Playing with fire

Well, I've been very busy these past couple of months. I've started selling my jewelry at another retail location here in Pittsburgh: Crafted Treasures, which is in Monroeville at 4366 Old William Penn Hwy. The first weekend of every month there's an open house during which everything is 10% off! Of course, the first weekend of April is Easter, so maybe not. :) But I've been doing very well there. I've been there since the beginning of February and I'm very pleased with what's been going on there. So if you're local, please stop by! :)

I've also been very busy on Etsy. I've been challenged by The Quilted House, Coco's Greenhouse, Just Ice Jewelry, and Braggin' Rights Bath to list an item a day. It's been a great way to force myself to be constantly productive, to keep my shop new and interesting, and make some great new friends! I've also joined my local team, Steel Town Etsy, which is fabulous, and the World Wide Etsy Sellers, which is a fabulously supportive group of people who tweet like fiends! :) I've been working very hard to get more visibility, which is hard since there's so many jewelry makers out there! :)

But my newest line of jewelry has forced me to learn a new skill: soldering. I've fallen in love with chains and instead of buying chain by the spool, I've been making my own with jumprings, which really gives me a lot of versatility. But in order to make them secure, I've got to solder them closed. I'm just wondering how long it will take me to realize that the jumprings are metal and they get hot as well as the soldering iron and the solder itself. I don't know how I'm typing with as many burns I have on my fingertips! :)

But I really am in love with the new stuff I've been doing. It really has a different energy than some of my other jewelry designs. It's lighter and more playful, which is really cool. And i've gotten a lot of really positive feedback from people about it, too. :)