Seven Days, Seven Jobs

For me, one of the hardest things about running a creative business is finding the most productive way to manage my time.  I have a lot going on.  And there are only seven days in a week. 

I am realizing that lately I have let myself get confused about the difference between being productive and bringing in an income.  It's easy to look at these two things as one and the same, but in reality, when you're running a creative business, being productive may not necessarily mean bringing in immediate revenue.  A lot of the time, it actually means setting yourself up to bring in future revenue while you work diligently with no immediate payoff. 

Ideally, if I could spend my whole week making jewelry with occasional teaching thrown in, I would be a happy girl.  But right now, I have 7 jobs.  Yes, SEVEN.

1. Making my own artwork/portfolio/gallery pieces. 
2. CopperTide (production jewelry work)
3. CopperDog Studio (etched copper dog tags, ornaments, etc. with 10% of proceeds going to animal rescue groups.)
(And let's not forget the marketing of all of the above, but we'll just include that as part of each of those jobs.)
4. Teaching (regular weekly classes at Sawtooth School for Visual Art and occasional weekend workshops traveling elsewhere.)
5. NC Black Co. (tool fabrication and design, and sometimes I teach with them as well)
6. Apprenticeship/Assistant to Betty Helen Longhi
7. Helping unpack/organize art, ship orders, refurbish machines for Art-o-Mat

While the last four provide more predictable and immediate income, it's the first four that are the most important to me and make the me the happiest.  Not that I don't enjoy the others or appreciate the opportunities afforded from each one.  It's just too much.  On top of the new-old-house that we bought a couple of months ago, with all of its new-old-house issues that must be dealt with, mostly by me, plus home chores, cooking, etc.  I don't get a lot of studio time to work on those first three.  So I know I need to adjust and not overextend myself into these other jobs that aren't focusing on my work.  But can I afford to lose the immediate income?  Will it pay off in the end if I can focus my energies properly on my work and marketing it well?  I'd like to think so.  But right now, I have bills that don't really want to wait for future payoff. 

So what to do? 

Well, leave it to Megan Auman at 'Designing an MBA' to have the perfect post!  "Making Multiple Revenue Streams Work for Your Business."  She's a clever girl, that one. Her first piece of advice in this post is to think of yourself as one business with multiple components.  Even though you may have very different facets of your work, if you think of them all as one package, or your one brand, it becomes easier to work with the natural ebb and flow of the business(es) and focus on the aspect of the business that needs the most attention at the time rather than trying to fit it all in and do everything at once.  Seriously, go read her post if you can relate to anything I'm talking about here today.  It's amazing how much you can change just by changing the way you look at things.

So I'm going to try to consolidate the way I am thinking about my jobs to :

1. My work
2. Teaching
3. Working for other people

And maybe if it's a little easier to wrap my brain around it like this, it will be easier for me to make time to do what I need to do. 

Now... off to the studio!  (And I've got a pretty sweet new space!)

Disjointed Perspective

Apologies for the disjoint in my postings, friends and loyal followers!  2012 was a bit of a disjointed year altogether.  I actually can't believe it's over because it kind of seemed like we skipped from March to December in about three weeks.  There was a lot of work, some play, but mostly the packing/moving/unpacking/settling insanity that made things disjointed in my mind. 

I haven't posted anything to this blog since about a week after we moved back to Winston-Salem in August.  It's not that I haven't thought about it, but it's been a whilrlwind of stuff going on, and I couldn't make myself sit down long enough to actually do it.  I feel like I have had A.D.D. recently.  My mind hopping from one thing to the next, and it's kind of hard to concentrate and get the things done that need to get done.  Here is an example of a week's to-do list. 

Don't know if you can actually read my handwriting, but I divide it into categories based on my specific jobs: Home, CopperTide, CopperDog Studio, Teaching, NC Black, and my own work for upcoming shows, etc.  I try to prioritize within each category, and then check stuff off as I get it done.  But I think I'm going to have to go back to a schedule like the one I had in Richmond, too, where I have certain allotments of time each day for certain things.

Anyway, I'll be honest, I think maybe that one reason I have felt so weird the past few months is that I didn't really want to move to Winston.  Not yet anyway.  Don't get me wrong, I love being back closer to family and friends, and I have enjoyed every moment I've spent with them.  But in Richmond, I was getting things done, I was making things happen in a way that, for whatever reason, I didn't when I lived here in Winston before. 

I had moved to Winston-Salem after college.  My parents live about 20 minutes south of the city, so I had grown up nearby.  I never meant to move back so close.  But when I graduated from college, I had no job lined up and no money (and was seriously just starting to think that maybe a degree in Art was a touch on the crazy side.)  So I moved back in with my parents for six months.  Which I never meant to do.  I love my parents, and we are the best of friends now, but after you've been on your own for almost five years, it's a little tough to go back to living under their roof.  I got a part time job at a gallery in Winston.  Then I added another part time job at Jon Kuhn's glass studio.  All of this hoping that I would still have time to work on my own artwork.  Which I didn't do.  I was a little depressed.  Quarter Life Crisis and the whatnot.  After a few months of that, I cut back to weekends at the gallery and went on full-time at the studio, and soon earned enough to rent a small apartment in the city.  I lived there for four years and set up a tiny studio space on one side of my living room.  Then moved across the hall into a slightly larger apartment, where I finally had a whole room devoted to my studio!  Yay!  Progress!  But still, I wasn't getting that much done.  I felt kind of trapped and stagnant in my career.  It wasn't until the economy went sour, the glass studio was shut down, and I lost my job that I really started to formulate a business plan.  But I was also planning my wedding, commisserating with my fellow glass artisans, and trying to figure out what the hell I was going to do to make some cash.  Easy distractions from getting actual work done.  We got married, which was fabulous, and Mark moved in, which was glorious, but then we had two people and two people's (packrats') stuff in a tiny apartment meant for one.  So yes, all of these things are excuses. 

It wasn't until we moved to Richmond, and I was on my own during the day without distractions of the familiar life I knew in Winston, that I really started making things happen for my business.  I was really proud of myself and everything I had worked so hard to get rolling over the year and a half we had been in Richmond, and I wasn't ready to leave.  I know it wasn't Richmond itself, but it was being away from everything comfortable and forcing myself into these new challenges.  I was afraid that moving back to Winston-Salem and that comfort zone would be a step backwards for me career-wise.  That I would be easily distracted by friends and family, and that I wouldn't be able to carry on quite like I was.  I just wasn't ready to leave this place where I was making things really happen for the first time in my life.  And I was kind of right.  I have been distracted.  But it's my fault for letting myself get distracted.  For getting away from that daily schedule I had for myself.  I felt myself fighting off a certain kind of depression... maybe more like complacency... and that was distracting.

When the Christmas season rolled around this year, I kind of threw myself into it.  I made production work for holiday shows and filled orders for dog tags and ornaments.  And baked my little heart out.

I think I needed that break from thinking about things too seriously and getting all worked up in my brain about getting (and not getting) things done.  Now that the new year is here, I have plans to get back to it, balls to the wall.  I start teaching at Sawtooth School for Visual Art on the 15th.  (Winter class/workshop schedule coming soon!)  I start an apprenticeship with an amazing metalsmith on the 16th.  Details on that forthcoming as well.  I have a show at Quirk Gallery in Richmond in April, and a whole lot of work to make for that. 

Things have a way of happening, whether you're ready for them or not.  And things have a way of working themselves out.  It's all a matter of perspective.

Soooo.... back on my game.  Ready?? Go!!!

The Reasons Behind My Recent MIA Status

First of all, let me start out with apologies to my followers who have been waiting with baited breath for my next post since May.  Hopefully you have not given up on me completely.  Colossal slacking on my part when it came to sitting down at the ol' computer to write a few words.  Not only has my blogging suffered, but I have also fallen way behind on my research and marketing, and pretty much anything that didn't involve a quick check of email and facebook (shameless plug, but please visit and "like" me!). 

It's been a pretty intense summer.  Where did it go, by the way?  Here it is August 5, and it seems like it should still be June.  Here are some highlights of what I've been up to since my last post:

May
- My delightful parents came to visit, and we had a great time showing them all the lovely things Richmond has to offer - including this mural by Jeff Soto painted at the RVA Street Art Festival.

- Taught a workshop at Sawtooth School for Visual Art, Using the Hydraulic Press in the Jewelry Studio.  That was really fun, and I had a great group of students.  Sadly, I have no photos from that one, as we were crazy busy up till the very end.  (If that sounds interesting, I'll be teaching a Part 2 of that workshop this October 20-21.  Stay tuned!)

June
- Mark and I traveled to Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of NC for the Ocrafolk Festival.  It was a small two-day festival all about art, music, and story-telling.  Both CopperTide and CopperDog Studio were represented.  We had a great time, and will do that one again next year.  (Maaaaaaaajor improvement over the disasterous Watermelon Festival of last year.)

My booth

- Took an amazing Glass Fusing workshop at VisArts with Jude Shlotzhauer.  I learned so much, and I can't wait to make more pieces (albeit smaller pieces) in my own kiln!

This is a close-up of a fused/slumped bowl I made, about 10" diameter.

No, it's not spinning, that pattern is created with a technique called a "pot melt."

Detail of a fused/slumped glass tray I made, about 11"x7".

- Taught an evening Enameling class at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond.  Also a great class!

- Had more visits from fabulous friends and family.

 3 Generations of Annelles!

- Traveled to Winston-Salem, NC to look for a new residence... more on that later.

July
- Celebrated the Fourth with our marvelous neighbors and some fireworks, RVA style.  (I also became slightly obsessed with taking Instagram photos.)

- Taught a Micro Raising workshop at VisArts.  Another great time - I hope to see some of those students again for Micro Forming in Floyd, VA in November!

- Started work on a new neckpiece from the "Sea Pods" series.  (Haven't been able to finish just yet.)

- Thennnnnnn, we packed up our house, studio, and pets, and moved it all to Winston-Salem, NC!  Amazing how much stuff you have to fit into boxes when you're moving both your home and your business(es)!

Gabardine was very helpful in the packing process.

Winston-Salem is our hometown, and while we loved Richmond, this is just the place to be right now.  We have family and friends and lots of new opportunities, so here we are!  We finally got everything done with the wretched moving process (with a lot of help from awesome friends and family) and became Winstoners once again as of last Monday.  Last week consisted of mostly arranging and unpacking, along with a few much-needed naps, and I plan to get back to work full-time again this week.  So stay tuned - new adventures to come!

My new studio space!  Woot woot!

Blogging Slacker!

My, my, my... what the little blogging slacker I have been!  Here it is, the end of October, and I have not posted all month!  I may have had a few other things going on, though.....  here's a brief (ok, mabe not so brief) summary of my 4 jobs + life:

My main business focus has been CopperDog Studio.  I've been using what I've learned so far in my Marketing course to apply it to getting this business started right.  Unfortunately, I am only 5 lessons deep in a 12 lesson course, but I'm learning.....  I got the website up and running.  For those of you who have been following, we decided to go with Big Cartel as our host, and we have already made more sales than I've ever made from my CopperTide site through Other People's Pixels.  (I think I will switch that one over when review time comes up in a few months.)  So, that's going.  We made samples of each style of tag we offer, and came up with a clever display... on a dog collar!

We sent a similar display with order forms, etc. to Brother Wolf Animal Rescue in Asheville, NC.  My friend Nicole works there, and is advocating for us.  We hope to have a good relationship set up with them soon, with 10% of the proceeds from sales made through BWAR donated back to them.  We also hope to set up similar sitiuations with other rescue groups.  This display set is going with us to the dog park this weekend to try our hand at person to person sales.  A little marketing tip on placement there.  The people are there, thinking about their dogs, so just place this right in front of them and start a conversation.

So there's all that for CopperDog, plus filling orders, etc.

CopperTide has fallen a little behind while getting CopperDog up and running, but I've made a few items, and I'm applying for holiday shows.  Check.

Job #3 is with NC Black Co.  I have been down to NC a couple times in the last month or so to work with them.  The first trip was supposed to be just a quick one to take photos of their new hammers for their website and for a catalog.

Well, that turned into a weekend trip with my teaching partner, Chuck, to Gatlinburg, TN to deliver tools to the store at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts.  And we got to see some of the glory that is Gatlinburg.  Wow.  That place would make me want to vomit if it wasn't for Arrowmont.  But since this amazing craft school is there, it just makes the rest of the insanely weird tourist trap tolerable, and even hilarious.  It was a great time.  I love my job. 

So anyway, I took some photos when we got back to NC.  Edited them, and sent a CD of images to Grobet for their catalog.  Congrats to NC Black on the Grobet parnetship, by the way!  It's so inspiring to see a small company of talented people finding success!  I'm so fortunate to work with them and call them my friends!  I took another trip down to see them mid-month to take more photos for ther new website - this time, photos of the people behind NC Black.

And we spent some time working on plans and samples for a new workshop offered by NC Black, Etched Anticlastic Neckpieces.

Which brings me to Job #4 : Teaching.  Last weekend I taught an enameling workshop at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond.  That was a great time with great students.  The workshop will get its own post tomorrow.  But I just wanted to mention it as another thing I have going on these days.  This was the first time I had taught this particular workshop, so planning was involved.  And that includes writing a handout and making samples, among other thing.  But I really enjoyed it, and look forward to teaching more at VisArts.  In fact, I have an evening class in Galvanic Etching and Champleve Enameling coming up, starting November 15, so I guess I better get on the preparations for that!  Plus, I've been writing class proposals and sending them in for Winter/Spring classes at VisArts and Sawtooth School for Visual Art.  Whew!

Sometimes it's hard to get my mind all organized around everything.  Especially when you throw in life stuff.  Mark and the pets and I have a lot of fun (somewhere in there), but there's still shopping, chores, and cooking to be done.  And there's that looming portfolio situation, and a big decision to be made with that.  But I won't get into that right now.  So hopefully it's understandable why I've been such a blogging slacker lately.  I do plan to get back on that.  And start one for just CopperDog Studio.  So I'm off to check things off my lists, add more things to them, and make Halloween cookies.  Nope, I'm not sorry.  There's always time for Halloween.   Cheers!

Websites and the Whatnot

Last week I introduced our new business, CopperDog Studio, to my blog readers and to the world of facebook.  I also put some tags up for sale on etsy.  We have sold two tags on etsy... to a friend, but still, our first sales, so yay!

This week I have been focused on building a proper website.  A friend suggested Big Cartel as a good host for artists as a selling platform, so I tried it out.  They have several levels of involvement: the "gold" level is free, is somewhat customizable, but only lets you have 5 products.  I went with the next level, the "platinum" level, which is $9.99/month and lets you have up to 25 products, "full" customization, and several other better features.  However, the "full" customization is really only for people who know HTML and CSS coding language.  I do not.  In fact, I'll be honest, I had never even heard of CSS until this week.  Now you might think I'm a web dummy.  Yep, I'll admit it.  I took a computer art class in college, and that was only 10 years ago, but CSS was not very widely used if it was even around at all back then, and we just barely touched on HTML after we played with Photoshop and Illustrator for most of the semester.  (I do love me some Photoshop!)  Well, after doing some research, I was able to learn enough to be able to embed a mailing list sign up form directly onto a page of my website, and I considered this a major breakthrough.  However, I have yet to figure out how to do it on facebook.  But speaking of facebook, Big Cartel has a facebook app that allows you to link directly to your store from your facebook fan page.  Major points for BC there.  I'll get to the points thing here in a minute.  I was really frustrated with all this CSS business, knowing that every time I wanted to change something beyond the super basic stuff, I would have to mess with that again.

So I was considering other options.  I use Other People's Pixels to host my CopperTide website, so I'm familiar with their control panel, and it's really user-friendly.  OPP is great as portfolio display site, but not so great with the sales.  They also offer lots of customization options that you don't have to know coding language for.  So I thought I would build a website there, too, and see which one I like better.  They also offer a 14 day free trial (after which, if I decided to keep it, it would cost $16/month or $160/year).  A little more expensive, but I didn't have anything to lose by setting up a trial.  On my end, OPP is much easier to use, but there are also some things I don't like about their set-up.

So I made a list comparing the two:

Big Cartel

www.copperdogstudio.com

- home page = product views

- when you open a product view, there can be up to 3 images for the same product which you scroll through

- product description is displayed in a narrow column that makes it seem incredibly long and tedious - even though it's all important info

- clear about "add to cart" on each product

- you can add as many items to your cart as you like

- allows me to add shipping costs for one piece and then for additional pieces

- weird format for links -they're all tiny over on the right side

- i was able to embed an email list sign up form, but you have to follow a tiny link on the right side to get there

 

Other People's Pixels

http://awilli16.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html   <----- this would change to the above address if I chose to go with this host (this is a free trial)

- no product views on home page, just 1 image of my choice

- when you open a product view (from the nav bar) you only get one image per product

- product description is still a narrow column, but not as narrow; uses a scroll bar on the screen rather than scrolls the whole screen down, so you see the image the whole time

- not so clear on how to "add to cart" (by clicking on the different color price link)

- you can only buy one item at a time

- does not allow me to add  shipping costs, I would have to send the customer a revised paypal invoice

- good nav bar at top of page, clear on what is where

- i was not able to embed an email sign up form, but i was able to add links to do so on both the home page and the contact page

As I had spent hours and hours immersed in website business, I felt like I had lost a little bit of my objectivity, so I asked a few friends with some marketing savvy their opinions from both a marketing standpoint and a customer's viewpoint. All but one said they preferred the Big Cartel site.  Pretty much, I knew BC was the way to go after reviewing my list, but it's always nice to have some feedback.  If this was just a place to display the work, I would probably stick with OPP, but as this is a business and the focus is driving sales, we're going with Big Cartel.  One of my friends even said that from a customer standpoint, everything was clear on the BC site, but he would probably get frustrated and leave the OPP site and buy his tag elsewhere.  Not what you want.  That was just the kind of feedback I needed - thanks, Paul. 

So I have a lot to learn about CSS code, but I would rather have to work more on my end than lose sales because the site is not user-friendly to buyers.  It might not look quite as pretty right now, but the more I can learn about CSS, the more I'll be able to customize it and make it awesome!

I would love to hear your opinion, too!  Check out both sites -

Big Cartel : www.copperdogstudio.com
Other People's Pixels : http://awilli16.otherpeoplespixels.com/home.html

Let me know what you like and what you don't - the more you comment, the more information is out there and can help other people trying to figure out what to do with their websites.
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I found another article comparing Big Cartel with Etsy and Storenvy.  I've never used Storenvy, but it might be worth checking out, too - since it's free!

Who do you use to host your site?  Is your focus on sales or display?  Are you happy with your website?

Check back soon for more updates!  Thanks for reading!

CopperDog Studio

Mark and I have been super busy trying to get everything ready to launch our new business, CopperDog Studio!

The idea for CopperDog came about when we finally realized we couldn't keep ALL the stray buddies we came across, but we still wanted to do something to help out local rescue organizations. As you know, we do have an adopted kitty, Gabardine, and our adopted pup, Buster.   We came across another stray dog a little while ago, and unfortunately we couldn't keep him.  But we met so many kind and helpful people and organizations in the search for a home for Fat Boi (not our name for him), that we were more inspired than ever to get this business going.

We make handmade etched copper dog tags and pet portraits. All of our products are custom made.  10% of proceeds are donated to local rescue organizations in the hopes that we can help more sweet pets find good loving homes!

We're really excited about this, and we're in the initial stages of launching the business.  I'm going to try to do this right, and I may be already jumping the gun.  (I probably am.)  We have business cards and postcards on the way from vistaprint.  Above is the postcard.  I posted our first products, handmade etched copper dog tags on our etsy page yesterday evening, and posted a few pics on the new facebook page!  Please click and "like" us!

I'm still working on my "Marketing for Makers" home study course, and I have already learned a lot.  I know I have a lot more to learn, and I will share things as I go.  But I was excited, and I had to go ahead and share CopperDog Studio with you!

More to come as we get rolling!  Stay tuned!

Good News for People Who Love Bad News

That was a modest mouse reference.... it's not really ALL bad news....

I mentioned a while back that I had applied for grad school at VCU.  Well, a few weeks ago, I got an email from the head of the metals department saying that they were impressed with my portfolio, but there was a very large, very competitive group of applicants this year, and currently I was at the top of the waiting list.  There were two positions open, and I was number three in line.  What a bitch.  So they were waiting to hear back from the one candidate ahead of me, and if they decided not to accept, I would be offered the position.  So I waited.  And waited.  And I saw the professor at a gallery opening, and she said she should know in a few days.  So I waited some more.  Finally, another week later, I emailed her, and she wrote back that she was sorry not to have emailed me at the beginning of the week, but they did not have a position for me this year.  Suck.  So I was pretty bummed.  But Mark helped cheer me up.  He's good at that.  It's funny how you feel good about something when you submit the application, and then as time passes, you feel worse and worse about it, and your confidence dwindles.  Then you hear that hey! they did like it!  there's a chance!!!  And you feel pretty good again.  Then you wait and wait and wait and your conifidence dwindles once again.  So by the time I finally got an answer, I guess it's kind of what I was expecting.  But I won't lie, it still sucked.

Guess you have to have some disappointments along the way.  We also found out that a house we had seen (awesome!) and were thinking about making an offer on got snatched up from under us.  Boooo.  Not a very good few days. 

But I feel a lot better today and can focus again on getting going.  Keep on keepin' on, as it were.

So I've been busy with various tasks here lately.  I had been putting off getting all my official business done, you know, the part where you have to get tax ID's and register your business and licenses, etc.  So I finally got around to that.  It seems like there is no clear answer on the web about exactly how you're supposed to get things done and in what order.  So I asked a friend who owns a small art-based business, and she was so helpful!  It's not that hard when you don't have 47 different websites telling to you to do various things and just not really being clear and concise.  So I will share it with you now:

1. Get a federal tax ID number, called an EIN from the IRS.
2. Register your fictitious business name (DBA) with your city or county Register of Deeds. (In Virginia, you can find that at the Circuit Court office) $10
3. Get a business license.

I haven't actually gotten the business license yet, but I'm on it! 

Now I can buy supplies from wholesalers, deduct expenses from my taxes, be eligible for many craft shows and fairs that won't accept you without at least a tax ID, and all kinds of other stuff.  Just have to be sure to keep immaculate records of my expenses as well as income.  My friend also told me about a free software for managing your finances at https://www.mint.com/.  So I will check that out.

Among other things, I took some work to Quirk Gallery here in Richmond.  They could only take consignment right now, but with the economy still being the way it is, I'll take it.  Obviously if someone will buy your work straight-up for wholesale prices, that is preferable, but I love this gallery and just really wanted to have some work there.  So if it sells well, maybe next time they will buy it wholesale.  Most of the other galleries that I have shown in for years have been on a consignment basis, so it's not like it's that big of a change for me.  One step at a time!

I also applied for Piedmont Craftsmen's Guild, a prestigious craft guild for artists working in the Southeastern US.  They are based in Winston-Salem NC, my home town.  I actually worked in their sales gallery right after college.  It is a two-part application process - an image jury, and then if you pass that, you are invited to show your work at their annual fair in November, where you are judged again based on how your work looks in person.  Whew!  But once you're in, you're a lifetime member.  Many of the best and most well-known craftsmen in the region are members, including my mentors, Andrea and Chuck Kennington and my former employer, Jon Kuhn.  Once a member, you are also invited to show your work in their gallery, participate in group shows, and show your work at the fair each year.  And just as an added bonus, it would drive JK crazy to have to call me a colleague.  Ha!

I also have a couple of shows lined up.  A faculty exhibition at the Sawtooth Center over the summer, and an alumni exhibition at ECU in the fall.  Nothing too fancy right yet, but they should both be very nice.  And I have a few more things in the works. 

So I'm trying not to let the whole not getting into grad school thing get me down.  I have a lot of things cookin', so hopefully things will take off soon!  Guess I better get back to work.  Sorry no pictures today!  I'll have some for next time.  Thanks for reading!

New Beginnings - First Things First

Well, I started a blog.  Among other things. 

I plan for this blog to be a documentation of the start and growth of my jewelry business, CopperTide.  I guess it's fair to say that CopperTide actually started about 3 years ago, but it has remained very small.  And by very small, I mean that I have shown work in a few juried exhibitions recently, I sell work (usually on a consignment basis) in various local galleries, I have a website, http://www.coppertide.net/,  that has sold a few pieces and generated a little interest, and I started an etsy page that did not sell anything.  So I took a little break from that while a few other things were going on in my life...
Here's a little background info so you know where I'm coming from:
I studied jewelry and metal design at East Carolina University in Greenville, NC.  After I graduated in 2003, I moved to Winston-Salem, and began showing some work in local galleries.  But my official employment at the time was for Jon Kuhn, a world-renowned glass artist.  I'm sure as this blog progresses, many stories from that time period will surface, but we'll just leave it at that for now... As a few years went by working for another artist, I wanted more and more to start growing my own business. 
Well, I lost my job in 2009 with the downturn of the economy.  Apparently people were not as interested in buying $10K-$100K glass sculptures.  Go figure.  So I started working for NC Black Co, a growing tool company based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC which is owned and run by some of my very good friends, also metalsmiths.  The company makes hammers and micro-forming tools, and they teach workshops in micro-forming, engraving, and, starting this year, I will be teaching micro-raising for them.  More to come on that later.  But anyway, I had the whole job transition thing going on, and was very inspired by the work with NC Black (because you know I had to try out the tools!), and I decided it was finally time to persue graduate school.  So I began working on my portfolio for grad school submissions.  Also, I was busy planning and doing all sorts of creative fun things, as well as not-so-fun business things, for my wedding.  I got married in August 2010 to my wonderful husband Mark.  He just finished up his masters in occupational therapy in December of 2010, then it was time for me to submit my portfolio for grad school admissions in January.  Still waiting to hear about that... but I hope to be starting grad school at VCU in the fall.  And as that is the plan, Mark needed a job, and we figured if we needed to be in Richmond, VA by August, he might as well look for a job there.  So we moved to Richmond by the end of January.  And as if that wasn't enough change in our lives, we adopted a stray german shepherd mix puppy about 3 weeks ago.  And by puppy, I mean 86 pounds of pure puppy energy.  His name is Buster, and trust me, he's living up to that name.  There's a lot going on.

So my number one enemy : distractions.  But now that things are settling down just a leeeeetle, I'm in Richmond and not working for anyone else right now (other than the up-coming workshops I'll be teaching), it's time to focus on my business.  I'm a huge list-maker, so I'm making a schedule of how to go about all of this - not just making the jewelry, that's just a small part of it - the promotion and marketing and all the other fun business stuff that no artist really wants to do.   My first two projects are :

1. New logo, business cards, promo material, etc

2. Revamp my etsy page.  Including new photos, better descriptions, joining forums, and promotion, promotion, promotion.

Plus make more jewelry to get out there.  So, ok.  I will post updates on how those things are all going plus tips and tricks that I learn along the way to help get this started!  It takes a lot of time and hard work, but I'm up for the challenge.  Please follow my progress, and leave me comments along the way.

So here we are... and here we go.........