Jewelry Sets and Busy-ness

I've become a lot bolder about listing coordinating items separately of late.  My bridal jewelry all links to the rest of the collection in the listing, since those are intended to be sort of infinitely mix-and-match.  Lately, I also listed this set:



Available here and here. Sold!

That ... is a weird piece.  I have to say it.  It's really odd.  Even more disparate materials than I usually combine, which, with me, is saying something.  It would be awesome to layer with a longer piece, though, a pendant on a very long cord maybe?  I haven't done a lot of A.) chokers or B.) multistrand before, though I've done a good few of the latter lately.

And I'm fond of the earring photo; I think I managed the depth of field and dimensionality, what with turning the pot that the earrings hang in toward the light and away from the camera, which makes them a little more interesting.  Not sure it's visible at the teaser size, though.  Hmm.

Also, since I originally wrote this post, the set has sold.  Obviously I'm not the only one who likes it!

I always consider jewelry sets to be an excellent gift -- coordinating necklace-earrings, bracelet-pendant, pendant-earrings-bracelet or what-have-you vastly increases the perceived value.  However, I'm getting more confident about breaking up jewelry sets listing-wise because I often sell them that way in person, with someone wanting just the necklace but not having pierced ears, preferring studs, or not caring for the pendant but liking the color combination and so purchasing the matching bracelet alone.  Things like that.  It's only twenty cents more for me, and it takes my customers to the Priority-shipping upgrade faster, so I think this is actually better.  Thoughts from the reader pool?

On another note, we've just finished out the semester at the tech college, and in the sudden glut of free time and M-is-home time I've had a couple of stupidly productive days.  We're still decorating the house, the garden flourishes, and I made hamburgers with homegrown spinach on them last night.  The Japanese maple looks like the Japanese maple.  The English primrose and daisies are not terribly happy, which is not unexpected, but my Oscar milkweed, liatris, and (shockingly) trout lilies are all remarkably happy.  The Jack-in-the-pulpit died but it's been the only thing to croak out of season so far.  More topically, I've made approximately a thousand charm bracelets, two with bits of miniature tea set and three with buttons, including my weird but somehow trademark combination of plastic buttons with pearls. We're discussing having all our work friends over for traditional British tea and jewelry-showing sometime next month. 

For those interested, I'm selling off much of my collection of vintage hematite in the Ballet Llama storefront.  There are also some nice hard-to-find charms there.  Get 'em while the getting's good!

It's hot, but life is nice right now.

Treasury Wednesday: Denim Blue, Sunshine Yellow, Grape Green

Another treasury inspired by its own top photo. I was almost done when I realized I'd replicated the color scheme my parents used around their swimming pool back in California.

'Livening Up a Friday Morning' by tangopig

A treasury entirely inspired by my need for bright colors to keep me awake at work.

Vinyl Wall Sticker ... urbanwalls $48.90	Lucky Bamboo Leaves... atthestudiodoo... $12.00	Macrame Friendship ... HattieMcHatter... $10.00	Blue Platter Mantou... atelierBB $50.00
Oh Happy Day - Blan... HereMyDear $4.50	SALE - Entire Shop ... LuzDesigns $16.00	Denim Darcie in Sun... twillypopgirl $14.50	Bright Bird, Rainy ... slmChance $36.00
Dainty Flowers and ... kawaiigoodies $2.95	Spring Summer Blue ... studiodimoda $15.00	Fun Valentine Blue ... simplychiclily $25.00	Marbled Flowers 12 OnceOnlyProduc... $44.00
Birds of a Feather ... elgarboart $5.00	Bouquet Earrings BrokenFingersA... $20.00	Blue Birdman in a B... TomSarmo $100.00	Blue, Green, and Ye... larsandaddie $10.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

Disappointments and Blessings

I ventured back into the Etsy Forums the other day.

This was a mistake.

See, I had this flash of inspiration: Since the entire function of the Etsy Forums is to self-promote to other sellers (which I have always found to be a losing game, but others disagree), I would go along to the "Critiques" section and, using my Scribblegoat account but not rudely or blatantly advertising, offer free, helpful professional advice to the legions of people asking the community to critique their shops/descriptions.  This would, with professional propriety and helpfulness, put the name of my business before those who were already seeking similar services.  I hasten to assure my sighing readers: From my experience of the forums, this seemed a genuinely excellent plan.

Problem number one was immediately apparent: Recently (to judge from the complaint threads still fresh and full of vim), the Critiques and Promotions sections were phased out.

However, people were still posting the questions, just under "Site Help."  I proceeded with my plan.  Then I realized that a significant number of the threads were starting with "Five Ways to Make Sales," "Ten Ways to Improve Photographs," "How My Dog's Shop Made 18 Sales in Its First Month," etc.  Cool!  I made one linking to my word-choice series.

Half an hour later, I checked back.  14 comments!  I was thrilled.

And then I read them.

A couple of polite thanks, made me feel great.  Then these:

"I noticed you're really new here, do you have another shop somewhere where you've sold a lot of things based on your descriptions? Otherwise, I'm not sure how useful I would consider this information."
 "Honestly I don't think people totally read the descriptions. It has been my experience that I'm answering questions that were answered in my descriptions."
 "Please don't start threads made to bring attention to your blog. Offering suggestions on how to help make one's business successful is awesome, but please share most of that content here when you're doing so to prevent us from viewing the thread as a promotional one."

These don't seem as bad on the second read, but at the time, they were a slap in the face.  The first made me angry.  The articles themselves and every single element in my Scribblegoat shop -- including the descriptions themselves -- make it very obvious that I'm both a qualified writer and an experienced seller under the TangoPig account; this person didn't actually look at anything.  They apparently took the barest of glances solely so they could tell me my hours of work were useless information, and I didn't know what I was doing.  (Also?  Comma splice.  Yes, I'm petty.)  The second one is more dismissive than I would be willing to be, but actually makes me laugh, since it is proved by the one above it.

And the last one is from an Etsy moderator and locked the thread.

I acknowledge that Etsy has a right to keep content primarily on the site itself; I'm good with this.  But this does require, for the sake of the most basic standards of professionalism, that they either A.) have a posted rule about it in the FAQs, or B.) follow the damn links to see where they actually go -- because it's blindingly obvious from a click that that's not my blog.

It's not a big deal, and I know this, but it depressed me for the rest of the day.  And yet -- that's also how I feel pretty much every time I visit the forums.  It's this great groaning chorus of "Etsy sucks because of this," "And also because of this," "My customers are awful," "I'm ahead of the rat race, let me condescend to the fellow rats," "I'm the only honest seller here," "The rules were formulated to make life hard for me," and on and on and on and on ...

Yet -- even though the Etsy venture isn't going where I hoped, even though people have been cruel and dismissive about my extensive qualifications and generally made me feel like shit -- I do this for a living.  I work in a great writing center where there's tons of support, I make pretty good money and learn interesting things.  Even if I'm not freelancing it yet, I get to do this as a job.  And the job isn't just editing other people's work, it's also doing my own -- I spend a couple of hours writing descriptions and blog posts every week, and my Etsy shop pays for itself now, though I know I'm still years from making back the startup supply costs.

Furthermore, I say "not freelancing yet" -- but I'm not sure what criteria I'm giving myself, because as of now?  I've had three commissions, totalling a pretty respectable wage for a weekend off.

So I have much for which to be grateful, and with that in mind -- the slap in the face from trying to engage with the Etsy community?  Small fry.

"Asian Inspired" and its moral implications, or, Why Orientalism is Bad, Kids

So I just realized that my setup in this photo makes it look like the charms are sliding over a cliff to their certain doom.



That's okay; it sold last November.  Anyhow.

It occasionally troubles me to create Asian-inspired designs.  However, the following things always and without fail suggest Asia to me:

• peonies/ranunculus/large floral patterns
• cloisonne
• fish
• jade
• strong black/red, blue/red, or black/green color palettes

The problem?  Anthropological training has made me a little overly sensitive to cultural appropriation.  Mind you, this doesn't trouble me nearly as much as "tribal."  And yet ... who decides that something looks Asian?  Is it okay for me to use the term "Asian-inspired" when I in fact mean, "This, to me, resembles Western culture's idea of the motifs of Asia"?




The thing is -- I took Art History with a global emphasis and Artists in Traditional China in school -- the latter in seminar under Cheng-chi Hsü, one of the world's foremost experts on Chinese painters and their relationships with art connoisseurs.  I spent that class reading the UCR library's entire extensive section about Yangzhou courtesans so I could roleplay a courtesan novelist for the final project.  And this was after I abandoned, as beyond me without the ability to read Chinese script, a paper about the transgressive gender presentation of the painter-poet.  I am as educated on the matter of Asian art as most amateurs can claim to be.  Why do I always have this guilty feeling when I'm as qualified as most Westerners to identify Asian motifs?

 But that requires me to think of myself as a Westerner, which is a problem in and of itself, and it goes back to that old linguistic problem of the Orient and the Occident.


Available here.

Basically, the word "Oriental" means "from somewhere else."  It means, basically, "Them."  "Those people."  "The others."  To refer to someone as an Oriental is literally to say "the person who is deeply unlike me."  (This is why, in the Age of Steam, North Africans and Gypsies were called "orientals," though the term is usually specific to the continent of Asia today).

To call oneself a Westerner or Occidental assumes a geographical position; it says, "Of course this is the West and that the East.  Anyone who matters is standing right here, where it's true."


So true, Mr. Munroe.  So true.

So for the moment, I continue to soothe my conscience by using the terms "Asian" and "tribal," but being specific in descriptions ("motifs taken from Chinese scrolls," "suggested by the shapes of West African hunting trophies") and tagging with "asian inspired" and "tribal inspired."  The butterfly necklace up above is called "Papillon Orientaliste" -- the Orientalist butterfly, not the Oriental -- because I am trying to suggest an item created with elements that construct a reflection of a worldview of "the exotic" (there's an unwieldy construction), not that there actually is an Other to refer to by this term.

Possibly this is still morally corrupt, but it keeps me feeling honest, and I still think that's important.

Treasury Wednesday: Spring!

I made this treasury between students at work in the first part of March and I think I got a very nice color balance! It's also some unusual items, not the type I'm usually drawn to. I emphazise both photo and item quality when I'm picking things out for treasuries, and the unusual search terms I used brought up some things I've not yet seen meeting both criteria.

It's still strange to me that the seasonal change here is visible in something other than average temperature.

'First Southern Spring' by tangopig

The trees outside my apartment look like bubbles made of flowers.

Bridal Bustier, Cor... IkvothaMashiac... $250.00	hand built porcelai... lynswan $37.00	ORIGINAL Impasto La... ModernHouseArt $175.00	Hot air balloon ear... liliFunambule $12.00
Vinyl Wall Sticker ... urbanwalls $45.00	Lilly First Communi... CamiAndEmmi $25.00	White Yarn Bowl wit... blueroompotter... $36.00	Vintage Oversized B... EarlyBright $18.00
Pretty White Yarrow... Thebearfootsha... $1.95	PATTERN - Bubble Ba... theblackwoodco... $4.00	Candy Bubble Tree (... papermoth $18.00	CLEAR BUBBLE LAMPWO... alishawhite $27.00
Bracelet, Wedding J... lapisbeach $40.00	Fly Away No 1 tmlCREATIONS $20.00	Knitted earrings jurooma $18.00	Bag of White Tea & ... ElloPoppetBeau... $6.50

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.

Work jewelry, and one more reason to love curves

I've now been a Writing Center Consultant (read: tutor) at the main campus of our local technical college for some months. I love it here.  I love the atmosphere.  Everything that could possibly come up has been thought of.

And it makes me so, so happy to be fat.

Readers will have realized that I am Remarkably Curvy.  I get a lot of male attention since I've moved, I notice -- whether because I'm dressing up for work or because the South likes their girls plump and breeding-hip'd, I can't say.  Other advantages have lately been becoming clear.

The next-youngest WCC got her master's the same time I got my bachelor's, and works with me on Fridays.  She tends to dress a little younger than I do, and observes Casual Friday with relish.

This will shortly become significant.

T'other day, a student we see a great deal of (older male, generally quite pleasant to me at any rate, makes several appointments per paper and yet never seems to believe us when,for example, we point out that plot summary and literary analysis are not the same thing) just walked in and scratched out his appointment and told us he was going to only make grammar appointments in the future. He "only" got an 85% on the last paper (horrors!) and the professor was pointing out things we never said.  Therefore, he feels that there was some inconsistency and and he and his instructor agree that a grammar-readings-only pattern will be more beneficial to him. He was most pleasant about it, but the content was essentially that he didn't think our seven (7) appointments with four (4) different tutors had been helpful in achieving that 85%.

We can't decide whether to be offended, send the instructor a nice thank-you gift, or both.  See, many of the tutors despise this student, because he flatly refuses to make the changes they suggest.  At first I thought they meant someone else, because he generally accepts it from me; I think perhaps he finds me and my confident work persona intimidating!

Half an hour later, a generally lovely single-mom student, who I've worked with a time or three before, asked me if I was still in classes here. She explained that I didn't quite look young enough, but since the other tutor on duty looked like she must be a work-study student, she wondered if I was too.

When I told her no, I just finished my degree in December -- but [other tutor] taught classes -- she looked stunned for a moment, then graciously changed the subject.

The student following her was writing a paper reminiscing about receiving a Holly Hobbie doll. "Do you remember those?" she asked me. I told her I did. "Oh no -- showing our age, aren't we?" she laughed. I laughed with her, not having the heart to say it was Mom's.

A couple of hours later, along came another student, who is here to check her email when I open the writing center every morning and who I've always taken to be in her early-to-mid thirties.  In her appointment, I asked her when her recalled event happened.  As she tried to work this out, she said, "Well, my daughter was born in '79 ..."  I would have liked to compliment her, but I couldn't work out how to approach "Wow, I'd never have guessed you could have a daughter ten years older than I am."

Everyone takes me for older than I am, and everyone takes my tutoring counterpart for younger.  Why?  Actually, if you will forgive professional bias, I think a big part of it is jewelry!  Wearing "fine jewelry," or fashion jewelry that imitates its look, with casual clothing is a sign of youth.  Delicate crystalline pendants, fine chains, names or initials especially, those read as either precious jewelry for Occasions or young girl's treasured gift pieces.  The exceptions are those annoying let's-invent-a-holiday pendants like the Journey Diamond ones and the "open arms" one with the irritating sexist commercials.  Unusual art jewelry, however, suggests more mature and quirky taste.

She's also slender, with blonde highlights.  And there, I think, is the rub.  Being heavier and the top-heavy hourglass shape (I'm actually rounder at the hips, being a true-to-type Sicilian, but I dress drapily so it doesn't look like it) gives me a measure of gravitas.

I'm not the only one to have noticed this; in her column "How to Dress for Battle," Jen Dziura mentions a study where women in a suit jacket were taken by office professionals as higher-ranked -- but women who were over forty, conservatively dressed, or larger seemed to already have a boost in that perception, so the jacket helped less than it did for petite, slender, or young women.

Conclusion: being fat and well-dressed is a really good thing career-wise.

Five errors to avoid in your descriptions

This belongs in the word-choice-for-sellers series, I guess, or at least in the vicinity.  Why can't it go there?  Because I'm about to be spiteful and negative and not pull punches and Rena is lovely and sweet and generally a national treasure.

If you are trying to maintain a Positive Day, I happily invite you to scroll down and look through my tag list, there in the right column under my contact links, to look for something that looks interesting to read.  I'm not usually this nasty.  But I'm getting it out of my system today.

Still with me?  Okay.

Read on for a list of things never to do in an item description.

Treasury Wednesday: Kiwi and Honeysuckle Kitchen

This one was inspired by how much cooking I've been doing lately! Incidentally, the bread recipe I linked last time I was yammering about my kitchen works with half-white, half-whole wheat flour, but not with all wheat, and if using wheat the water should be increased by a splash.

I also focused on pink, since "Honeysuckle" is technically supposed to be the Pantone Color of the Year. I'm less than pleased since Honeysuckle is Not a Nice Plant in the South, but hey. Pink is nice. Right? This is really more of a salmon pink, though.

I also just love food-inspired jewelry, from mini polymer clay birthday cakes to ganache-colored tiaras or what have you. It thrills me.

'Culinarily Speaking' by tangopig

Salmon pink and leaf green in cookery-inspired designs.

Himalayan Pink Sea ... brushcreekwool... $3.00	Baby Buckwheat Spro... KitchenGraphic... $15.00	DESTASH Assorted Fr... mousemarket $11.75	Piece of my Heart -... FrostedCrossbo... $8.50
Salmon Necklace - W... myfie $20.00	LILY Tea time fab... madamehoux $38.00	Gourmet Salt Trio -... CraigsMarket $7.99	Persistence slgdesigns $10.00
Super Cupcake Nom f... collageOrama $6.99	bowl scallop pink CeramicaBotani... $18.00	Profiteroles Pyrami... HummingbirdMin... $40.00	Valentine Buttercre... ajsweetsoap $12.95
Baked Potato Bag Mi... dasweetzpot $	Original 3.5x5 -- F... PainterNik $50.00	Fresh Tomato Leaf S... Sinami1 $5.00	Sweet Cherries - Fo... AmeliaKayPhoto... $30.00

Treasury tool is sponsored by Lazzia.com A/B image testing.