A Look Back At 2014

As December speeds us towards a New Year, I find myself thinking back over the last few months.

2014 started with CreationsByRobin still on hiatus. I really had not considered making more sea glass jewelry. The ocean had yet to offer up anything substantial and it seemed like my favorite hobby was dying a slow, painful death. Finding thin pieces of Rolling Rock green glass or Budweiser browns, was not going to be worth the effort...these pieces don't even age nicely...even when rounded by the tumbling in the ocean, these pieces of glass are very thin and when frosted, the glass is dull. Without the sea glass, going to the beach lost a little of it's luster...I mean, if I have to endure the bennies (ok, they're not all that bad) the least I can have is the excitement of possibly finding a nice piece of old glass washing up in the surf.

One one trip, we found something a bit older. Yea, it was brown, but it was thick and well frosted...an older piece of glass that somehow found it's way onto the beach. All of a sudden, the mediocre pieces were looking good (the thin, ugly pieces remained, just that...thin & ugly...lol) and we found ourselves heading to the beach a little more often. I'd like to say, seaglassing started picking up from that point. I would. But it wasn't the case.

What used to be a bad seaglassing day at the beach, was now a pretty good seaglassing day at the beach. A bad day was getting shutout totally...and that did happen often. But there was one other occurrence....the fires were getting stoked. I started fooling around with my sea glass again. It started when we moved into a new place and I wanted to decorate differently. I went with a beach theme. Driftwood, sea glass, pictures of the ocean and beach, lighthouses, etc. When it cam time to decorate my bedroom, the first thing I did was cut-out an area where my crafting table would go.

And just like that, I was back.The shop was reopened, I made new creations and some sales. As fall turned into winter and the vacationers and snow-birds headed for home or warmer climates, we found sea glass. The Atlantic still isn't turning out jewelry quality pieces on the beaches that I frequent, though there have been several that I could consider using for decorative creations. But I and my hubby (my hubby mostly) has been finding colors and unique pieces. Just before Christmas, he came home with 3 cobalt blues and two days later found a cornflower blue and part of an old white bottle top.

Somehow, the glass is finding it way back and knowing that the ocean tosses a few pieces onto the beach before she reclaims them in the next tide, will keep me dreaming of coming across the perfect piece of sea glass. And in the meantime, I will share some of the more special findings with anyone who loves what I create with these vanishing ocean treasures.

Looking ahead to walking the beaches in 2015. I'm excited to see where it will take me.

Happy New Year!

'til next time...
R

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving weekend Coupon codes

I hope everyone had a safe Thanksgiving Day. Getting my footing back in Etsy has been difficult and getting back into the swing of operating an online business has been challenging. There has been some significant changes since CreationsByRobin was last active, both on Etsy and with my sea glass supplier. I'm very thankful that the ocean is once again sharing it's treasures with me and I am thankful to once again have the opportunity to share my creation thru Etsy.

Once again, it's been quite awhile since my last blog entry. I have been blogging on my other blog,
Sea Glass CreationsByRobin ( creationsbyrobinseaglass.blogspot.com ) and there are several images of new creations listed in my Etsy shop, new creations that will be listed soon and new pieces of sea glass that I found on the beach over the last few months (ok...my hubby found them, it's too darn cold for me...lol)

My Etsy shop has 2 discount codes available...one is a 15% for total purchases under $30 and the other is a 20% off for purchases over $30...all purchases come with free shipping. These codes remain in affect thru Cyber Monday (12:01 am on 12/2)

I also have a special blog discount set up.... "Sea Glass By Robin" this is an additional 15% off your remaining total after you apply the Etsy shop discount. To receive this discount, select your purchases, apply your

Etsy shop discount and then send me a convo on Etsy, with the blog code in the subject. I will adjust your total due by an additional 15% and send you a return convo to let you know your order is adjusted.

That is what's new with me. Hopefully, my DH can get to the beach tomorrow and see if anything new has been offered up by the ocean.
There are several new creations for me to list, a few more that need images and a few pieces waiting for me to make into a handmade piece of jewelry.

If you stop by and don't see a new entry, please add my other blog to your list and check there. I try to add something new there at least once or twice a week. Stay safe and enjoy the holiday weekend!

'til next time...
R

Dreaming of Sea Glass

Raining and overcast today on the Jersey shore. Saturday is change-over day and the traffic getting to and on LBI is going to be stop and go, so going to my favorite stretch of beach is probably a crazy idea. Instead I will add a new piece of jewelry or two to my Etsy shop, work on my blogs , pour myself a cup of coffee and dream of finding that elusive piece of orange sea glass. Or a few more like the piece below... : )

'til next time
R

Listening to My Customers

Listening to your customers can often breathe life into a shop's bottom line. My Etsy shop sales were rather disappointing. My inventory had stagnated, views were low and there was really nothing happening with my jewelry. Rather than just continuing on with my current inventory lines and hoping for a positive holiday sales season, I chose to try to figure out how to turn my sea glass inventory into new product line.

Several customers requested sea glass anklets and these creations proved quite challenging. Trying to avoid making something similar to my bracelets, I eventually decided to take a few pieces of sea glass that were marble and egg-shaped and drill through them length-wise. We had a few casualties along the way, losing a few gorgeous pieces of sea glass that suffered blowouts, but some pieces (like the image above) came through the drilling process perfectly. In hindsight, I'm not sure if I will create many more anklets with this type of drilling, but I will still make them like this...

I also had a few requests for necklaces that were a bit more subtle. I have made custom pieces for customers using smaller pieces of sea glass and people who visited my table displays last season showed quite a bit of interest. So I delved into my sea glass collection and pulled out several tiny pieces- all measuring 1/2" to just short of 5/8" in length and wrapped several. The "Petites" have really turned the momentum around in my shop... my views have increased and my bottom line has improved.

Both of these items came to fruition after listening to customer suggestions. They have allowed me to expand a stagnate inventory and give customers that visit my shop, a few additional options. When it comes to sea glass, you can't always give the customers what they want, if the ocean isn't providing the needed "gems". But in these cases, I'm glad my collection contained what was needed to make my customers happy! 'til next time... R

Sea Glass Anklets & New Creations

For quite some time, I have received many requests for sea glass anklets.

Creating them didn't seem like a big deal, but my first pieces, like the image above, resembled some of the sea glass bracelets that I made in the past and I wanted something different for the anklets. I wanted to "introduce" a new line, with a new look. I wanted a bigger piece of glass, something bold. Most of the sea glass I find in the US is flat and rather than drill two holes and connect the sea glass on two sides to the sterling silver, I wanted something different.

I have several gorgeous pieces of English sea glass that are just too big for me to consider using them as the focal bead of a necklace. These pieces resemble marbles or are egg-shaped and would be very tough for me to wrap. I decided to drill these thicker, bulkier pieces right down the middle, from top to bottom and use them for my anklets. English sea glass, for those of you that aren't familiar, is also referred to as end-of-day glass. Before plastics replaced glass in many commercial uses, there were many glass factories in the UK and several were located near the ocean. At the end of the day, all the excess was dumped into the ocean. Several different jobs might get mixed into the same barrel and into the sea it went, where it would spend the next several decades, tumbling about and turning into some of the most beautiful examples of sea glass. It is truly amazing how mother nature can take man-made garbage and turn it into something so very beautiful.

Some of my customers are loving my new anklet creations. And some of them want to wear them as a bracelet, while others say they will wear it both ways. I think they look great as an anklet, and that is how I wear my piece. And I'm now on the hunt for an knock-out piece of English sea glass to create another one-of-a-kind treasure for myself. While I'm posting images, check out this bold and brilliant piece of dark red sea glass....

'til next time... R

ReCap of the TRIS Craft Show

Last week's show was not a great one for me. I did make a little money, but overall, it wasn't a sea glass crowd. (I was not able to attend because of a change in hours at my job, but this is my hubby's description of the show.)

That's not to say the show was not a good one overall. Foot traffic during the show was steady, though not overwhelming. There seemed to be very few periods where the traffic appeared to be sparse...and that is a great sign for a first year show!

Several vendors looked to be quite busy and the crowd seemed to appreciate the opportunity to purchase quality handmade goods. Despite being a bit slow at my table, I did have the opportunity to talk about sea glass with a few people who never experienced it before. These people never noticed sea glass on the beach before, and are excited about keeping an eye open for it on their next trip to the ocean.

Several people went through the "Pure Sea Glass" book that I always have with me at shows, a few had questions about rarity and I did hand out several dozen business cards. The show gave me the opportunity to say hi to a couple customers that have purchased from me in the past, one of which was actually wearing the necklace she bought 2 or 3 years earlier!

My hubby also had the chance to speak with several members of the EtsyNJ team, many of which he had never met before. Several of the Etsy team seemed to have a very good show.

Overall, it was not a bad show, in fact, it is one that I will hope to do again next year. The show's promoters did a great job getting the word out, and the community responded with a nice turnout! There was a great deal of help available to vendors during the set-up and breakdown. And most importantly, the selection of handmade items was very diverse and of good quality.

Congrats to the promoters of the TRIS show...a job well done!

Sea Glass Plans For the New Year

I have to admit, I'm not sad to see 2010 go.
Despite decent sales during the holiday season and a possible upturn in the economy, 2010 was one tough year. Overall, online sales were way down, the craft fairs I attended were often handicapped by rain, high winds or ungodly heat. Even the ocean added to the woeful year by holding back it's supply of sea glass. And I always seemed to be on the wrong part of the beach at the wrong time.
2010 even had the audacity to give us a end-of-year kick to the "groinular" area with a last minute blizzard...sort of a "here's mud in eye" way to end a miserable year.

So as I trudge along in early 2011, I find myself proceeding cautiously with my game plan for the year. I'm not convinced that economy is turning around nor am I sure that consumers are going consume the way they did prior to our little recession. I've been going over my list of craft fairs and some of the late winter/early spring shows will be dropped. I hope to add a few shows in the summer and early fall in/near the beach resort areas and I have always wanted to attend the Sea Glass Festival as a vendor, and I'm hoping that this is my year.

Last year ended on a strong note, so I enter 2011 cautiously optimistic that this year will be better. Heck, I even found a dozen pieces of sea glass on the beach this morning (one or two pieces may turn out to be necklaces) Maybe it will be a very good year.

Have a happy and prosperous 2011!

'til next time...
R

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