I’ve been selling online since 1999 and at no time in all these years have I seen such a surge in marketing for unique one-of-a-kind or custom products!  Granted, I am in the business,  but the interest has completely skyrocketed starting to build around the same time as the  current recession did.  Or maybe it was around the time China imports became toxic.  Whatever drove it up to the forefront of the shopping mindset, I’m both pleased and intrigued at the result.

Storefront sites that feature handmade items have experienced a growth surge.  We are now, all familiar with sites like Etsy and ArtFire but these two have been around for years.  Etsy since 2005 and ArtFire since 2008.  Sadly, eBay – which was, at one time, the place to go for the unique and the unusual – appears to have lost their way in the quest to ‘go Asian’ and buries the one-off items so deep in search that they might as well not even be there.  But don’t get me started on eBay.

The marketing gurus are ramping up like crazy for the holiday shopping season.  Blogs abound, and are now integrating with social networking platforms such as The Hive And Handmade is at the top of the list for this year.  If you are ‘crafty’ or you just like the green-ness of it all.  There are lots of options out there, whether you are inclined to give or to receive.  Or both.

Take the handmade pledge

~Nan

All my eggs have their own personality. As I work, anything I am listening to (music, audiobook, radio) gets infused into the egg along with the design. It’s funny – eggs take several days to make, and when I come back to an egg after a break – whatever music or chapter of the audiobook I had been listening to, plops back into my head as soon as I pick up the egg again and begin to work. Must be a brain-thing. But I digress . . .

The Four Suns egg (affectionately known as ‘Celeste’) is one of my favorite designs. As you can see by the image number, I have made at least 38 of these multi-faced girls. I love the oranges and reds blending in the fiery rays of the sun. This is also one of my most difficult egg designs to make (hence, the price).

Celeste has evolved considerably over the years. I made my first on in 1996 (according to my part-number log) copied from a Pysanka Poster that I purchased online at The Polish Art Center

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of my original egg – probably a good thing, I’m sure it was pretty scary – but it looked somewhat like this:

The evolution of this particular design began with an altering of the sun rays, which I changed almost immediately as seen in this early version:

I finally settled on rays (I was going for ‘shimmer’) and went on to tackle the face. The face has become the biggest challenge. Using the light-to-dark progression of the batik process, it is easiest to draw the facial features first using light colors. But it doesn’t look right.

Trial and error ensued. Finally, using the toothbrush rubbing technique, I was able to achieve a face that made me happy. One with dark lines and a lighter background. This is the latest version:

And of course, during this creative process, I had to apply Celeste to jewelry as well. I only did a few pieces several years ago,

and I think I’m going to give this another go with the current batch and the more modern technique.

Should be interesting!

Link: Enchanted Hen Productions Ostrich Eggshell Jewelry

Yes, I am excited.  This is the first batch since moving to the Land of Enchantment, and it’s a good feeling to be settled in my studio and producing again.

It’s always interesting to see the final results as opposed to the work-in-progress.  The pieces might start out kind of uninteresting, until I get the final coat of finish on them, adding depth and bringing out the colors.  My fave result was with the simple design of the Trypillian Spiral earrings which were fairly cool looking in production but the black on brick contrast was much more dramatic when finished.

And then there are the Ukrainian designs with their warm reds and golds – they’re so pretty, I’ll post a picture here.

And this is just the first batch!  I still have a ton of work ahead of me and more new designs, but it does please me to get the first group out.

So I better get back to it!

Oh, first a Heads-Up  for those of you that are not on my email list yet:  There is a 25% discount for my subscribers through the end of March.  Sign up for my Enchanted Hen Newsletter (located to your right, on the sidebar) to get the coupon code.

Allright, I’m really going back to work now . . .

Nan