The Bead Spot

Last fall, my mom beaded some hair bun accessories in the netting technique. She first made these probably 20 years or so ago, but she has focused on mostly earrings, headdresses, and barrettes for several years. What a happy surprise to see them after this much time! If only I could make a decent bun show that I could show them properly. A couple of months ago, one of my co-workers wore her hair in a smooth, full, absolutely perfect bun. I told her I was envious; the buns I make, whether in my own hair on in my daughter’s, always come out sloppy and lopsided. My co-worker said she uses a sock to make hers look fuller and more uniform. That's something for me to google — how to use a sock to create a perfect hair bun — and then I can retake the photos of my mom’s hair bun covers for my Etsy store. My daughter, age 8, loves these, by the way. She insisted on wearing one to school, and I reluctantly allowed it. I envisioned her coming home with the whole thing nothing...

( Jack Moreh / FreeRangeStock.com ) I have sold only one item on Etsy, but the upcoming fee increase still frustrates me. According to the notice Etsy sent me, as of July 16, transaction fees will jump from 1.5 percent and will be imposed on shipping costs. The shipping cost thing bothers me the mos t. I'm struggling to build up my listings, hoping what I do have listed might sell in the meantime, so I want to cut people a break on the cost of shipping. I do charge, but only the estimated postage amount. If Etsy were to take 5 percent of that, I'd be losing money on shipping. My options would be to raise my asking price or take the hit. A friend who makes and sells makeup bags told me that someone she knows had told her about another platform that charges a flat $10 a month, charges no listing fees and takes nothing from what users sell. That sounds a lot more about my speed as I'm trying to get my "craft store" up and running. I could spend $10 a mont...

I love my mom’s beadwork. She has never said whether she ever beaded when she was a child, and oddly enough, it never occurred to me to ask until right now as I’m writing this. All I know for certain is that she began beading in earnest about 20 years ago. Back then, three of my four siblings and I had left home, and the youngest, my baby sister, was in high school. Suddenly, Mom had time for pursuing crafty hobbies. She began the way many people do, working from patterns in books she bought at Hobby Lobby and other craft shops. She started with earrings, the dangling kind that you often see in Native American patterns, and gradually branched out into making barrettes, dream catchers and headdresses. And at some point, she began creating her own patterns, and that’s when she really began to wow me. Everything she makes is in the Native American style (we’re Cherokee, my mom is full and I am half) even if she doesn’t use the traditional colors. Recently as I was looking at som...

As often happens, I've only been able to work on beadwork a little here and there over the past couple of weeks. I have completed nothing, not even the three-row daisy chain bracelet I started a few weeks ago. I've made progress, but it's still not long enough to wrap an adult-sized wrist. This is all of the progress I've made on the daisy-chain bracelet I've been working on. The left photo shows where I was on the project on March 7. The right shows where it is now. But I am hoping that I'll be able to make some major progress in the coming weeks. I spent two whole days ridding my daughter's room of unwanted toys and outgrown clothes, and now I feel a little more like I can kick back and relax. New to my Etsy Store My older sister, whom I still look up to after all these years, created these, which have been added to my Etsy shop: I think they're so adorable. It's just a shame that I cannot wear earrings without getting an infect...

Last week, I was taking apart one of my daisy-chain bracelets . This week, I'm reworking it into a three-row daisy-chain. That's how I've been spending the last 20 minutes each night before I go to bed, working on this bracelet. After I had already deconstructed its predecessor, I remembered that I had it for sale at my Etsy shop , so I deactivated the listing. My sister noticed and sent me a text: "Did you sell your bracelet?" "No, I just deactivated it because I took the bracelet apart." "Oh, well," she answered. "It was in someone's cart for about three days. I was hoping you'd sold it." I about fell over. I had no idea it was in someone's cart. Odds art, the person who had it in his/her cart wasn't going to buy it anyway, not after it had been sitting in the cart for three days, but I'm still a little bummed I didn't notice it was in someone's cart before I took it apart. ...

Over the last week, I finally got my first sale through  my Etsy store ! I sold a flute my uncle made several months ago. I first listed it back in August, and after the listing expired the first time without a buyer, I have to say, I was starting to get a little discouraged. And then, this past Saturday afternoon, I picked up my phone after taking a short nap, and I nearly fell over when I saw the notification that one of my listings had sold. I had to read it two or three times to make sure I wasn’t misreading it. That afternoon, I got the flute all packaged up for it’s trip out to California, but then I had to wait for Tuesday to roll around before I could get it in the mail. (Monday was Presidents Day.) I cannot tell you how excited I am, even now, days later! Ever since I started listing back in August, every few days, it seems, a visitor to my shop would "heart" one of my items for sale, but I have to admit, I was starting to think no one was every going to ...

Armed with the light/magnifier my husband recently bought for me, I am back at trying to take photos of beadwork . I spent most of Monday night putting the light and the camera at different angles, and I think I finally see some improvement, though I have a ways to go. Here is a side-by-side comparison. On the left is a photo I took last fall. I took it outside in natural light, but the shadows are way too deep. The photo on the right is the one I took using the light my husband gave me. I think the image could be sharper, but it's more true to the colors of the pumpkin earrings I made. I'm working on it; I'm determined to get the hang of this. Etsy shop additions I've added a couple of new items to my Etsy shop, both made by my older sister. She's been doing beadwork longer than I have, and I think she's got a great eye for design. Here are photos of her creations. If you're interested, please pop over to my Etsy shop, Beadwork and Woodwinds ,...

As my older sister showed me the latest earrings she made, I couldn't help but laugh. Just like me, she had her mind on pumpkins. (And Frankenstein and Dracula, though she hadn't made earrings featuring those creatures yet). Nearly all earrings my sister makes are long, dangling creations in the Native American style,* and she brought that into her Halloween earrings. Here is what they look like: How adorable are those little pumpkin faces at the top? I also love the sparing use of turquoise-colored beads; they seem to be just the right amount of accent for the orange and black. My big sis never ceases to amaze me. After the false starts I wrote about a couple of weeks ago, I decided to nix the idea of using square stitch in my own pumpkin earring creations because it seemed too easy to move the beads out of shape. I think this was likely because I'm not all that skilled at square stitch, since it isn't a stitch I'd used before. However, in the inte...

For the first time in years, I added a listing to my Etsy shop a couple of weeks ago. My uncle has been making flutes for several years now that he sells to gift shops and tourist sites that highlight the Native American culture (he is full-blood Cherokee). He had told me that he was interested in selling them online; and since I have an Etsy shop, I offered to list some for him to see how they did. So a couple of weeks ago, I listed one. He says he has more ready to go, but I haven't had a chance to pick them up from him yet. It won't be the last of the items I list; I want to start listing my own creations -- beadwork and a few baskets once I get better at making them -- between now and Christmastime. In the meantime, if you'd like check out my uncle's flute, you can visit my Etsy shop here .

Last week, I was still battling a sinus infection, and some of the medicine the doctor gave me made me sleepy. As a result, I got very little work done on the bracelet I was working on. I even spent a couple of my lunches at work resting. This week should be better, though. The sinus infection seems to finally be gone, so I'm down to taking just the antibiotics. Revamping Etsy I also haven't had a chance to make any changes to my Etsy store yet, but I hope to add more photos of the items I have for sale -- a black seed bead bracelet , a green seed bead bracelet and a kids bracelet -- within the next few weeks. I think all three items would benefit from me spending some time trying to get better photos, especially the kids bracelet. That photo makes the white beads look as if they have a reddish tint to them.

This year, I'm going to do this blog a little differently. I'm only going to post on Mondays. I love writing as much as I love beading, but between the two hobbies and having a toddler at home, I'm having trouble getting done some key chores around the house, like, the dishes. Therefore, I'm cutting back on my blogging here. I still welcome comments at any time, and some weeks, I might have an extra post or two. I also plan to do a little "remodeling" on this blog, as well as on my Etsy shop, which I might close in favor of selling on StorEnvy instead. I haven't quite decided yet.

I could've been working on my bracelet over the past couple of nights as I wind down at the end of what's been some very hectic days, but I chose not to. Instead, I played on the computer and vegged in front of the TV. Now, I'm ready to finish, but I'm getting nervous about whether I'll have enough beads to complete it. The store at which I bought the beads has since gone out of business, so I don't know how easy finding more would be. My Beadwork on Etsy My husband says this bracelet is his favorite out of what I've made so far. I like it, too, but I've wondered about making another that has charms on it. I don't know what kind yet. I'll work that out as I go.  (To see my completed projects at my Etsy store, click here .)

Store Decor Earlier today, I was browsing my Etsy shop and comparing it with those of some other sellers. I noticed that mine looks far more sparse than I had realized. It needs some dressing up, though I'm not sure what all to include. I had started a banner for it a few days ago, but I made it the wrong size initially, and when I went back to resize it, I couldn't get the software to do what I wanted it to do. Another Site for Sellers I recently stumbled across another site through which I could sell my beadwork, too, but unlike Etsy, it doesn't have any listing fees and it doesn't take a percentage of what sells. That means less overhead and the ability to lower my prices some I've signed up to be a seller, and I'm now working on building my shop. I don't want to just abandon Etsy. It gets a lot of traffic, and until recently, I had never heard of the other site -- StorEnvy . But I have decided to try a little experiment. Right now, I have thre...

I held off with a post yesterday thinking that I might be able to finish the green herringbone bracelet I want to list on Etsy . Then, I could post a photo of it. Well, those tangles within the bracelet have me much more stumped than I would've thought. I cannot for the life of me figure out how I had it. The streams of beads just aren't lining back up. Hopefully, I get it soon, because once I do, all I have left is attaching the clasp.

I am within sight of the finish line on the herringbone bracelet I'm making, however, I ran into a couple of snags. Literally. The first happened Saturday. My daughter was napping, so I hauled out my bracelet and worked on it for about an hour. Then, with evening approaching, I decided to wake her so that we could go for a walk before it got dark. (She LOVES going for walks.) I set the tray table I was working from off to the side, woke her up, got her in the stroller and left. When we got back home, I set her down inside the house then turned to make sure the front door, which has settled a little, was closed completely. When I turned back around toward her, she already had the bracelet in her hand. The string was both over her shoulder and up under her armpit. I don't know how she got it so tangled so quickly. With that straightened out, I folded it up and packed it away to take to work with me. When I took it out during my lunch break, I could tell the braiding withi...

Happy Halloween, everyone! When I was a kid, I loved being scared, so Halloween was always a fun time of year for me. I'd love to do some Halloween-themed beading, though I'm a little late for that this year. Next year, hopefully, I'll plan early enough to put at least a couple of items on my Etsy shop. Speaking of, my plan to list my first item at my Etsy store tomorrow is still on. I'll have just one piece. I'd hoped to have more, but there's just no way I can get more done. Maybe by December 1, I'll be able to list a few more.

I still haven't had time to bead -- beginning today or tomorrow, though, my schedule should get back to normal -- so I haven't listed anything on Etsy yet; however, I did buy something. I bought a replacement high chair cover for my daughter's high chair. The one she had has been washed a few too many times because it's falling apart in the back. I can't wait to get the new one! I love handcrafted items!

Because life can be hectic -- for me, lately it's been illnesses, being short staffed at work, a freelance project coming due and a consignment sale I need to prepare for -- I have had no time for beading coming up on two weeks now. As a result, the black seed bead bracelet I was working on hasn't been touched and is still unfinished. I think things will get back to normal now, or at least relatively normal, so hopefully this week I can get it done and get it listed. I'm anxious to give selling via Etsy a try. Once I get this bracelet finished, I need to get started on my wish list for the next festival. If at all possible, I'd like to have a basket ready to go, too.

I'm close enough to finishing the black bracelet I've been working on that I think I can list it on Etsy on Monday. I'm crossing my fingers crossed that I can finally get the site going. (My store site will be here .) I know that I won't be making tons of money at Etsy -- especially given how little time I have for working on beadwork right now -- but even a little bit of extra income will be nice. I've spent some time reading blogs of top Etsy sellers; hopefully, they'll give me a few tips for getting started on the right foot.

With another festival I'd like to attend coming up in October and a push to get my Etsy shop up and running, I've been considering how much of a stockpile of finished beadwork I'd like to have on hand. As I finish items that I think look good enough, I'll list them on Etsy. But by the time the festival arrives, I'd like to have the following: 15 kids rings. 10 kids bracelets. 10 adult necklaces. 10 adult bracelets. 2 bookmarks. At the rate I've been finishing items, though, that's a tall order. Hopefully, I'll be able to find some extra time beyond my at-work lunches to get some beading done.