While we’re cleaning up our websites, our jewelry making practices, and our business knowledge this spring, let’s add some info on alternative selling sites.
Sometimes it makes more sense to use a pre-made sales site rather than set up your own website if you’re just getting started in sales.  Sometimes you’ve got a website, but you want to handle sales separately.  And sometimes a selling site makes sense because of the extra traffic it can help generate.
Please don’t think that using a selling site is a free ride though.  They are not going to automatically bring the buyers to you…you will …read more

Now that we’re all starting to get more familiar with social media sites like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and the rest, I thought I’d share a list with you of some specialized sites for those who are interested in fashion.  Any of these sites can become a part of your marketing strategy if you’re interested in selling your jewelry.

Now honestly, I haven’t used any of these listed below except for StyleHive, Kaboodle, and ThisNext.  I really spend most of my time in forums devoted to beading and jewelry education, and I haven’t even used my Facebook account for business…just to keep …read more

JewelryLessons
Let’s not forget that there are some wonderful sources online with instructions to learn specific skills or make specific projects. Not all of them are free, but if you’d like to get the very best instruction and can’t go somewhere to take a class, these might be just the ticket!
On the other side, these are also sites that you might be able to tap into for selling your own projects if you are interested in pursuing that line of business this year.  I just heard from Eni Oken yesterday, and she says that although her site is best known …read more

I wrote about a new sales venture called America Creates about a month ago.  Recently, Sharon Sinclair, Co-founder and Creative Director, contacted me to let me know what’s new!  For one thing, the new home page design is much easier to navigate…not that I thought the beta design was bad, but it sure is easier to find jewelry now 
Sharon writes:
Thank you for your blog entry about America Creates. We’ve been building the web site for over 3 years, but have just recently “re-launched” with many more features, including artist videos. Our goal is to help promote …read more

As part of our on-going emphasis on education this year, I want to share some previous posts that may help you fill in some gaps! From creativity to color, from design elements to jewelry school, these resources can point you in the right direction.
Do you want to design for yourself?
This is the conclusion of my series of articles, with links to all the previous articles
Beadwork basics online
Dictionaries, glossaries, and encyclopedias of jewelry making info online
Creativity online
Color training and tools online
Jewelry design tools and articles online
Jewelry class listings by geography
Beading shows with classes
Design school directory

Always available, anytime day or night, whatever suits you, even in your jammies!  Don’t forget that there are online ways to learn jewelry skills to improve your techniques this year   My favorite place to start is Tammy’s list of e-courses on About.com’s Jewelry Making site.

Technique Tuesday

Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to go somewhere to take a class. There’s so much to be said for classes…being able to see the technique demonstrated, being able to ask questions, mixing and mingling and meeting new people. It’s all good. But it just doesn’t work out for everyone.
Fortunately, there is the internet!
There are three categories of posts on this very blog that will lead you to lots of techniques, tips, tutorials, and fun new projects to try. There are also lots of new sources that I’ll be adding to these categories pretty regularly.
The Basics …read more

If you’d like to get a better price for your work than Etsy sometimes is able to command, and you live in the USA, you might want to check out America Creates. I don’t really know anything about how the sales are going there, as I haven’t been selling via any site other than my own websites since my old eBay days. However, I can say that the site looks beautiful and very polished.
The Jewelry category is hiding under Fine Craft, not under Wearables, so don’t let that throw you!

Yolanda Collins left me a link in the comments on a recent post about Bead Loom Work. Ohmygosh…you just have to see this site that she’s found! It’s called Patterns for You, and it allows you to create and print out a chart for any image that you upload to it. And it’s all done online!! You can pick your stitch, pick your image, and away you go. What an amazing tool.
Thanks so much, Yolanda!

Mary Harrington, one of the founders, sent me this information, and I thought it looked like an excellent potential opportunity for those of you who would like to teach, or who feel there’s more to learn
School of Everything is a site where teachers in any subject, anywhere in the world, can advertise for free and find new students. Anyone can sign up, browse for teachers, contact teachers in their area and meet up to learn. We launched in September 2008 and already have teachers offering classes in thousands of subjects.
We’ve been described as …read more