Another new lovely!

If you can't tell, i've gotten my shipment of chain, metal sawing supplies and GEMSTONES. Mmmm I've got so many new designs formulating. 

Today I made a thing.

Newwww

Jewelry Class Update!

Last night night's class was awesome!

I sliced my finger open with the jeweler's saw.
The awesome part was that I finally got to saw some metal and it was easier than I expected.
I cut out some awesome shapes and did better than I thought I would!
Then we got to take our gemstones home so we could design a prong setting & pendant for it!
AND we got to use the soldering torch unsupervised as needed.

I'll post again with photos once I create something!

New!

I haven't really had time to post anything, but I've got some yummy new gemstones and beads  and chain coming in the mail soon, so there will be a ton of new goodies added to the shop shortly.

I made this piece last night:

I'm off to printmaking again. I wish I didn't have to drive so far to get everywhere...

Some New Items!

Some simple little stud earrings. 

A triple quartz necklace with red beads. 

Another quartz necklace with turquoise beads. 

More to come! 

New Packaging!

That's right folks! The new Decay and Renewal packaging has now been 'activated'.  My stamp came in the mail today and personally I think it looks adorable!

Also, all jewelry orders will now come with a free little gift! 

Alright, i've got to get back to my printmaking homework. Goodnight! 

Woo!

Yesterday was the first day of school.
I had printmaking 2 from 1-4, and now i'm coming up with some designs for screen prints.
After that I had jewelry metalsmithing from 6:30-9:30!!! The class is so amazing and there are only four students and the teacher is amazing and so is the studio, which is fully stocked with everything you could possibly need. I have a feeling i'm going to LOVE this.

I can't wait to start working with metal! and to start making rings! At the moment i'm working on finding some basic jewelry supplies (saw, bench pin etc) to get me started at home.

Its really nice having mondays and wednesdays off too. Today was spent eating soup and watching lifetime with my mother. OH and my custom stamp came in today!!! I got half of my envelopes stamped. I'll be posting again tonight with photos of the shop's NEW packaging, including my pretty stamped merchandise bags!

Ikea Times.

Yesterday we went to Ikea just for fun. I ended up getting a few things to organize a bit.

I got that little white shelf thing. I thought it was cute and it doubles my desk space somewhat, AND its stackable so I can get more later to make a little shelf tower thingy...ok, it wasn't  really a necessity, but I like it. 

This set of little tins! Also, more for cuteness than functionality, but I have plenty of little parts that could be organized with this. 

Ok, I'm still not very organized with or without tins and shelves...Let's change the subject. 

I found this piece a while ago at a thrift store COVERED in this horrendous, atrocious blue paint. I mean it was so bad you'd never think this pretty brass leaf was underneath it. Originally it was a pair of ugly earrings, but I'm reincarnating it into something pretty, minus the ugly, glossy blueness. 

Also, the quartz tips I ordered came in the mail last week! I've been playing around with what I can do with them. 

...

Anywho, I'm excited as can be because my metalsmithing class starts TOMORROW NIGHT! Its right after printmaking II, and its half an hour from my campus, but I think it'll be totally worth it.  Hopefully soon you'll be seeing some new metal work in the shop soon! 

 OH! And I'm only waiting on two more shipments to arrive and then the new D&R packaging will be set into motion. Wooo!

New Rings!

I finally got around to photographing these!  I'm working on more wood burned creations too.

All of these are now available at the SHOP

Some Shop Changes That Are Worth Noting

It's been around 10 months since I started D&R, and I've been loving it!

I've learned a lot since opening the shop, and since then my shop has evolved quite a bit. Here are some of the changes you may or may not have noticed since I started: 

1.  I no longer sell vintage items: 

I had fun thrifting items and selling them, but I decided I needed to focus my energy on the most important thing: Making things.  I still thrift and use vintage parts, but now I just upcycle in order to make a unique item of jewelry or art.

Also, figuring out shipping for large, sometimes heavy items was getting stressful.  So vintage items are no more! 

2.  Packaging oh Packaging: 

I'm sure every etsy seller or crafter in general goes through an ever evolving packaging technique.  One of my favorite things is packaging one of my new creations in a way that makes the entire customer experience feel special.  I get excited just thinking about a customer getting their package in the mail and unwrapping the goodies they purchased.  I'm constantly thinking about how to make this experience more special and attractive while also being functional so that I may provide affordable and safe shipping.  At the moment, i'm making boxes by hand, making designing/business cards on illustrator and printing at home and making little thank you cards to include with each order. I've been quite pleased with the results: 

As cute as I think this packaging is, i've decided to tweak it YET AGAIN. This is mainly because in order to save on packaging and shipping I like to use the small mailers, and these boxes don't quite fit inside them. Sooooo, long story short, i've developed (in theory so far) some new SUPER CUTE packaging, minus the boxes. Don't worry, I promise it's going to be cute, fresh and functional! 

I'm waiting on some supplies to come in the mail so that I can put this new packaging into action. One of the things I'm waiting for is my own personalized business stamp from 2Impress.  They've got great stamps for all needs and they work with you to get you the right stamp for you! Here's a proof of what my stamp is going to look like: 

I'm absolutely in LOVE with it, and I can't wait to set up the new packaging! I'll make another post once everything arrives in the mail! Also, i'll be including fun little gifts with each order from now on!  

3. Pricing: 

I'd admit I started out just guessing prices for the shop. I never calculated supplies, fees or shipping. I always wondered why it felt like my money would disappear as fast as I made it. Combine that with the fact that i'm a struggling college student and that this shop is currently my only source of income, the price adjustment had to be done.  I didn't think it'd be such a headache inducing task to figure out pricing, I must have read every article there was on pricing handmade goods.  The new prices take into account supplies, labor and fees. Hopefully it works out. 

4.  Production/shipping time: 

When I first started out, I indicated to shoppers that their items would ship out in 1-2 business days.  While this worked out well for a while, once the amount of orders began to rise a bit more, it made it hard for me to keep up. I'm still a full time student, so some nights I couldn't get to working on an order until after 11pm.  For now the production time for most items is 3-5 days.  Each order will most likely be sent in 3, and if i'm lucky, less.  After that I stil use the same low cost shipping method, which is USPS First Class.  Orders in the USA will arrive around 2 days after being sent out.  Although tracking isn't available for that shipping method, I usually add the estimated arrival date to the Etsy shipping notifications to give customers some peace of mind.  

5.  New products!!! 

Oh, the best part of all! I'll be adding new products on a weekly basis. What's great is that I'm learning so many things and making new things all the time, so stay tuned for new items as they are added. Some new stuff that's coming: 

Wood burned earrings

More rings!!! 

More plastic brooches with my artwork

Some feminist & queer themed items

Screen printed stuff!!! 

Bracelets 

Hair pins

Anywho, this has been a superlong post. But its been so long, I thought it necessary to spill all of my thoughts. 

Back to Business

WHOA its been a while...I'm sorry to say I've neglected this blog so much, considering all the new exciting things that have been happening for the shop.  My new year's resolution is to blog more! It shouldn't be THAT hard...we'll see.

Some great things have been happening with Decay & Renewal!

>>>  First off, last week I had my first wholesale request! From Australia!
I had to then take a quick crash course on wholesaling 101, but thankfully there's an abundance of information on the web, so I was able to come up with some basic wholesale policies and accept the offer!

I'm pleased to announce that soon some of my products will be available at an Australian gallery/gift shop called Can't Think Straight.  It focuses on LGBTQ & earth friendly products.  I'll post a link and some photos when it becomes available in the shop!

>>>  Secondly, I took advantage of winter break and organized my entire studio!  I can't explain to you what a relief it is to have everything in its place.  Since I just started to buy supplies in bulk, I needed to make space. I've even set up a little packing station.  Now that that's sorted, its time to get more jewelry made!

I also inherited that nifty work desk with drawers from my mother, so I gave each drawer a purpose! Now I have a drawer nicely organized with cute packaging supplies.

>>> AND the third, most exciting announcement is that this semester, in addition to my second printmaking class, I'll be taking a jewelry metalsmithing course in St. Petersburg!!! 

I have my mother and sister to thank for paying for the course, and I couldn't be more excited. I've got a sketchbook full of jewelry designs and being able to work with metals will produce so many new possibilities.  I start this Tuesday, so I'll begin posting updates on how the class is going.  

I'll be posting at least once daily from now on, so stay tuned!