Progress Progress

I TOOK A LEFT AT THE FORK IN THE ROAD

WOW! I can see down this road pretty well!

So, I probably still have thirty-six months to retirement, but the plan is coming together. There is jewelry and polymer clay and there are monthly vendor fairs in Delaware, Ohio.

All the education I have derived from reading on my own, both books and internet is starting to come together. Clarity is cool. My direction is clear and I am completely in agreement with it, although there is that financial side of things that I need to work on next.

My friend came breezing into my house one day and said that she had a venue and "Are you in?". Well of course! How exciting! How very exciting! We'll have one show in November and then, beginning in February 2012, shows will be monthly . We load our inventories into this basement during the First Fridays of each month and invite our customers to visit us and see what we've been doing.

This November, the theme of the show is ART. We sent out a call to artists to get seven additional vendors in order to fill the venue to capacity. The area is only forty feet square, so it's more of a store when we open. We serve iced tea and include a vendor who makes cake. Yum! There is a band of guitars who will serenade our shoppers and the Delaware Arts Castle will be bringing dancers who will perform what they've learned in their classes. As November 4th is less than a month away, guess what I am doing? Making inventory, making inventory and in my spare time, I will be > you guessed it! MAKING INVENTORY! Doing what I love, yes, there's a goal being achieved! (note to self, please temper excitement. thank you.)

The jewelry road has branched a bit. Although I love making beaded jewelry with natural stones and pearls, I've added Czech beads to my repertoire. In addition, since I can't seem to put down the polymer clay very often, I am now producing polymer clay bangles of my own design. I enjoy what I am doing so much that I spend lots of time practicing and practicing and practicing.

So as I look down the road, I see it glistening with faceted jewels, beautiful bangles and gorgeous gemstone jewelry. Income streams make the river.

More later.

Adornables By Lyn: On reflection and leaping

Today, I've reached a new milestone or theory about my business.

It's coming into view.

Just like that water, though, it's a trickle at a time.

The good news about that is that it's the rainy season!

Having a positive spin on each day is very necessary.

So the business as I know it now is only a little jewelry making business on Etsy.com. That is something that has been a constant.

Having a business is a balancing act and it is also a project. There are jobs to be done whenever you have a business. Cleaning the toilet is one of them. Keeping track of inventory is another. Since I am the sole source for my inventory, my hands have to stay busy!

I had to teach myself product photography. I am the photographer.

I'll have to brush up on bookkeeping skills.

And the shipping department is going to need to be refined, to say the very least.

If I have learned one very valuable lesson so far I hope that it is continuity. One must continually make the inventory, photograph the inventory, track the inventory and supplies, post the inventory and ship the inventory. Continually. Re-posting is fine, but new inventory is key. Continuity! That's the key.

So as I reflect on where my business has been and the road it's travelled as it begins, I am ready to leap into the next phase.

More tomorrow.

Do The Walk of Life

I heard this great tune today. It was such a happy tune and quite a way to start a Monday! Do the Walk of Life by the Dire Straits Interpretation helps me with ME. I like to hear a song and commit to the interpretation. I like to tell myself that I know what they're talking about. Bringin' all the nighttime into the day! Do the walk of life, yeah, do the walk of life. Everybody's doin' it, so it must be the thing to do! So have a happy Monday as you do the walk of life!

Polymer Clay: Rules and Regulations For Creating

Maybe I'm my own worst critic. Probably. But last night I learned another lesson.

I was happy. I was creating. I couldn't stop. Finally, there it was! Another master piece, I swear! In my excitement, I popped it into the oven and ran to get things ready for the next day, so I could go to my real job. In the morning, just before I left for work, I grabbed the master piece out of the oven and looked it over. Very disappointing.

Never do this. Never bake anything that you made, until it has set and been observed for a while. Look it over. Smooth it out. Any lumps and bumps become permanent upon baking.

The cool thing about polymer clay is that you can play with it and play with it until you bake it. When you bake it, it's done! It's over! There's nothing left to do but light sanding and maybe a coat of clear polyurethane.

Master pieces require long and steady attention to detail. And no, you cannot create a master piece in a day. So I need my own rules and regulations for creating with polymer clay.

Have a project in mind when sitting down to work with polymer clay. No more playing, have an end result in mind.

Have instructions, even if I wrote them myself.

Never, ever, bake anything until it is ready to be baked.

I'll be posting these on my wall in front of my face and maybe, just maybe I will be able to show this much self-restraint.

Happy Mardi Gras!!! Finally I am prepared.

Never ready. That's me. Until now. I have the Mardi Gras bangle complete and it isn't even close to Mardi Gras! (at least not in my book!) I have five WHOLE days! That's plenty of time.

Oh my. I have worked and worked this winter to learn and make bangles out of polymer clay. I didn't think I was getting anywhere until now. I think this is my SECOND group of bangles! I know, there are a couple that were also in the first group, but that's just the way it is. Maybe I AM getting somewhere after all!

Well in my future is one and possibly another ART show! Stay tuned for details.

Polymer Clay Bangles Lovely Weekend

Well, I am so happy. I've had a wonderfully productive weekend and am ready to go back to the drudge that is my day job. It'll all be okay! Everything is beautiful again.

I managed to make four new bangles and finish the one I made for my sister. Now that's some kind of production!

A normal Sunday morning at my house means watching Sunday Morning and then switching over to ABC for Christian Armandpour, I don't know the name of the show, but I like it. Anyway, when Sunday Morning ends, I go upstairs and clay for a the duration of the show. It's been a very productive weekend, I tell you!

I am not only impressed with myself, I am excited about my future! I can do this!