Facebook

I've done it: Silverlight & Whiteleaf Jewellery is on Facebook.

My third big step into the world of social media (this blog and my Twitter account being the first and second): I reluctantly joined Facebook in early February.

I put it off for a long time, but after multiple requests from friends, acquaintances, and relatives, and after hearing for the umpteenth time about artisans who find that one of their best promotional tools is their Facebook pages, I decided to give it a try, and scheduled it for early February. Perhaps the reality of Facebook would be more fun than my mental image of it.

Regrettably, that was not the case. It took me 48 hours to grasp Twitter, and that felt like a long time. Two weeks after joining Facebook, I thought that I might be getting the hang of it, and I was starting to see the possibilities in it. Twitter was overwhelming because of the sheer amount of information being flung about; Facebook is overwhelming because it is complex, sprawling, feels unnatural, and, despite the fact that it's the biggest social network in the world, it's not user-friendly.

Despite all that, I'm now almost starting to like it. Unlike on Twitter, on Facebook you can post images and get rapid feedback from potential customers. Now that's handy. I can also say that I have made a sale due to Facebook, which is more than I can say about Twitter, fun though Twitter is. I've also found that customers are clicking on the Facebook link in my E-mail signature and are 'liking' my page, which is brilliant as it means that they are keen to keep in touch with my work and to see new designs.

'Baroque' earrings, a new Silverlight Jewellery design. Available on Felt, Zibbet, and ArtFire.

Facebook is sort of like a blog, a bit like Twitter, a bit like StumbleUpon, and a bit like Tumblr. It's as though each of those social media platforms took an idea from Facebook and expanded on it, while Facebook itself, as the original social media platform, is the (more or less) happy medium.

You will notice that there is now a Facebook badge in the sidebar on the left of this blog. So you can now officially 'like' Silverlight & Whiteleaf Jewellery on Facebook. 

So, what do you do?

"So, what do you do to earn a living?"

Ah, yes. That question.
My standard answer is, "I'm a full time, self-employed jewellery artist", which means that the next question is invariably, "What kind of jewellery do you make?", or, "What does that involve?"
I usually manage to cobble together some kind of reasonably cogent response to the first question; something along the lines of, "I make hand-assembled jewellery from pre-made components, and I have two brands", followed by an explanation of the brand styles. In answer to the second question, however, my impulse is always to to ask, "How much time do you have?"

What I actually say is much less succinct, and involves a lot of fumbling for a way of translating the technical terms of what I do into a pithy statement that will be understood by people who don't even know what a cabochon is, much less a baile or a headpin. And most of them haven't even heard of Twitter!

So I have been thinking that I need a more coherent, eloquent way of expressing what I do. And it came to me a few weeks ago:

"What does that involve? 

It involves a working knowledge of the handmade movement, 

the online shopping industry, 

computers, 

and social media;

plus skills in

photography, 

customer service, 

branding, 

marketing, 

administration, 

time management, 

budgeting, 

accounting, 

research, 

and jewellery making.

It demands devotion, determination, punctiliousness, and passion." 
 

Now I just have to memorise it. 

Own It. Share It. Do It. Believe It. Magnet by Choosingbeauty on Etsy

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Five quotes: Action

A nod,
a bow,
and a tip of the lid
to the person
who coulda
and shoulda
and did. 

Robert Brault, 'A Poem Missing the Word Woulda'. www.robertbrault.com

Men expect too much, do too little. 

Allen Tate.

I believe half the unhappiness in life comes from people being afraid to go straight at things.  

William J. Lock.

Action will remove the doubts that theory cannot solve. 
Tehyi Hsieh.

Carpe diem! 

(Seize the day!) 

Horace. 

Before long, this year will have become last year. If you have plans, enact them now.
Happy new year, everyone.

With thanks to The Quote Garden.

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Ignorance is power

Some of the world's greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible. 

- Doug Larson 

When I first started trying to make a living as a self-employed jewellery artist, I knew nothing. 

In the following three years, I learned how much I did not know. 

I am now slightly horrified at how ignorant I was, and how little research I did. 

I am also immensely grateful.

If I had known how hard it would be, I might not have done it.

First Light Over Glacier Bay by thechadandhope on Etsy

 The young do not know enough to be prudent, and therefore they attempt the impossible ... and achieve it, generation after generation.
- Pearl S. Buck 

(With thanks to @grapechick for tweeting the Doug Larson quote.)   

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When you feel like giving up ...

When you feel like giving up, 

remember why you held on for so long in the first place. 

(Source unknown.) 

With thanks to @motivationlive for tweeting this.

Here's a link to Chris Guillebeau's excellent blog post 'Ever Feel Like Giving Up?'

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The Power Of Not Giving Up

To every artist, entrepreneur or blogger who has ever struggled; who has ever experienced poverty; who has ever wept with frustration and desperation over their career; who has ever heard the words, 'You're crazy - you can't do it - it's impossible - give up before you go bankrupt - you're an embarrassment - grow up and get a real job' ...

I offer this blog post by the one, the only, the formidable Naomi Dunford.

Have the tissues handy. 

The Power Of Not Giving Up - One Blogger's Story

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Rebranding of Silverlight Jewellery - sneak peek #3

I have been flat out preparing new designs and new photographs for Silverlight Jewellery's big relaunch in - argh - four days' time.
As promised, here's a preview of some of the new designs.

This coming Monday - all going well - the Silverlight Jewellery shops on Felt, Zibbet, and ArtFire will be given their spandy new banners and will be filled with such beauties as are pictured above. 

On the launch day, I will be releasing a special code that will enable those who use it to receive a discount on their Silverlight Jewellery order - from any Silverlight Jewellery webshop. The code will be released on my blog, mailing list, and Twitter account, so follow any (or all!) of those to get it. Then simply be sure to enter it into the 'message to seller' or 'notes to seller' field when you check out of any of the Silverlight Jewellery online shops. A $6.00 discount (in American or New Zealand dollars; whichever currency you paid in) will be refunded to you, whether you have paid via PayPal, credit card, or bank deposit.

Right, back to the jewellery desk. So much to do, so little time ...
And at some point I really should sleep ...

Rebranding of Silverlight Jewellery - sneak peek #1

Next month, Silverlight Jewellery will be undergoing a revamp. New look, new style.
Previous Silverlight Jewellery pieces have been all OOAK - one of a kind; no design repeated. They have also had a rather scattered aesthetic, including vintage and vintage-inspired pieces, steampunk-inspired pieces, bohemian, classical, and whatever else my fevered brain would spout.

The new look is one that I am very excited about. Here's a sneak peek at the new branding.

The sticker design above was created by my graphic artist, DrRiptide. He has designed all of the web banners for the new brand, plus the new business cards, free shipping cards, and stickers for packaging. He's a perfectionist, like me, so he didn't mind me endlessly saying 'Can we change this?' or 'I can't decide ... let's come back to it later'. 

As you can see, the tagline for the new brand is 'soft gothic'. 'Gothic' means, among other things, 'of or pertaining to a literary style characterised by gloom, the grotesque, and the supernatural'. I've also heard it defined as 'characterised by a preoccupation with death'.

I'm going for a softer, less gloomy but still introspective and thoughtful feel. Gothicism without the harshness, grotesqueness, or the preoccupation with death. Don't think spikes or vampires; think black and silver, wings and keys, leather and crystal, black velvet and black satin. The night sky, frosts, creaking old iron gates, black cats, stars, the poetry of Keats and Tennyson, snow, and the moon. With occasional touches of scarlet, crimson, gold, saffron, indigo, and purple, for extra drama. A somewhat bohemian aesthetic, influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites and the New Romantics, the neo-goths and the romantigoths. (Yes, 'romantigoth' is a real word! Isn't it scrummy?)
A bohemian gothic. A romantic gothic. A soft, classy, elegant gothic. 

Designs will run from simple, relatively conservative pieces with just a hint of gothic charisma, so that they are suitable for wearing to work, to bold, unabashedly bohemian showstoppers that are only suitable for rock stars and those blessed people who are so secure in themselves that they can handle the gaping stares.
There will also be a greater emphasis on masculine and unisex jewellery in this brand, with some plain leather wrap bracelets and very un-girly pendants. The font I chose for the branding is intended to reflect this 'gender neutral' feel.

There will be further previews before the big launch in September ... stay tuned.

Lawrence of Arabia

"Nothing is written unless I write it."

- T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence Of Arabia.

Lawrence Of Arabia is a long, fascinating film. The line above sticks with me.
The Bedouins with whom Lawrence travels fatalistically say, "It is written!" whenever they encounter a situation that they feel cannot be helped. 'It is fate; it is beyond our control; it is futile to try to change it.' In one scene, the redoubtable Lawrence retorts,

"Nothing is written unless I write it."

How much could we change if we stopped believing that it couldn't be changed?

Going too far?

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.

- T.S. Eliot.

Perseverance: the new black.

Annie is the jewellery maker of Ferosh Kitty Designs. Recently, she was Zibbet.com's Featured Zibbeter. On reading her interview, a particular sentence caught my eye: "And I’m a believer that perseverance is the new black!"

I love black.
Black is only one colour (in fact technically it's not a colour; it's the absence of light and therefore the absence of colour); it doesn't have shades or tints the way green and blue and other colours do; yet it can be dangerous, formal, mysterious, intimidating, enigmatic, aggressive, clean, precise ... think black cats, ninjas, hit men, top hats, limousines, formal calligraphy, the night sky ...
Black does not compromise. You can't negotiate with it. It is what it is, and if you want a lighter or darker tone then you're just going to have to look elsewhere. Black just is. When all other colours have faded away, all that will be left will be black.
(Literally.)
'Perseverance is the new black'. I like the nod to fashion there. It seems appropriate for artists to talk about perseverance in visual terms. 

Perseverance is a common trait of those who change the world. Research Thomas Edison, Sir Edmund Hillary, Marie Curie, or any other important person, and the chances are high that perseverance was the key to their achievement.

As Calvin Coolidge famously said, 

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”

(If, like me, you love quotes, here is an excellent trove of perseverance quotes. You're welcome. :-D)

Perseverance is the new black.

When all other skills and abilities have faded away, perseverance will still be there.
If you want to achieve something great, perseverance is not just the new black: it's the one and only black.

Whiteleaf Jewellery launch!

I launched my new jewellery brand, Whiteleaf Jewellery, today.
It was very exciting.
(It was for me, anyway.)
I've spent all day listing items on the first two shops, which are on Felt.co.nz and Zibbet.com. The links will take you straight to my Whiteleaf shops.
For the rest of the week I will continue the frenzied listing of new pieces, until the shops have more than two pages of listings each. After that, I will have to list at least one new item per day in each shop. Once Silverlight Jewellery is rebranded and I start listing in those shops, I will be listing 5+ new items per day. That number will increase as I open up one or more shops on Etsy, where the rule is 'list often or get lost - amongst literally thousands of other sellers'.
Phew.
Don't ever let anyone tell you that being an artist is easy, cushy, soft, lazy, or any other insulting adjective.
Tell them to read this post instead.

Chris Guillebeau and the Art Of Non-Conformity

 A few weeks ago I discovered a blog called The Art Of Non-Conformity. It is written by a travel writer and entrepreneur named Chris Guillebeau, and if you are at all interested in living a life that is neither normal, boring, average, ordinary, nor expected, I urge you to read it.

His tone is humble, softly-spoken, and gracious, but Chris is on a mission to change the world, and to help other people change the world and realise their dreams. In his quiet, non-confrontational way, he presents two ideas that are both radical and simple: firstly, that we don't have to live our lives the way other people expect us to; and secondly, that it is possible to follow our dreams, earn money, AND help others, all at the same time.
Most of us have been taught that the latter is too good to be true. And some of us have always known, deep down inside, that that is a lie. Why can't we help others, do what we love to do, and get paid for it? Where in the universe is that written? And who says that we can't rewrite it?

I have subscribed to Chris's twice-weekly E-mails and read two (so far) of his free e-books. A link to his blog, The Art Of Non-Conformity, is on the left of this web page. If you are an artist, I recommend his free e-book A Brief Guide To World Domination. Chris uses the metaphor of taking over the world to express the idea that you can have it all: money, fulfillment, and a good conscience. This isn't some motivational tract or hollow, feel-good spiel. It is intelligent, practical, well thought-out, and every word rings true.

In fact, I don't think it matters whether you're an artist, an entrepreneur, a traveller, or something else entirely. If you want to lead a extraordinary life, Chris Guillebeau has something you should listen to.