Bead on a Wire Blog

I have been busy creating in the past couple of months as I gear up for the annual Tea For All Reasons Open House. Sadly, this is the last TFAR Open House since my parents are moving away from this area sometime next spring. I know that my mother’s loyal customers are deeply disappointed to hear that news as much as I am.

Anyhow, I’ve been busy. Here are a few of the new items that have already sold in my Etsy shop:

The Agate and Jasper Necklace

… and matching earrings

Vintage Rhinestone Shoe Clips

Vintage Thai Princess Ring

Recycled Hand in Time 2 Necklace

There are other items sold, too. More than I remembered!

It’s been a pretty good fall for sales so far, considering the many months that I let things languish at the end of my pregnancy and soon after my daughter was born in late March.

I am a regular vendor at my mother’s annual fall open house now. It’s kind of nice to have regular customers who come back excited to see what new shiny things I have to offer.

I had low expectations for sales this time given the economy. However, I did have a number I was hoping to reach and I mainly wanted to unload some inventory. Both goals were accomplished!

The most exciting sale was for a necklace and earrings I made just a couple of days before the open house. The necklace was not like anything I had made previously, but I got great feedback on it and it did sell. I have terrible flash pictures from my display table that I need to download and will put on the blog soon.

[Added 11/17]: Here are the photos of the Blue China necklace and matching earrings that sold at the open house. Please forgive the quality of the photos.

I’m now considering an online open house - sending out an Evite to my mailing list for folks to shop my Etsy shop for Christmas gifts. I can’t do an actual open house in my home this year, which is a bummer, so maybe that can be a way to remind them that I still have pretty things available for their gift ideas.

A pair of earrings that I really love sold yesterday. What makes me really happy about the sale is that the woman who bought them intends to wear them on her wedding day. Very cool.

In the meantime, I have a special order nearly completed to get to my customer at the open house this weekend. I’m waiting on some supplies to come in to start work on another special order for a friend at church and also the bridal set that I “sold” earlier this week. And I have a repair to complete for another friend to give to her at the open house as well. I plan to make some new bookmarks and tea infusers in time for the open house, too.

Things are nicely busy around the business. It’s fun and I wish I could do this full time. Someday. Someday.

A pair of earrings I listed earlier today is now featured in the Etsy Gift Guides - Wedding section. Very exciting!

I love doing custom orders. I like that they challenge my creativity a bit and that I can meet the specific needs of my customers.

Two custom orders were completed this week:

First is a custom beaded tea infuser as seen in these pictures. The woman who requested it plans to give it as a gift to a friend who loves tea and knitting. So the charm at the end is a ball of yarn with knitting needles in pewter. She asked for beads in reds and gray. I like the final product and so does my customer.

Second is the Red Hat bracelet and earrings in gold for a local woman that I met at the fall open house. I did some custom pieces for her after that open house, too. I love how rich this bracelet looks - my photography doesn’t do it justice.

There’s only one earring completed because the vendor I bought the leverbacks from only sent one. Weird. So I’m waiting for the other earwire to arrive and then I’ll ship these beautiful pieces to my great customer.

After the open house with my mother and her business partner in November, I had several special orders. One was for a bracelet and earrings for this woman who adores my mother (and her style) and requested almost exact duplicates of a bracelet and pair of earrings I had made for my mom. I made them similar without being exactly alike and sent them off.

I didn’t hear anything, but assumed all was good since people are more inclined to get in touch when things aren’t right. I was kind of hoping/expecting to see her at the open house next weekend so that I could get some feedback.

And then I got an email from her this week. She loves the pieces I made for her before and now she wants almost the same thing, but in gold and featuring her Red Hat Society colors of red and purple.  We went back and forth about exactly what she wants and the price for her set. I sent her the invoice for it this morning and have placed the order for the supplies that I need, which is a lot since I don’t work in gold normally (however, I think I will have to make more gold items with the leftover findings).

I’m hoping the supplies arrive early enough next week that I can try to put her pieces together to take to her at the open house on Saturday. I’d love to be able to present her with her finished pieces, but I don’t think it will happen and she doesn’t need them immediately anyway.

February has been a good month for custom orders.

Taking the clip-on earring component from an old pair of earrings that were my grandmother’s, I came up with a lovely new pair of earrings.

I cut the clip from the silver piece and filed the rough edge left to smooth and rounded to avoid injuring the earring wearer. Then I wire-wrapped a freshwater pearl and attached the silver piece to the pearl. Simple French hooks in Sterling silver finish off the new earrings. I love the filigree detail in the flowers. So delicate and pretty. It made sense to add a pearl accent.

The original earrings were from 1950s Japan, where my grandparents (and mother) lived after World War II. My grandfather was a career Army officer. I’ve also got some cool Delft and silver jewelry from 1940-50s Holland (most likely) still to work on.

I’ve been invited to participate in the Uncle Sam’s Niece/Tea For All Reasons spring open house in early March. I’m excited about it since I did so well at their fall open house in November. If my sales are even half of what I did back then, I’ll consider it a huge success.

Knowing that most of the ladies who will be shopping are tea enthusiasts, I am making tea themed items, including the earrings and bracelet that I listed in my Etsy shop. I’ll be working on making more beaded tea infusers, too, since my inventory is low.

I also have a pair of the earrings with white Swarovski pearls that I still need to photograph and list.

If you’re in Northern Virginia and would like information about the open house, please contact me. The dates are March 7-8, (Friday and Saturday) each day from 10am-3pm. Of course, you can always shop online at both shops linked above. Unfortunately, the proprietress of Uncle Sam’s Niece doesn’t have a website yet, but she has lovely things to offer.

I was at church tonight for an event and the coordinator of it came up to me just before it started. We exchanged pleasantries and then she pushed her hair back and with both hands grabbed her earrings to show me.

“Hey, look at these!” she exclaimed.

It took me a second to recognize them and then I was confused because she wasn’t the person who bought them. And then when it clicked for me, she said, “You made these! K gave them to me and I love them.”

K bought several pairs of earrings from me. I wonder who else got my work for Christmas.

These are the earrings…

I managed to list some new things the other day. On Monday we had bright sunshine, so I took the pieces outside to take pictures. For some reason I like how some things look in with the harsher shadows and bright light. I love how the light reflects through certain glass beads or crystals. And the colors are never truer than in the sun, imho.

I especially love this particular picture, which is my new Etsy avatar…

These are my new listings from that photoshoot: