8 Blogging Tips for Jewelry Designers

Since we are starting our new weekly Beady Link Party, I thought I'd share a few blogging tips with our readers.

1. Photos are super important. Make them big and beautiful. Shoot in diffused natural daylight whenever possible.  I like to have my photos on the x-large size here on blogger or 600 pixels wide.

2. Break up the same ol', same ol' and style your photos. Get creative and style those photos for your blog. Add some personality into your photos. Consider showing your jewelry styled on your work table, on a dresser with props that match your jewelry, or on a model (doesn't have to be a professional model). Tell a story with your photos.

We have an excellent article on styling your jewelry photos here.

3. Talk to us like we are over for a cup of tea and visiting in your studio. Share with us the creative process, your inspirations, why you created a piece or a story behind it.

If I sat in your studio and you only told me a list of what went into each piece, I'd have some questions. Oh, who made that bead, what's that stone? Does it have any symbolism or fabled mystical properties? Did something about that piece of jewelry remind you of poem or photo you took? Share stories with us. We all love a good story.

4. K.I.S.S. - Keep It Short Sweetie. We love stories, but we are also all crazy busy and your stories should be right at the heart of the tale and not too meandering.

Also, make things easier to read. Break up longer piece of text with photos or shorten paragraphs. We skim more than we read on blogs, make it easy to digest for your visitors.

You don't have to write a book when you write a blog post. Make it easy on yourself too, the more fun you are having the more like you are to keep at it.

5. Blog consistently. That may be weekly or bi-weekly but don't neglect your blog anymore! Dust it off, spruce it up and get ready for company. Don't write the "sorry, I've been gone or neglected my blog," posts, no need - just start up again and blog when you can. I recommend making it part of your weekly schedule, make time for it. If you are going to be busy, write them up in advance and schedule your posts throughout the month.

6. Have fun and connect with your fellow bead bloggers. You took the time to make the tea, put some flowers in a vase and now it's time to invite us over. Participate in the weekly Beady Link Party. Share your blog post on Facebook. Visit your fellow bloggers and leave thoughtful comments. Visit those who leave comments on your blog. When you read a great blog post share it on Facebook.

7. Use blogging as part of your creative process. Share your inspirations, behind the scenes, do-overs and outakes, Ultimately write the blog for yourself and as record of your brave, creative explorations! We will happily travel along on your journey.

8. Blog content is found by search engines and doesn't get lost in the noise of social media. Do you feel like your Facebook posts get lost in the sea of feeds?I have more stories to tell and want more than a thumbs up communication when I'm sharing my work and process. And if I'm creating content and sharing, it's nice for them to have a home instead of disappearing into the endless scroll of a feed! Blogging gives you original content to share on social media and offer something of value to your followers. And search engines still love blogs.

Let's bring back old school blogging and work on building a fun and strong community of beady bloggers! Make sure to share your blog posts with us every Monday here on the Art Bead Scene!

Inside the Studio with Michelle McCarthy

Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive, we offer a prize each week to encourage you to use that keyboard and tell us what you think. The following week a winner is chosen at random from all eligible entries. And here are the results from last week!

In our last Inside the Studio post, Mary Harding asked, "What kinds of textures do you like to use in your work and where do you find them?"

There were all kinds of wonderful answers.  I used random .org to choose lucky #4
Malin de Konig.  Malin has won a sea shell textured set of charms from Mary.  Please contact Mary to claim your prize!

This week my studio activities have been all about making beads and marketing them.  I am so excited to be going on Heather Powers Bead Cruise 2016, which sets sail May 1st.  I have been donating goodie bags to the cruise participants for a few years now.  So I decided to make ceramic stick earring sets for the 65 cruisers this year.  I glazed them in a beachy color combination of brown, teal and specks of black.  OK...black is not beachy, but I love this glaze!

This is what they looked like before they went in the kiln.  Not so pretty....

But after the heat of the kiln, the glaze turned these sticks into this.....

I paired them up, placed them in a bag with my business card and they are now ready for goodie bags!

The next thing I have going on this week is making the kits for my second Firefly Design Studio Designers Challenge.  There is a Facebook group to join if you are interested in learning more.  The timeline is pinned at the top of the group, and there are a few kits left. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1670109743205467/
Summer means beach time, so I designed a starfish on the beach pendant.  Everyone will work with the same pendant, but they can choose side beads in sandy brown or sea blue.  Here are the 2 kits...

Designers will make a necklace, bracelet and earring set with any beading technique.  They will add whatever else they want from their personal stash.  Cory Tompkins is my guest artist for this round. She made a fun polymer clay component that must be used.  It's a mystery component, so I can't show you it yet.

So all these beads will be introduced to new and existing customers of mine.  Marketing yourself can be challenging, but it's necessary for success.  For an artist, getting your beads in the hands of a designer is the best marketing out there.  Hopefully everyone will enjoy their earring sticks and the challenge beads!

This weeks question is this...what kinds of marketing activities have you tried with success?  It's OK if it is a tip from a different business other than jewelry design.  The winner will receive a set of earring sticks...and I will even throw in a business card and free plastic bag.  WooHoo!

Selling on Facebook - Soldsie Review

Last week I was rained out of our weekly market and decided to have a little sale on my Facebook page.  I had seen a few of my friends using Soldsie, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Basically you set up an event - called a campaign.  You add your products with a the price, options, shipping and description.  After your products are loaded you schedule your campaign.

When the scheduled time arrives your photos publish to your Facebook page and customers can start shopping.

To purchase, all your customer needs to do is comment, "sold" on the photo and register for your shop. (There is a link published on each photo.) Paypal automatically sends them an invoice and they let you know when an invoice is sent and when it's paid.

You can leave your event up for a few days or delete your photos after a certain a time period or you can schedule an end time for your campaign.

What does it cost? There is a free trial for your first $700 in sales, after that it's 3% of your product price.

Some thoughts:
It's Easy to use, great customer service and training videos, keeps invoices and sales organized on the app.

Payments are through Paypal only.  Customers can register with your shop before an event.

You can only access Soldsie on a browser, not a mobile device. But customers can shop on the mobile device. Customers need to sign up to complete their purchase.

Events work better if you promote them a few days in advance and train your customers about the new way to shop on Facebook.  Create an eye-catching graphic and share the basics on your Page a few days before your sale.

What is the advantage to selling with Soldsie? Having invoices automated and a handy way to keep track of those sales helps keep things running smoothly.

I had a successful first run and plan to use Soldsie to sell off extra inventory, for destash events, sample sales and a probably even a holiday stocking stuffer sale.

151 Ways to Boost Your Holiday Sales

From the very talented duo over at Flourish & Thrive Academy is this fantab list of 151 Ways to Boost Your Holiday Sales.  It's free, it's full of good advice and if you sell jewelry - now is the time to start working on your holiday game plan.  This guide is a great jumping point and even if you only put a few of them into practice you'll be moving ahead leaps and bounds for the 2013 holiday season. 

Vine Video for Jewelry Designers

Yesterday Jewelry Making Daily sent out a great article on using Vine for creating six second videos to promote your jewelry business. I hadn't heard of Vine, so cursosity got the better of me and off I went. Six seconds doesn't seem like a lot of time, but you'd be surprised what creative people can do in 6 seconds flat!  There is a great stop-motion feature that was fun to try and had my wheels spinning for future promotions and projects.

Read the article here: 4 Ways to Use Vine for Jewelry

What a fun way to send out annoucments for upcoming events, your jewelry could dance around a printed paper with the details!  Or how about one necklace with 3 outfits using the stop-motion camera?  Share a quick tutorial like the one above or show off a new collection or your booth display while you are set up at your next art fair.  

Be sure to tag your videos so others can find your content. Tags are a hashtag (#) plus a keyword, like #jewelry, #beads, #handcrafted, etc.

Creative Marketing: Glossi E-Publications

Sometimes you want something for your jewelry business that creates a splash. Something beyond a newsletter or blog post that really brings in new traffic and you can excitedly share on your social media channels and that your fans will share with their friends. I would like to introduce to to Glossi.com to create catalogs, look books, gift guides or e-magazines to promote your business.

Here is one we put together for my jewelry business, it's a mini-magazine that will be put out monthly featuring jewelry, gift ideas, quotes and inspiration for nature lovers. (I have an assistant who helps me with this - just so you don't think I'm some kind of super woman!)

Click to view Inspired by Nature - May 2013 on GLOSSI.COM

Be a team player and pair up with other artisans to create a seasonal gift guide.   Or if you feature a gift guide using other artist's work, get their permission first and then send them the link when you publish your guide. 

Glossi is super easy to use, just grab the link from your shop or website and pick what photos you'd like to upload.  They will automatically include the link back to your item.  They have templates that making designing a snap and some fun backgrounds and other features to make your publication a little snazzier. 

My advice with Glossi - bigger photos, more quotes and less wordy text seem to provide the best results. 


The one drawback to Glossi is you can't download or print a publication.  If you are looking for that option, I would point you over to Issuu.com to upload PDF's that turn into ebooks that can be viewed online, downloaded or printed.  Of course, you have to create each page using a design program. 

And don't do it all yourself! Pair up with a design student to work on this for their portfolio or trade a designer jewelry to create your pages for you. Or work with a team of other creatives - this would be a great project for an Etsy team!

"Working smarter, not harder" really means not doing everything yourself!

I'd like to give a shout out to Artisan Whimsy and their Bead Chat magazine for their inspiration!

Smilebox for Business

Create a free slideshow design This is a fun idea to add a little pizazz to your online promotions.  Smilebox is a free program that you can download to create slideshows, invitations, announcements and photo albums using your pictures.  Typical you would use Smilebox for family photos and virtual scrapbooking, but there is no reason you can't use it to show off your latest creations. There are tons of themes to choose - from simple and modern to cute and whimsical.  Of course, the trick is to pick one that compliments your photos and doesn't complete with them.  You can add a little music to your slideshow or not - it's up to you.  After you complete your project you can show it off on facebook or your blog.  A few ideas: Show off a specific collection in a slideshow. Create a photo album as a catalog to showcase your product line. Use it to create a step-by-step tutorial or show some process shots of how you create your work in s slideshow. If your photos are inspired by nature or art, pair up the inspiration photos (copyright free photos only) and the finished piece.  Take a few detail photos to include a few close ups. Create an invitation to an open house, upcoming show or online sale. Give a studio tour. Create a 'lifestyle' ad for your jewelry featuring images of your jewelry and inspiration images that relate to your brand or current line.  Like if you have a line of beach inspired jewelry mix photos together of your collection with photos from the beach, shells, sea urchins, starfish, etc.  If you have access to a model take photos of her wearing the jewelry sitting on the beach in a casual outfit, hair blowing in the breeze, sand between the toes.  You get the idea! The service is free, but you can upgrade to include more features and even print out your creations!  Have fun and if you make one using your jewelry, be sure to share it with us in the comments below.  I would love to see how creative you guys can be with this fun and easy program!



The Art of the Card

"A product is something made in a factory; a brand is something that is bought by the customer. A product can be copied by a competitor; a brand is unique. A product can be quickly outdated; a successful brand is timeless."  ~ Stephen King

If you are in business for yourself, the first thing you likely purchased is a business card. Business cards are an essential tool. They are sometimes the first thing that people see about your business. They tell a lot about who you are, what you do and how you do it.They are compact, low cost, non-techie bits that can actually increase the value of your brand and bring you business for days, weeks, months and years after they leave your hands. They are not networking in and of themselves, but without them it would be hard to network properly. They can inspire, amuse and inform. They can be mini-masterpieces of art.

{My business cards and hang tags were created by Jody Passwaters of Rethink Ink on Etsy using recycled paper and soy-based inks. If you stop by, tell Jody I said hi!}

Of course, business cards should have your name and contact information. But they can also include a lot more. They can be attractive and charming, unusual and strange... but no matter what they look like they should definitely tell the world something about you and your brand. Since they are so essential, I would argue that while it is tempting to use the pre-made templates through a service like VistaPrint (which I have used extensively in the past), in the long run you will be better off having your own distinct look. If you don't have the ability to create your own look, have someone create one just for you (check out Etsy, there are some surprisingly low cost packages from designers that would love your business creating a look for you!).

Business cards help you in two ways: gain business and get your name out there. Don't leave home without them! Whether your small business has clients locally or far and wide, don't overlook an opportunity to give them away... especially with every package you send (I write the essential information about the piece written on the back), tucked in every thank you note... and always carry some in your purse and in your car because you never know when an opportunity will present itself to leave a few behind. Like at your hairdresser... or your favorite restaurant... or with your accountant.

One tip to be sure that the card gets saved: hand write one thing on the back of the card, whether that is about the jewelry that you made,  a special sale code or even an essential contact method like your email or your blog. With that note on it the card is less likely to be tossed away.

I have amassed quite an extensive collection of business cards. Cards from vendors that I bought things from and ones I hoped to buy from.Cards from large online retailers. Cards from other jewelry artists to make connections with in the future. Cards from bead artists I admire. Chances are, if I ever purchased anything from you, I have your card. I never like to part with things that I collect. Not only might I need to buy from them again, but some of them are so beautiful that I couldn't bear to part with them.

One day I was at Michaels and found these really cute little recipe boxes for a few bucks. The sweet little bird illustration on the outside and the silver latch gave it a treasure box appeal. Inside were little dividers that had recipe categories like 'Salads' and 'Entrees.' I sorted my cards into stacks by medium (ceramic, polymer clay, glass, tools, beads, chain & components, artists, etc.) and then I used my Dymo to re-label the tabbed dividers and placed the cards in the box. Now I can keep them and have them handy for when I am searching for the perfect bead or component to work with.

As I was going though my stash, I came across a lot of Moo cards. Do you Moo? These quaint cards are about 1/2 the size of  a standard business card. What sets Moo cards apart is the extraordinarily high quality photography and printing on extremely durable and heavy cards stock with a soft matte finish. Just holding a Moo in your hands gets you hooked. The genius of Moo cards is that in one box of 100 cards you can upload up to 100 images. That's right. Each and every card in the box can be different. 

This makes them collectible in my eyes.

{Cute little box with dividers inside for holding your Moo cards. Here is the jumble of my Moo cards ~ 35 designs in all ~ and some close-ups}.

I wanted some Moos of my own with a special discount code for my Etsy shop on the back. For every order that I send out, one of these loyalty cards will go along with it and hopefully turn into repeat business. But I also wanted to find a to be inspired by my Moo card collection all the time.

As I was placing my order I came across the coolest thing: a frame that holds 20 of your favorite Moo cards in a multitude of different arrangements. If you've ever collected baseball cards, or have a child who does, you can see how this would become addicting! I have the frame filled with some of my favorite artists along with my own Moo cards to inspire. My goal is to swap out my cards in the frame with as many others as I can get from beady friends, because each card represents a connection to someone new. Who knows? Maybe I will get so many Moo cards this year that I will have to order more of these clever frames. ;-)

{My Moo Frame ~ I might use this at my next show with all the pictures from my personal Moo cards to show different pieces that I have made.}

Now it is your turn...

How do you use your business cards?
Do you collect business cards like I do?
Do you Moo? Tell us what you think of your Moo cards!
What other purposes can you think of to use your Moo cards or business cards? 

If you are interested in creating your own Moo cards, use this code ~ 2RB2CK~ to get 15% off your first order at the checkout. Go to Moo right now to get started!

Erin Prais-Hintz writes about all things that inspire her at Treasures Found::Inspiration Is Everywhere. Her jewelry designs are one-of-a-kind made one-at-a-time. She collects quotes and dust and invites you to send her your favorite (quote - not dust!) to enjoytheday@tesoritrovati.com. Check out her brand spankin' new website at Tesori Trovati.

Studio Saturdays with Designer Lorelei Eurto

Welcome to Studio Saturday! Each week one of our contributors gives you a sneak peek into their studio, creative process or inspirations. We ask a related question of our readers and hope you'll leave comments! As an incentive we offer a free prize each week to bribe you to use that keyboard. The following week we choose a random winner.

This weeks winner is commenter number Sabine of MyCriticalEye! Congratulations Sabine!!

You have won a free copy of the Color Drenched Metal tutorial from Shannon LeVart's studio!
Please forward an email to Shannon with your email address so she can send your ebook to you!

This weeks Studio Saturday is with Jewelry Designer, Lorelei Eurto.

 

Actually, instead of hanging out in the mess of my studio today, let's head down to the office, and chill at the computer, shall we? I want to talk today about creating your own photo collages.  Photo collages are easy to make and they are so fun to put together, I know you'll all be doing it non-stop once you learn the steps.

There are a few reasons why photo collages are cool:
1. They act as a really awesome marketing tool- for either bead makers or jewelry designers!
2. Showing off your beads or jewelry in groupings with other pictures  helps create a power of suggestion.
3. Outfits are my favorite choice for creating collages, but other things like color/ texture photos also help

make an attractive collage!

Step one:
Download Picasa- it's free photo editing software, and I love using it to edit all of my jewelry pictures. So it has a dual purpose here- editing, and fun collages. You can't beat that!

Step two:
Find images you want to use with your bead or jewelry pictures.  Choose pictures that are eye catching, and I recommend not stealing peoples photos- so make sure they are copyright free.

To snag photos, create screen shots:
PC users: Press the Print Scrn button on the keyboard- image will be saved into the screenshots folder in 
Picasa.
Mac users:  Press command + shift+4 then select an area. Takes a screen shot of an area and save it as a
file on your desktop.

Step Three:
If you use a PC, you'll have to crop your screen shots so that all you see  is the picture of your article of clothing or photo.
Mac users- your image should already be cropped.

Step four:

PC: after all shots are cropped, save the pics to a folder, then move your bead or jewelry pictures to that same folder. It's easier to create your collages if all your pics are in one place.

Same goes for Mac.

Click the folder within the Picasa program, so you are viewing all of your collage images. Holding down the Ctrl / Command(mac) key, click the photos you want to use in your collage.
Click the COLLAGE button at the bottom of your screen.

Step five:

You must pick which kind of collage you want, chose the type at the top left, drop down menu. I like to use Mosaic. You can also choose the monitor/display size and create thicker grid lines here.

Click Create Collage button. the collage will be saved in the Collages folder within Picasa.

Attach your new collage to a blog post and Voila! You've got insteant Power of Suggestion!

I am showing 2 examples, one with an outfit, and one with different types of images- so you can see they are both quite attractive and show off my jewelry designs.

This week, I am giving one lucky randomly drawn winner, one of Kelley's new Lampworked glass buttons!

To qualify to win this Mustard and Clear glass button, you must leave a comment with your answer to the following question:

What other cool marketing tools do you know of? Care to share?

Thank you so much for stopping by my office today, I hope you enjoyed this tutorial!

 

Valentine Open House Ideas

Need to break out of the winter sales slump? You still have time to plan a Valentine Open House! Here are some ideas to keep your costs down.

Invitations
Use evite.com for free invitations. You can upload a photo of your jewelry and use one of the seasonal theme backgrounds. Evite is free and tracks who has viewed your invitation. Don't forget to send a reminder 2 days before your event.

Display Ideas
Play up a sweet treats theme. Use cake plates, tiered dessert stands and heart shaped candy boxes to display your jewelry. Borrow them from friends/family if you don't have any in your stash.

Dollar Store
Check out your local dollar store for display props, decorations, tissue paper and bags for packaging.

Giveaways and Discounts
A 10-20% discount is enough incentive for your customers to drop by. Give away a few pairs of heart earrings or a bracelet as door prizes for those who attend.

Refreshments
Don't worry too much about what to serve and don't let this part of the open house eat away all your profits. Just serve chocolates! It's so fitting for the theme. If you buy a few heart shaped boxes of chocolates you can take the candy out of the boxes and serve them on pretty dishes.

Keep your Open House fun, simple, relaxing and focus on connecting with your customers. If you don't have space for an open house, ask a friend to host the event for you.

Bonus Idea
The heart shaped boxes of chocolates can be a fun way to sell earrings if you work outside the home. Empty the box of chocolates (Let's have a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy on what you do with the chocolates!) fill each little compartment with a pair of earrings and take the box with you. Offer the earrings at a special Valentine price. I did this for a few years when I was in college. Guys are not afraid to ask for a chocolate and that's your cue to say, "Oh, I'm sorry, this box is filled with earrings that I'm selling. Have you bought your girlfriend a Valentine's gift yet?" Sneaky, I know. Have a stash of earring cards and little gift bags to put your earrings in when they sell.

(Heart beads from Jangles)

I Love Tools, Digital Picture Frame

For Christmas my husband gave me a digital picture frame. Not only will this be wonderful to have displayed in our home but his suggestion was to use it at trunk shows also. Genius! I had not even thought of that, but once the idea was planted I knew I wanted to share it with our Art Bead Scene readers.

My plan is to use a separate memory card that I can load my bead pictures onto - keeping just family pictures stored on the actual device. Then when I do a trunk show I can just pop that card in - ready to go instantly. I'm thinking this will be an effective marketing tool for a variety of reasons. First, having a great deal of printed pictures displayed starts to get visually cluttered and distracting. Second, the lighted digital display can show off important small details without having to worry about room lighting or glare. Third, the time difference it will take to set up that one frame vs. about 30 pictures is huge and time is always an issue with me. Finally, just the novelty of it will get people to stop and look.

I think that I'll have photo album of some sort nearby so people can then go directly to the picture they'd like to see. I can pause my digital photo frame, but I don't think I'd want just anyone playing around with the buttons. I'll still display a few prominent pictures around the area, but not so many smaller / easy to overlook ones.

What beady gifts would you like to share with us? Leave a comment - Thanks!

New Earth & Wood Toggle sets by Elaine Ray

Pledge to Buy Handmade

Take a look at this and help spread the word around:

http://www.buyhandmade.org/

Beady Back Track - Halstead Bead Business Grant Winner

Belle Brooke Designs has been announced as the winner of the Halstead Bead Business Grant. The photo above shows some examples of this jewelry designer's work.

Now is a great time to start the application process for next year's grant and to help you along Halstead has provided some Hints and Tips. One article that especially caught my attention discusses the importance of understanding your target market and gives some great tips on this subject. In the article three main target groups are indentified, their lifestyles described and a sample marketing plan outlined for each of the groups. This is definitely worth taking a look at in order to help refine your marketing plan. Take a look here.

Getting Ready for Holiday Sales

Tari Sasser: Present Buttons

It is still hot as blazes here in North Carolina, but still I know it is time for all of us artsy people to be getting geared up for holiday sales!

Here is a quick time line for you to glance over - not to put any pressure on you or anything, but the time line starts now!

Cindy Gimbrone: Viva la Colour!

Today:

Get your sketch book out and start with new and innovative designs. We all know there are more and more people making jewelry out there - how are you going to make yours stand out? What is it that you have to offer that someone else does not? Unique beads and pendants, creative stringing techniques, great color combinations? Let your imagination run wild! You can always reign it in later if need be.

Take a look at your past sales and gift giving. What did good, what ideas can you bring back, where can you add to the basics you have already done? Try out some "holiday looks", but also keep in mind that people love to wear art beads all year long.

Think of adjectives and then make art to fit: Festive, Moody, Unique, Comfortable, Subtle, Lavish, Earthy, Sparkly.......

Make lists! Supplies needed, shows to book, gifts to make, people to call, inspirational art to view.... Update your mailing lists, both postal and electronic.

Virginia Miska: Elk and Sheild

Once you get your ideas ready and supply lists well on their way, place your orders by September 15th. With a two week shipping schedule that will get most of your supplies to you in plenty of time. (No overnight shipping costs.) Keep in mind that everyone is placing orders around the beginning of October - try to beat the crowd!

Heather Powers: Cherry Blossom Dreams

Careful now - don't just rummage through your new supplies, oh and ah over them and then put them aside. Get started on the actual assembling of your designs around October 1st. Make sure you have good lighting (the days will be getting shorter), clear up your work space so you don't waste time looking around for something that never got put back in the right place and keep that design sketch pad handy.

Melanie Brooks Lukacs: Winter Fairy Beads

Aim to get the bulk of your finished products done by the beginning of November. This will give you plenty of time to take good photos and get them posted on web pages and sent out as postal and emails notices. Let everyone know of your up coming shows and how they can be in touch with you if they can't get to the shows or if you just do word of mouth selling. Make sure shopping carts / billing procedures on your web site are fully functional and secure.

Elaine Ray: Cube and Seed shapes

Work on your displays - don't wait until the last minute with this! You may have absolutely fabulous work, but you have got to get it displayed so people can find and see those beauties. Be kind to your customers - put it out there where they can see it!

Be ready to hit the market by November 15th and keep on going through the holidays!

Good luck!
- Elaine

MySpace for Grown Ups?

Visit Indiepublic

Indiepublic is part of the new social network called Ning. You can connect to artists and designers across the globe, share photos & videos, post in forums, post to your blog on your page, join groups, meet new friends and find inspiration at every turn. Indiepublic is brought to you by the folks of cuteable, home of a daily dose of colorful indie* eyecandy!

You start by creating your own page, here is mine. Then plug into the community. A new feature is the Indiepublic Learning Library. It's a place for indie-oriented how-to articles, inspirational stories and more!
Here is one I submitted on finding arts & crafts shows.

It's like myspace in the way you connect with a community, share and make new friends, but without all the flashing lights, music and gizmos that can turn people away.

If you join, stop by to say hi. Friends are like beads, you can never have too many!

(*No, indie isn't an Indiana Jones fan club. Indie is the word for independent designers, artist and crafters who brake out of the mass market mold to offer you unique handcrafted goods.)

The Bead Biz - Blogs to Know

If you sell your jewelry online, you know that knowledge is power. So here is an expresso shot of marketing know-how via two informative blogs:

Alexis Dawes offers promotional techniques for independent clothing and accessory designers on Indie Designer Marketing. Her posts are quick & easy reads filled with great tips.

Etsy Shops is a guide to selling online for crafters and designers. They focus on marketing and selling on Etsy, but many of their posts and articles are great no matter where you sell online.

Glass Bead SRA Movement

ABS recently caught up with Melinda Melanson who hosts the web site for glass lampwork Self-Representing Artists. What's that? Read on...

What is your name and what are your web sites? Personal and SRA.

Melinda Melanson
http://www.cauldroncreations.com/
http://www.self-representing-artists.com/

Tell us about you, outside of SRA. How did you become a glass beadmaker? How long have you been making beads?

I'm 42 yrs old with a retired Air Force Hubby and an 18 yr old daughter. We love animals and have a bunch. Dogs, cats, birds, snakes, lizards, tortoise, and a frog. I've always been drawn to beads and glass work. As a child I remember finding beads in the road or school play area and gathering them up to make my own jewelry. Way back then, I strung them on fishing line. I am always looking for something new to try, and in the early 90's, I bought a booklet and some beads and started making seed bead earrings. From there, my collection of beads has grown to take over my house. I don't do a lot of stringing work. I prefer bead weaving, loom work, bead embroidery. I started making Art dolls and was getting frustrated in not being able to find just the right beads for my dolls. Around 1999 I saw a bead making kit in a book club and figured I could make simple beads to adorn my dolls. Well, I had no idea there was a market for the beads I was making, they kept piling up and after a quick search on eBay, I decided to sell them there. I didn't start to sell them until 2001, but I was making them in late 1999.

Where do you sell your beads? Do you sell finished pieces?

Most of my work is sold on eBay and my website. I occasionally sell finished items, but mostly they are donated to a worthy cause. Some of my work has been in beading magazines and websites.

How did the Self-Representing Artist (SRA) site come about?

Basically, a bunch of [glass] bead artists were discussing how we could let our buyers know that they are looking at work that is made by the artist and not mass produced. Before a couple years ago, this was easy, there were very few mass produced lampwork style beads and it was easy to distinguish between SRA and mass produced. But then the overseas mass producing factories started to produce the same designs and styles that we were making. We decided a badge or logo would help us stand out from the mass produced beads.

How does it work?
Very easy to join. Send in some basic info. Once we verify that the applicant is a SRA, the member will get a membership number and a copy of the logo to use. I retain the rights to decline or pull anyone's membership at any time. The logo is used by strict permission only.

How many SRA’s do you have listed?
I've lost count after 1000, I think we are about 1500 strong now.

What are the requirements to be an SRA? Is it just for glass? Are there other organizations of this kind?
Our group is very easy to join. We only require the members to sell their own or immediate family members glass work where they display the logo. We do not require the member desist from selling other work. But they may not display the logo on this other work. Because our basic mission is to help buyers find genuine glass work, this group is for glass only. There are groups out there that represent the self representing jewelry designer.

Are you affiliated, endorsed or recommended by any other organizations? (ISGB? Local guilds? Etc).
I'm not sure if we've gotten any official recommendations from other groups yet. I believe The Angry Mandrel is linking to our site now. I know word is spreading like wildfire and the group receives new applications almost daily.

Is there anything you’d like to say to art bead makers and designers that use art beads?
To the bead artists out there, stand up and proclaim you are a self-representing artists. Make it easier for new customers to find your work. Be proud to be an SRA. Educate your customers about the differences between SRA work and mass produced work.

And to the designers......A HUGE thank you for supporting the SRA's. I believe the quality in the glass work made by SRA's is greatly superior to the mass produced items. And by supporting the SRA, you are directly supporting the artists and not a bunch of middle men/importers.

Is there any advice you can give for other art bead makers in other mediums that might want to follow your lead in the SRA movement?
Stand up and be proud of being a SRA in whatever medium you work in. Search for groups in your medium that can help you find your customers. If there isn't a group, think about starting one. Help others along their path.

(All beads in this article are by Melinda Melanson. Click images for a larger view).

Lori Greenberg is a glass beadmaker who blogs from her studio in Cave Creek, Arizona.