DaWanda

A few months ago I started selling on another website: DaWanda.com
It's an online venue where you can buy and sell all things handmade. Clothing, hats, shoes, paintings, prints, furniture, jewellery, bags and many more things can be found on DaWanda.
It's based in Europe, and users have a choice of viewing the site in English, German or French, so it reaches a very wide audience :-).
As a seller you can choose to list your products in just one of these languages, or two, or all three. Users can also choose whether they view other products on the site only listed in one particular language, or all the items listed in all 3 languages. There are a lot of choices, so you can customise it to suit you.
It's free, fast and easy to set up a store. There are NO listing fees. So to cover costs DaWanda charges a small 5% commission on the product price if/when the product sells. This means you only have to pay "fees" once you've already made some money (that makes sense :-). Because it's free to set up and start selling it's great if you just want to try it out as a venue, or perhaps if you've got new items that are a little different to your regular items and you want to "test the market" so to speak, then this could be a good venue for you.
Like many other online market places, DaWanda has an active forum, where you can connect with other sellers, ask questions about the site, running a small business, art/craft related queries, get feedback about your store or products, start a collaboration, join a group or community, seek custom items, promote your store and so on.
The forums are regularly monitored by the friendly and helpful DaWanda staff so it's never too long before your question, query or concern is answered.
The DaWanda front page has a great showcase of the products available on DaWanda, and unlike other e-commerce sites where it can be pretty tricky to get your products on the front page, DaWanda's front page is selected randomly and rotate regularly, so everyone has a good chance at making it to the front page :-)
There are many great features on the DaWanda website, both for selling and buying :-)
The "StyleLab" is fabulous! It's where, as a buyer you can find items that are customisable. So you can choose the colour, the pattern, the fabric, the size, the shape etc of an item then the designer makes it especially for you. And as a seller you can list items in the style lab, where you can give options for colours, fabrics, styles, shapes etc for a product that you can make to the customers specifications.
The "Coloranda" feature is also an exciting way to shop. You can click on any colour in the rainbow spectrum "dome" and it will show you a page full of products that have that colour in them! (Great way to kill a bit of time as well :-)
You can also make a "Pinboard" which is where you can keep track of all your favourite products on DaWanda. You can name your Pinboards so you know which one has which items in it etc. You can also make a themed Pinboard, for example, Reds, or Fabulous Bags etc. It's a fun way to showcase your selection of the best of the best products on DaWanda. It also comes in handy if you are searching for a present for someone in particular, you could make a pinboard full of all the products that might be make suitable presents :-) You can search through other people Pinboards, so you can see what everyone else likes as well, and a selection of Pinboards are "featured" on the Pinboard page, and these selections change regularly, so there is always something new and exciting to see.
There is also a "Trends" page, which shows you the products with the most fans, and the products that have been added to the most Pinboards. You can also see the most popular sellers and best selling members on this page. This feature is good if you just want to see what's popular, but it's also a great market research tool, along with the "Recently Sold" section to the Trends page. It lets you know what kind of things are selling well and so on.
The "Search" facility on DaWanda is great! You can search the whole site, or you can search within a particular category. You can view the search results in order of the most recently listed, the most popular or "random" which is the default order of results. This makes it very easy to narrow down your search, which can save you time and effort :-)
DaWanda are always running at least one promotion or competition that you can get involved in, which is great for getting involved, for getting your store name out there, for promoting individual stores, and DaWanda as a whole (which is great for everyone!)

As the push towards sustainable, eco friendly, unique, non-mass produced items becomes stronger sites like DaWanda become more popular and more important. Why not join in the fun? :-)
You can see my stores on DaWanda: SharaLambethDesigns , JoliBebe and ThePaperDoll.

Below are a few of my favourite recent finds on DaWanda.

Pocket Mirror
Linotte.dawanda.com


Cat Bag
Delavalle.dawanda.com


Bird Broochfuniscool.dawanda.com


Leaf Top
Hyenarchie.dawanda.com

Flower Earrings
Fluerfatale.dawanda.com

Blythe Photo's - New Series

You may already know about my Blythe addiction/obsession, but if not... it's very intense.
I have been taking loads and loads of photo's of my Blythe doll, Beatrix, since she came to me last year. I have a few different outfits for her, with plans to make many more. I also have several wigs for her, to change her look, depending on her mood (or mine ;-). I have made several of the photographs into greeting cards, and listed them Dawanda, HERE, and on Etsy, HERE. The images themselves are also available for sale in various sizes.
I took some of the cards I made along to the Melbourne Craft Mafia Night Market to see if they would sell, and they were a hit! I was so happy :-)
So that has inspired me to take a whole lot of new photo's of my darling Beatrix (and sent me searching ebay for another doll to keep Beatrix company :-)
Here are a few of the new series of pictures. I'll be adding more as the days go on, so stay tuned :-)

Melbourne Craft Cartel Night Market!

The Melbourne Craft Cartel Night Market is held at Section 8 Container Bar in Tattersalls Lane, Melbourne CBD on the first Monday of each month, from 5pm til late.
I had a stall at the very first market, which was in December 2007. And I was lucky enough to be able to have another stall at the second night market which was Monday 7th January, 2008.
It was a real success, with LOADS of people coming through, most staying for a drink or two, while they browsed the wonderful wares.
I shared a table with Angelica of the famous Jellibat label, which was great as it meant I had someone to keep me company, discuss business ideas with, and to hold the fort while I went and admired all the other amazing things for sale at the other stalls.
My stall consisted mainly of rings, earrings, hair accessories, brooches and necklaces, as well as some of my Blythe photo cards.
I sold a lot more than I had anticipated, so it was fantastic! And that also meant that I could go and buy some delightful things from other stall holders :-)
The great thing about selling at a market (as opposed to selling online) is that you are face to face with your customers, and you get immediate feedback about your items, and you also get to hear stories from your customers about why they like something, why they're buying what they're buying, and who it's for. It makes me feel good when I know the things that I put so much effort and time and love into making are going to good homes :-)
I'll be at the next Melbourne Craft Cartel Night Market, which will be held on Monday 4th February, so if you're in town, pop by and say hello!
Also, if you would like any info about the market, or having a stall there, don't hesitate to contact me via the blog or via my etsy store which is HERE .
You can also see the Flickr group HERE.
Okay, it's farewell from me for now, take care out there :-)
x Shara

***PLEASE NOTE*** This market is no longer running!! But thank you to all the lovely folks who have contacted me with interest about the market :-) I think we all wish it still existed...

Welcome to 2008

Ah... yes... it's been a while since my last post. Please forgive me :-)
The holiday period got a little bit crazy, with unnecessarily hot weather, hiccups at the Post Office, orders coming in from all angles, and my Birthday (complete with excellent party with even more excellent friends!) in the middle of it all. But I have come through to the New Year relatively unscathed. Phew!
I hope everyone else had an enjoyable and relaxed Xmas and New Years Eve as well :-)

So here we are in 2008, and I thought it was only right to start off a new year with a new medium. RESIN. It's something I have been eagerly interested in for several years, as a new medium in which to realise my jewellery design ideas, but until now I thought it was out of my league.
Late last year I quite seriously considered doing one of the several Resin workshops in and around Melbourne, but the price tag was a little prohibitive. I wanted to be really certain that it was a creative journey that I was willing to embark on, so I did a bit of research (I love you Internet xox) and found 2 books that seemed to have some pretty good reviews and purchased them (at bargain Basement prices!!) from Amazon. The first is: "The Art of Resin Jewelry" by Sherri Haab (ISBN 0-8230-0344-2). It's a really great book if you know nothing about Resin, but are interested in finding out all the basics and getting some ideas for projects. The information is very clearly written in a simple to understand way, that isn't an insult to your intelligence. The instructions are also quite clear. Not all the products used in the projects are available in Australia, and as of yet I haven't been able to find too many U.S. websites that will ship a lot of the stuff internationally (which I think is due to the potentially hazardous nature of some of the products). However, if you have your wits about you, you should be able to figure out something that is a suitable alternative which is readily available in Australia.
Although I did really enjoy this book and all the hints and tips, I do have to admit that some of the projects are incredibly ugly (which is of course, simply a matter of taste) so I'm sure that the projects in the book that I think are beautiful, others will find to be hideous.
Despite this, it is an EXCELLENT introduction to the world of Resin jewellery. I can highly recommend it :-)
The second book I purchased is "Resin Jewellery" by Kathie Murphy (ISBN 0-87349-619-1). This is a slightly more "high brow" publication and is probably directed more towards people who have a bit of previous knowledge in jewellery design. It gives an excellent history of resin and other plastics, which gives you a great insight into how and why different products react in a certain way and how they can be best utilised. This book also gives you lots of information about different products, techniques and standard safety tips. But I think the best thing about this book is all the photographs of some seriously STUNNING and amazing resin work by artists and designers from all over the world. I found the images to be of great inspiration and made me DESPERATE to rush out and buy all the things I needed to start making my own Resin masterpieces :-)
So I can highly recommend this book also.
I have seen both these books on several websites where resin supplies are available, and they are both extremely over-priced. For example one Australian website is selling the Kathie Murphy book for $57AUD, and it is currently available on Amazon for approx. $5.20AUD. I did a lot of searching around and Amazon was by far the best place to purchase both the books (even with the crazy postage prices :-)

So far I have made a few smallish beads with the EasyCast 2-part resin I purchased, and they have been quite good. I used a purpose made polyurethane resin mould, also from EasyCast. The shapes and designs of the mould which has several cavities are quite good, however the resin really does pick up EVERY minute detail which meant that some of my castings came out with unwanted impressions that were left on the mould during production. I tried to gently sand this away without success. So I am in the process of making some of my own moulds using a "pour and mix" type of silicone rubber.
I am quite keen to see the results of this. I am making moulds for several different rings and some bangles also. I have so many ideas racing around in my head and I can't wait to post some photo's of my creations on here for you all to see :-)

Okay, I'm heading back to the studio (a.k.a spare room) to start casting some more of my ideas.
x Shara

Scarflettes

I started making scarflettes several years ago, and gave it a rest over the last summer... then got distracted by a bunch of new scarf designs and forgot to make some more scarflettes for this years Southern Hemisphere winter :-/ But I'm back on track with them now.
I have changed my designs ever so slightly, for more comfort, warmth, wearability etc. I have found that they are a great way to use special fabric that I only have small quantities of and special vintage buttons that I have been hoarding, waiting for the right project to come along.
I actually made a few of these scarflettes for myself (for a change :-), and I love wearing them. The soft cotton flannelette lining means they are really soft and warm against your skin. And they sit nice and flat, not bulky like a fully grown scarf :-) here is me wearing my Japanese Plum Scarflette.
Here is the Sunshine Scarflette, which is made using some very bright and happy vintage fabric that I picked up from the Camberwell Market a few years ago. I lined it with a very soft, lemon and white gingham print cotton flannelette, and it closes with a sweet little vintage glass button with a happy little yellow bird on it that I got from the button lady.
I also made this very cute Mushroom Scarflette, using extremely sweet Japanese canvas with a colourful mushroom print. I love using this canvas, it sews up really well and sits nicely.
I love this colourway, but I also have access to several other colourways that I'm looking forward to experi- menting with.
I've also made a few scarflettes that I have screen printed images onto, but I haven't managed to photograph those yet, so you'll just have to wait for another day :-)
I have been doing quite a few experiments with my screen printing recently. Screen printing onto suede for bags, and some little girls summer dresses and scarves, so I think that's what I'll write about next. Until then, farewell from Camp Shara :-)

Branching Out...

I have been branching out recently, and setting up a few new stores, in a few different venues. I figure it can't hurt to have my name and my products out there multiple times for more people to possibly see.
My new store at Dawanda is here and my new store at Felt is here.
Dawanda is based in Germany and has a big European selling base. It's quite interesting to see the differences in the types of items, the quality of the items and the styles when the majority of the sellers are based in Europe, as opposed to Etsy, where the vast majority of sellers are American based. Dawanda has some really interesting features (I haven't figured them all out yet, but give me time :-). The Style Lab is really interesting, and I'm looking forward to adding something of my own there.
Felt is a New Zealand based site, which is relatively new. It's a very attractive site to navigate around, which is always a plus. At the moment there aren't too many sellers there, but it's growing. So if you're looking for a new selling venue for your handmade goodness then why not set up shop on Felt. You definitely won't have to worry about getting buried by the 50,000 other sellers listing their goods! Felt has lots of really great products listed already, so it is worth a look.
I still have my Etsy shop, which you can see here.
Obviously I'm hoping that having my products in so many different places will get me a bit more exposure, therefore helping to raise a bit more revenue :-) So, once I hit the big time I'll be buying that tropical island where I'll have my farm with miniature dachshunds, a couple of donkey's, some chooks, a few alpaca's, a pair of goats, and a studio for me, with lots of natural light, to create in :-)

Welcome to my Blog!

So, here I am. I finally decided to start my own Blog after spending so much time reading everyone else's.
I'm not really sure what I'll be putting in this blog. I guess I'll just keep you updated with what I'm making.
Stay tuned for more!