Where do I begin? I opened my store, fauxshowart.com in January 2018. No traffic, nothing. To be fair, I didn't really do much with it until the past couple of months with regard to SEO and asking Google to crawl my website. I didn't have my SEO set up properly and honestly, I still don't think that I do. The directions provided by Weebly are obtuse which surprises me since they are a web building company and I feel the instructions should be ironclad and precise. Maybe I'm just thick. The places where they tell you to enter your SEO, are not the same sections (they don't have the same names in the page builder), so it's really puzzling and highly frustrating.
Google and other search engines like Bing now require you enter a verification tag so that they know you are the owner of a URL. This makes sense to me as you do not want someone to make requests for a site that is not theirs.
In order to be put into Google Analytics and or Search Console, you are given a clump of data that must be pasted into the head of each page of your site. This allows for tracking and analytical information gathering. Easy, right? Wrong. Here is why. I had an Etsy Pattern site for about 14 months. For the site, I paid for my own URL. fauxshowart.com Well, when I closed Pattern and opened a Weebly site, I had to get a 'key' from Etsy that I carried to Weebly so that I could retain my store's URL, which I renewed for a year. Great, right? Maybe not. I asked that Google Search 'crawl' my site to catalog it only to find 11 broken links. They were links to items that were no longer available, in other words, sold, on my Etsy site. What Google Search did was crawl my old Etsy Pattern website, which is no longer active. How is that even possible?
What's worse, the name in Google Analytics is Faux Show Art - Etsy. ??? I'm completely confused and really quite upset about the entire thing. It can take Google a long time to crawl your site.
I'm going to have to dive into this again and probably even call Weebly support to help me muddle through all of it.
It's this type of thing that keeps people bound to entities like Etsy and it's unfortunate. Etsy is as expensive as Ebay, they are no longer about cottage makers and artists. They allow mass-produced items to be sold on their platform and I want nothing more than to be free from that.
Later
Monday, September 10, 2018
Saturday, September 8, 2018
Testing Plastic
I'm a hoarder. A hoarder of shrink plastic. I come across a batch of good plastic, I buy all that I can of it. A mother lode is worth every penny, so save them up for when you come across it. What exactly is good shrink plastic? Good shrink plastic has many connotations; good color reproduction, nice surface, nice edges, good stiffness, good thickness, relatively even shrink (lays back down flat, shrinks evenly top to bottom and side to side. In today's plastic, these qualities are a rarity and are not come by often.
Because I have been making shrink plastic jewelry for so long, I have a ton of the older vintage stuff. Cases of it in fact, and no, I'm not interested in selling it. I have had people ask and because I use it, I sadly have to say no to them. However, that does not mean that you don't sometimes come across plastic that is really good. It's out there, but only by chance.
Most plastic made today is labeled with a lot# for easy identification. It didn't used to be that way though. It was always a crap-shoot and the best you could do is buy bulk from the same supplier at the same time in order to get all of a good batch.
I seek perfection because I make jewelry, which unfortunately requires a certain level of quality. If I buy plastic that stretches badly and distorts the finished item, I have to return what is left for a refund and try my luck elsewhere. I have been doing this a lot the past 4-5 years as the quality and number of suppliers have dwindled. Unfortunate.
So what do I do when I order a pack or two from online? I run a test of course! I have a pre-set template in my cutter software (multiple squares and/or circles of different sizes). I print this onto one sheet of the plastic, cut them out with my cutter, and bake them looking for any big issues. If there are, I return what is left. That is all. Now that is not to say it can't be a little off. You can still use plastic that is a little off, generally without any problems. Or, you can decide to design items that do not have to be perfectly symmetrical. This also works well and also fuels creativity in thinking outside of the box.
Yes, most packages are 5-6 sheets, some only have 3 sheets. Sometimes you can buy bulk in 50-100 sheets. It is still worth the effort, at least it is to me. I get quite a few pieces of jewelry from the remaining 5 sheets and this makes it worth it. Below are pictures of what I do. I keep it until I get the next package or when the packages of the same lot run out. The images are from a couple of different batches from the past. You can see the squares are tilted, but in the other the circles are perfect. You just never know until you test it.
My family thinks I'm nuts, but that is how Ms. Faux Show Art rolls. Hope this gives you some direction in where you want to go.
Happy shrinking!
Because I have been making shrink plastic jewelry for so long, I have a ton of the older vintage stuff. Cases of it in fact, and no, I'm not interested in selling it. I have had people ask and because I use it, I sadly have to say no to them. However, that does not mean that you don't sometimes come across plastic that is really good. It's out there, but only by chance.
Most plastic made today is labeled with a lot# for easy identification. It didn't used to be that way though. It was always a crap-shoot and the best you could do is buy bulk from the same supplier at the same time in order to get all of a good batch.
I seek perfection because I make jewelry, which unfortunately requires a certain level of quality. If I buy plastic that stretches badly and distorts the finished item, I have to return what is left for a refund and try my luck elsewhere. I have been doing this a lot the past 4-5 years as the quality and number of suppliers have dwindled. Unfortunate.
So what do I do when I order a pack or two from online? I run a test of course! I have a pre-set template in my cutter software (multiple squares and/or circles of different sizes). I print this onto one sheet of the plastic, cut them out with my cutter, and bake them looking for any big issues. If there are, I return what is left. That is all. Now that is not to say it can't be a little off. You can still use plastic that is a little off, generally without any problems. Or, you can decide to design items that do not have to be perfectly symmetrical. This also works well and also fuels creativity in thinking outside of the box.
Yes, most packages are 5-6 sheets, some only have 3 sheets. Sometimes you can buy bulk in 50-100 sheets. It is still worth the effort, at least it is to me. I get quite a few pieces of jewelry from the remaining 5 sheets and this makes it worth it. Below are pictures of what I do. I keep it until I get the next package or when the packages of the same lot run out. The images are from a couple of different batches from the past. You can see the squares are tilted, but in the other the circles are perfect. You just never know until you test it.
My family thinks I'm nuts, but that is how Ms. Faux Show Art rolls. Hope this gives you some direction in where you want to go.
Happy shrinking!
Thursday, September 6, 2018
In the Salt Mines
Yes. I've been busy. Even in this terrible, unforgiving heat. This summer has been awful. Up and down swings from highs of 90+ to highs of 78 and overnight lows in the 80s and 70s which is pretty unheard of in Michigan. I don't like it, not one bit. Oh, I realize the snow will be here soon, but if this overly hot summer is any indicator, it may not get cold until December.
I refuse to let the heat stop me though. I've continued designing and making new items that I love. I recently got into making 'halves' bracelets. Or halved-cuffs if you will. I put the seam straight down the middle and I like it! It opens the door to all new types of looks and plays on the idea of opposites or sides. On top of that, they fit every size wrist and forearm for super easy wearability!
Also, this allows you to make some mighty large pieces. If you are a shrink plastic jewelry designer, you know that the plastic does not shrink to 40% its original size, as some brands advertise, it's more like 20%, which means a ton of shrinkage. You can have a piece that measures 5"x 5", and it ends up 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" or a little smaller. Okay, so maybe not 20%, but you get the idea. This can make for a very small bracelet. While I do like petite and delicate, I like bracelets you can SEE and FEEL even more. :)
I have also been getting into more bold and graphic imagery. It just feels so right to me at the moment. I have worn several of my pieces and get compliments regularly, a definite good sign!
My love of shrink plastic will never end. I always have so many ideas and so little time to play and execute them due to the constraints of a full-time job and a house that must be maintained. I have some of my latest shown below.
After this huge storm of bracelets, I have just two days ago changed gears and gotten into earrings and necklaces to mix it up. These look fabulous on! Only the beginning in this direction, more beauties to come soon!
While I'd love to list these on Etsy, where I have been actively selling for almost 4 years, my wish is to list them on my Weebly site, but I'm having issues with that and I'm not sure Google is cataloging any of it so that when people search, they find me. Who knows? Also, I think the user Weebly user's instruction manual that is provided is weak and at times quite obtuse leaving a new online store owner shrugging her shoulders when it comes to REALLY understanding SEO. I sometimes wonder if I made a mistake by going to Weebly and not Shopify. I think the website choices at Shopify far outnumber those offered by Weebly, but Weebly layouts and store set-up were rated the easiest by many so that is what I did. We'll see!
I refuse to let the heat stop me though. I've continued designing and making new items that I love. I recently got into making 'halves' bracelets. Or halved-cuffs if you will. I put the seam straight down the middle and I like it! It opens the door to all new types of looks and plays on the idea of opposites or sides. On top of that, they fit every size wrist and forearm for super easy wearability!
Also, this allows you to make some mighty large pieces. If you are a shrink plastic jewelry designer, you know that the plastic does not shrink to 40% its original size, as some brands advertise, it's more like 20%, which means a ton of shrinkage. You can have a piece that measures 5"x 5", and it ends up 1 3/4" x 1 3/4" or a little smaller. Okay, so maybe not 20%, but you get the idea. This can make for a very small bracelet. While I do like petite and delicate, I like bracelets you can SEE and FEEL even more. :)
I have also been getting into more bold and graphic imagery. It just feels so right to me at the moment. I have worn several of my pieces and get compliments regularly, a definite good sign!
My love of shrink plastic will never end. I always have so many ideas and so little time to play and execute them due to the constraints of a full-time job and a house that must be maintained. I have some of my latest shown below.
After this huge storm of bracelets, I have just two days ago changed gears and gotten into earrings and necklaces to mix it up. These look fabulous on! Only the beginning in this direction, more beauties to come soon!
While I'd love to list these on Etsy, where I have been actively selling for almost 4 years, my wish is to list them on my Weebly site, but I'm having issues with that and I'm not sure Google is cataloging any of it so that when people search, they find me. Who knows? Also, I think the user Weebly user's instruction manual that is provided is weak and at times quite obtuse leaving a new online store owner shrugging her shoulders when it comes to REALLY understanding SEO. I sometimes wonder if I made a mistake by going to Weebly and not Shopify. I think the website choices at Shopify far outnumber those offered by Weebly, but Weebly layouts and store set-up were rated the easiest by many so that is what I did. We'll see!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)