Far too neglectful of my blog - (slap on hand - smack smack)

Some time ago, I started this blog - and it has been sorely neglected now for a YEAR!  How does this happen?  Well, I am making an executive decision to move forward and not simmer over regrets.  Luckily this philosophy did not arrive until my children were well grown!

To accompany my little adventures in handcrafted jewelry design, I also decided, some time ago, to begin to pass on some of my vintage finds, and opened a second shop on Etsy (look to the right, and if needed, scroll down to see widgets for both of my shops!) This is great fun, but also time consuming.   First, there is finding the "thing".  Most have actually been in my family, left down to me from my kin, or in-laws.  We all seem to be paring down as retirement nears, and those old wedding gifts, you know, the ones never used, now deserve new homes instead of spending another decade on a shelf or in a cabinet somewhere in the house.

Anyway, identifying items to pass on is just the first step.  Then there is the sprucing up, though I don't do much as far as cleaning when it comes to vintage items.  I once decided to "wash" an old Christmas ornament that my husband had as a boy, and lo and behold, the decorative strips on the little glass ball just washed right down the drain!  I learned my lesson!  So now, I leave the patina, leave all but the most surface dust, and leave this choice to my customers.  I do mention this kind of thing in my listings, and if there are any blemishes, do try to present them in the photos.  Once procured and wiped off, then comes the photography.  I have been around the block and back with this one, and have found that this can be done nearly anywhere, with some indirect lighting, and flash turned off.  I was accustomed to using macro setting for my jewelry, and have actually found that it also works well for most of my vintage items as well.  Even in a semi-darkened room, some of the photos come out pretty well, by tweaking the brightness/contrast adjustments once the photos are loaded to the computer.  I use Photo Shop Elements, and frankly know only the few applications that use regularly.  I know I could be doing much more to customize my photos, but there is that T...I...M...E  element that is always the enemy, lurking behind me, annoying as hell.

My next step, before setting up the listing, is to figure out the shipping costs.  I have an awesome digital scale, and I weigh the item inside the box it will be sent in, to estimate the weight - I usually add a couple of ounces just to cover packaging material - I have found that two ounces usually does the trick very well, with often an ounce left in wiggle room.  I don't mind this, as I would never want a package to arrive at a customer's house with postage due!  (Luckily, this has never happened!)

For jewelry, the listings are pretty straight forward.  I made the thing, and already have a list of components in my production notes, created for each item - so this part is easy peasy.  With vintage, I will now arrive at the intersting part - researching the item to see what kind of interesting scoop I may be able to uncover about it. 

Beyond this, the process is pretty simple - sell, pack up and out the door it goes!

The little nesting dolls above were my mom-in-laws - they have just found a brand new home.  Aren't they cute?

I wonder what the god of Creativity will deliver next - The older I get, the more ideas keep arriving!  I think hubby and I seriously need to retire!  (If only!)