A Seller's Rant and a Rupee Project

I have a bit of a perfectionist streak, and I find it difficult to get my clay crafts as perfect as I would like sometimes.  I actually get angry when I look online at some of the poor craftsmanship I find on sites like Etsy, where crafts people are trying to sell clay items that are covered in fingerprints, have visible joints in the clay when it would have been easy to hide with a little extra smoothing, or just look nothing like what they are intended.  I don't want to call anyone out directly, but do a search for something popular like "zelda" on Etsy and I'm positive you'll find some examples.  

There's a huge difference between crafting items I feel like making, versus crafting things with the intention of selling.  There are a few issues to consider when you're thinking about selling your wares.  

The first issue is the concept of easy and consistent production.  A good example to use is my butter earrings.  They are very popular, but they are hard to make.  I hand cut a small stencil for each earring, and stencil the letters, paint the lines, and then have to clean them up and glaze them.  They take a lot of time, and while the sticks of butter themselves are easy to produce, the steps to get to the finished product are tedious.  A more simple design, like the rupees featured below, are easily reproduced and don't require much more work beyond the shaping of the clay.  

The second issue is pricing.  How much is your time as a crafter & creator worth?  Sites like Etsy factor in here as well.  You will find some items that are skillfully crafted with prices that undervalue the time and effort put in, but you will also find some items that are woefully overpriced.  I perused shops that I admire, and used their pricing to get a starting point.  In addition to estimating material costs, I started using a timer for batches of items I make, and paying myself an hourly wage based on that time.  Don't undervalue your time!  Personally, I'd much rather pay $10.00 for a handmade version of a trinket, versus a cheap plastic mass produced version for $5.00.  

The third issue is figuring out the types of items that you can do well, that will also sell.  There area many sellers on Etsy making really cool things, but they don't sell.  People aren't interested, the seller hasn't promoted their stuff, or a combination of the two.  I recently started selling items at a local used video game store, and I've shifted my focus away from mushrooms and moustaches to game related items.  I always created game and Star Wars items, but not regularly.  Now it will be much more of a focus.  

Moral of the story/rant about selling:  Produce quality items, don't undervalue your time, and find a theme that works for you.  

On to the rupee project!  

This was my first time making a mold for clay.  Sculpey sells a mold maker compound, and it's super easy to use if you have something you'd like to reproduce without having to sculpt it every time.  I created a "blank" half of a rupee out of bulk polymer clay.  I made sure it was as close to perfect as I could get it.  Then I pressed it into the mold compound and baked it.  Perfect rupees every time!  

This was the first rupee I made.  I used a metallic shimmer finish on the red clay.  I like the way it came out, but it was a little too metallic instead of looking like a jewel.

For the large batch, I switched to iridescent powder, which certainly changed the look slightly.  I prefer this one, and I think I'll be experimenting with translucent clay in the future to give it even more of a jewel look.

Prepping for glaze!

I highly recommend trying a mold if you have never done it.  It will rock your world.  It would be more difficult with items that have significant details, or if you were planning on doing multiple clay colors in the mold, but it can be done!  Experiment!

I've also continued to crochet in my free time.  Here's the pile of squares I have at the moment.  I have a long way to go, but a little at a time.  I didn't realize it would take 100 squares to make a throw size blanket!

I'm going to go make myself another cup of coffee and clean the house today.  I have one tomato turning ripe, and one pepper...I'm super excited!  More gardening stuff to come!

A day off

Over the weekend I was privileged to be puppy sitting for the cutest corgi ever. If any dear readers are coming over from Facebook, you've already seen the plethora of pictures I took. I couldn't get enough of his little face and fluffy butt.  Here we're my faves:

See! He's the cutest little guy!  He could be a little annoying...I would say that anything that nips at your muffin tops while you're trying to chill on the sofa could easily qualify as "annoying".  But it was a great experience, and I think my husband is much more inclined toward getting a puppy than he was before.

In other news, we had a few days straight here in central VA without rain. It was sunny and hot for the last few days, so I went out to give the veggies a good soaking with the hose.  While I was spraying, a darkish cloud moved overhead and I experienced a really beautiful sun shower.  I could see the line where the rain stopped. Extremely cool and a little zen. I watched the sky for a bit, enjoyed the sun filtering through the crepe myrtles, and took note of all the bug and butterfly activity that was going on around me. It's soothing for me to take a moment to just observe, passively. Listen and look.  Notice the feel of the huge drops of rain.  Then back to watering and pulling weeds!  

I have a pumpkin that is steadily getting bigger. The issue is the fact that my pumpkin plant decided to grow up and over the bunny fence.  I've heard of ways to make a little hammock for trellised acorn squash, so I will have to hunt down some old or cheap hosiery. He's still palm sized and I hope he doesn't fall off before I make a hammock!  

I've also been thinking up ideas for the next round of craft projects. I'm trying to take advantage of extra free time while work is still slow.  Tonight I plotted out the squares for my mother's blanket, since I decided to add in a variation with the colors for a little more interest. Here's my crazy sketch: 

I don't know if any of you other crochet people plan out your blankets like this, but drawing it was annoying. I'd love to hear any tips or tricks if you guys have them!  I need an app for the iPad...

I'm going to try to get some paperwork done tonight too. Taking advantage of that productive feeling while it lasts!

Trying to be healthy is a real pain.

In the last few weeks, I've started working again.  It's been great, even though paychecks are on a month delay...yay....more waiting!  I still have some craft projects to work on though, and since I'm still part time, I will have some time to work on them.

This weekend I get a bit of excitement!  I'm puppy sitting for my sister and her boyfriend.  They have the cutest little corgi puppy and I'm going to convince my husband we need a dog!  (Good luck with that!)

How could you not fall in love with this cuteness?!

The biggest bummer over the last two weeks has been an almost constant headache.  It might go away for a day or two, but I've had a headache for 12 out of the last 19 days.  It was so noticeable, I decided to start tracking my health stuff using this app on my iPad:  Track & Share

So far, the app has been well worth the $5.00.  You can pretty much track whatever you want.  It comes with items (like happiness, stress, sleep) ready to track, that are already set up into different categories (Mood items, Health items, Gratitude Diary, etc), but it's fully customizable and super easy to use.  It even produces a graph for you.  For those of us who like to work with data, it's convenient because I was about to make my own spreadsheet in Excel to track this stuff.

In light of the headaches, and the fact that I don't have health insurance, I've been trying to research what it could be that triggered it.  There are a number of variables at the moment, and it's hard to pinpoint a cause/effect situation.

Issue 1:  I have allergies.  There could be a mold problem in my house, and there is definitely mold at my client's house.  And it's been a surprisingly wet spring/summer.

Issue 2:  I'm back to work after having a few months off.  Stress levels jumped significantly in the first few weeks back, particularly paperwork as I never had a training at the new company.

Issue 3:  I have celiac disease and at least one other autoimmune disorder. It could be any number of things related to that.  I'm pretty positive I haven't been glutened, since we haven't been eating out.  Everything in the house except a single loaf of bread and some frozen biscuits for my husband is gluten free, and the hubs is good at avoiding cross contamination for me.

Issue 4:  I have mild scoliosis.  My mattress isn't good for me, and we were using the guest room mattress until we realized switching it wasn't comfortable for guests either.

Something has to change.  It's hard to get anything done with a headache, nevermind trying to work with kids with autism where you need to be alert.  Soooo....I came up with a plan of action.  Start taking my claritin daily again (I was feeling excessively dry so I stopped).  Stay on top of my paperwork so it doesn't overwhelm me.  Change supplements so that I'm targeting my inflammatory response to different things.  Use a heating pad to help relax my back at night, paired with a cup of hot green tea and some aromatherapy.  Start back with daily yoga.  Switch out the mattress for a better one that my mother left in our attic.

Hopefully that will help get my body back on track!

Hooray for corgi puppies over the weekend!!!

Fun fact:  Welsh folklore says that Corgis are the preferred mounts of fairy warriors!  

Garden update

I still don't know what I'm doing, really.  This is my second year, and I'm still having a hard time figuring out what decimates my smaller plants every time.  Two peppers down and two eggplants destroyed.  Also, cucumbers baffle me.  I can't seem to get them going from seed.  Here's the bed of peps, eggplants, and cukes:

You can kind of see, that I tried a barrier method of chopsticks and bamboo skewers, to help with what I thought were birds picking off leaves.  I still don't know if it's birds, squirrels, or something else....but somehow, my small plants keep dying when I put them out.  I've fertilized with a liquid seaweed fertilizer, and an organic slow release.  We've had a lot of rain lately, so I'm not sure if they're over watered.  But on a more positive note, other things are doing well.

Tomatoes are growing like gangbusters.  I have a bunch of flowers on the cherry and the beefsteak.

I honestly didn't realize how much space a pumpkin plant would need (in the back), and I've definitely got to figure something out so I can keep it till it produces something.  The bush type zucchini is doing well though.

And the last bunch of stuff I've been growing is herbs.  So far, they are mostly in pots.  I'm going to need to transplant the more hardy plants in an herb bed in front of the shed.  The rosemary, lavender and thyme will move there this fall (probably...if I have time and energy).  Then warm weather herbs will get planted in between when the weather gets nice again.  I also bought a cute little bay tree, but he's so small right now that he's staying on the kitchen window sill for a while.  I've been drying lavender for the last two years, and I'm now working on drying some thyme and chocolate mint.  I hope they store well!

Chocolate mint, rosemary, and empty strawberry pot.  My wild wonder strawberries died early.  The chocolate mint has a great flavor.  Much more mild than a peppermint.  I think it will make a great tea.  If you grow mint, be careful.  It is very invasive and best left in pots instead of the ground.

Snap dragons that are looking ragged! English lavender on the left, lemon thyme on the right.  The lemon thyme is awesome...very lemony and a yellow trim on the green leaves.

Dill, basil, and cilantro (coriander). They were getting a little scorched when I had them out by the rosemary and mint, so I moved them to a slightly shadier location (the benefit of pots for annuals). The basil and cilantro keep trying to bolt, but I have been cutting them down so I hope to get some more leaves.

The bain of my gardening existence has been crepe myrtle suckers.  The rosemary/mint pic shows the sheer magnitude of growth on a stump that hasn't been weed whacked recently.  We had a big mess of crepe myrtle, intertwined with some other mystery plants in that area of the yard.  My husband is industrious in his demolition of things, including some of the front bushes, an old dead dogwood, and a row of bushes on the side of the house.  Here's a "during demolition" pic:

As great now that the mess is gone, but there's still a stump, AND I did not get all the roots out when I dug my beds.  Now there are crepe myrtle suckers growing everywhere in the beds, and they are making me crazy.  You can pull them out as much as you want, and they will be back a few days later.  In the fall, I will probably have to re-do the old beds anyway, with different boards...I guess I'll be digging deep for roots too.  The projects never end!