Friday, 10 June 2011

A New Shop On Folksy And Feeling Scared!

Now that I make the majority of my own findings to use in my jewellery I very rarely look on the internet to buy them. One of the things I did used to buy were pure copper findings before I got myself a bigger and hotter torch - a mini butane torch is just about hot enough to ball 20g copper that's if you don't mind standing there for 10 minutes waiting for it to happen!

I used to get frustrated at the lack of places online in the UK that actually sell pure copper findings - there's lots of "antique" copper, the base metal coated in an antique colour coating stuff but not that much in pure copper that's oxidised in liver of sulphur so................... I thought I'd start making and selling antique pure copper findings myself!




I've just opened my 2nd shop on Folksy called Cinnamon Jewellery Findings, selling ball headpins and earwires, fancy headpins and earwires, copper discs and dangles plus sets of 3 or 5 pairs of headpins and earwires just waiting for beads to be added! The majority are antiqued (oxidised in liver of sulphur and polished) but there's also a small selection of bright copper and rosy ball findings too.




I'm planning on making some findings using silver-filled wire too, once I've experimented with it. Apparently it's very similar to sterling wire to work with and can be hammered and oxidised, so if they look ok they will go in the shop too. I might list some pure sterling silver findings also but the price of sterling at the moment may put people off!



I'd forgotten how scary it is when you open a new shop - those big fat zeros on the right - no sales, no feedback, wondering if anyone will visit, buy, tell me I've not gone completely mad! I've SEO'd my listings to death and was pleased to see one of the first items listed already showing up on Google about three links down, when I searched for handmade antique copper findings UK earlier today ( not bad!)
Will they sell? Who knows? I know there's a market for them so we'll see. There's always eBay!



Monday, 30 May 2011

A Bit Of A Featured Thing Going On!

There's definitely a featured thing going on at the moment - a pair of my earrings on fellow Folksy seller Linda's blog Uniquely Yours, one of the Featured Sellers on Folksy for the next two weeks (I'm thrilled about that, does it mean I've "arrived"?!) and a request for a feature on Handmade With Passon UK, a handmade directory and blog run by Crystal Clarke.


I'll have to start wearing dark glasses when I go to Sainsbury's at this rate................... :D





Friday, 27 May 2011

Silver-Filled Wire ~ An Affordable Alternative To Sterling

Browsing through the latest edition of Step By Step Wire Jewelry the other night I saw an article that mentioned silver-filled wire. I'd heard of gold-filled wire but not silver. I read a bit more and discovered silver-filled wire is pretty new and sounds like a great alternative to the much more expensive sterling silver wire.

So how is it different to silver plated wire I thought? Silver-filled has a thicker coating of sterling silver bonded to a copper or brass base. It can be hammered, oxidised and tumbled just like sterling and I should imagine it's less likely to wear off like plated wire can. I'm liking it more and more! Another plus is if you can wear sterling silver jewellery you'll be fine with silver-filled too.

I've just ordered some 20g from Etsy shop Cigarbox Supplies and at £4.36 for 19.5 ft it works out a hell of a lot less than sterling. I contacted another Etsy seller who uses it and asked her opinion - she loves it and said it behaves just like pure sterling wire. I'm not sure if it's available in the UK yet (probably not, maybe in a year or two!)

I can't wait for it to arrive so I can experiment and see for myself! Watch this space for an update in a week or two!

*Photo courtesy of Cigarbox Supplies