Tides and Candles

Artists, generally speaking, are a pretty cool group of people. And not just because of the natural-born talent that oozes out of them. For a large number of them (in my experience, anyway), that creativity seems to go hand-in-hand with a generous spirit. It makes them happy as clams to share their knowledge and experience without concern about people "stealing their ideas" or "copying their style". There are a couple of sayings that perfectly illustrate this belief system (that's what it is, really).

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle."

"A rising tide lifts all boats."

This attitude is widely seen among jewelry makers - just take a look at all the free tutorials available online. There are even entire websites dedicated to jewelry making education. A couple of the ones I frequent are Beaducation and JewelryLessons.com. Holy moley, that's a lot of talent.

A couple of weeks ago, I learned of another talented and giving individual, Timothy Adams. A successful artist himself with a busy Etsy shop, he has launched a website, Handmadeology, to teach artists the intricacies of selling their handmade goods online. He focuses on a couple of selling venues for handmade works, Etsy and Artfire. Tim covers topics from marketing to photography to increasing shop traffic. Talk about your fonts of information! And it's all free! People who have been around me for any time at all know I tend to roll my eyes at humankind in general, but coming across people like this reminds me that there are some good ones out there. Warms the ol' cockles.

OK, enough with the cockle-warming, down to business. I've added some new pieces to my Etsy shop (link on the left), mostly rings and woven bracelets. More of both to come. And maybe bookmarks. I've also decided to have a SALE! Between now and Valentine's Day, everything on my website that is pink, red, or heart-shaped is 20% off! Tell your gift-buying-challenged sweetie!