Starting A New Career at 50

Years ago after playing a softball game, all of us met up over at our favorite Pizza place ... well, maybe we liked the beer also. I met a gal there that read palms. So what the heck, I let her check mine out. I can't even remember most of the stuff she told me, though I know it rang true. What was most intriguing to me, though, was when she looked at the section at the base of my thumb and said, "Oh, my goodness." Oh, no, what could it be, I thought? She says, "You have so much untapped potential." She gave me this look that I'll never forget. I kept thinking to myself, what could it be? Is it golf; music, what?

I suppose I forgot about it for years, or shoved it somewhere deep not wanting to think about what I should or could be doing.

It wasn't until just recently when I had one of those lightbulb moments and remembered the words this woman had said to me. I now knew what she was talking about. Since I discovered my talent and love for making jewelry, my creative side has been running full force. I'm constantly learning something and actually yearning to discover all the different ways to make a piece of jewelry. It's a driving passion and is so exciting. I can't wait to get up in the morning!

All of this came about the year I turned 50. It's never too late to pursue your passion. We can keep putting it off thinking we're too old or we're scared to try something new. Whatever the reason may be. Truth be told, if you start today, you're going to be damn good at whatever it is in a few years.

At times I do get a panicky feeling thinking there is so much to learn and here I am 50! I am not going to have enough time!!! But then I take a deep breath, calm myself, and take it one step at a time. Figure out a project, gather the materials, tools at the ready, and plunge in!

Make it an excellent week

Marketing On Etsy

Since opening my shop on Etsy in March '08, I have learned that making the jewelry plays a little part in the beginning. The most important thing to have a successful shop is to Promote, Promote, and then promote some more. You can make the most beautiful, unique items ever and never sell a thing because people can't find you. Opening up a store or shop does not automatically mean the customers will start flocking to it.
It's rather overwhelming thinking about and doing all the things necessary to get your name and items out there for people to see. It's exhausting really. First it was, "you have to start a blog." Okay. I'll do it, but not an easy task. But then I have to promote my dang blog because who in the heck is going to read it? So Now I'm promoting my blog to promote my shop. And this is just the beginning.

Flickr? Okay. Whatever.

Next I'm told, "You must have a Flickr acct." What is that? What's the purpose? So I checked it out and decided to sign up. Of course, there is more promoting necessary once again to get the people to come and see my pictures. That's what it is, pictures and groups and all sorts of things. At least they make it easy to upload my pictures. Now I have to search for groups that are a good mix and promote within those groups. It actually seems to be working.

Twitter, I thought that was something that happened to old people

Next is the Twitter acct, which can lead to your Flickr acct, my blog and my website. What twitter does exactly is a bit strange. Just a way to tell your "followers" what you're up to in 140 characters or less. Same thing with Flickr, you hook up with people with similar interests.

Post in the Etsy Forums

I kept reading about this so I started checking them out. So once in awhile I would go to an interesting topic and maybe even post something. Seems I am quite the thread killer. I'm getting better at it though and it is a good way to network. Again, more promotion.
Etsy Showcases

Are they worth it? I'm not convinced. I have advertised several times and I did obtain some great repeat customers. Most times, though, no hits as far as sales. Lots of hearts. I'll keep doing it from time to time. Perhaps money is better spent on renewing items.
Overall, word of mouth is the best. Good luck to all of us starting out!
Pictures above; same piece before and after oxidization

Oxidizing Sterling Silver using Eggs

I recently decided to try oxidizing some silver jewelry. I'd been thinking about it awhile, but was a bit anxious about trying it. I had bought some Liver of Sulphur, but after reading about what you had to do, I decided to try the hardboiled egg method I had just learned.

I boiled up a few eggs, prepared my pendant by cleaning it well, and stuck it in a freezer bag. Once the eggs were hardboiled, I used some tongs to transfer them to the baggie and then crushed up the eggs. It worked very well. I put the pendant right in the middle of the crushed eggs and turned the bag every once in awhile. Once it had reached the desired color, I took it out and rinsed it off well. Using a toothbrush to get out the egg particles.

Once clean, I prepared the tumbler and placed it in there for 1 1/2 hrs. It came out amazing! I decided later to make a chain to go with it. I followed the same process for oxidizing. I love how it shows off the detail. The shine is unbelievable!

Check out other pieces at http://twistedjules.etsy.com

Please add any comments. Have a wonderful week!

I Love My Rock Tumbler

For those of us who work with wire, the rock tumbler is our best friend. If you're not using one, you must try it. The results are amazing! I recently bought one from Harbor Freight and finally decided to try it. It went against all reasoning that items made with gold or silver could actually get shinier when tumbled with stainless steel shot, some water, and a dash of Dawn dishsoap. I thought for sure the piece would be ruined and scratched beyond recognition.

I got everything ready. Added my shot and then my pendant and some more shot. Added water and some Dawn, closed 'er up and got her spinning on the tumbler. After patiently waiting for an hour and a half, I ripped off the lid to see what I had. Much to my amazement, the 14k goldfilled wire pendant I had put in was as shiny and beautiful as could be! Looked so professional. I realized that the cleaning I had been giving my pieces was nothing compared to this.

PITFALLS OF USING THE ROCK TUMBLER

Well, really it's not the tumbler itself, but the stainless steel shot that must be used. You have to drain it, paw through it to get your goods, and then rinse everything off. Now this is not difficult in the least. The problem comes if you're doing this anywhere near the garbage disposer! Holy cow, one little piece can wreak havoc, which happened to me.

I got up this morning to hear my hubby saying (?) that it sounded like there was a piece of metal in the disposer. ummm, wonder where that came from? I knew immediately and fessed up. As if he didn't know. Long story short, we had to take the disposer off its mount, unhook everything, and shake it loose. Fortunately, this worked, but there was a lot of stress going into getting this piece of machinery off its mount. So work in the other sink away from that disposer, duh!

Here's the link to the rock tumbler I use. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=46376
I got the stainless steel shot from Rio Grande. It's very nice.

Next time I'll talk about my experience oxidizing silver with boiled eggs. The organic way.
Oh, yeah!

Thanks for visiting, and please leave me a post.

Carpe Diem

Jules