Many new faces

I wanted to take a moment and say hello to the many new followers of this blog. I recently joined the Rochester New York Etsy Street Team (RNEST) and as a result, I was able to participate in a give away that we are doing on our RNEST Blog. The group does a number of contests for our members and giveways to our blog followers that helps us get exposure and allows us to get our handmade items into the hands of others who can show them off in the world.

It was so gratifying to hear so many people comment on the pieces in my Etsy shop. I was surprised at how many different pieces people commented on. Thank you so much for taking the time to look in on what I offer. It's been the single best thing I've ever done for myself and knowing that others enjoy what I create is very satisfying.


If you would like to get in on the Wednesday Wellspring Giveaways, you can follow the RNEST Blog as we put up a new give away every Wednesday which runs for a week. You can still get in on the give away for the Beaded Rosettes Bracelet until Tuesday September, 21st.

Finally, after all these years....a

Finally, after all these years, I have a posse. Ok, maybe not a posse, but...peeps?

After being on Etsy for over a year and trying to get the Etsy going and the shows going and the designing going, I found a break in my schedule to actually attend the Rochester New York Etsy Street Team (RNEST) monthly meeting in August. I'd kept wanting to for months and months but it never quite worked out until then.

Now, we've all been to the meetings and we all know the drill. Nothing gets done. It's mostly a whine and moan session. It's not productive, it's fairly negative and you leave, usually trying to dodge that person who's trying to rope you into some committee, vowing never to return.

I can't tell you how thrilled I was that this simply was not the case here. These people are not only happy with what ever success they are having, they are interested in the success of everyone in the group, not just themselves. There was a vibrant exchange of ideas, resources and the welcome I got was warm and genuine. There was no uncomfortable hierarchy that can come with these sort of groups and there was no "artiste" trying to run the show.

These are real people, with real talent, who are investing their time to help and support each other and it's positive and I am delighted to have finally put the pliers down and attended a meeting.

The talent at these meetings is astounding. You've got Jackbear, who's making really different and interesting rubber stamps, Michelle, who's shop The Quilted House, features amazing quilts, Buenahelena, who upcycles one of a kind items from the most amazing things and a whole host of others who I'll mention in another RNEST featured blog.

These are people like me - passionate, creative, and looking to network and befriend others in who are doing it hand made.

I feel so lucky to have finally started to go to the meetings and see more of my peeps, familiar and new.

Hate mail from a 12 year old

Dear Ms. Maven,

Why haven't you put the Harry Poter house bracelets. U know, Ravenclaw and Griffindor and Hufflepuff and Slytherin? Where are they??? I NEED THEM I'M HAVING A PARTY!!!

Paul

Dear Paul,

Thank you so much for your note. I realize that I have disappointed you by not having these bracelets available at this moment. I will do my best to have these available in my shop as soon as possible. If you would like to let me know exactly what you will be needing, the measurements and how many of each house, I would be happy to fill the order in time FOR YOUR PARTY!!!!

Ask your mom for a cookie. Life is far to short to be this upset at such a young age.

The Maven

My 15 minutes of Fame!

Yesterday, I called into our local morning show, The Break Room, to dispel the idea that Tommy Mule, one of the members of the Break Room, put out about Italians being stupid. Being Italian, and being far from stupid, I couldn't miss the opportunity to irradicate that notion post haste.

So, I call in and say my name is Connie, which isn't may real name, because really, who cares what my name is right? So, in the course of the conversation, they ask me what I do, and I say Chainmaille. They think I mean chain mail, like spam, so I have to explain that I make jewelry out of little jump rings and mention the chain maille bra I recently made, which of course they are intrigued by.

So, Billy and Tommy (the main hosts of the show) want to know if I'm making a living off this. Unfortunately I'm not, so I say that I'm unemployed and that it's a side business. Currently, the Break Room is trying to help people find new jobs, so they bring listeners in to 'pitch' themselves and invite me in.

Of course I accept. But, my name isn't really Connie so when I sent the thank you note to them and shore up the appearance, I mention this and give them my real name, which of course turns into fodder for a fun radio show.

So, the Connie thing comes back to haunt me at 5:15 when my phone rings and my sister Karyn says "Were you on '96 this morning?" I'm thinking she means Route 96, and I say no. She says "You weren't Connie on The Break Room this morning?" Apprently my voice is rather distinct lol.

So this morning, I show up with the bra, and some small gifts for everyone, the men got Chain Maille keychains woven in Full Persian, I brought Billy's wife a Olivia Byzantine bracelet in AB and Green AA and for Sally, I made some byzantine earrings with a little star and moon charm.

I got there, and they were all super nice to me. At first I was really nervous, and the room felt really really hot. Of course it wasn't but it was just my nerves. So, they sit me in a nice leather chair, hook me up with headphones and a mic and say "Now, were back with Connie...or is that her real name..." which I was totally prepared for.

And they were really nice to me, even Tommy, who I expected a hard time from, as that's his job. He suggested that he could have made the keychains in an afternoon and that he could outweave me any time. I suggested that he put his money where his mouth is and he really didn't bite - which was unfortunate as I thought it would be great to see him go down.

They asked me about my skills, and I told them that I'd been a political consultant for many years, having rounded my career out in 2004 on the Kerry Campaign in Cleveland Ohio, having a staff of over 100 for a canvass operation to collect voter data. From there, I'd been an office manager, and most recently in customer service and promoted to sales. Hopefully, someone in the community will need someone with analytical skills and call the station about me.

We also talked about the YMCA, as Tommy and I have been in the same water aerobics classes. We talked about the interesting bathing suits and whether or not we thought anyone had ever 'pee'd' in the pool, to which both of us said no. I razzed Tommy a little about how stoic and focused and kind of unfriendly he seems in class and the rest of the show got a kick out of that.

All in all, it was really fun, and hopefully people will look at my website and buy some things. That would be so awesome.

I loved being on the radio - several friends called me and told me how great I did, which is reassuring - things move really fast when you are talking like that and it gets really comfortable really quickly and you could get too comfortable and forget that 10,000 people are listening. Greatfully, I didn't and I think it went really well and now my local community knows that there are great chainmaillers all over who are artists and crafts people and hopefully that awareness will increase all of our sales.

Honestly, I'd love another 15 minutes of fame. It was really really fun.

Now for something completely differant

So, I'm at my gym, and I'm running late for a water aerobics class. I speed past the reception desk, barely stopping to let them scan my key tag and I high tail it to the locker room, and start looking for an empty locker, when I realize of the 2 women kitty corner to where I am, one's looking at me, like checking me out. And not in a good way.

I'm a woman with a mission, and I shrug this weirdo off and start to take my clothes off and all of a sudden, stalker woman says "Oh my God," and I immediately turn my head in her direction out of pure impulse, "I think we wear the same bra size." How much more non-sequitur could that comment have been? I'm not even processing this really, I'm just kind of waiting for the punchline or the explanation or for someone to show up from the Publisher's Clearing House with the cameras and the big check. This woman is matronly, and busty and old. And I'm really not any of those things. And I'm starting to creep right out.

I must have had a 'does not compute' look on my face because she volunteers an explaination which I really didn't care to hear nor want. "I have to go to work," she says, as if she's on some kind of radio call in show, "and I'm not wearing a bra." Thanks for sharing I think, and then it dawns on me. Like the light bulb literally clicks on and I realize, much to my horror, that this complete stranger, this dumpy, slightly slovenly woman, is actually trying to score my bra. And I'm trying to actually process this whole thing.

"Well, you could go home," I hear someone say and realize that it is, in fact me, and also realize that my arms are instinctively crossed in front of my breasts and my hands are aching because I'm holding on to my biceps for apparent dear life, "or, you could just go commando," I say, trying to be funny and make light of the situation while trying to figure out how I can get myself away from this crazy woman and into the pool.

"I clean houses," she continues on her voluntary autobiography of bralessness. "And the, um, man works from home. He can't, you know, see my boobies." This was just getting odder and odder as we went on.

In my horrified state I said 2 things "I'd love to give you my bra, because you are right, it would fit perfect, but it's dirty," none of which was true. "And just so you know, I can't see your tits through your shirt so you should be fine." Which was true, and I doubt the work from home man would even realize that she was sans brazier. She smirked and rolled her eyes and said "They are boobies."

I just shrugged at her, snapped the lock shut on my locker and with a self satisfied smirk on my face, walked out to the pool, secure in the knowledge that the only boobies touching my bra would be mine.

New stuffs in the shop

I just posted a slew of new things, right on the heels of Etsy Yart Sale, June 10 - 14th. I'm offering free shipping on any item over $20.00.

Things have been going well locally, with special orders and more sales than in my Etsy shop. Now that the local business is going better, largely because of word of mouth, I'm starting to concentrate more on the etsy shop, and thinking about a serious marketing plan to start to really generate more business.

As always, if you see something that you like in my shop, but want to modify it in some way, just convo me, I'm usually more than happy to accomodate.

Have a happy,

Michelle
chainmaillemaven.etsy.com

Supply and Demand

Last week I put out a querie about suppliers on the Etsy Chainmailler's guild yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chainmaillersguild/) - what I wanted to know was, who were people buyingtheir materials from with good luck.

I have ordered from 2 outlets - The Ring Lord (http://theringlord.com/) and Metal Designz (http://www.metaldesignz.com/). I have to say, side by side, Metal Designz is a superior quality product.

When looking at Bright Aluminum stock, there's just no comparison. Metal Designz is far brighter and shinier than TLR. TLR's price point is lower, but I feel that for jewelry quality materials, I'd rather go with Metal Designz. The only thing I don't buy from MD is Anodized Aluminum rings in colors - they don't cut them in house, and only offer machine cut. I prefer everything I use for jewelry to be saw cut, and The Ring Lord offers all his anodized aluminum in saw cut. The color saturation and the color quality is very good with TLR, and I don't have any complaints with their anodized rings.

**Note - I was told that you can put TLR BA stock in a sock with some Dawn dish soap and run it under the faucet to get the coating off and shine them up. Call me a lazy bones, but I want my rings to come to me user ready right out of the package.

I have interacted with customer service from Metal Designz on a number of occasions, and have been completely satisfied. I was even having an issue with a weave and Shelley was kind enough to talk me through it on the phone. That's superiour customer service from where I sit.

Although I was in sales, I worked in a manufacturing facility and had a keen sense of production planning. The thing about ordering from Metal Designz or TLR is they are both in Canada, so you won't get your materials in 1 or 2 days unless you pay through the nose. Because I am able to sit down and look at my show schedule and have an idea of what my needs are in advance, using an international supplier has not hurt my ability to continue production. It just takes careful planning. Generally, with Metal Designz, I wait 7 days from when I pay an invoice to when I get a delivery, and I ship with the Fed Ex Ground International option, which tacks on about 14 bucks per order. Incidentally, if you decide to forego the Fed Ex, and only do Canada Post, you will wait quite a while for your supplies, 2+ weeks at least.

I spoke with Blue Buddah last week and while I might use them in a real bind, their prices were almost 200% more than what I'm paying now, given that they sell by the piece, and I buy by the ounce. I asked them to weigh 1000 18g 5/16 rings for me, and it came out to 2 ounces or so. I get those for about 2.15 an ounce, and they wanted 15.00 for them. I don't know how I could keep a handle on my profit margin if I were using them as my only suppliers. People say they have superior customer service and their quality is very high - I just don't think I could justify that price unless the rings walked, talked and weaved themselves.

And a note about Metal Designz customer service. I put in an order on-line on a Monday Night, and before Shelley and Joe went to the hospital as Shelley was going into labor, they filled my order and shipped before I had even paid the invoice. Though the business relationship was solid prior, that act alone told me that these were the people I wanted to do business with.

Anyway, I thought I'd pass on my research to the masses. Feel free to comment, I'm always interested in finding good sources for jewelry beads, findings and chain maille jumprings/supplies.

Fabulous Women!

No, I am not a man hater lol, but I need to give notice to the fabulous women that are in my life, some of which I know personally and many whom I've never met.

I've encountered very helpful and friendly women in the Etsy chatrooms, who are supportive and sharing of their roadmaps for success on Etsy. As I've just opened my store, I've been a sponge for input and know-how. I can't say enough for the people, like Heathen's Heart (HeathensHearth.etsy.com) and NotSoShabbyChic (NotSoShabbyChic.etsy.com) who have been willing to give me pointers and offer advice so that I can be successful. To you and the countless others who have been willing to share, I can't thank you enough!

MT, you are the best too hon. I'm doing a lot of the same things that we did when we did BSAH, albeit this time I'm actually going to do the things that made you successful :).

Now for something completely differant....

I got this rub recipe from someone I used to work with, and it's fabulous for Pulled Pork, pulled beaf and pulled chicken:

Grab an item you can use for a measure(cup, tablespoon, bottle cap, Buick). It's an 8/1.5/1/1 ratio rub. Also good for ribs.

8 items light brown sugar, tightly packed
1.5 items kosher salt
1 item chili powder
1/5 item ground black pepper
1/5 item cayenne pepper
1/5 item Old Bay Seasoning
1/5 item rubbed thyme
1/5 item onion powder

Some people might add a sixth and put in jalapeno Powder.

Rub and let sit for 24 hours. When I do pork shoulder or chuck roast, I go 90 minutes per pound at 200 degrees. You could also slow cook in a crock pot. Enjoy!

10% and Free Shipping

Hi all, until Midnight on Monday, May 11th, everything in my shop is 10% off with Free US shipping. If you see something you'd like in a different color, convo me. If you have something in mind you'd like to talk about having me design, convo me.

I look forward to hearing from you!

They like me, they really like me....

Do you Tweet? I didn't until 2 days ago and now I have 2 followers. One I know from Etsy, and one is a complete stranger. I'm very psyched about the stranger.

I feel the same way I felt the first time someone totally and completely anonymous bought a pair of earrings I designed off Ebay. This was someone who really dug what I did, and it wasn't like a 'friend pity buy' which I'll take any day but feels just like that.

So, Mr. Daniel Proulx, welcome to my Twitter. Steampunk is awesome and so are you for giving me that warm, fuzzy feeling like I just sold you a pair of caribbean blue beaded earrings.

Today, I'm going car shopping, because my car blew up on Wednesday. We've narrowed it down to 3, so hopefully by next week I'll have wheels.

The Maven is extender free...

I had lunch with a friend today and she asked me what "Custom Fit" means on my Etsy site (chainmaillemaven.etsy.com). I thought it was fairly obvious - that if you tell me how big your wrist or ankle is, the piece would be fit to you.

"Oh," she said, "So you aren't talking about extenders?" I furrowed my brow and shook my head. No, I'm certainly not talking about extenders.

I have, in the past, had to ask a flight attendant for a seat belt extender. I know the humiliating power of an extender. There shall be no extenders with the Maven.

Custom fit in the Maven's world is exactly that - custom fit :)

Enjoy today!

One giant step for women kind...

Well maybe not womenkind, but certainly for one woman.

Good morning. Welcome to my first post. I've never blogged before, as you probably can tell.

I've just opened my very own Etsy store (chainmaillemaven.etsy.com) and am really hoping that it's successful. Right now, I have 14 items in it, but I'm more worried about marketing and getting the word out and building a clientele and a rapport with customers than I am about selling anything really. Sales will come if the other stuff is right.

So, in a down economy, with retaillers closing left and right, why in the world would someone start a business or a store? I was pretty much self employed for the first 15 years of my career as a political consultant. After leaving the business I fell into a sales job, which one might think would be a natural extension of my skills, but really it was very differant. Consultancy fed my creative side in ways that sales only dreamed of. I was laid off in January from my sales job, and decided that I wanted to take take my jewelry making, which I've been doing for years and enjoyed, to the next level.

I sold a few pieces on Ebay, but Ebay didn't really seem like the right place for my pieces, and one day while I was chatting with a few of the women in my aqua fit class, they turned me on to Etsy and three days later, I had a shop and items in it.

So here I am - and I hope that you are here too. This Etsy thing is all new, but I'm very excited and motivated and hope you take a look. And as always, feedback is welcome.

Enjoy today!