specific to titanium. They are less brilliant than niobium and MUCH harder to bend.
Most of our titanium is Grade 5 alloy TI-AL6-V4. There is only 1 exception in 16g and they are not anodized. This alloy has a hard temper - comparable to spring stainless in strength, it is smooth and the colors are consistent and bright for titanium.
Anodizing titanium creates an oxide layer. The thickness of this layer creates the colors. The color will vary from batch to batch. Don't expect to be able to continue a project when ordering anodized titanium in different batches. The color will also vary and blend shades on individual wires and in batches of rings. For example teal can have blue with hints of green. You can always expect hints of the adjacent colors in titanium spectrum in the batches. This variation occurs in varying amounts from ring to ring and batch to batch. This color variation in titanium should be considered a feature. It makes this material more beautiful. The anodized layer has appropriate properties for jewelry, but it is not indestructible. It can wear off with rubbing against a harder material - care must be taken with pliers as well. The color can be affected by oils from your skin - the color is restored be washing with soap and to remove the oils.
Anodized Niobium
Niobium is strong, corrosion resistant and hypo-allergenic.
The colors are beautifully vibrant.
Our niobium has the same strength as our sterling silver. They are quite similar in terms of workability and quality and look good together.
Anodizing niobium creates an oxide layer. The thickness of this layer creates the colors. The color will vary from batch to batch. The color will also vary and blend shades on individual wires and in batches of rings. For example peacock blue can have blue with hints of violet. You can always expect hints of the adjacent colors in niobium spectrum in the batches. This variation occurs in varying amounts from ring to ring and batch to batch. This color variation in niobium should be considered a feature. It makes this material more beautiful.
The anodized layer has appropriate properties for jewelry, but it is not indestructible. It can wear off with rubbing against a harder material - care must be taken with pliers as well.
Brass Rings
We use Jewelers Brass (alloy C226). It looks very similar to yellow gold when its not tarnished!
The strength and corrosion properties are similar to yellow brass – jeweler’s brass is about 8% stronger and costs a bit more.
Brass tarnishes but can be cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner or any commercially available brass cleaner - like Brasso.
Most brass wire you will find is soft, but our brass is 1/2 hard temper which combines strength with workability.
Enamelled Copper
Enamelled Copper is dead soft (aka weak) copper with a colored layer and plastic coat to seal it.
Silvered enamelled copper has a layer of silver plated onto the soft copper before the color and plastic. This creates brighter and lighter colors than regular enameled copper.
Enamelled Copper wire used to be consistent color and quality - it is not any more. This is due to changes made by the manufacturer of the wire - these issues have been felt by everyone buying this wire since 2010 - not just us.
The color can vary from batch to batch and gauge to guage. The plastic coating can vary in quality as well and may peal. The ends of the rings can be green due to copper corrosion. These facts are now considered normal for this product - meaning we do not consider them a defect for returns.
If you need a stronger material with vibrant and more consistent colors we recommend our saw cut anodized aluminum.
Anodized Aluminum
We use 2 types of anodizing to make our rings.
The saw cut rings marked with an * are made using a bright anodizing process. The result is a very consistent and dud free color batch that is shiny. The ends of these rings are not anodized as they are cut after anodizing. The anodizing processed used to make these rings is FDA approved for cookware.
The machine cut rings and some of the saw cut (no *) are bulk anodized after the rings are made. The ends are anodized. These rings will have touchmarks and some duds as this process is not as consistent. This is normal.
Anodized aluminum coating is fairly hard but can be scratched with steel. Use pliers without teeth.We use a hard temper aluminum which is stronger than colored copper. Note that aluminum is 3.4 times lighter than copper.
Colors may vary from what is pictured and from batch to batch. We minimize this as much as possible, but it still happens. If you are making a project where the color must not change slightly, order the full amount of rings for the colored area in one batch.
Before you buy chainmaille you might want to consider what kind you want, how often you plan to wear it, what it may be exposed to while being worn, as it may effect the longevity or appearance over time. Some may tarnish but can be cleaned, some may lose their coating and once its gone its gone. 😕
I have used several different types of rings over the years from different suppliers. I have favorites and I have some that I consider junk and will not use ever again. I do not like and will not use the rings sold in retail craft shops, as many things as Darice makes their rings, generally speaking, suck I had a friend buy some because she liked a specific color but the not being round and bad ends (junkness) made them a nightmare to work with. I have tried stainless steel and although there are quality rings available, the harder stiffer metal is very hard for me to work due to some personal health limitations like having had broken wrists. 😏
I personally prefer anodized aluminum rings from TheRingLord, they are good quality, come in many excellent colors, and are easier for me to work with while still being strong. Also I mostly use the *saw cut version which is fairly color consistent and I plasti-dip my pliers to prevent/reduce scratching/marring the surface.
Here are some notes from TheRingLord on various metals/materials they offer, prepare for information overload. 😉
Stainless Steel Rings
Stainless steel doesn't rust and is strong and clean.
The shine level of our rings can vary - it can be compared to a stainless kitchen sink. If you need to shine up the rings you will need to research steel shot tumbling techniques.
Spring Stainless - We also offer our 16 ga and some 14g in a spring temper which is twice as hard as our standard stainless.
Spring stainless is VERY difficult to cut by hand but only slightly more difficult to cut with our machinery. Typical tensile strength of the spring stainless is 220-280KSI. This material makes the strongest armor. Use good pliers with teeth as this stuff fights back !
Titanium
Titanium is strong, corrosion resistant and hypo-allergenic.
The colors are beautiful and show the subtle reflective nature that is specific to titanium. They are less brilliant than niobium and MUCH harder to bend.
Most of our titanium is Grade 5 alloy TI-AL6-V4. There is only 1 exception in 16g and they are not anodized. This alloy has a hard temper - comparable to spring stainless in strength, it is smooth and the colors are consistent and bright for titanium.
Anodizing titanium creates an oxide layer. The thickness of this layer creates the colors. The color will vary from batch to batch. Don't expect to be able to continue a project when ordering anodized titanium in different batches. The color will also vary and blend shades on individual wires and in batches of rings. For example teal can have blue with hints of green. You can always expect hints of the adjacent colors in titanium spectrum in the batches. This variation occurs in varying amounts from ring to ring and batch to batch. This color variation in titanium should be considered a feature. It makes this material more beautiful. The anodized layer has appropriate properties for jewelry, but it is not indestructible. It can wear off with rubbing against a harder material - care must be taken with pliers as well. The color can be affected by oils from your skin - the color is restored be washing with soap and to remove the oils.
Anodized Niobium
Niobium is strong, corrosion resistant and hypo-allergenic.
The colors are beautifully vibrant.
Our niobium has the same strength as our sterling silver. They are quite similar in terms of workability and quality and look good together.
Anodizing niobium creates an oxide layer. The thickness of this layer creates the colors. The color will vary from batch to batch. The color will also vary and blend shades on individual wires and in batches of rings. For example peacock blue can have blue with hints of violet. You can always expect hints of the adjacent colors in niobium spectrum in the batches. This variation occurs in varying amounts from ring to ring and batch to batch. This color variation in niobium should be considered a feature. It makes this material more beautiful.
The anodized layer has appropriate properties for jewelry, but it is not indestructible. It can wear off with rubbing against a harder material - care must be taken with pliers as well.
Brass Rings
We use Jewelers Brass (alloy C226). It looks very similar to yellow gold when its not tarnished!
The strength and corrosion properties are similar to yellow brass – jeweler’s brass is about 8% stronger and costs a bit more.
Brass tarnishes but can be cleaned with an ultrasonic cleaner or any commercially available brass cleaner - like Brasso.
Most brass wire you will find is soft, but our brass is 1/2 hard temper which combines strength with workability.
Enamelled Copper
Enamelled Copper is dead soft (aka weak) copper with a colored layer and plastic coat to seal it.
Silvered enamelled copper has a layer of silver plated onto the soft copper before the color and plastic. This creates brighter and lighter colors than regular enameled copper.
Enamelled Copper wire used to be consistent color and quality - it is not any more. This is due to changes made by the manufacturer of the wire - these issues have been felt by everyone buying this wire since 2010 - not just us.
The color can vary from batch to batch and gauge to guage. The plastic coating can vary in quality as well and may peal. The ends of the rings can be green due to copper corrosion. These facts are now considered normal for this product - meaning we do not consider them a defect for returns.
If you need a stronger material with vibrant and more consistent colors we recommend our saw cut anodized aluminum.
Anodized Aluminum
We use 2 types of anodizing to make our rings.
The saw cut rings marked with an * are made using a bright anodizing process. The result is a very consistent and dud free color batch that is shiny. The ends of these rings are not anodized as they are cut after anodizing. The anodizing processed used to make these rings is FDA approved for cookware.
The machine cut rings and some of the saw cut (no *) are bulk anodized after the rings are made. The ends are anodized. These rings will have touchmarks and some duds as this process is not as consistent. This is normal.
Anodized aluminum coating is fairly hard but can be scratched with steel. Use pliers without teeth.We use a hard temper aluminum which is stronger than colored copper. Note that aluminum is 3.4 times lighter than copper.
Colors may vary from what is pictured and from batch to batch. We minimize this as much as possible, but it still happens. If you are making a project where the color must not change slightly, order the full amount of rings for the colored area in one batch.
Monday, October 21, 2019
I knew it !!
I have finally discovered a way to prove that etsy is lying it's lying A$$ off about the number of shops on the site. I had been daily tracking the number of shops out of curiosity for a while when I noticed one day it nearly doubled over night back in July.
1,448,089 shops found for 7/09/2019
2,845,072 shops found for 7/10/2019
Now, I knew immediately that something was very fishy with this but I wasn't sure what exactly they were trying to pull.
One has(had) always been able to type a blank space in the etsy search bar and then select find shops containing " " and that is/was supposed to pull up all "Active" shops which previously had been defined as shops with at least 1 listing for sale, you know actively selling.
I knew that it was not actually possible for over a Million shops to magically open overnight. 😐 I suspect that etsy has done this to appear more popular/occupied/active/valuable than it truly is, I highly suspect that they are pumping the numbers to dazzle the board and shareholders. However, I have for months now thought that it was incredibly suspect but I had no way to prove it so speculate as I might all I had was a theory.
I have been busy moving house, remodeling a house, vending at events, you know living my life, but in the back of my mind I have continued to think about and be bothered by what I consider to be fraudulent representation by etsy of the number of shops active on site.
This morning after doing my regular number check I used the "sort by" option and after changing from relevancy to recent to alphabetical I had the Ah-HA moment and proof. Right there on my screen when I switched to alphabetical it shows empty shops, as in shops with nothing for sale, a lot of them. On the first page alone of the 10 shops shown 6 of them are empty and after clicking in and looking at them they are looonnnggg empty like last review 7 years ago, or only ever 3 sales years ago. 😕
I still have no exact reason for etsy's pumping up the numbers but I do at least now have proof that they are falsifying the number shops on site and I know I'm not crazy they are lying. On the second page out of 10 shops listed only 3 actually have items for sale. 😐
1,448,089 shops found for 7/09/2019
2,845,072 shops found for 7/10/2019
Now, I knew immediately that something was very fishy with this but I wasn't sure what exactly they were trying to pull.
One has(had) always been able to type a blank space in the etsy search bar and then select find shops containing " " and that is/was supposed to pull up all "Active" shops which previously had been defined as shops with at least 1 listing for sale, you know actively selling.
I knew that it was not actually possible for over a Million shops to magically open overnight. 😐 I suspect that etsy has done this to appear more popular/occupied/active/valuable than it truly is, I highly suspect that they are pumping the numbers to dazzle the board and shareholders. However, I have for months now thought that it was incredibly suspect but I had no way to prove it so speculate as I might all I had was a theory.
I have been busy moving house, remodeling a house, vending at events, you know living my life, but in the back of my mind I have continued to think about and be bothered by what I consider to be fraudulent representation by etsy of the number of shops active on site.
This morning after doing my regular number check I used the "sort by" option and after changing from relevancy to recent to alphabetical I had the Ah-HA moment and proof. Right there on my screen when I switched to alphabetical it shows empty shops, as in shops with nothing for sale, a lot of them. On the first page alone of the 10 shops shown 6 of them are empty and after clicking in and looking at them they are looonnnggg empty like last review 7 years ago, or only ever 3 sales years ago. 😕
Thursday, October 17, 2019
Your desperation is showing. . .
Sometimes I really want to shout at other etsy sellers, "your desperation is showing". I know it sounds rude or mean but it's actually quite true and a big factor in what is wrong with etsy's search results. 😐
I have dug in and did some research in the form of several searches and checking things within the search results and what I have found is really disappointing. 😕
There are many many sellers who are mis-tagging and mis-using attributes which contributes to the bad search results because it is purposeful mis-information.
For example in my "chainmaille barrette" search recall the bracelets, well click into the listing and check the tags and that seller has tagged the bracelet with the terms barrette, necklace, and key chain. So the listings appears in many more searches than it should because the seller has purposely mis-tagged the item as things it is not.
The same is true for the mis-use/abuse of the attributes, etsy has stated that the holiday attributes should be used for when an item would be used or themed. So christmas trees and christmas themed items should be attributed to the holiday christmas but things that simply could be christmas gifts should not be because virtually anything could be a christmas gift but not be at all christmas related. For example when "valentine's day" option was removed from certain jewelry sub-catagories and styles many sellers had a forum freak out the admins tried over and over to explain the distinction and many refused to accept it or follow the edict.
These things have led me to the conclusion the bad search results are only partially etsy's fault and largely due to poor seller behavior, specifically seller desperation to be seen even in searches that do not fit their items, basically shoving things down people's throats even though they know perfectly that they are misrepresenting their things, clogging the system with bad results, driving shoppers away from the site and it's "broken search". 😒
It is the very definition of "cutting of your nose to spite your face" or "shooting yourself in the foot" if you prefer.
The real problem lies in there is no real solution either etsy has to hire teams of people to comb through a gazillion listings and delete/remove the inappropriate tags and attributes or sellers have to grow up stop trying to game the system and take responsibility and fix their sh*t. I do not see either of those things happening. 😞
I have dug in and did some research in the form of several searches and checking things within the search results and what I have found is really disappointing. 😕
There are many many sellers who are mis-tagging and mis-using attributes which contributes to the bad search results because it is purposeful mis-information.
For example in my "chainmaille barrette" search recall the bracelets, well click into the listing and check the tags and that seller has tagged the bracelet with the terms barrette, necklace, and key chain. So the listings appears in many more searches than it should because the seller has purposely mis-tagged the item as things it is not.
The same is true for the mis-use/abuse of the attributes, etsy has stated that the holiday attributes should be used for when an item would be used or themed. So christmas trees and christmas themed items should be attributed to the holiday christmas but things that simply could be christmas gifts should not be because virtually anything could be a christmas gift but not be at all christmas related. For example when "valentine's day" option was removed from certain jewelry sub-catagories and styles many sellers had a forum freak out the admins tried over and over to explain the distinction and many refused to accept it or follow the edict.
These things have led me to the conclusion the bad search results are only partially etsy's fault and largely due to poor seller behavior, specifically seller desperation to be seen even in searches that do not fit their items, basically shoving things down people's throats even though they know perfectly that they are misrepresenting their things, clogging the system with bad results, driving shoppers away from the site and it's "broken search". 😒
It is the very definition of "cutting of your nose to spite your face" or "shooting yourself in the foot" if you prefer.
The real problem lies in there is no real solution either etsy has to hire teams of people to comb through a gazillion listings and delete/remove the inappropriate tags and attributes or sellers have to grow up stop trying to game the system and take responsibility and fix their sh*t. I do not see either of those things happening. 😞
Tuesday, October 15, 2019
RainbowMaille on Sale. . .
My A.C.Moore marketplace shop is having a 20% off sale on everything, no minimum purchase, no qualifiers or requirements, just 20% off everything.
Saturday, October 12, 2019
Oh etsy. . .
Ok, so I have complained about etsy's search being not so intelligent for AI and I have complained about etsy's "help" not being very helpful so here's what happens when those to issues collided recently. 😕
I opened a "help ticket" with etsy to report the following :
I even provided a screen shot to prove/illustrate the randomness of their bad search results. Not surprisingly I was disappointed with the response I received in return, also not surprisingly it took 3 damned days to get a response.
Hello,
I'm sorry to hear that the search is not returning results consistent to your search. I know you have been with us for 6 years so you know how to search for the items you are looking for.
I'm noting your feedback and will be sharing it with the team to consider for a future update. Please know we take comments from the community to heart, and we make many changes to the site based on what we hear.
For legal reasons, I have to point out that any ideas members share with us are non-proprietary to them. You can read more in our Terms of Use.
Don't hesitate to reach back out to me if I can help with anything else.
So ya' know the typical awe thanks for pointing that out but we don't plan to do anything about it, non-answer reply. Although, this is the first one that has come with this particular "legal" notation. I, of course, responded and pointed out this is not just an issue from the buyer perspective but from a seller perspective as well.
The following day I received the following response :
Hi there,
Thanks for your response, with more detailed search terms from your shop stats. My name is XXXXX and I'm a Support Specialist here at Etsy.
First, I'll certainly be passing your email along as feedback for our team that works on Search. This is something we're always working to improve, so it's helpful to see examples like the ones you've provided.
I do want to note that it's possible that your items were appearing in a buyers "Recently viewed" or "Similar to recently viewed" which appears at the bottom of a search page. If they clicked on your listing in either of these sections, the original term they entered into search would still appear in your shop stats, even if your listing did not appear in the results for these search terms. For example, I've just done a search for "in a world full of grandmas be a nana", and I only saw one page of search results and none of your items were in those results. However, I do still see all of my recently viewed items at the bottom of the page, which have nothing to do with this search term.
I do realize this isn't ideal, so I'll be noting this in my feedback as well.
Please do let me know if you have any other questions. I'm glad to help.
So apparently, it is possible to not even be in the search results and yet end up with clicks tied to the search term, it makes no sense to me but there you have it, an "etsy explanation" as usual it explains nothing.
Etsy transparent as Mud.
I opened a "help ticket" with etsy to report the following :
Etsy search regularly returns really bad results. The forums are full of threads about search being broken but I'm not talking about the "Clumping".
I am talking about search returning results that are not what was searched for.
I searched for "chainmaille barrette" and the top of the first page only actually has 1 correct result, the rest are not chainmaille or not barrettes. Seriously, the houston astros bracelets is infringement, the loop deloop hair clip is wire wrap not chainmaille, the toni chain maile tutorial is a tutorial for a necklace (it's not a finished good, it's not a barrette) the rest are scale flowers not chainmaille.
Hello,
I'm sorry to hear that the search is not returning results consistent to your search. I know you have been with us for 6 years so you know how to search for the items you are looking for.
I'm noting your feedback and will be sharing it with the team to consider for a future update. Please know we take comments from the community to heart, and we make many changes to the site based on what we hear.
For legal reasons, I have to point out that any ideas members share with us are non-proprietary to them. You can read more in our Terms of Use.
Don't hesitate to reach back out to me if I can help with anything else.
Best wishes,
xxxxxx(name removed)
Etsy Support
xxxxxx(name removed)
Etsy Support
So ya' know the typical awe thanks for pointing that out but we don't plan to do anything about it, non-answer reply. Although, this is the first one that has come with this particular "legal" notation. I, of course, responded and pointed out this is not just an issue from the buyer perspective but from a seller perspective as well.
It's not just the buyer perspective of not finding what I'm looking for, it is also a problem as a shop owner as I have "search terms" in my stats and clicks for phrases that I do not have a single word of in my listings. :-/
I noticed in the last few weeks I have seen "search terms" in my shop stats such as :
"in a world full of grandmas be a nana"
"beating on a dime"
"mail order hat pattern 3454"
"metal wall art made in israel"
"in a world full of grandmas be a nana"
"beating on a dime"
"mail order hat pattern 3454"
"metal wall art made in israel"
Honestly, the only one of those that makes any kind of sense is the "metal wall art made in israel" as I do sell metal wall art, HOWEVER I am located in the USA not Israel and I do not ship internationally. I turned off etsy ads because of it.
The following day I received the following response :
Hi there,
Thanks for your response, with more detailed search terms from your shop stats. My name is XXXXX and I'm a Support Specialist here at Etsy.
First, I'll certainly be passing your email along as feedback for our team that works on Search. This is something we're always working to improve, so it's helpful to see examples like the ones you've provided.
I do want to note that it's possible that your items were appearing in a buyers "Recently viewed" or "Similar to recently viewed" which appears at the bottom of a search page. If they clicked on your listing in either of these sections, the original term they entered into search would still appear in your shop stats, even if your listing did not appear in the results for these search terms. For example, I've just done a search for "in a world full of grandmas be a nana", and I only saw one page of search results and none of your items were in those results. However, I do still see all of my recently viewed items at the bottom of the page, which have nothing to do with this search term.
I do realize this isn't ideal, so I'll be noting this in my feedback as well.
Please do let me know if you have any other questions. I'm glad to help.
Best,
xxxxxx(name removed)
So apparently, it is possible to not even be in the search results and yet end up with clicks tied to the search term, it makes no sense to me but there you have it, an "etsy explanation" as usual it explains nothing.
Etsy transparent as Mud.
Saturday, October 5, 2019
October Pink Sale
It's breast cancer awareness month so I'm having a "Pink Sale" as in things that are pink or have pink in them are on sale, 15% off thru the end of the month.
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