I’ll be enjoying one of those afternoons where I will be cruising the internet and finding inspiration again and again, meeting new artists, and just loving the access we have these days because we’re all online. I mean, it’s such a wonderful thing that we can interact with artists across the world and experience them and their handcrafted art right in our own shops, or homes,  or studios. Anyway, so there I am cruising along and having the most glorious fulfilling experiences when *BOOM* I view an advertisement for handmade polymer clay buttons at the amazingly low price of $.03 each, shipped free anywhere…and my happy cruise totally crashes when it hits me that I could never afford to make them this cheap and even worse, if I could I’d surely be a slave to my art.

I began to wonder if I was nuts. I mean, if someone can buy handmade polymer clay buttons online for just cents, why on earth would they pay dollars for mine?

Well after much tortured thought the answer suddenly and gently came to me…because mine are unique. It sounds so simple but it’s true. It was easy to figure out how they can mass produce these handmade buttons. The canes are most likely HUGE, the clay is probably purchased in large quantities more inexpensively, and chances are they are made in an assembly line style. Now in my books there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s quite efficient and everyone wins but it’s a whole lot of the same flower button design, for example.

For some buttons I make small canes and from each one I get roughly 8-16 buttons. I take my time to design them and enjoy the infinite possibilities. I love to create the canes and each button is hand sliced with a razor, hand smoothed, and molded to shape and size.

When I make character buttons like the cute owls shown in the image below, some details like the eyes and wings are made from canes and the rest is hand-sculpted. Then each button hole is gently poked through, one at a time.

Some of the buttons that I create are patterned on top like these yummy raspberry ones in the image to the right.  I even use my own handmade patterned imprints from polymer clay instead of buying and using the silicone ones that are sold at the craft stores.My colors are mostly hand mixed and I’ll even add pearl powders occasionally to give them a special shimmer in the light.

Best of all is that my designs change and are updated very regularly. Don’t worry though if you like something you’ve seen a while back because I’m sure I could reproduce something very similar you’d equally enjoy.  I love custom orders too and will work with anyone who wants something special.

Now this doesn’t mean that you don’t buy the mass produced buttons. I say “Shop away!” because that’s an unbelievable deal but when you’re looking for something special that will add that unique and perhaps special or personal touch, I’m your gal!

Oh, one more thing…Start’s Arts has free shipping too:) Bam!

What is Article Marketing?

It is the process of using short articles, usually between 400 – 700 words, for publication and distribution by other websites and off-line publishers, typically free of charge.

How Can Article Marketing Help Your Handmade Business?

1. Develops Your Expert Position – Article marketing can help you establish yourself as an expert in your field whether it be jewelry making, crocheting, or metal art. As you share your knowledge with your audience they will come to know you as the ‘go to’ person when they have a question.
2. Exposure – The more places your ideal market can find you, the more paths to your shop or blog, the higher your traffic will be. Each article you write creates a separate trail someone can follow back to you – and become your customer. Think of it as a spider web. Your shop is the heart of the web and the various paths to the center are your marketing efforts – article marketing being one.
3. Approval – When you publish your article on someones site this serves as validation or an introduction to that person’s audience, making them more receptive to your message.

Article Marketing Tips:

• Spell check your work. Even if you’ve read it forwards and backwards use the spell checker. After you do that, read your work once again and if possible get someone else to read your work.
• Be sure your article is between 400 – 700 words.
• Take time to do some keyword research before you write your article.
• Add a keyword to your title and in the first sentence or paragraph of your article.
• Check the sites terms on in-article links to see if links to your shop or blog are allowed.
• Use white-space. Reading online is different so short paragraphs with 2-3 sentences are ideal.
• Using numbered or bulleted lists makes it easier to skim the article.

Article Marketing Tools:

• Squidoo.com – an easy to use Web 2.0 article submission site. I’ve been using this platform since 2007 and the traffic to my blog from my articles is consistent. It is a fairly easy system to learn, using modules that you drag and drop into your page. It also has a very good community of authors and mentors. Last week they launched a new magazine called So Crafty where they highlight craft articles. Coming soon they will be offering artist spotlights where they highlight the art of a featured author.
• Hubpages.com – similar to the previous article submission site plus many who write on Squidoo write here as well. I’ve only submitted one article to this site but I’ve heard positive things about fellow writers article marketing efforts.
• Wizzley.com – this site was made by a number of authors who have used the previous two sites and so the platform is very similar. Their writing standards are superb and I highly respect the owners of the site. They are always willing to help new writers.

Article marketing is for any business owner who wants to drive more traffic to their site, establish themselves as experts, and gain access to new audiences. Your potential customers are out there looking for the next hot crafty skill; make sure you show up in the right place at the right time by creating great articles and sprinkling them throughout the web.

Sara Duggan is an avid blogger of all things crochet. She is known as Momwithahook on Squidoo where she shares her patterns,   book reviews, and other crafty knowledge. Visit her at http://momwithahook.blogspot.com or http://saraduggan.com sign up for her monthly newsletter and ask her how you can build your own Squidoo page for your small business or blog.

Finding the ideal kind of project that can be done with children sometimes manages to stump even the most creative of parents. After all, sometimes the typical craft ideas that people are used to seeing detailed in magazines and portrayed in classrooms just aren’t the most compelling picks. And while it might be fun to make something out of paper mache or to get involved in the exciting world of active volcano models, most of the time, people are more interested in whether or not they can find something that will delight youngsters while also not being that difficult to set up. Fortunately, figuring out how to craft these kinds of projects is not as difficult as one might think, and getting things set up for the whole family is definitely a lot less stressful than one might think.

Don’t Bite Off More Than You Can Chew

The first step in successfully crafting a project for the whole family to enjoy together is identifying just how difficult one wants things to be, from amount of time things will require to the amount of supplies that need to be invested in. Fortunately, it’s a whole lot easier than people might realize to be able to figure out something that is slightly no mess and no fuss. For younger children who tend to require more supervision, going for something that is less messy is a far better idea, as it will mean that those in charge will not be cleaning things up indefinitely. And remember, just because you love fiddly projects that take hours to complete, it doesn’t mean youngsters will – think instant gratification and not too much precision.

Take Into Account Their Interests

When it comes to actually selecting the kind of projects that will keep children entertained, it also makes sense to be considering one’s own child and his or her particular interests. After all, if a child is more bookish, going for a project that is going to be more oriented towards sports is not going to fly quite as well as finding something that clicks more with one’s interests. So be keeping that in mind when making those kind of decisions, as it’s definitely a better way to handle making the best choice. Your child will be far more enthusiastic about making a train/ballerina/dinosaur themed project, even if it isn’t your cup of tea.

Don’t Be Too Rigid

No matter the age of the children with whom crafting is happening, it’s always good for parents to take a step back and allow the children to shine. Make it clear that there are a set of different rules that are worth following, but that being creative is definitely encouraged, and that following directions and finding a way to put one’s own spin on the process is a great idea. This might mean being very specific about putting a piece together but then decorating whatever is being built in a more freewheeling way. This is also a great way for parents to teach their children about the balance between being creative and following the steps at hand to get a great end result.

So when making plans to entertain the children with a craft project, it makes sense to go ahead and realize that focusing on interests and abilities are the two secret weapons to ensuring that all goes smoothly and that children are happy.

About the Author: Victoria Crowdell writes articles on family, home & garden and crafting – her passion is scented candles.

p.s. we are open to a trunk shows too!

Rebeca says: ” I would love for my book to help elevate the standards of maille.  Chainmaille as a jewelry craft form is relatively new, so there are no strictly defined standards of what is considered technical precision like there are for other jewelry media.  I don’t expect beginners to be perfect, but I sometimes see people who consider themselves “experts” posting or publishing photographs of pieces with very poorly closed rings.  My guess is, a lot of people don’t think that it’s a big deal.  Or they’ve been taught by someone who has poor closures, and it never even occurred to them that seamless closures are an option. To me, though, having perfect closures and smooth, shiny rings are critical.  I hope that people flip through my book and see what a difference seamless closures make.  And then, I hope that maillers everywhere make it a point to always aim for perfectly closed rings.  Of course, there are plenty of maillers (especially ones who frequent online forums) that already do so.  You are my peeps — let’s elevate this artform together! ”

Chained also painstakingly  goes into details on various metals and how to care for them. This is so important, honestly, I wish that I had a reference book like this around when I started weaving. Rebeca takes you through years of her own trial and error and puts things in simple understandable terms. You may not think much of  it, but finding the right pair of pliers is huge. I personally have probably 20 pairs of pliers and only use 2, the book sends you to the right tools to start. I guess what I’m saying is “Chained” takes the guess work out of chainmaille for beginners and gives great tips for the more advanced chainmaillers out there.

The tutorials are set up from basic to advanced so that you can grow with the book. I don’t know how many people start doing chainmaille, buy a bunch of stuff and then give up. Chainmaille can be difficult that is why it it critical to start off slow with basic weaves and then move on to more difficult intricate patterns. You need to truly build your weaving skills, and “Chained ” walks you through the steps. Starting with simple Japanese weaves and then progressing on to more complex patterns.

The other critical thing I looked for while reviewing the book is ring size. As I’ve taken my own journey through the art of weaving chainmaille I’ve noticed patterns in English Units, Metric Units, AWG (American Wire Gage), SWG (Standard Wire Gage), all these nuances will affect your finished work. Blue Buddha takes the time to give you proper ring sizes as well as their metric conversions for each weave so that there is no guess work. This is a huge time saver, ring size is one the of the largest struggles you will find when you start weaving chainmaille and “Chained will lead you down the right path.

The book goes through Japanese Weaves, Byzantine Weaves, Helm Weaves, and what Rebeca calls Coiled Weaves. These various techniques will give you a good foundation for weaving chainmaille. I would of loved to see her move into some Perisan Weaves or Roundmaille variations, but there are so many weaves out there I’m sure she had to edit herself or the book would be 500 pounds. Maybe we’ll get a sequel one day, hint hint, if you are listening Rebeca.
Rebeca says:  “Heh, heh.  Hint Taken. You are not the first to suggest a Persian chapter.  I have already started to think about a second book, one that is tailored more toward Intermediate/Advanced Weavers.  Right now, Persian will likely be a chapter.  If not, I’ll probably develop some stand-alone PDFs for the Persian family of weaves.  And you’re right, there was a LOT that we couldn’t fit in Chained.  My original manuscript turned out to be 260 pages, so my editor had quite a lot of editing to do. An entire chapter (on Mobiusing) got cut, along with several projects from the other chapters.  Look for a supplemental PDF of “The Deleted Scenes” sometime in 2011 for these missing projects.”

One of my favorite aspects of the book is that she gives artists the right to use her designs to create jewelry for sale. Believe it not most of the  books out there, not just chainmaille, restrict the artist from selling the finished work created from the designs in the book. Sort of silly uh? Like there is a copyright police man out there searching the web for infringement. Well Rebeca, being a femailler and jewelry artist at heart, insisted to her publisher that this be waived and that artists would be free to sell their finished work. If your interested in an autographed copy, which I did, you can get one here “Chained” Autographed. Blue Buddha will donate $5 from the sale of every signed copy to Friends of Franklin Fine Arts Center

The winning member will receive two weeks of free advertising on the Handmade Artists’ Forum, HAF Blog, Chainmaille By MBOI, and Makin’ The Best Of it as well as $25.00 cold hard cash to do with whatever they want!

There is also a prize for voting and leaving a comment! At the end of the contest we will choose one person at random who votes and will give them $25.00 to spend on any item they want on The Handmade Artists’ Shop!

In addition to the $25.00 prize the commenter also will win this beautiful Handmade Little Black Bear by iKnitQuiltSew.

This bear has everything going for it!  In keeping with the first contest, he’s upcycled…  In a previous life, he was a machine washable coat (which has been washed)!  If a disaster strikes, this bear can be put in a pillow case or a lingerie bag and machine washed and dried on warm settings!  In keeping with this contest, I can remember singing a song when I was in Girl Scouts (many, MANY years ago) about a little black bear.  The pads of his feet and fronts of his ears are eco-felt (made from recycled paper and water bottles!).    He has safety-stay plastic eyes and a hand-embroidered nose and mouth.  His arms and legs move – they are jointed with the old-fashioned string-and-button method which is all internal.  Without his scarf, he is completely child-safe.  Standing, he is 12 inches (30.5 cm) tall.

So take your time and pick your favorite, you can vote only once per IP address, and don’t forget to leave a comment to be automatically entered to win $25.00 to spend at the HAFshop and that beautiful Little Black Bear!

Trusk4U Inspired By “The Mystic’s Dream” by Loreena McKennitt

iKnitQuiltSew Inspired by O’ Chritstmas Tree

PennyFarrowInspired by Ron carter Quartet, Sunshower

GrandDesign Inspired by Abney Park,  The Clockyard

2DezineArt Inspired  by Miles Davis, Freddie Freeloader

TotallyUniqueTreasuresInspired by Dire Straits, Sultan of Swing

Rasamalai Inspired by Claudio Monteverdi, Pur ti miro

Impressionsbyheidi Inspired by Rhapsody  by George Gershwin

Crafted RootsInspired Moonlight Sonata, by Beethoven

The voting will end 12/01/2010 at midnight, so get your votes in and don’t forget to comment and be automatically entered to win $25.00 to spend at the Handmade Artists’ Shop and the beautiful Little Black Bear!

[poll id="9"]

It is the dream of many to combine their passions into their business but not many are able to accomplish it.  Cheli, a resident of Ontario, Canada has managed to combine her love for history and her love for creating beautiful jewelry into stunning works of wearable art.

One of the beauties of handmade is that you work directly with the artist.  Cheli is always willing to work out custom sized and personalized designs for her customers which means your piece will always suit your personal style.

Necklaces, bracelets and earrings…one more beautiful than the next would make a perfect gift for men or women or, even better, a treat for yourself.

If this isn’t enough, this multi-talented designer is also a talented painter.  Trays to brighten up any room are available.

Need to see more?  Check out Enchanted Jewelry on the HandmadeArtistsShop and prepare to be stunned at the glittery array of precious metal and gems that you find.

Some of her signature work includes the Silver paw print series  “Fine Silver Pendant made with metal clay. A Paw made in a series of more to come for the love of pets. Each one is handcrafted and has variations of design, and are large and small. This one is almost 3/4 inch by inch including bail. Finish is rustic though polished with a bit of antiquing to add contrast. I have serpentine chains, and leather neck cords with hook an eye listed and available for separate purchase. The bail on this pendant is large enough to go over most medium size clasps.”

Another one of her pieces that I love is the Silver Shattered Star

“Approximately 1 1/4 inches in diameter, this pendant is pure fine silver. It was created in a two fire process of Precious Metal Clay and is one of a kind. One type of clay was used as a base forthe prefired pieces of a several design pieces. As a result of this refiring I have a slightly cupped pendant. Believe it or not, that was the plan! After firing, the silver was burnished and treated with a patina and polished. This pendant is on an 18 inch snake chain of sterling silver.”

Take a minute and stop by and visit her shop Baublezptoa you will not be disseminated!

This talented artist creates stunning pieces while holding on to her heart felt beliefs about the world. Her work reflects her love of the natural world and her charitable contribution proves her willingness to do something to make the world better.

Check out Seedlings on her blog to learn more about this amazing talent where Sharon is currently running a series on the last year in review in which she shares some of her hard learned secrets to selling success.  Her blog is a wealth of information!

The shopmonkeys of DogmawGlass toil in the internet mines by day to bring glass to the online community, but at night… ah, cool dark night… we get get to play with fire!

                               

When the first recession hit in 1981 I was living in Vancouver (Canada) and had been making and selling original designs in stained glass for the previous year, at large craft shows. At that time I would run out of stock before the show ended and then had orders! By 1981 sales changed dramatically due to the recession.  I then had my second child…

I work full-time in neuroscience research and because of time restraints I can only work on my jewelry part-time. There is a recession happening at this time so I may have a few years worth of gifts for my family and friends  :~}

See my jewelry at my Etsy shop.
Follow me on Twitter.
Read my blog.

I love the inspiration I get from the world of fantasy. I am a Tolkien fan and reading The Hobbit when I was 12 years old opened a whole world to me that over the years has brought me great joy.

I believe that people emulate what they love through their art. My creations have a wee bit of the little people’s air about them I have been told. So’s, I be thinkin, ’tis charmed, i’tis ; )  And so, the name, ‘Tis Charmed was created.

‘Tis Charmed is a subsidiary of Charmimsy, my licensed business and online cottage craft supply shop. Since the two shops are related it would help to understand where the name ‘Charmimsy’ comes from to understand my complete vision for ‘Tis Charmed.

All About the Charmimsy Name:

In the British Isles it has long been known that mimsy is the stuff out of which feminine creations are constructed. The Fae (faerie kingdom) even coined a word for this boundless creativity of humans to take a seemingly simple thing, like a bead or a button, and make something beautiful or useful with it. That word is charmimsy.

The Fae have a great respect for the creative spirit of humans. In fact, it is probably the one true thing we have in common with the faeries. You might ask, “How does taking a bag of beads and making a bracelet kindle a common bond with the faerie folk?” Well, to them it is a sort of magic. In fact, creating things is probably the closest humans come to being magical.

‘Tis Charmed was created to provide a special place for my created pieces, or as the Fae call them, Charmimsy. I had them for sale in my craft shop, until one day they rose up in rebellion, demanding a place of their very own. They declared they were too good to share a spot with a bunch of mimsy. After all, they were charmed mimsy now. I had to admit my folly of charming them and then treating them as though they were not charmed. So, I gave them their own shop, ‘Tis Charmed, where they can charm away all night and day.

I hope, as I explore creating and charming all things mimsy, that you will find something with a wee bit of the Fae magic for yourself in my creations. For the love of all things inspired by the Fae, Kate

Find my creations in my Etsy shop.
Find craft supplies at my Etsy supply shop.
Read my musings on my blog.

Welcome to Wildwoman Creations Art and Craft Gallery and the home of “My Art Locker” a center for teaching and learning.   Stephanie “Rosie” Fischer Wildwoman One, Linda Danna, Wildwoman Two, Tom Milne, Mr. Rosie and Virginia Voehringer, Senior Wildwoman.

We have had our creativity unleashed.  We create therefore we are.  We play therefore we are happy.  We delight in the creative process therefore we are willing to share the gift of creativity.

We began our journey in 2004 with a working studio and gallery of our work.  We began melting glass and silver and creating jewelry. 5 years later in 2009 we just finished building our new studio and we are introducing our new project “My Art Locker” creative space rental for creative people.

We have come a long way but the vision has always been clear and is in the definition of the word “PLAY” engaging in activities for enjoyment and recreation….

This we have done and this we now want to share with you. Several mottos come to mind…”Our Creations Give People an Excuse to Look at Your Chest” and “Normal Is Not An Option”  My passion is mixing mediums, repurposing, recycling and recreating wild art jewelry for the wildwoman.

Join us online:
Art & Craft Gallery
Wildwoman Creations on Etsy
Oregon Coast Artists
Wildwoman Creations Blog

Article written & submitted by Haffina of Haffina Creations