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Month: September 2012

My Week

My Week

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Hi Everyone,  I tried to get in some felting this week,  I didn’t get as much accomplished as I would have liked but at least I managed a few things,  We had such a beautiful sunny day the other day that I felt like felting some flowers 🙂

 

I had a fair bit of trouble with the first smaller one getting the stem attached, it took me an episode of NCIS of rubbing and squishing with lots of soap to actually get the flower head and stem firmly attached.  Then with the larger one I decided to do the stem and large flower as a whole which seemed to work so much better, I also made another smaller flower head and inserted it in the centre by needle felting it together, there both pretty strong now and I’m fairly happy though I know I can do better.

I really wanted to make a vessel of some sort to so off I started again, I cut a resist and was thinking I’d do an enclosed one and then cut and see whats underneath, mmmmm first of all the shape was all wrong again,  it was more bag shape than  vessel shaped, well to me anyway

I wasn’t really sure how many layers to do so I started with 3 layers of white Romney, ( sorry I forgot to take a pic of that part)  then added a layer of purple BFL –merino

Then a layer of redy, it looks more pink in the pic but its redy orange really

Then the final layer of more red and lots of sari silk, threads and nylon

5 layers in total and its already super strong and nice and thick.

So now I didn’t much like it as a vessel, as I said the shape is wrong and I’ve already cut the top off and tried to get it in the shape I want but of course it just wanted to look more like a sack than anything else 🙂  and once again I didn’t take a pic of trying to get that shape, so  after much bravery I cut more and more and now I’ve ended up with what will be a small bag but Ill have to make a new handle and mess around with it way more than I wanted.  Having said  that I’m really enjoying playing around with it and we’ll just have to wait and see how it turns out. Don’t be shocked but this is what I have to play with now and I do have more of an idea of what the finished piece will look like but it’ll take me a couple more days to finished it off

The flap isn’t going to stay that shape this is just as far as I’ve got with it right now and I’m going to add some leather  ( i think) and generally mess around with it.

So thats it so far, next week i wont have anything in my house, not even the kitchen sink  :)so it might be a couple of weeks before i can get into anymore felting. hope your all having a fun week. Happy Felting xo

 

Felt Bubbles

Felt Bubbles

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A while back I went to a felting friends for a few days fun.  She showed me how to make bubbles and cut them  open to great effect. Here are the pictures of what I did.

First of course I laid out some wool to felt. But these are samples so plain felt won’t do . I added silk threads and a silk square and some silk roving and other wools to see how it would all go. This is the underside.

This is what the top side looks like

Then of course there was the usual rolling and fulling.

rolling rolling rolling

Here they are all finished and ready for the marbles.

The next step is to put marbles in while it is still damp. You pull the felt tightly around the marble and secure it with an elastic and now it is a bubble. We used the elastics they use to put braids in horses tails and manes because they are small, stretchy,  strong and cheap.  You put in as many as you like and what ever sizes you like. You can also use felt balls. the felt balls are good if you want to leave them uncut. Marbles are to heavy for that.

Here they are all tied up.

Felt with marbles tied in to make bubbles

Here they are cut.  I cut the tops off , I cut x’s and star patterns and some I tuned inside out. if you cut more off you see more of the inside and you can stretch them flatter too.

Bubbles cut open

You can see how the underside becomes the inside of the bubbles. These samples started out about 6×8 inches and the finished pieces are about 1.5 by 2.5 inches. They take up a lot of room. I only have 2 of them left my friends dog ate one. I think I will glue them to some leather and make broaches out of them. They are lots of fun to do. I made some wrist cuffs with this method and I will blog about them next week.

Selling on Etsy

Selling on Etsy

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Today on Marketplace Monday, I have an invited guest to talk about Etsy and selling online. I don’t have any experience on Etsy so I thought it would be good to ask my friend Vicki to talk to you, since she has a successful Etsy shop. Vicki dyes the most beautiful fabric. She sells mainly to quilters but if you use any kind of fabric in your artwork, you should check out Vicki’s shop as her fabric is wonderful and she will even make a custom piece just for you if you can’t find what you need.

Thank you, Ruth, for inviting me here today. As Ruth knows, I am an Etsy seller and I love the Etsy platform so when she asked me to talk a bit about selling on Etsy I jumped at the chance.

I am not a felter; I am a fabric dyer and quilter and I blog at Field Trips in Fiber. I started blogging about my quilting, dyeing and other pursuits in 2006 and that eventually led to selling my hand dyed fabric. I opened my Etsy shop in 2009. As with anything it was a slow start but the business has grown steadily. After 3 years of selling I can still say that choosing Etsy as my platform was one of the best decisions that I have made.

Today I thought I would talk about three things. First we will discuss why Etsy over other sites, second I’ll share some tips that apply no matter which platform you choose and finally, I’ll discuss some tips for creating great listings.

Why Etsy

Before choosing Etsy I had to choose to sell my fabric on a marketplace platform instead of a dedicated web site. That was an easy one for me. I do not have the time or money to manage a separate web site. I’d rather be creating than doing web maintenance. I consider the Etsy fees that I pay as a bargain for some fabulous IT support.

I chose Etsy simply because it is the biggest platform out there. There are other sites like Big Cartel and Art Fire and they are very good sites. But I want my fabric where the buyers are and Etsy gets more traffic than any of the competitors. Consider the following stats:

  • There are over 875,000 Etsy sellers. Yes, it’s a lot of competition but they are there because that’s where the buyers are. Most casual shoppers do not even know about any other sites for buying handmade and vintage items.
  • Over 2.9 million items are sold on Etsy each month.
  • Etsy is the most pinned site on Pinterest

If you want your items to be as visible as possible, Etsy is the platform. The challenge will be differentiating your shop and your products so that they do not get lost among the millions of other listings. Here are a few tips.

Etsy Tips

 The biggest challenge on Etsy is getting your listing seen.  Recently listed items will appear in the search first so you can list/relist often to keep your shop fresh. I try to have new items to list every week but when I don’t I will relist a few items just to keep something showing early on the search page. Selling hand dyed fabric gives me an advantage since there are not a great number of hand dyed fabric sellers. But if you are selling a popular item, like jewelry or art, then listing often is important. Etsy also feeds Google search so listing items frequently will move you up in Google search pages as well.

Also, make use of the search tags and listing name to help customers find your items.  This is what Etsy uses to match your item to a search query. Use all 13 allowed tags on each listing and make them relevant. Try to consider the search terms that potential customers would use to find your item. Include colors and your name for people searching by artist.

Etsy also provides a lot of help and guidance to sellers. The Etsy Online Labs is full of great information and you can always get a question answered in the forum. You can also purchase Search Ads reasonably that will guarantee you a certain amount of front page visibility.

But you cannot rely solely on customers finding you through Etsy. To have a successful business on Etsy you must drive a lot of the traffic yourself directly to Etsy.  About half of my customers are first-time Etsy customers. They have joined Etsy specifically to buy my fabric.

Think about who your customers are and where they might be. If you are selling art, your customers are not likely on other fiber art blogs. They might be hanging out on decorating blogs or homemaker blogs or even local interest blogs and sites. It’s important to find the customers first so you can tell them about your great products.

I get a lot of traffic from Google search and that has helped me identify other audiences for my fabric. I’ve sold fabric to a guy who wanted it for background for his aquarium, someone who wanted it for a speaker cover and to a lot of costume people and photographers. The costume and photography connection is one that I am exploring now for some advertising venues beyond quilters and fiber artists.

Here are a few things that I do to promote my hand dyed fabric. Maybe a few of them will give you some ideas for your own art.

  • My blog: I focus at least 2 posts each week on my hand dyed fabric. I usually have a “New in Shop” post mid-week and I have a post each Sunday highlighting possible quilt layouts using the current featured fabric palette. I also highlight blogger who use my fabric. Many of them are kind enough to post links to my shop and blog. Two in particular provide some of the best advertising possible and it’s free although I make sure to give them some free fabric from time to time.
  • Advertise on other blogs. This is a tricky one. It takes some work to find just the right sites. I have tried in vain to attract the “modern” quilters to hand dyed fabric. They simply are not ready to go there but I found a craft-centered blog where my advertising is finally paying off. In addition to advertising I periodically sponsor a giveaway on the blog to bring my products front and center.
  • Sponsor contests and giveaways on other web sites and blogs.  I sponsor quilt contests on quiltinggallery.com and usually sponsor the semi-annual Blogger’s Quilt Festival. Some require payment and a donation but often you can find ones that only require you to provide a prize.
  • Advertise in publications. I advertise in several magazines. It’s not inexpensive but it does work. Make sure your ad is not too busy but is graphically strong enough to attract attention.
  • Offer to write guest posts on other blogs. People often need a break and will welcome an opportunity to have a guest post with a topic relevant to their readers.

Even with the great search features of Etsy, you will get most of your business from the traffic that you drive there yourself. You may not be able to invest in advertising from the beginning but there are a lot of free ways to get some exposure and traffic, especially on the web. Find the blogs and web sites that you think your customers are reading and start approaching them to provide content. Make sure that the content is relevant and beneficial. It’s usually best to not make it all about your product. Maybe it can be a free tutorial using your product or some care information for the type of art that you make. All it takes is some research, writing and a few emails.

You have traffic, now what?

OK, so now you have customers knocking at your virtual door you need to get them to buy something.

There is nothing more important than the photography. People can’t touch and hold your item in your virtual shop so you need to do it for them. Colors need to be accurate, they need views from all sides (when appropriate), and they may need to see the item in use or to see the scale of the item.

Check out other listings that you like and make note of the photography. What draws you in? Be sure that the image is clear and lighted properly. No one is going to buy an item that is not photographed well.

Etsy allows you up to 5 photographs on a listing. Use them! You could show alternate colorways, different sides or detail shots. If you are selling finished art, show it displayed as it would look in their home.

You also need to write a good description. Two things can help here. Read descriptions of other items for ideas of what to include and then get someone to proof read it for you. Preferably you can get someone who is the profile of your buyer to look at the description and photographs.  If they have questions or anything is confusing then you know that you have something to fix.

Etsy also has regular Shop Critiques and I find them very helpful even if my own shop isn’t selected for a critique.

This is just a starting point. Once you have your shop set up plan to devote a day each week to promotion and maintenance. This will give you time to research the myriad of sites on the web that offer Etsy selling advice and to research advertising and promotion opportunities.  It’s a business and it requires a lot of work but it will pay off in the end.

Thanks Vicki! That’s some great information. If you have any questions, for Vicki about Etsy, please leave them in the comments and we’ll get you the answers or answer them in a future post.