Charm Swap 9 Update

We have just over two weeks until the charms are due in Michele's hands. The excitement is building!

Here are this week's updates:

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Jane of janefont is finished with her charms. She did a really cool faux shibuichi finish and the results are fantastic!
You can read all about how she did it on her blog: Jane Font - Fine Jewelry

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Reagan of ReaganHayhurst says she is nearly finished with her charms. I really love the leaf design. Can't wait to see all of her completed charms.

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I am very, very happy to say that as of today my charms are D-O-N-E! Now to just get them packaged and and shipped.

Half way through the finishing process:



Oxidized and ready to go:

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Until next time...

Ask Auntie EM - How the heck do I say NO!

Well, it's Tuesday and we are back again answering your questions in EtsyMetal's weekly blog post called "Ask Auntie EM". If you're new here, this is a weekly blog post written by Sue and Ann where we tackle your metalsmithing and non metalsmithing questions. Having trouble with your solder? Need some help with stone setting? Have a problem 2 year old? We and EtsyMetal's 100+ members probably have the answer. If you'd like YOUR question answered in the future, please email your questions to askauntie@etsymetal.com and we will get to it as soon as we can. If you'd like to read past posts, they can be found here.

This week's question comes from Francine:

I get a lot of "can you make this for me "type questions from friends and customers.

Usually i can make them but it's not what I am typically the best at or even like to do.

How often is it ok to say "no" and refer them to an artist who can create what they are asking about and who likes to do it?

To begin with, here are a few pieces that I have made that have come directly from customer and friend requests:



This is an excellent question and one we all get, all the time. Honestly, I used to be terrible at this, saying yes to every ridiculous and soul sucking request that came my way. And, in a way, I'm glad I did. The thing is, sometimes honoring a request can be really liberating and very educational.
Usually, a request from a customer (and a relative or friend IS a customer too) produces a negative knee jerk response with me. I tend to say "no" in my head first and then reconsider later when I've had a chance to think about it. Here's a list of my most used excuses:

I don't have time
I don't have the skills
It's not my style
It's copying someone else's work
I don't have the right tools
I am getting an uncomfortable feeling from the requester
I just, simply, don't want to do it

So, let's go through this list one at a time and see if they hold water.

#1. I don't have time. That's really legitimate. There are many times when another EtsyMetal member will get a request and will post it on our private forum simply because he or she doesn't have time to complete it themselves. In this way, a great opportunity is passed on to another skillful metalsmith and the customer stays happy. There are many times that I just simply don't have time to create a new piece with a customer from scratch. The learning curve is steep, new work takes a long time and the communication between artist and customer takes time as well. In this instance it's perfectly ok to just say "no, thanks".

#2. I don't have the skills. This is another one that I have used frequently and it frustrates me. There have been many times that I turned down a request because I thought I didn't have the skill set to make a piece well. Most of the time, it's my own insecurity and not my skill set. When you start thinking this way, really examine why you are using this excuse. If you're chickening out because you're feeling insecure, this is your big chance!! Make a model out of non precious metals and see how it works. In taking on a request like this you will further your confidence and skills, which is a real winner for you. Let the customer know that you will need extra time and be honest that you will be learning a new skill. Can you ask another metalsmith for help? Are there videos on YouTube? Can you look in a book? Visit a local goldsmith? Give it a try, if it doesn't work out help the customer find someone else. If it's a skill that's really outside your skill set, like hand engraving or elaborate stone setting, or if you will be taking on extreme financial liability then be honest with the customer and pass, explaining that some skills take years to master. You have to be honest with yourself first and really examine why you're using this excuse.

#3. It's not my style. I think this one, personally, is a bunch of baloney. If what the customer wants isn't "your" style, either make it your style or lighten up and have fun stepping outside your comfort zone. Obviously, the customer came to you because they see something in you and your work they like. Most of the time when they say "can you make me this?" they mean, "can you make me something like this that looks like you made it." I have found that, even when they show up with a picture of something they want, it's just an idea, not a finished product. Ask them what they like about the piece they are thinking about and you might find that it's as simple as "I want 5 stones in a row" or "I want it to be round". In this case you can run with it and have a great time. Now, if they are insistent that what they want look a particular way and they aren't up for any input, you will need to examine your own reluctance and see why you are hesitating. Is it excuse #2? Then tackle that problem. If it's just that it's "not your style" then forge ahead and have a great time. I have made several pieces like this and they usually expand the scope of my work and I'm really glad I did something new. Stepping outside our comfort zone is good, give it a try.

#4 It's copying someone else's work. This is a VERY legitimate excuse to decline. Don't copy other artist's work. Ever. It cheapens you and your work and never makes you look good. Try to find the original artist with a google image search and send the customer there. Perhaps they don't know the original maker (I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt). Perhaps they are fishing for a cheaper price or want to give you, their friend, the business instead. In either case, turn this kind of work down, no matter what.

5. I don't have the right tools. This is, hands down, my favorite excuse. Barring a laser welder...there isn't a tool that I can think of that I don't want or wouldn't buy for a project. If the tool is small, I roll that into the fee I charge the customer. If the tool is bigger, I charge for a small portion of the tool. I figure, if I needed it once, I'll need it again.

6. I am getting an uncomfortable feeling from the requester or I just, simply, don't want to do it. After many years in retail working with all different kinds of customers, I can tell you that this is a VERY valid reason to decline a job. If you have gone through excuses #1-5 and it's really none of them and you still don't want to take on a custom project, then don't. Sometimes you get the feeling that you and this particular customer won't work well together. It's ok, it happens. You don't want to marry every person you date, why would you want to work on a possibly complicated and potentially expensive project with every Tom, Dick or Jane. Maybe the customer is too controling and you like to work loose? Maybe the customer is too loosey goosey and you're having a hard time getting them to firm up their idea. Maybe they are just a jerk. In any case, a polite "No thank you" is adequate. You don't need to make excuses, you don't need to lie, just say no and be done with it.

So, I hope this helps. It's never easy saying no to anyone and, most of the time, these crazy requests come from family and friends. Remember they are usually asking because they love you and want to support your business and they don't know about excuses 1-6. Next time you want to reject a request, examine your own motives and maybe you will end up making something really great and you'll be glad you did!

Thanks for the question! See you next Tuesday! Until then, happy metalsmithing!

“What’s New”

Hello and welcome back to out weekly “What’s new” post.
Every week I show you our fresh new designs in our group member shops.


lsueszabo                                                  aroluna

tkmetalarts                                              katejonesjewelry
 
betsybensen                                           e5jewelry

MicheleGradyDesigns                        VirginieMartinStudio

simplymega                                               CreativeDexterity
 
SCJ Jewelry Design                              victoria takahashi/Experimetal

 silentgoddess                                      sudlow
 
nova designs                                            Erin Austin
 
Lichen & Lychee                                 JazznJewelry

I will be here next Saturday with new designs.
Have a great weekend !
Inbar

Charm Swap 9 Update

23 days to go. Twenty three. I know personally I have some serious work to get done to make the deadline. I have a feeling that I am probably not alone...

However, I do have lots of progress to report. So let's get to it!

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Virginie of VirginieMartinStudio is done with her charms. Don't they look amazing?

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Konstanze of nodeform has her 3-D printed prototype in hand:





She says, "I think I will modify it slightly to make it a bit puffier to get more volume, but otherwise I like it."
She is not alone. I dig the cocoon shape! I can't wait to see her finished charms.

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Next up is me, Laney of Silentgoddess. I have 8 charms complete. Lots of work still to go. But I am spending some time each day working on them and should have them wrapped up in time for the deadline.

My little enamel cups before they have been fired with the torch:


16 cups fired, 5 to go:

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Winona of Art by Winona has been busy carving hazelnuts for her charms:





Word on the EtsyMetal street is when they are complete they will be fuzzy. Stay tuned!

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And we have another participant who is DONE!
Inbar of inbarbareket finished up her charms this week. Aren't they beautiful??





The roses are carved corals. I really love how the coral and the silver complement each other.

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So that brings us up to date with our progress thus far. From what it sounds like everyone has their ideas figured out and most have started on their charms. We are hoping to have some good news from Mark of markaplan regarding his charms. When he had last heard from his caster there had been a fire at the casting shop. But no word on the status of his charms. Maybe his little dragons started breathing fire?

Until next time...

Book Club Challenge: The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Etsy Metal Book Club has been at it again. This time around we read Justin Cronin's "The Passage". Cronin has an excellent way with words and our pieces were connected to the text much more than they have been in the past. So much so that we have all included the text that inspired our work, so instead of summing up the story, I've decided to let the excerpts speak for themselves and would encourage anyone who enjoys a good apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic story to pick this one up.

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"For instance: Subject Zero glowed. In the infrared any heat source would do that. But the image of Subject Zero flared on the screen like a lit match, almost too bright to look at. Even his crap glowed. His hairless body, smooth and shiny as glass, looked coiled - that was the word Grey thought of, like the skin was stretched over lengths of coiled rope - and his eyes were the orange of highway cones. But the teeth were the worst. Every once in a while Grey would hear a little tinkling sound on the audio, and know it was the sound of one more tooth dropping from Zero's mouth to the cement. They rained down at the rate of half a dozen a day. These went into the incinerator, like everything else; it was one of Grey's jobs to sweep them up and it gave him the shivers to see them, long as little swords' you'd get in a fancy drink. Just the thing if, say, you wanted to unzip a rabbit and empty it out in two seconds flat."

Beth Cyr: Sterling Silver

Beth Cyr: Sterling Silver

The idea of the teeth falling out and being replaced made me think of sharks - gnarly teeth that could bite through anything, still there when everything else was gone. I liked the idea of them being shiny and glinting in the light out of the darkness.
-Beth Cyr (bcyrjewelry)

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 "...Peter's father had seen the ocean: his father, the great Demetrius Jaxon, Head of the Household, and Peter's uncle Willem, First Captain of the Watch. Together they'd led the Long Rides farther than anyone had ever gone, since before the Day. Eastward, toward the morning sun, and west to the horizon line and farther still, into the empty cities of the Time Before. Always his father returned with stories of the great and terrible sights he'd seen, but none was more wondrous than the ocean, in a place he called the Long Beach. Imagine, Peter's father told the two of them-for Theo was there as well, the two Jaxon brothers sitting at the kitchen table of their small house in the hour of their father's return, raptly listening, drinking his words like water-imagine a place an endless tumbling blueness, like the sky turned upside down. And sunk down in it, the rusting ribs of great ships, a thousand thousand of them, like a whole drowned city of man's creation, jutting from the ocean's waters as far as the eye could see. Their father was not a man of words; he communicated only with the most sparing phrases and parceled his affections the same way, letting a hand on a shoulder or a well-timed frown or, in moments of approval, a terse nod from the chin do most of his speaking for him. But the stories of the Long Rides brought out the voice in him. Standing on the ocean's edge, his father said, you could feel the bigness of the world itself, how quiet and empty it was, how alone, with no man or woman to look at it to say its name through all the years and years."

widflowerdesigns: Sterling Silver, Australian Opal

The entire time I was pondering what to create, I kept coming back to the idea of an object holding hope for the wearer. My ring is something that Peter's mother, Prudence Jaxon would own. The opal would be something that Demetrius would have picked up during a long ride, using it as a worry stone until he realized the beauty beneath the surface. The stone then would have been fixed into a crude ring with other small, unknown components that Demetrius picked up from his long rides and brought back to his family proving that life outside the walls did exist. Prudence did not have many personal possessions....that alone would speak to the importance of wearing an impractical "pretty" ring.
-Stacey (wildflowerdesigns)

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 When I first opened up the book I was intrigued from the start. I normally would not read this genre of story, but the book club is a great tool for me to open up a bit.  It was a book about a scenario that could happen and how fast, humans could be in a uncontrollable situation and what life would be like trying to survive. From the beginning you understand that there is a key (hope) and so I found myself reading to see how they would get out of each situation. Overall I liked the story, and the writer kept my attention the whole time. It really made me try and relate it to how it would be in a natural disaster and how my family might survive as I tend NOT to think in detail about things like that, so its a good thing in a indirect way.
~Victoria Takahashi (Experimetal)

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 "Teacher sealed the door behind them. A curious and premature pause; Sara had expected more. Where was she going? she asked Teacher. Would it be a long journey? Was someone coming for her? How long was she to wait here, in this room? But Teacher seamed not to hear these questions. She crouched before her, positioning her large, soft face close to Sara's. Little Sara, she asked, what do you suppose is out there, outside this building, beyond the rooms where you live? And what of the men you sometimes see, the ones who come and go at night, watching over you? Teacher was smiling, but there was something different about this smile, thought Sara, something that made her afraid. She didn't want to answer, but Teacher was looking straight at her, her face expectant. Sara thought of her mother's eyes, the night she asked her where she slept. A castle? she said, for in her sudden nervousness that was the only thing she could think of. A castle, with a moat? A castle, Teacher said. I see. And what else little Sara? The smile was suddenly gone. I don't know, said Sara. Well, Teacher said, and cleared her throat. It's not a castle."

ErinAustin: Sterling Silver

ErinAustin: Sterling Silver

 My ring is for Sara. As I was reading the book I wasn't aware of what an impact her character was making on me, but when I think back on the story now, I think about Sara a good deal. It's a sort of reminder that although her reality is one of monsters and teeth, fear and survival, there is still room to hope for more, just as she did as a child.
~Erin Austin (ErinAustin)

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If you've read The Passage let us know what you thought in the comments!

Thanks for reading!

Ask Auntie EM

Well, it's Tuesday and we are back again answering your questions in EtsyMetal's weekly blog post called "Ask Auntie EM". If you're new here, this is a weekly blog post written by Sue and Ann where we tackle your metalsmithing and non metalsmithing questions. Having trouble with your solder? Need some help with stone setting? Have a problem 2 year old? We and EtsyMetal's 100+ members probably have the answer. If you'd like YOUR question answered in the future, please email your questions to askauntie@etsymetal.com and we will get to it as soon as we can. If you'd like to read past posts, they can be found here.

I've decided to take on this interesting question this week-
This 2 part question came from Kelly:
1) What's a good way to stay inspired?

2) How do you deal with inspiration guilt (as in, the kind of guilt
that comes with seeing another artists AMAZING design, and you
emmulate aspects of it to kick start your own creativity)? And, such
inspiration, is it acceptable or to be avoided at all costs? There's
only so much you can DO with metal, and some artists require a
constant flow of inspiration. I DO NOT CONDONE RIPPING OFF OTHER
PEOPLES' DESIGNS, but I've never been offended when my designs
encourage other artists into similar intellectual and creative
pathways, but some folks guard their designs and techniques like rabid
(and justified) tigers. Generosity is a mark of a great community,
however, and I'd like to think Etsymetal is one such community, but
I'm interested in what you think regardless.

Your first question is a lot easier for me to answer and sort of addresses the second one as well. First of all, you have to find what inspires YOU. What makes you happy? What do you find beautiful? Interesting? I personally find inspiration in midcentury modernism so I might go to an antique store or look on line at midcentury sites. I am inspired by the shapes, the fabrics, their use of materials. I'll give you a direct example. Here is a piece of my work that was directly inspired by the atomic shapes on a piece of 1950's bark cloth. After looking at it, I decided I liked it as a dandelion seed head.


I am also inspired by nature and will take walks in the woods, our parks, and my own garden for inspiration. Sometimes a trip to our local museum will inspire me. I love strolling through the sculpture garden and am often inspired by Noguchi, Henry Moore, and the like. I could show you countless examples in my work but the point is to find what YOU love and to draw from it.

I do NOT look at the work of others for inspiration. In fact, I make it a point not to. This is not the place to find your inspiration- your work will end up looking like theirs. While some may say that copying is the sincerest form of flattery, I am very much opposed to the idea. Certain things are what they are- a round hoop is a round hoop is a round hoop. But, if that person has a unique clasp on that round hoop, don't copy it. Instead, think, "wow that's really cool, I wonder what I can come up with?". If after making something, you can't tell the difference between your work and "your inspiration"- well, you've gone way too far.

I'd like to share with you a couple ideas that I use on a regular basis to keep my originality and inspiration going. First, if I have a problem to solve in a piece I am working on, I ALWAYS think of 3 different ways to solve it. Why would I go to all that trouble? Because the first way you think of is almost always the obvious way. The obvious way is usually not the most original or interesting way. This technique has helped me come up with unique bails, clasps, and a much better ability to problem solve.

Secondly, schedule a workshop if you can. Nothing will light your creative fires more than learning something completely new. It might take your work in an entirely new direction. If nothing else, you will meet other metalsmiths with whom you can share ideas.

Thirdly, just get out there and make work. The more you make, the more you find your own style and your skill levels will increase immensely. You can't make anything original if you don't have a good skill set. Some friends say to me, "I can't make anything unless I'm in the mood". I thoroughly do not believe this. If I only went to the studio and worked when "I was in the mood", I wouldn't get much done. Develop a strong work ethic and routine. I aspire to be like Alexander Calder who went to his studio to make stuff every single day. If you do, you will get inspired. Trust me on this.

Finally, I'd like to share a handout I got at an Andy Cooperman workshop. Andy is such an original thinker and he was a big inspiration to me. When I need some help, I read this again.

SHAKING THE TREE- a little help to get you started or to help you dig out...
-Emphasize differences
-Emphasize repetition
-Not building a wall but making a brick...
-Take a break
-Use an unacceptable color
-Do we need holes?
- Look closely at the most embarrassing details and AMPLIFY them
-What mistakes did you make the last time?
-Are there sections? Consider the transitions
-Make an exhaustive list of everything you might do and do the last one on it
-Turn it upside down
-Don't be frightened to display your talents
-Don't be afraid of things because they are easier to do
-Honor thy error as a hidden intention
-What would your closest friend do?
-Go outside. Shut the door.
-State the problem in words as clearly as possible
-Just carry on
-You don't have to be ashamed of using your own ideas
-Trust in the you of now
-Faced with a choice, do both
-Give way to your worst impulse
-Make a sudden, unexpected move
-Emphasize flaws

Well, those ideas should get your creative juices going.
Kelly, I hope this helped you and anyone else feeling in a creative slump. Go out and find your muse. Happy metalsmithing,

Sue

EtsyMetal Blog Carnival March 5, 2012

TOPIC ~ What are the Pros and Cons of Selling Your Jewelry Online?

Welcome to the EtsyMetal Blog Carnival for March, 2012!

Read what our members have to say:

Inbar Bareket
Silentgoddess
Evelyn Markasky

2Roses

Nodeform