Dystini - Polymer Clay

Troubles with elastic cord

dystini — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:38:39 +0000

I’ve been trying to string an elastic bracelet for over a week now. First, I strung it and then realized I needed small beads between the polymer clay beads. Took it apart and added the small beads. One of the elastic cords came untied (despite superglue) when I was trying to tug the knots into a polymer clay bead. Restrung that one and then the cords stretched too much. Took it apart, reamed the holes in the polymer clay beads so the cord didn’t get stuck and restrung. The knots came undone again.

I’m going to end up using a whole spool of this cord on this one bracelet if this keeps up.

What is the best way to secure elastic cord? I’ve been tying knots and then covering the knots in superglue. Obviously, this is not the best method. It’s .7mm Elastic Magic cord. Would crimping it be better?

What I’ve been doing

dystini — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:03:09 +0000

Yes I know, I’ve neglected this blog shamefully.

February was a big bead month for me. For some reason, I was full of bead ideas and managed to make enough for 3 tumbler loads in a row. So I’m set on beads to list for 6 months or more. So now that I don’t have to make beads I can focus on not bead stuff I’ve been meaning to do. And I did, for awhile. But unfortunately all those ideas I had for not bead stuff while I was busy making beads have been lost. Can’t remember anything. Figures.

So I decided to dig through all my stuff and find all the previously made not bead stuff and list it on Artfire. Well, not all of it. Some is still on Etsy, some got trashed for not being up to current standards and some have been or will be taken apart to be resused.

So here are some examples of what I’ve been listing:

Poseidons Garden Polymer Clay Seahorse Starfish Fish Necklace

Contest!!

dystini — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 17:52:47 +0000

Go to Craft Test Dummies and check out their contests. Lovely goodies to be won. The polymer clay prize is unbelievable! All kinds of goodies from Lisa Pavelka! I’ve been dying to try Pardo clay and the other stuff looks really interesting as well.

Check out the other posts as well. They review all kinds of crafty things and have frequent giveaways.

Hope they pick me!

What she said

dystini — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:31:03 +0000

Please go read Chris’s post on the new trend to leave out the word clay when referring to polymer clay.

polymer what?

I absolutely agree with her.

New listings

dystini — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 15:56:13 +0000

I decided to stop listing on Ebay a week early. Next Monday everything that is left there goes on 50% off clearance.

On Artfire (These are brand new, never been seen for sale before):

Pink Peach Flowers on Yellow Polymer Clay Beads Set of 4
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1127485

Peach Purple Flowers on Blue Polymer Clay Beads Set of 5
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1127479

Pink Peach Flowers on Golden Polymer Clay Pebble Beads Set of 6
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1127477

Yellow and Purple Flower Marble Polymer Clay Pendant
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1127469

Orange Pink Black Polymer Clay Round Beads Set of 7
http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1127435

The future

dystini — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 21:25:18 +0000

I’m scared about the future of my business.

Switching from Ebay to Artfire is a big part of this. While sales have lacked for months on Ebay, I was comfortable there. It’s familiar. Artfire looks great and the fees are so much better than Ebay, but it’s a young site and doesn’t have the traffic and popularity of Ebay. Losing that traffic (even if it wasn’t resulting in sales) is scary. I’m going to have to put more work into promoting and I really don’t know how to do that. Rather, I do know some ways, but lack the opportunity/money/ability to do them.

And then there’s money. I don’t have much. I’ve just barely had the sales to cover my Ebay fees and for a few months I’ll have dual fees (Ebay and Artfire Pro account). Speaking of Artfire’s pro account, due to their recently announced fee hike, I’ll need to go pro a month sooner than I had planned to lock in a lower rate. I’ve got the funds to cover this month’s Ebay fees and a month of Artfire Pro, but that’s about it unless I get some sales.

And that means I have no money for supplies and possibly won’t be able to cover fees after this month. I’ll be able to take a bit from our tax refund but that’s going to a desperately needed purchase of clay. (I’ve been out of translucent for months). I’ve been self-supporting (meaning paying for my own expenses, fees, taxes, etc as well as supplies) for over 5 years so losing that ability is devastating mentally. Not to mention that our household funds can’t really afford to support me either.

So I’m sitting here, trying to think of alternatives, ways to make this work, how to increase sales and honestly, I’m not coming up with anything. But closing the whole thing down isn’t appealing either. I’ll still create. I can’t imagine not creating. But without the business to raise money for supplies, eventually I’ll run out and then I’ll be completely out of luck (not to mention, overflowing with creations taking up space).

Sorry to be so depressing but I needed to vent. If you’ve got suggestions or ideas I’d love to hear them.

I’m moving from Ebay to Artfire!

dystini — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:34:57 +0000

If you would like to join my mailing list, please visit this address: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sparkliesandmore/join

I will be closing my Ebay store on March 30th, 2010. The newly announced fee changes make it impossible for me to continue selling on Ebay.

For the month of February, I will continue listing auctions on Monday evenings as usual, however, unsold auctions will not be added to the store.

Starting March 1, I will no longer list auctions and all remaining items in my Ebay store will be put on clearance for 50% off.

You can visit my Ebay store at: http://stores.ebay.com/Sparklies-and-More

I have opened a shop on Artfire and I also have a shop on Etsy.

These can be visited at: http://www.artfire.com/users/dystini and http://www.etsy.com/shop/Dystini

I plan to be using my Artfire shop as my main selling venue. New beads will be found there, starting March 1, 2010. Currently, there are older beads as well as my ebooks available there. Etsy also contains my ebooks as well as my non-bead creations.

If you have not yet joined Artfire and would like to, please use my referral link: http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=power_up&refuid=59324

If you have not yet joined Etsy and would like to, please use my referral link: http://www.etsy.com/register.php?referral=Dystini

Other sites of mine you may be interested in:
Website: http://www.sparkliesandmore.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/dystini

Artfire

dystini — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 04:22:24 +0000

I’ve joined Artfire.

Visit dystini’s ArtFire Shop

I’m sorry

dystini — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:36:55 +0000

I’m sorry I’ve been neglecting this blog for so long.

Here’s some pics of what I’ve been working on.

Huge bead giveaway.

dystini — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:33:00 +0000

You’ve gotta check this out!

Silver Parrot