Dragon Glass - Now on Handmade at Amazon!

At long last, the much-anticipated handmade platform offered by Amazon has launched and Dragon Glass is very excited to be part of something so new!

Want to check out my Amazon store? Click here!

The platform launched last Thursday to almost everyone's surprise. Approved vendors had been receiving reminder emails from Amazon for the previous couple of weeks - telling us how to operate our stores and to ensure we had our profiles and listings uploaded, but with no firm launch date.

Amazon uses slightly different criteria for its handmade sellers, which will surely be welcome news to many Etsy sellers, some of whom are disillusioned with Etsy's continued push towards allowing 'handmade' sellers to outsource their manufacturing processes. Whilst I love that Etsy are thinking towards how to support smaller sellers in their quest to become larger sellers, they do seem to have lost their way in what and who made them quite such a roaring success. Many also complain about the sheer numbers of manufactured (outside the approved Etsy channels) and trademark infringing listings on the site - something not yet seen on the Amazon site, although, undoubtedly, without 'constant vigilance' (in the words of 'Mad Eye Moody') this will likely become a problem there too in time.

The best thing about it? The platform only launched on Thursday and I've already had a sale!

Sold!

So far here is my take so far on the Amazon platform -

1 - The stats don't update in real time like Etsy's. They are also more complicated. Much more complicated. They run a day behind, which, isn't bad if you're used to Google Analytics, but, when you're used to Etsy's real time updates, it's a little frustrating for us eager beavers that want to see how many views we're getting and from where. They also don't seem to show where the traffic originated. So, if you're using both Pinterest and Twitter to advertise your products, you don't know which one is effective.

2 - The listing process is a 4 page one as opposed to a 1 page one, as Etsy's is. This is not too much of a problem, since once you've got the hang of it, it's reasonably easy, but, it does take longer.

3 - Once you've uploaded a product listing it can take 15 minutes or more to actually appear on the site.

4 - You cannot batch upload product pictures. They need to be done one at a time. Not a huge deal, it just adds to the time it takes to add a product.

5 - Edit - There is now a copy listing function! Woohoo! Great to hear that Amazon listens to its users! There is no way to 'copy' a listing. So, if you are listing similar products and just want to change out dimensions or photos, you cannot do it. You can copy and paste descriptions, but you can't just copy a listing and change the few things you want to.

6 - The fees are higher - 12% vs 3.5%. Although, right now, there are no listing fees, unlike Etsy, where you pay to list and renew every few months. The fees also apply to shipping charges on Amazon. But - when you consider that wholesale arrangements can include discounts anywhere between 30 and 50%, 12% is a bargain.

7 - The traffic is higher. With zero promotion, you will get traffic on the Amazon platform. I currently get about the same traffic for 13 items on Amazon as I do on Etsy, where I feel like my life revolves around tweeting, pinning and making treasuries.

8 - The shipping process is easy - the same kind of process as Etsy. Just know your weights and your package dimensions.



Overall - I am excited for the opportunities that being on the Amazon Handmade platform brings. It will enable small handcrafted businesses like myself to reach customers who, for whatever reason, don't shop, or don't want to shop at Etsy.

I would love to hear your thoughts on Handmade at Amazon! Do you like it as a seller? Would you shop there as a customer?

Hollywood, Here I Come!

I have always loved the annual Hollywood awards season. I love watching the red carpets - all that glamour! Just fabulous. It's so much fun to see what the top movie and TV stars are wearing, what will be trends and what, um, may not... This weekend brings the Primetime Emmys.

A big part of the awards season revolves around fashion - so many top media professionals are there, from mainstream outlets to the coolest fashion bloggers - they all turn out in force. An important piece of the awards process are the gift lounges. They attract both stars and press and are an amazing opportunity for businesses to show off their products. The Artisan Group works in conjunction with GBK Productions - exclusive, invitation-only lounges for celebrities and press during the awards events.

This year I get to be a little part of the process. I have been with The Artisan Group for a little while now. It offers handcrafted businesses the opportunity to gift their unique products for use on various TV shows, to celebrities, to charity and to movie costume departments. It also offers the opportunity to gift products for press and celebrity swag bags that form part of the annual Hollywood awards season collection of events.

So - I'm sure you're thinking "who wouldn't love to get free stuff - how is this a good deal?". Well, here's the deal - for a small business, it's financially cost prohibitive for this kind of exposure.
There are several gifting groups out there - but, when you look into them, they're absurdly expensive - thousands of dollars for an entry-level gifting opportunity. That's where The Artisan Group (TAG) are different. They offer the opportunities to participate in events from just $50, which is much cheaper than even print adverts and actually gets your business in front of a great group of industry professionals. I am so excited for the opportunity it grants.
Not only that, but, GBK Lounges are top-notch. What a great partnership!

So, I actually get to say -

Dragon Glass is participating in an exclusive celebrity Gift Lounge event, hosted by GBK Productions in Beverly Hills, California, leading up to the Primetime Emmy Awards telecast!

How amazing is that?!!

I opted for a small press gifting option for this event - where I send 10 items for distribution amongst media attendees to the gift lounge. I chose my dichroic studs - they are some of my biggest sellers and are always popular at the events I attend. They fit a variety of ages and add just a little bit of sparkle without being overwhelming. They are perfect for day wear, from running errands to being in the office, but they easily transition to night, offering a touch of glamour for all manner of events.
I hope they're a big hit!

Want to hear more about this event? Please see the official press release.

Want to see the gifting guide produced by TAG for this event? Right here!

* Dragon Glass is not in any way affiliated with The Primetime Emmy Awards, or The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Coming Soon!

As a native Brit living in the US, I take advantage of the very long American summer school holiday and head back across the pond for a little time with family and friends.

This time is always wonderful, but it’s also a great opportunity to both take a break and to allow the creative juices to flow.

The UK seems to get fashion trends ahead of the US and it’s always lovely to see what the colours of the upcoming season are going to be. I’ve noticed lots of ochre and camel so far this year and it’s always good to have complimentary pieces in stock.

I also have a bunch of larger events this fall, which I’m super excited about, but it means I have a lot of work to do in order to have sufficient variety and stock levels, in addition to my Etsy-listed items.

One of my events has specifically asked for me to bring additional stained glass pieces in order to add this as an offering to their fair and I have some great ideas for small wall hanging pieces. I’m excited to get started on these and it will give me an opportunity to try out my glass saw that I bought a while ago and am yet to use. As I work on them, they’ll be posted to Instagram.

I’ve created a selection of small pendant necklaces. Sometimes a larger pendant might not work with a neckline and in this case, a smaller one works perfectly – giving just the right amount of sparkle to an outfit.

I also want to expand my offerings beyond pendant necklaces and the couple of chainmaille necklaces with glass accents that I have done to date. My sister particularly always has lovely layered necklaces, so I am going to try and create some that incorporate some glass pieces. I also love natural beads and this seems a great opportunity to create unique longer pieces and diversify from pendants.

I’ve had great feedback about the little heart keyrings I started making this spring, so these will also feature in the fall and winter selections available. I’ve also made a new little display just for them!

Also available this fall, which weren’t last, are an expanded selection of earrings with sterling silver findings. My dichroic studs in particular have sold very well with sterling silver posts and I want to be able to offer these in person at my events.

As always, my in person events are a great opportunity to connect with some of the local customers I’ve met in the past few years and show the new items in person. Dichroic glass is one of those materials that is very difficult to photograph well and although I feel I’ve made great strides in this, I still regularly get feedback and reviews that the items look so much nicer in person versus in a photograph. This of course is great for a customer, when their purchase is even better than they thought, but, it’s lovely to be able to show the full lovely, sparkliness in all its glory in person!

How to Clean Sterling Silver Jewelry

Whilst taking photos of my pendants, I use a sterling silver necklace, to show how it looks on a chain, as it would be worn. I just went to take some pics of new items ready to list when I noticed that my sterling necklace has developed some tarnish.

Is it gold or silver?! Or brass :(

Few people know this, but, I used to be an electrochemist. I even got a PhD in electrochemistry, back in the days before my son became my priority.

Ah! Those were the days!

Anyway, did you know that you can clean sterling jewelry at home, really quickly, really easily? It involves an electrochemical process.

When silver 'tarnishes', what's actually happening is that the surface of the silver is having a chemical reaction with the air. Here is the equation for it, because, I can't resist a 'little' bit of science.

2 Ag_(s) + H₂S_(g) → Ag₂S_(s) + H_2(g)

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. How do you clean it and get rid of that black coating?
It involves a few very simple items, all of which you have in your home, right now, I'm betting.

You will need:

A piece of aluminium foil. (you'll have to excuse my British spelling, I can't bring myself to spell it the American way).
Table salt.
Baking soda.
A tray. (perfect use for a leftover PF Chang's takeout container!)
Boiling water.
A tarnished piece of silver jewelry.

Lay the foil in the tray and add a shake of baking soda and a shake of salt. Not a light sprinkling, a little more, as if you were flouring a board.

Add the boiling water. The baking soda and salt will 'fizz' a little.

Hard to see, but there are bubbles where the substances are fizzing on the left

Then, add your silver item

Working its magic

Bubbles will form around the tarnished area. You might also smell 'rotten eggs' - that's the hydrogen sulphide gas coming off.

Give a few minutes, then, voila! Dry your item which should be pretty and sparkling again!

Tarnish free necklace!

 Super easy, agreed? You will never need to buy expensive silver cleaners again!

Why I Love Dichroic Glass

Dichroic glass is amazing stuff. It was originally used in space applications, then someone discovered it made gorgeous jewelry...

Here is an unfired piece to show you exactly what happens with it when you change the lighting and angle viewed from.

I love it - you never quite know what you're going to get and even when you fire it and it doesn't turn out the way you expect, the result is often even better...

Direct Sales

Who hasn't received an invite to a direct sales party hosted by a friend and made up some excuse to not go? Yep, guilty. I have struggled with this in the past - the pressure to buy something that you don't need, or may be too expensive, or, you just aren't interested. Then factor in the "I want to support my friend but I don't want to buy anything" conflict.
As a crafter, many fairs I've been to and sold at have had a ton of direct sales, which, personally, I don't want to see at a craft fair. I go to see handmade, unique items, not mass-produced stuff.
As a handmade seller, I hate seeing some of these, not so much your Silpada-types (which are actually pretty cute), but more the Paparazzi ones. They're so hard to compete with. It's a case of "Come buy my enormous necklace for $5", vs my handmade earrings which start at $10. :(

But, I have come to learn, some of them are awesome. Does this mean I am likely to start selling any of these? Well, no, I've got enough on my hands with my glass work, but, I am a fan of some in particular.

Reasons I love some of these companies -

Women, particularly those with children in the US struggle on several levels to maintain any kind of career. Childcare provision is incredibly expensive, and with very long (too long) summer holidays and Christmas holidays, paying for that unless you are earning over $50,000 a year barely seems worth it. Then, factor in those that actually want to stay home with their children for at least some of the time and would prefer to work part-time - only part-time work availability is utter rubbish at best.
These companies can be a great opportunity for some of those women to both get out and meet people, make some money for themselves and their families and build something they can call their own. For military families, it can be a great idea, especially with the options for online shopping through a consultant that some of these companies now have - so, when you move, your friends can still order from you.

Anyway, here are some of my personal faves, and the best part is, I've linked my consultants to them, so, if you don't know anyone that sells these products, then you can try them via these guys!

Rodan and Fields
You know the two dermatologists who developed "Proactive"? Well, they sold off that enterprise and now have their own signature line, developed specifically for adults and their own particular skin challenges. They have solutions for aging, redness, sun damage and acne. I decided to give them a go after having been a Clinique and Estee Lauder customer for YEARS and honestly, being a little underwhelmed at the results I was getting. Whilst my skin is very sensitive to what I eat (who gets breakouts from a corn allergy - I do), it is not where I wanted it to be, nor were my current products providing that, so, I figured I would change things up. Rodan and Fields is not cheap. The products cost a similar amount to other premium brands, but, here's just one thing I like - I would rather put some profit into my friend's pocket than into the owners and shareholders of Macy's. So far I am noticing definite improvements in the evenness of my skin tone and in the appearance of fine lines. More importantly - I haven't seen ANY bad things, which is often a barrier to trying new products for me.
If you'd like to give them a go, contact Melissa via her page!

Pampered Chef
I LOVE a Pampered Chef party. I remember a friend of mine being gobsmacked when I agreed to come along to one with her many years ago. I do actually enjoy cooking and I love gadgets. So, combine cooking with gadgets that actually work and are great quality and you have Pampered Chef. The parties often have food, because what better way to show off cooking products and there is something for everyone at all price points. Love their stuff.
Anyway, if you want to browse Pampered Chef stuff for yourself, take a look at my friend Trish's website or FB page. You can even order directly from her.

Young Living
I am a recent (2 years) fan of essential oils. I love the way you can diffuse them as a much more natural air freshener than the nasty chemicals you buy in an aerosol, but even more, I love that you can actually use them therapeutically. I am a huge fan of "Thieves" blend, which is a staple in our house when there are colds going around. I am also a fan of anything containing Vetiver for attention issues. Both my son and I use them and there are also scientific studies that show effectiveness of Vetiver for ADHD. Got a headache? Peppermint essential oil will get rid of it 10 times quicker than a Tylenol and it's MUCH better for your liver. I like to add blends to my bath, it's the most relaxing 30 mins (or 90 if I take a book and no-one else is draining the hot water) you will have.
I like Young Living products because their quality is good and their blends are great. I do have a friend who is an aromatherapist who doesn't like some of their advice (esp taking oils internally), but, the quality of their oils is good. Bottom line - remember that essential oils are potent and can be dangerous - just because something is natural, it doesn't mean you can take as much as you like, so, definitely be very careful with how you use them, and even more so with children, but, they are amazing additions to a healthy household.
I have a couple of friends who sell Young Living - Becky and Laura. You can go directly to their sites by clicking their names.

Thirty-One
I'm also a recent fan of Thirty-One. I kept seeing people at craft fairs with these really cool large tote carriers and thinking they were cool, then I went to a home show at one of my friend's houses, and another seller there was a Thirty-One rep. I got to put my hands on the products and noticed how innovative and well made they were. So, I picked up a tote as a present to myself. It's excellent. It's well made, cute and holds what two of my other craft fair bags does, which equals less trips to the car.
My friend Krista sells Thirty-One and even has a Facebook Page where she posts all the latest items and sale events.

So, there you go - just a few of the ones I like and personally buy from.
It's always good to support small business, and even better when you can give your money to your friends instead of strangers.

The Colorado Springs Craft Scene

I'm sure when people think about Colorado and Crafts in the same sentence, they likely think of places like Boulder, which are thought to be more 'hip' and liberal and therefore more likely to have arts co-ops and the likes. Colorado Springs however has some amazing handmade artisans too!

One thing I particularly love about getting involved with the craft scene here is making new friends. If you're at a craft show selling there are all kinds of great reasons to get to know your neighbour. Firstly, crafters are often great people! They have all kinds of interests! They also love to share their knowledge of the local scene - which shows are good, which are not so good.

Meeting other craft fair sellers though also gives you the opportunity to check out the amazing things they make! There are few things better than being able to give a gift that was handmade, locally and that is not likely to be given to the same person by anyone else.

Here are a few of my personal favourites.

Shelly Homemaker

https://www.etsy.com/listing/221967176/coral-cheetah-infinity-scarf-animal?ref=shop_home_active_17

Michelle is a mum to 4(!) kiddos and makes all kinds of lovely things for gifting. My faves are her infinity scarves. They're made with lovely knit fabrics, so they're super soft and sit 'just right'. My mum loves the one I gave her for Christmas too. She also makes cute little dresses, the most beautiful cushions (which can be customized) and wreaths. She's also a little bit of a local crafting celeb, having been on TV recently doing a tutorial on how to make wreaths.

Made With a Twist

https://www.etsy.com/listing/210096829/sassenach-style-outlander-inspired-cowl?ref=shop_home_active_5

Pam is so talented I hardly know where to start. She also makes patterns, so, if you can crochet (not me sadly), you can recreate her designs for yourself! I love the Outlander-inspired items she comes up with and her great choice of quality yarns.

Makings From Mommyland

https://www.etsy.com/listing/121042035/made-to-order-elizabeth-bennett-and-mr?ref=shop_home_active_13

Katie makes the most amazing peg people you will ever clap your eyes on. She creates perfect reproductions of your favourite TV or literary characters, but, not just that - she can create personalized cake toppers and pays such amazing attention to detail. You can have her paint military uniforms, dress designs, you name it, she does it. She also creates family sets and nativity scenes. Go and check out her shop!

EvaLine Jewelry

https://www.etsy.com/listing/175202444/flower-silver-necklace-pure-silver?ref=shop_home_active_11

If glass jewelry isn't your thing, then check out my friend Evelina's beautiful fine silver creations. She works with precious metal clay, which when fired becomes .999 fine silver. She makes wonderful pendants that make super gifts.

As you can see, some really wonderful sellers right here on our doorstep. Not in Colorado Springs? You're in luck! They ship all over the country and in some cases the world!