I have been using my blog to admit to a number of problems - my techno-tardness, my messy studio, etc., etc...and I have a new character flaw that I must admit to - I am a hoarder. I buy fantastic things to make jewelry with, but if I really fall in love with the piece or pieces, I tend to stick them away because I know that very soon, I will find the PERFECT something to go with the perfect something that I am hoarding. Does anyone else have this problem? I think that we should form a group called Hoarders United or something equally inane and if we share what we're hoarding, maybe we'll find what we are missing and can use the hoarded piece up and that would go a long way to cleaning up our studios.
This is not something that just appeared in my personality, it has been festering for years in the background, but jewelry making has made it much worse. I used to save new clothes that I really liked for the PERFECT occassion ...and would sometimes find them much later with the tags still on. I would hide a really good snack because my husband is a snacker - and then forget about it til I was cleaning closets, and then I'd feel really dumb. I still have some great yarn from when I was knitting that I was "saving" for the perfect idea, I haven't picked up a needle since I acquired this bead addiction.
It is now September in Phoenix. As usual, it has been a slow summer and the snowbirds have not returned to my shops yet, so I am trying to be really good about not buying supplies....but my shops are gearing up for their busy period, so they want product. So I have been going through my supply drawers - I have 25 small bureau size, 18 bin type, 90 very small drawers and one small chest with 3 small drawers...plus the space under 2 large tables. I have allot of storage space and there's lots of gold in them, thar hills, I found out this week. Sometimes it pays to have a character flaw, like hoarding. I found some great stuff from Tucson, some A+ quartz rondelles, and a bunch of cut stones that I put away "for later" - and forgot that I had. I had plenty of copper wire and I have been bending up a storm!! Made some fantastic bracelets and necklaces that I'll take pictures of soon and insert in here.
I've come to the conclusion that it's okay to be a hoarder - you just have to learn to check your stash every so often...otherwise something fantastic could get lost in the shuffle. And if you're getting older like I am, you might find that your memory is not quite what it once was, so it pays to check all your drawers, especially the back corners. I hope that if you have the same problem as I do that you will find equally good stuff when you search your storage...have fun! ! !
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
How to Patina your Metals for Jewelry
I was asked to do a tutorial on using Liver of Sulfur, and why anyone would ask me is beyond me - but they did, so here I am. First of all, I need to tell you that not only am I a self taught metallurgist, but my husband, a retired dentist, also lays claim to that title for my business, Linda Sudimack, artisan. Since my college degree was in Chemistry, we constantly bicker over who has more claim to that title. I am also a compulsive reader - I will even read a cereal box occasionally if I am desperate enough...so I have read every little thing that I have been able to find about how to patina your metals without using a torch.
I have to say here that I love copper - I love working with it - I love it's consistency when bending it - I love the price as compared to sterling....but I am not an orange person. I do not like the color of copper, but I do love it with a patina. The first jewelry that I made was with copper wire and it was patineed, not very well, but even then, I knew what I wanted!
The product itself, Liver of Sulfur, comes in both liquid and rock form and although I have purchased the liquid form, we have so far only used the rock form. There are also some other products out there, Rio has one and Jodi Bombardier mentions in her book that she uses because it doesn't smell as bad as LOS...but she urges you to take it outside, so we have stuck with LOS, because I really don't need another product to cope with.
I think that every one who writes a book, has their own recipe for the LOS mixture, the more anal ones actually measure their water, John would never do that and he does all my oxidizing for me. Just to be a little technical - that is actually what you are doing - you are oxidizing (or tarnishing) - the metal that you hope to darken. Again, lots of opinions on water temperature, we have settled on very hot tap water because the rock melts quickly here. John is a natural conservationist ( he's cheap) so he adds as little LOS as he can get away with. You want your liquid to be darkish brown and it does stink like rotten eggs. We add 2 to 3 drops of household ammonia to this for better colors. We purchased a plastic rectangular bowl at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, that is only used for LOS and it has it's own lid, it is about 4" x 10" x 5" deep and it works for everything I've done so far. They say that you must use glass or plastic, not a metal pan and that makes sense to me.
I purchased a flat ladle thingie with holes for fast dipping small things - I also made a similar one from wire that is much smaller. I also bought a wooden toast lifter (tongs) from B,B, and Beyond which is much cheaper than bamboo tongs for jewelers. We use this to hold the things that are being dipped and to pick fallen goodies off the bottom.
After your piece is oxidized to your liking, you will want two bowls with cold water to stop the process. We use 2 large cottage cheese containers both filled with cold water. The first dipping is into the cold water that has a couple of tablespoons of baking soda in it and then they go into plain cold water. The baking soda halts the oxidation process by neutralizing the acid.
Now comes the hard part - taking off what you have just worked so hard to put on - but done artistically, of course. I use one of two products, either 0000 steel wool, from your local hardware shop, or a 3 M product that I buy at Rio. I think that I prefer the steel wool, but it does leave little threads on your work that are hard to remove, even in the tumbler. The 3 M product does a great job, but I think that it is more work, they are like sanding pads in 4 grits that are rubbery on one side. I often use a brass brush, from Rio, to scrub the interior of my pieces. I don't like to tumble after oxidizing because it usually takes off too much.
You can cover your LOS solution and as long as it has color it will work. It is non toxic, although odiferous, and can be disposed of in a garage sink. You could put it down your kitchen drain too, if you want a good reason for eating out for the next few nights.
That's about it - we tend to wait until we have several pieces to do, and spend the morning on the patio...oxidizing, and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. This is truly a labor of love so don't attempt it unless you really, really want to do it. I don't oxidize allot of sterling, I spent too much time over the years cleaning my silver, so intentionally tarnishing it is mentally very hard for me to do. I have read that if you are doing both metals to do your silver first and then do your copper. I have also read that you can get some great colors like with a torch by putting the copper in a 300 degree oven for a few hours. Haven't tried that yet, but I will. I do not use a torch - I have this vision of me, in the garage, torch in hand...and the house in flames...I don't even flame creme brulee, so my copper is going to have to wait.
I think that I have tried every lacquer on the market and have not been happy with the results - I've even gone the renaisannce wax route and John bougth a product that was quaranteed for like 27 years on outside cupola's - that other than costing allot did not do the job. I was using nothing for a while and then I tried an artist's fixative....meanwhile, I read about a new product in an article by Connie Fox which the jury is still out on...but I will let you know if it works as well as I hope. If the product is half as good as the company is in it's attention to detail, it will be a winner.
I have to say here that I love copper - I love working with it - I love it's consistency when bending it - I love the price as compared to sterling....but I am not an orange person. I do not like the color of copper, but I do love it with a patina. The first jewelry that I made was with copper wire and it was patineed, not very well, but even then, I knew what I wanted!
The product itself, Liver of Sulfur, comes in both liquid and rock form and although I have purchased the liquid form, we have so far only used the rock form. There are also some other products out there, Rio has one and Jodi Bombardier mentions in her book that she uses because it doesn't smell as bad as LOS...but she urges you to take it outside, so we have stuck with LOS, because I really don't need another product to cope with.
I think that every one who writes a book, has their own recipe for the LOS mixture, the more anal ones actually measure their water, John would never do that and he does all my oxidizing for me. Just to be a little technical - that is actually what you are doing - you are oxidizing (or tarnishing) - the metal that you hope to darken. Again, lots of opinions on water temperature, we have settled on very hot tap water because the rock melts quickly here. John is a natural conservationist ( he's cheap) so he adds as little LOS as he can get away with. You want your liquid to be darkish brown and it does stink like rotten eggs. We add 2 to 3 drops of household ammonia to this for better colors. We purchased a plastic rectangular bowl at Bed, Bath, and Beyond, that is only used for LOS and it has it's own lid, it is about 4" x 10" x 5" deep and it works for everything I've done so far. They say that you must use glass or plastic, not a metal pan and that makes sense to me.
I purchased a flat ladle thingie with holes for fast dipping small things - I also made a similar one from wire that is much smaller. I also bought a wooden toast lifter (tongs) from B,B, and Beyond which is much cheaper than bamboo tongs for jewelers. We use this to hold the things that are being dipped and to pick fallen goodies off the bottom.
Now comes the hard part - taking off what you have just worked so hard to put on - but done artistically, of course. I use one of two products, either 0000 steel wool, from your local hardware shop, or a 3 M product that I buy at Rio. I think that I prefer the steel wool, but it does leave little threads on your work that are hard to remove, even in the tumbler. The 3 M product does a great job, but I think that it is more work, they are like sanding pads in 4 grits that are rubbery on one side. I often use a brass brush, from Rio, to scrub the interior of my pieces. I don't like to tumble after oxidizing because it usually takes off too much.
You can cover your LOS solution and as long as it has color it will work. It is non toxic, although odiferous, and can be disposed of in a garage sink. You could put it down your kitchen drain too, if you want a good reason for eating out for the next few nights.
That's about it - we tend to wait until we have several pieces to do, and spend the morning on the patio...oxidizing, and cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. This is truly a labor of love so don't attempt it unless you really, really want to do it. I don't oxidize allot of sterling, I spent too much time over the years cleaning my silver, so intentionally tarnishing it is mentally very hard for me to do. I have read that if you are doing both metals to do your silver first and then do your copper. I have also read that you can get some great colors like with a torch by putting the copper in a 300 degree oven for a few hours. Haven't tried that yet, but I will. I do not use a torch - I have this vision of me, in the garage, torch in hand...and the house in flames...I don't even flame creme brulee, so my copper is going to have to wait.
I think that I have tried every lacquer on the market and have not been happy with the results - I've even gone the renaisannce wax route and John bougth a product that was quaranteed for like 27 years on outside cupola's - that other than costing allot did not do the job. I was using nothing for a while and then I tried an artist's fixative....meanwhile, I read about a new product in an article by Connie Fox which the jury is still out on...but I will let you know if it works as well as I hope. If the product is half as good as the company is in it's attention to detail, it will be a winner.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Beam Me Up, Scotty
Okay, I think it's a pretty well established fact here that I am definitely a techno tard - I try, I really do, but it just ain't there. A few weeks ago, I got a new computer, because my husband's had crashed and since I am now the one with the business, I got the new puter. I love it and getting it up and going was tougher than I would have liked, but basically I got there, between me and the geek squad ( God bless them).
I elected to not have them make my recovery disks - it was a $90.00 charge that I didn't want to pay after all the new stuff and softwear and backup, etc., etc., etc., that I needed for the puter. During one of the numerous trips that we made to Best Buy - my personal geek told me that I really needed to do something about recovery disks - that if my baby crashed, I would basically be up old sh...t creek without them. So on my next trip I told the geek, Jason, who was helping me that I thought I needed to do something about recovery disks - and he said, no big deal, I'll sell you the disks - it's easy, just go into the program menu and it will be under the section on your computer --- just click on the part about "recovery disks". He said that it was time consuming, but easy.
Just once I wish what someone told me about computers would be true - unfortunately, it was relatively fast, but not so easy. I started this travail,because there was nothing about recovery disks in my computer, out by calling Best Buy to talk to the geek squad - and was put on hold. A very annoying voice told me that I was second in line and fool that I am, I decided to wait. Well wait I did, and after about 1/2 hour I was put through and immediately, cut off. I waited about an hour and then called again, this time I was third in line and decided not to wait. A few hours later, I called and got through - unfortunately, the person that I spoke to needed to be fired. Believe me when I tell you that this man did not finish first in charm school - because he was alone, he would not go look at a computer like mine so he couldn't answer my questions. He told me that I needed to call technical support and I said that all the help my husband and I had received up til now was from this store and this geek squad and that's who my sizable check had gone to. He proceeded to inform me that I was in this mess because I was too cheap to pay the $90.00 for them to do it, and that the person who had helped me, was not a geek squad member, just someone who answered the phone. By this time my patience was wearing a bit thin - I said something to the effect that this person had on a geek squad shirt with his name on it, and I was supposed to know that he wasn't qualified to do this by ESP??? He'd already given me the next phone number so when he started off again - I did a rude thing, my mother would have frowned at...but it felt good. I told him that he really needed to try and learn some people skills and hung up
I got technical support rather easily - too many thingies to push, but I got there and spoke to a very nice woman named, Civica,...I wondered if this might be an omen that someone was going to treat me politely...and they did, but she had no idea in hell what I was talking about and told me that she was going to connect me to the command deck. I felt like I was on the starship Enterprize and Capt. Kirk was waiting around the corner to help me. It was actually Daniel on the first call and Dustin on the second, they filled in for Scotty and Mr. Spock, but they got me where I needed to be and I now have 3 recovery disks if my baby gets fatally ill.
I have come to the conclusion lately, that nothing is ever easy anymore - and some people take a perverse pleasure in trying to make things worse, but if you can see the funny side (and there usually is, at least one funny side) your life will be allot more enjoyable. As soon as that picture of the Enterprize entered my head, I knew that I was going to get through this thing, and I thought that it needed sharing and that's what I'm doing...have a good one all and come visit my shop - it's more fun than my computer.
I elected to not have them make my recovery disks - it was a $90.00 charge that I didn't want to pay after all the new stuff and softwear and backup, etc., etc., etc., that I needed for the puter. During one of the numerous trips that we made to Best Buy - my personal geek told me that I really needed to do something about recovery disks - that if my baby crashed, I would basically be up old sh...t creek without them. So on my next trip I told the geek, Jason, who was helping me that I thought I needed to do something about recovery disks - and he said, no big deal, I'll sell you the disks - it's easy, just go into the program menu and it will be under the section on your computer --- just click on the part about "recovery disks". He said that it was time consuming, but easy.
Just once I wish what someone told me about computers would be true - unfortunately, it was relatively fast, but not so easy. I started this travail,because there was nothing about recovery disks in my computer, out by calling Best Buy to talk to the geek squad - and was put on hold. A very annoying voice told me that I was second in line and fool that I am, I decided to wait. Well wait I did, and after about 1/2 hour I was put through and immediately, cut off. I waited about an hour and then called again, this time I was third in line and decided not to wait. A few hours later, I called and got through - unfortunately, the person that I spoke to needed to be fired. Believe me when I tell you that this man did not finish first in charm school - because he was alone, he would not go look at a computer like mine so he couldn't answer my questions. He told me that I needed to call technical support and I said that all the help my husband and I had received up til now was from this store and this geek squad and that's who my sizable check had gone to. He proceeded to inform me that I was in this mess because I was too cheap to pay the $90.00 for them to do it, and that the person who had helped me, was not a geek squad member, just someone who answered the phone. By this time my patience was wearing a bit thin - I said something to the effect that this person had on a geek squad shirt with his name on it, and I was supposed to know that he wasn't qualified to do this by ESP??? He'd already given me the next phone number so when he started off again - I did a rude thing, my mother would have frowned at...but it felt good. I told him that he really needed to try and learn some people skills and hung up
I got technical support rather easily - too many thingies to push, but I got there and spoke to a very nice woman named, Civica,...I wondered if this might be an omen that someone was going to treat me politely...and they did, but she had no idea in hell what I was talking about and told me that she was going to connect me to the command deck. I felt like I was on the starship Enterprize and Capt. Kirk was waiting around the corner to help me. It was actually Daniel on the first call and Dustin on the second, they filled in for Scotty and Mr. Spock, but they got me where I needed to be and I now have 3 recovery disks if my baby gets fatally ill.
I have come to the conclusion lately, that nothing is ever easy anymore - and some people take a perverse pleasure in trying to make things worse, but if you can see the funny side (and there usually is, at least one funny side) your life will be allot more enjoyable. As soon as that picture of the Enterprize entered my head, I knew that I was going to get through this thing, and I thought that it needed sharing and that's what I'm doing...have a good one all and come visit my shop - it's more fun than my computer.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Wire Leads - I Just Follow
My first love, making jewelry, has always been bending wire. I love how capricious it all is. I love that you can have an idea of where you want to go - and how you can end up in an entirely different destination. This piece started life as a large coil and I really didn't like where we were going - so I started bending and twisting
and I ended up with this interesting piece, which I then oxidized and polished, added that turquoise bead and the chain, and we had a great necklace. But, remember where I started - a coil, and the end result is certainly a far cry from a symetrical coil and that's why I love working with wire.
I have been so dissappointed with the majority of the retail shops that carry my work, that even though they "Oh" and "Ah" over my copper and silver work, they want traditional strung jewelry. They all have different excuses for not carrying it. One tells me that their clients don't like copper. Another says that they don't like it. The only places that seem to be brave enough to carry it are the museum gift shops and the "artsy" shops as opposed to the high end boutiques. I have a new "artsy" shop that almost cleaned me out of copper and silver wire work, so I have been frantically creating as I have to visit one of my museum shops and all she wants is copper. This is a western museum and the director likes copper and silver because they are products of Arizona. I intentionally created the piece below for her. I knew that I wanted to combine the two metals,
but I had no idea how, what ,where or when. I started with heavy gauge wire and forged it so it was work hardened but still bendable. I made a frame and the ends to hold the chain. then I added a couple more pieces of heavy wire and one not so heavy. This front piece was begging to have silver coiled around it and it did come out very nicely, if I do say so myself.
I wish that metals had not gotten so expensive in the last few months. I would love to do several of these pieces in sterling silver only, but they would be very expensive for my markets . I use allot of wire on these puppies and I think that we would be way over $500.00 for an all silver piece. It used to be that my silver and copper were about the same price because the copper took so much more time for forging, oxidizing and clean up. Silver just always seems to go faster, and shining it up is definitely faster, so the time used to equalize out with the more expensive silver, but not any more. Silver has been relegated to an accent rather than the main show and I am really sorry that that happened.
As a side note here - this techno-tard is stuck as to why this is working this way when I type. It happened after I added the pictures and I just can't seem to get it fixed, so pardon the centered last lines of my paragraphs.
One of the other things that I love about wire is the colors you can end up with after oxidizing. I am not a big orange person, so pure copper does not appeal to me...but the possibilities with a little liver of sulfur or heat are amazing and beautiful. I love the tones on the two necklaces above and they are neutral enough to go with almost anything. You also have the opportunity to take copper to almost black in the background, like in this bracelet, or allot of black like this necklace.
Copper wire, your imagination, some pliers, strong fingers and some liver of sulfur and ammonia can take the artisan to some fantastic places which is only limited by how much wire that you want to use. I have no idea how much wire that I used in the above necklace, but I know that it was hundreds of feet. Just remember that you can't go where the wire doesn't want to go especially if you are working in the heavier gauges. Have fun with the wire and I think that you will be very pleased with the results. These pieces or close replicas will be available in my shop in the near future.
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Further Adventures of a Techno-tard
Last week my husbands' computer took one last breathe and died. We mourned appropriately and decided to get along with one computer...however, John, my husband, must have "crash computer" fingers or something. I have never had a problem with the dreaded blue screens that he had when he booted up...but after using my computer for only three days, he managed to get two of those awful screens on my set up. We decided that it was time for a new technological baby in our house, so we traipsed off to Best Buy to hopefully find a geek that spoke English that we understood.
Why are there never salespeople for techy stuff that are past their twenties? I always feel so old when I have to buy some techy equipment. Of course, I am old, but I do hate feeling that way. There was a woman in the geek squad area and she worked there and she had to be pushing 60, and I thought she got lost from accounting or the steno pool...she really looked out of place. Whoa - slap my face for promoting age discrimination...I do apologize.
Anyone who knows me, or reads my blogs, knows how much I not only hate change, but tie that in with something to do with technology and I am not a happy camper. So this last week has not been a pleasant one in our house, either for me or my husband. I have been at the screen way too many hours and if he wanted to eat, he had to cook...not his favorite past time. Right now, he's steaming the floors, please don't anyone tell him that I am having fun writing my blog, not slaving over this d... machine trying to make it do what I want.
Why is it that in making things bigger and better, the creators assume that we know how to bridge the gaps from old to new - or we are willing to discard the old and fully embrace the new? Hey, I'm almost waxing philosophy here - heavens forbid. In any case, I used AOL...and as most of you must know, only the least geekest among us use that, but, in my defense, I started using that when it was about all that was available and I am not now changing my email that is printed and stored everywhere and with everyone that I know. I had a huge contact list, divided into very logical divisions so I could send "sale" mail when I wanted to, contact a couple of groups I belong to, family, different groups of friends, etc. etc. So I go into AOL the other day and they no longer have groups - so all my contacts, probably more than a thousand are all together, and a vast majority I have no idea who they are or where they belong. There is no fixing something like that - and it not only makes me irrationally angry ( there's a better word, but I hate to be vulgar in my blog) but it really mucks up one of my main means of promoting my jewelry studio. Maybe if I'd know ahead of time, I could have somehow coped with it, going so far as purchasing some softwear where I could have entered these lists and then had them downloaded when my info was brought from the old to the new.
Maybe I am not non techy - maybe I am anti-techy. Something that is supposed to make our lives simpler and more organized and easier, should not present the problems that it does. I realize that I am pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff, but how in hell should I know that my groupings were about to dissappear....was this an educational gap? Should I have known this intuitively? I knew I was going to continue to use AOL for my mail and I assumed my groupings would be along for the ride. I don't think I would be as upset as I am if I had any idea how to fix it....ah well, it's done, on to the next adventure.
I am now using Chrome for my whatchamacallit instead of Microsoft explorer which I was told that I HAD to do - I am not using AOL as my gateway to the internet - which I am assuming was really lame - so I guess that I have climbed a few rungs on the techy ladder, but not enough...til next time.
Why are there never salespeople for techy stuff that are past their twenties? I always feel so old when I have to buy some techy equipment. Of course, I am old, but I do hate feeling that way. There was a woman in the geek squad area and she worked there and she had to be pushing 60, and I thought she got lost from accounting or the steno pool...she really looked out of place. Whoa - slap my face for promoting age discrimination...I do apologize.
Anyone who knows me, or reads my blogs, knows how much I not only hate change, but tie that in with something to do with technology and I am not a happy camper. So this last week has not been a pleasant one in our house, either for me or my husband. I have been at the screen way too many hours and if he wanted to eat, he had to cook...not his favorite past time. Right now, he's steaming the floors, please don't anyone tell him that I am having fun writing my blog, not slaving over this d... machine trying to make it do what I want.
Why is it that in making things bigger and better, the creators assume that we know how to bridge the gaps from old to new - or we are willing to discard the old and fully embrace the new? Hey, I'm almost waxing philosophy here - heavens forbid. In any case, I used AOL...and as most of you must know, only the least geekest among us use that, but, in my defense, I started using that when it was about all that was available and I am not now changing my email that is printed and stored everywhere and with everyone that I know. I had a huge contact list, divided into very logical divisions so I could send "sale" mail when I wanted to, contact a couple of groups I belong to, family, different groups of friends, etc. etc. So I go into AOL the other day and they no longer have groups - so all my contacts, probably more than a thousand are all together, and a vast majority I have no idea who they are or where they belong. There is no fixing something like that - and it not only makes me irrationally angry ( there's a better word, but I hate to be vulgar in my blog) but it really mucks up one of my main means of promoting my jewelry studio. Maybe if I'd know ahead of time, I could have somehow coped with it, going so far as purchasing some softwear where I could have entered these lists and then had them downloaded when my info was brought from the old to the new.
Maybe I am not non techy - maybe I am anti-techy. Something that is supposed to make our lives simpler and more organized and easier, should not present the problems that it does. I realize that I am pretty clueless when it comes to this stuff, but how in hell should I know that my groupings were about to dissappear....was this an educational gap? Should I have known this intuitively? I knew I was going to continue to use AOL for my mail and I assumed my groupings would be along for the ride. I don't think I would be as upset as I am if I had any idea how to fix it....ah well, it's done, on to the next adventure.
I am now using Chrome for my whatchamacallit instead of Microsoft explorer which I was told that I HAD to do - I am not using AOL as my gateway to the internet - which I am assuming was really lame - so I guess that I have climbed a few rungs on the techy ladder, but not enough...til next time.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Why Do I Love Being on Artfire?
Why do I love being on Artfire, you ask. Artfire treats me like I would treat people if I owned the web site and since that was the whole basis of our business when we were in business, that is saying allot coming from me. I have had two instances where the COO has actually answered the questions that I was asking and he regularily appears on the forums to help everyone on the site. Not only does Tony, the COO, appear but if someone else at headquarters is better equipped to help us, then they also pop in as the situation dictates.
I also love Artfire because they have helped me to grow and learn. As any reader here knows, I am an admitted techno-tard and yet I was able to get my shop up and running with minimal pain. I stopped learning about computers when they stopped printing documentation in the early 90's - I can no longer say that now though, because I have learned so much about computers in the last seven months that even I am impressed with myself...and my husband thinks that I am an absolute genius, and that is always good and doesn't happen very often.
I love Artfire because of the people who are there for me. I have already mentioned the staff and they are incredible, but the forums alone are worth the price of admission. There is ALWAYS someone there to help you. People making jewelry help others who make jewelry, and I find that refreshing especially in the business environment that we are in right now. People will critique your website, they read your titles and discriptions, they look at your pictures, everything on your site and make fixable, kind suggestions so that you are able to make your site a better selling vehicle. If one succeeds, we all succeed - pretty amazing, isn't it????
I love Artfire because it made me make my jewelry shop a better place to shop. I have just redone all the pictures in my shop - not because anyone told me to, but because I learned through looking around Artfire that my pictures were a real detriment to my efforts to sell my jewelry. Because of Artfire, I have learned about SEO and how to make Google find me easier. I have learned how important outside links to my shop are and how they increase my visibility and how to find some of them.
Because of Artfire and all of the above, my shop can now easily function in the other venue that I use it as. The majority of my sales is to small boutiques and my web site is my catalogue. I cannot have a "line sheet" because the majority of what I create is OOAK ( one of a kind pieces ) and line sheets do not function well in those situations. As is my shop, my presentation to my shops is now so much better and professional that I am proud to give out my web site to any retail shop.
So in closing, the above is a small sampling of why I love Artfire and why it might be a place that you also could use to sell whatever you want to. If you do have an interest please go to http://www.artfire.com/users/LindaSudimack/sell-crafts
and sign up for a shop, and if you do - we could both benefit financially, because Artfire has come up with another great idea. So please, take a look, you will not be sorry.
I also love Artfire because they have helped me to grow and learn. As any reader here knows, I am an admitted techno-tard and yet I was able to get my shop up and running with minimal pain. I stopped learning about computers when they stopped printing documentation in the early 90's - I can no longer say that now though, because I have learned so much about computers in the last seven months that even I am impressed with myself...and my husband thinks that I am an absolute genius, and that is always good and doesn't happen very often.
I love Artfire because of the people who are there for me. I have already mentioned the staff and they are incredible, but the forums alone are worth the price of admission. There is ALWAYS someone there to help you. People making jewelry help others who make jewelry, and I find that refreshing especially in the business environment that we are in right now. People will critique your website, they read your titles and discriptions, they look at your pictures, everything on your site and make fixable, kind suggestions so that you are able to make your site a better selling vehicle. If one succeeds, we all succeed - pretty amazing, isn't it????
I love Artfire because it made me make my jewelry shop a better place to shop. I have just redone all the pictures in my shop - not because anyone told me to, but because I learned through looking around Artfire that my pictures were a real detriment to my efforts to sell my jewelry. Because of Artfire, I have learned about SEO and how to make Google find me easier. I have learned how important outside links to my shop are and how they increase my visibility and how to find some of them.
Because of Artfire and all of the above, my shop can now easily function in the other venue that I use it as. The majority of my sales is to small boutiques and my web site is my catalogue. I cannot have a "line sheet" because the majority of what I create is OOAK ( one of a kind pieces ) and line sheets do not function well in those situations. As is my shop, my presentation to my shops is now so much better and professional that I am proud to give out my web site to any retail shop.
So in closing, the above is a small sampling of why I love Artfire and why it might be a place that you also could use to sell whatever you want to. If you do have an interest please go to http://www.artfire.com/users/LindaSudimack/sell-crafts
and sign up for a shop, and if you do - we could both benefit financially, because Artfire has come up with another great idea. So please, take a look, you will not be sorry.
Monday, April 11, 2011
I am a Techno-tard
They say that in order to address a problem that you must admit that you have it. Well, when it comes to the lack of computer knowledge, I have it in spades! ! ! I always said that I was deficient in computerese - or I was technically challenged - or one of those all encompassing phrases that covered my problem....but the other day, I was on the forums on Artfire and someone called herself a "techno-tard" and I fell in love with the term. Not only does it describe accurately the malady that I suffer from, but it is euphonius to boot. So the world should take notice - I am officially announcing that "I AM A TECHNO-TARD" . I guess what follows is a day in the life of a techno-tard - or better yet, further adventures of a techno-tard.
Artfire is running a "social media boot camp" right now and I signed up because it seemed to me that I can use all the help I can get. Our first thing to do was to get a facebook account up and running, with both a personal page and a business page. And much to my amazement, I was ahead of the curve, I had both. Then they wanted us to shorten the URL on our business page after we got 25 fans, which I had...so I followed the directions and this is the message that I got from facebook -
"To access this page, you'll need to switch from using Facebook as your page to using Facebook as yourself."
I hope this makes as little sense to you, the reader, as it did to me. One simple sentence and I was totally lost. How could anyone understand what they meant? I mean, I may be a techno-tard, but I am not stupid, at least I wasn't the last time that I checked. So my URL is still an ugly long series of letters and numbers, unlike all the other campers, and even with personal help from several kind souls, I have not conquered the URL shortening. It's depressing - I may have to go back to my cabin and hide under my cot or inside my trunk.
As a techno-tard, I have several pet peeves concerning computer use. Why do they have to ask me if I'm "Sure that I want to proceed" or "Sure that I want to delete this" or "Sure that this is what I want to do" - idiots!!! Of course I am not sure - I don't know what I am doing - so they ask this unsure individual and I have to say "NO" - and consequently, nothing gets done. Why couldn't they give mutiple choices, like if you proceed this will specific thing will happen, or do this and something else will happen? I'm afraid if I go past these warnings that my computer will crash and I will be lost forever without any access to technology.
Artfire is running a "social media boot camp" right now and I signed up because it seemed to me that I can use all the help I can get. Our first thing to do was to get a facebook account up and running, with both a personal page and a business page. And much to my amazement, I was ahead of the curve, I had both. Then they wanted us to shorten the URL on our business page after we got 25 fans, which I had...so I followed the directions and this is the message that I got from facebook -
"To access this page, you'll need to switch from using Facebook as your page to using Facebook as yourself."
I hope this makes as little sense to you, the reader, as it did to me. One simple sentence and I was totally lost. How could anyone understand what they meant? I mean, I may be a techno-tard, but I am not stupid, at least I wasn't the last time that I checked. So my URL is still an ugly long series of letters and numbers, unlike all the other campers, and even with personal help from several kind souls, I have not conquered the URL shortening. It's depressing - I may have to go back to my cabin and hide under my cot or inside my trunk.
As a techno-tard, I have several pet peeves concerning computer use. Why do they have to ask me if I'm "Sure that I want to proceed" or "Sure that I want to delete this" or "Sure that this is what I want to do" - idiots!!! Of course I am not sure - I don't know what I am doing - so they ask this unsure individual and I have to say "NO" - and consequently, nothing gets done. Why couldn't they give mutiple choices, like if you proceed this will specific thing will happen, or do this and something else will happen? I'm afraid if I go past these warnings that my computer will crash and I will be lost forever without any access to technology.
Another thing that really annoys me, and it took me forever to get past it, is that dam pop up window that comes up when you visit a web site and it says something about do you want to only see the material that was delivered safely or do you want to see everything and risk infecting and maybe, killing your machine. Do you remember the scene in the movie Speed where Kenau Reeves is telling everyone on the bus about the bomb that is on the bus that's gonnal blow if they slow down or anyone gets off the bus - and Sandra Bullock stands up and forcefully says "STOP, you are scaring all these people" ? Well, I feel like those people whenever I see that dam blue pop up. I just wish that they would leave me in blissful ignorance once in while.
I don't know if there's a 10 step program for techno-tards or if it's a permanent condition. I know that I have come a long way in my computer knowledge, but I also know that I have a hell of allot further to go than I have come. I think I am going to quit camp - I really was feeling pretty good about my expanding skills, and then one stupid sentence sends me for a loop and qualifies me as a failure at the easiest task that probably will be assigned. The only thing is - they are going to be discussing Twitter - and that means, maybe, I could send tweats...don't know how much business it could generate, but it just sounds like fun..."don't bother me, I'm tweating" Of course, with a line like that, my husband might have me committed with a bird fixation...I'll have to think on that one!!!
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