A rainbow of twistie for Betsy

for Betsy too, originally uploaded by kitzbitz art glass by Jolene.

A quick blog and run from me via Flickr this morning - it shows a selection of twistie that I recently made for a customer on Etsy. I really like this picture even though it is just a quick snap that I sent for approval before posting as it makes me think of some kind of alternative rainbow.....now where did I put that pot of gold?

Frit N Chips

Etsy Listing Polishing Project....

This is something I am aiming to do for all of my Etsy listings over time but for now here is the very first example of my Etsy Etsercise Listing Polishing project.

The whole idea of this project is to create a top notch listing that will work as a template for future listings. What I am aiming for are good images that will draw a potential customer in and a few tricks that will tempt them to stay and browse longer in your shop.

Etsy Etsercise Listing Polishing Tips

Take the best photographs you can

Aviod portrait images opting instead for square or landscape images. Minimum image size of 1000 px is reccommeded but I find both 1000 px by 1000 px and 1000px by 800 px can work really well.

For your primary photo choose the one that looks most interesting as a thumbnail

Use all 5 spaces for images

• Do include a close up of interesting detail
• Do show your product in situ
• Do show your product in an image with other similar products
• If you are marketing your product as a gift show packaging
• You can even show yourself at work or a view of the equipment you use to make your products

Use all 14 tags

• Include specific colours such as sky blue or baby pink
• Include any/all of your team tags

Include tags that describe who the product is for
For instance:

• Mothers day present
• Bridal shower
• For him
• House warming gift

Include a URL that takes you to another related listing or to other relevant products

• If your necklace has matching earrings post the link to them
• If you have a range of products post a link to that shop category

What I haven't covered here is how to write an interesting shop description – I think this merits it own Etsy Etsercise project in the future.

Here are a couple of before and after pics for one of my listings. I hope this post is useful and easy to follow and will help others to create the most professional listings they can too.




Further Reasearch

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Mini Mo' July 2011 - Lemongrass and Little Black Dress

The main colourway for my Little Black Dress Mini Mo’ glasswork this month is CiM Peace and CiM Unique Hades 511820-2 with “The Big Smoke” enameled shards.

I absolutely love the classic combination of black and white together - a little back dress teamed up with vivid colour accessories for a party or with elegant monochrome jewellery for that very important meeting - whichever way you choose to play it, it just works!

So, when I decided on the black and white them for one of my Mini Mo' glasswork themes I kept thinking back to the idea of a trim, elegant and finely detailed little black dress for inspiration. The Little Black Dress murrini follow this idea very well and I am thrilled with them.

The beads on the right show how the twistie behaves both under encasement and melted flat on to the surface of a bead. Unique Hades 511820-2 is an extremely dense black but has a different formula to regular Hades. It webs and spread beautifully on the surface of a bead but also picks up wisps of silver in and oxygen rich flame in much the same way as CiM Gunmetal. It is much stiffer to work with than Gunmetal however and looks a true black when pulled thin. In my opinion it displays the best properties of both of these two CiM blacks.

I have used various graduated shades of grey tone enamels over Peace to create these moody shards to compliment the Little Black Dress Mini Mo'. I've called them "The Big Smoke" because they look so industrial and cloud like when placed on the surface of the bead and twisted in to elegant trails with a stringer.

The main colourway for my Lemongrass Mini Mo’ glasswork is Effetre Petrol Green, Effetre Lemon Yellow Special, Effetre Uranium Yellow transparent and with “Meadow Sweet” enameled shards. The primary colour My Lemongrass Murrini is CiM Soylent, chosen for my club members who work with hot head torches because it is much less reactive to flame chemistry than Petrol Green.

My colour inspiration here comes from my tumbleweed garden at the moment, all long grass and dandelions - I chose the name Lemongrass for the collection though as the glasswork is so much prettier and more sophisticated than that!

My test beads on the left show a core of Petrol Green encased with clear cored twistie and Lemongrass Murrini which have been melted flat. A final layer of encasement gives an optical enlargement to the detail underneath.

I wanted to show how this murrini looks left raised on the surface of a bead too, and so finished this large tab focal bead with a single raised murrini.

More tinkering around with enamels for the "Meadow Sweet" shards - some were created with an additional layer of Effetre Clear 006 encasement and some were blown with enamel on the surface which allows for a pretty layered effect and some subtle organic effects with a reduction flame.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads

Style File no.2

Style file is my new Etsy treasury project and Style File no.2 is the second instalment. I'm planning on curating a Style File treasury each month which shows off the work of CPteam, Etsy shops that I heart and fun people that I have met on twitter. Click the pic to take a better look, hope you like.

Jolene x

Gaffer Frit Colour Chart

This is the start of a long term project that I have in mind for Craft Pimp Forum. It is the beginnings of a colour chart showing Gaffer frit in use in lampwork bead making.

Gaffer frit is manufactured in New Zealand by John Croucher and John Leggott and has a coefficient of Expansion (CoE) of 96 but can be used in small quantities very effectively with CoE 104 glass such as Effetre (Moretti), Reichenbach 104, Lauscha, Vetrofond, CiM and other sodalime and soft glass.

There are somewhere up close to 200 shades of frit available in the Gaffer colour range and not all are readily available in the U.K. This little chart is  just the tip of the iceberg really so far.

If anyone has images and notes that they would like to add to the chart I would be very grateful. There will be full credits and links given to everyone who makes a contribution.

I think that this project is going to be a labour of love.

Jolene x

Frit N Chips lampwork supplies and Kitzbitz Art Beads