Work in Progress: Sluggish Green Collar

I have been a big neglectful of all my duties these past few weeks, both in beading and in blogging. Before we get around to an update on this week’s progress, let me say thanks for sticking with me so far! Although I had a little surge of ideas and projects, it turns out that I’m still a bit burnt out from making designs for Ancient Worlds, Modern Beads. It would also seem that taking on two projects at once wasn’t the great idea that I thought it would be. After stitching a few inches of the new herringbone collar that I started, I realized the repacking and unpacking of so many different bead types - all of which I need to have out at once - was just too time consuming, and I’ve been plodding along on the collar without picking up any other projects.

The collar is coming along nicely, though I haven’t spent quite as much time on it as I should. I’ve been feeling a bit unmotivated of late, partly because I have no idea what to do with my pieces when they’re finished. Over the past several years, I’ve juggled both an Etsy and an ArtFire store, testing them both out to see which one suits me best. Because Etsy runs on temporary listing fees as well as a 3.5% commission, I decided that it was just too expensive and time consuming to list most of my work there.

Just as I was getting into the process of moving and cultivating an ideal selection for both shops, ArtFire rolled out Google and Amazon ads on all listing pages. Although I’m not necessarily opposed to having third-party ads on pages I’m already paying for, the page design is really terrible, and sellers have no control of the quantity or types of ads that are displayed. The only way to opt out of the ads is to sign up for 3% commission fees - something that I’m not prepared to do for one-of-a-kind pieces that can sometimes be over $100.

New ArtFire Page Layout

I'm working more than usual at the day job right now, which is fabulous; but I simply don’t have the time or energy to research and cultivate a shop on a new platform right now, so I’m feeling a little glum when it comes to making new pieces. I’m hoping that giving my workspace a really good tidy and refresh will help me at least get some of the beading bug back so that I can get back to making jewelry just for the joy of it.

What are you making this week? Are there any challenges in your path right now?

Copyright 2015 Inspirational Beading
Subscribe to Inspirational Beading
Get inspired on Facebook and Google+