Ambivalence about Ebay

Since eBay started the 100 free listings per month as long as the item is less than $1, I really find it difficult to find anything to sell through it.  I refer to not just my handcrafts but also the stuff that I want to rid of from around the house.

Last week, I auctioned some overstocked black eye beads for 99 cents.  The responses were amazing with a total of 6 bidders.  Final price became $3.32 plus shipping.  I can't quite understand what it is that propels the same bidders to engage in the competition to win.  I once tried to bid on a double pack of clear stamps starting at $0.99 and then determined not to be outbid.  I ended up paying about 3 bucks as the highest bidder.  Though $3 is really a drop in the bucket, the craziness that made me rapidly increase my bids during the last 3 minutes of auction was unexplainable...

I just listed a needle felted kitty at a sale price on eBay for a 3-day auction and temporarily took it off from Etsy to take advantage of the free listing regardless of starting price till June 1.  I'll busy myself to find all the "unwanted" stuff to sell on eBay between now and next Tuesday, as a clean house effort. :-)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and My Witch Doll

After spending quite some time in trying to figure out how to make my Etsy listings more searchable by search engines, I changed my Etsy shop title and announcement according to some tips posted on the Internet.  At first, it seemed to be working quite well.  One of my needle felted items showed up among the top 10 results.  The next day, I did the same search for that same item, voila, it was nowhere to be found in the first 3 results pages.  Oh well, doesn't really matter and I declare to give up. :-)

2-FACED WITCH DOLL

Throughout the years, I've been buying craft materials on impulse and never got around to using them.  Lately when I took inventory, I found several porcelain-like lady faces that people usually use for making brooches.  I decided to make a witch doll out of it using the wool curls I got last week and the suede leather I got almost 7 years ago!  Here is my white as a ghost witch listed on Etsy::

I sculpted the other face from polymer clay.  Man, she looks so ugly, scary and dirty (not intentional to make it a dirty witch though :-))

In any case, it feels good to begin to deplete my stock of craft materials. 

Wrapping Up the 1st Week of Blogging

I had some fun bloggin' this week, having received such warm welcome and encouraging comments in blogland.  Since I had read so many other blog posts, when I wanted to go back and look at again that nice piece of miniature cake, or the roombox, or the felting wool of candy colors that was delivered to that lucky person, I couldn't!  My memory has failed me. :-(

My sister finally emailed me a photo of her first felted dog, a beagle, which is absolutely adorable. 

I gathered some internet videos or tutorials for my sis to refer to before she started felting this beagle.  Since these tutorials may also be useful to other beginners, I've posted them on a separate page.  Some videos are in Japanese language.  Don't worry, I don't know Japanese myself, though I really wish I could.  The Japanese videos are quite self-explanatory, and interesting, I must add.

I've got several new craft items to sell, will probably list them on Etsy after seeing the movie Iron Man 2.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Pet Shop Facade and Embossing Set

I just completed a pet shop facade using the clay embossing set bought from Michaels last Sunday.  I'm planning to use this store front as a prop/background when I photograph my felted dogs or dog accessories for sale on Etsy.

I had so much fun using the brick and stone texture sheets from the set!  I'm indeed quite pleased with the result even though the size of the alphabets is a bit too large for most of my craft projects.  The clay cutters will come in handy too for magnets.  Well, I consider that $24 on the set a pretty good investment.


ETSY STORE FACE-LIFT AND REORG


I've got some well-intended advice to install a banner in my Etsy store as it will reflect on how serious I'm as an Etsy artisan.  Quite true!  As I was told, the quick and easy way is to buy a premade Etsy banner from other Etsy sellers for a few dollars.   However, the DIY nature in me told me to go for something probably less professional looking but has more uniqueness as it is self-made.  Using the most basic feature in Photoshop, I made my own banner!  I even spent time to resort my very few items on Etsy under different categories.


I'm thinking of felting a Jack Russel Terrier pup but then realize I won't have enough core wool after sending some to my sister in Canada for her first felted beagle.  It's ime to reorder some more white corriedale wool.

Welcome to my first blog post!

I had never thought or planned to write a blog before until last week. It all happened when I began to follow Julia's blog at BearCabinMiniatures http://bearcabinminiatures.blogspot.com/. She is my second customer on Etsy!

It was quite intriguing to read through Julia's posts and linkouts. With her encouragement, I decided to become a blogger though I know deep down I'm not loquacious. ;-)

Well, here I'm to give myself a challenge blogging away. My blog posts will focus on the aspect of my life as a crafter and dreamer who sometimes get lost in the fantasy land of creativity. I'm a hobbyist and want to think of myself as an artist so that I can ignore dirty dishes when I'm in the middle of completing a craft project.

My best regards to Julia who helped in a big way to make this blog happen. xx

 IS IT THE SAME GERRY?

Yesterday afternoon, while listing a few new craft items in my Etsy store, I got a convo from Gerry.  OMG, is it the same Gerry who answers needle felting questions in her weblog?  I've been a fan of her beautifully felted animals. After cross checking, I could confirm she is the guru whose work I have been secretly admiring.  I felt overjoyed when I found that she likes my dollhouse fish pond shown below.

I bought more granitex clay a week ago even though I don't know yet what I am going to make from it.  If I can figure out how to create the water effect in a fountain, I really would like to sculpt one.

Meanwhile, I will make a few more raw hide bones from polymer clay for my felted dogs that are yet to be born. :-)