Well, This Probably Wasn't so Smart

Beach glass inspired kaleidoscope wind chime. The beach stone clapper sounds great against the five copper chimes. Listed at .99 on eBay~ a foolish mistake, perhaps.

Oh boy... I may have made a Big Mistake.

After getting burnt on eBay a couple of years ago by starting a beautiful glass hanging at .99 cents, and having it finish at something like $15, instead of closer to the $125 it was worth, I vowed never to make that mistake again. No more .99 cent auctions for expensive works. But here I go again. Short memory for painful events? I guess so.

I just listed this wind chime, for which my usual price is $177.50, at .99 cents. This could be bad. This could wreck my week. What a fool.

Search Engines — Miffed at Google

My most recent (and one of my favorite) beach stone wind chimes. A very large, smooth and rounded, Pacific beach stone. The connections pass right through the stone, so Very strong. Five heavy copper chimes with a beach stone clapper. Tung nut oiled red cedar. On eBay now.

Until I made my own website I didn't pay attention to search engines, other than using Google dozens of times a day. For me, Google was it. It seemed to work okay, most often.

But once I had my own site up and running, I entered the mind boggling world of search engine optimization, or SEO as those in the field call it. Those not in the field, or who only dabble like me, might more often refer to it as ABN, or A Bloody Nightmare. ABN is the art / science / shot-in-the-dark of using text, mega tags, and design to have your site reach higher and higher on the search engine indexing results for important key search words. Important stuff, because if your site is not found, it might as well not exist.

After three months, I have been fairly happy with the steady indexing improvements for my site on Yahoo and MSN Search, but distressed by the indexing, or lack of, on Google. For a month or so, things seemed to be improving, and then, bang, something happened and I lost most of the progress I had been making on Google. That stinks. It doesn't seem right that unless you have a PhD. in SEO, or hire some company for hundreds of dollars, you can so easily fall off the search results.

That got me looking at other search engines. There is a very cool new one that has totally wowed me. It's called hakia. It's different, and it's Great! If you haven't tried haikia, I highly recommend giving it a whirl.

Hakia is now my favorite search engine. And yes~ from a quick look, I like how my site seems to be indexed there. And no, this is not a 'paid for' posting.

Pictures say it All

The original poorly lit image, and the somewhat better retake. In my excitement over a new design, I often can't resist taking pictures under far from ideal lighting conditions. Then, alas, I later have to go back and retake the pictures. A time waster. The latest beach glass inspired garden stakes are available on my website (three for the price of two!)~ now with better pictures!

An ongoing time gobbler for me is taking decent pictures of my work. Clearly, for selling the piece, the picture is key. After nearly nine years of doing this, pictures are still is a challenge.

Most often I know all too well when the light is wrong, and that I should not be taking pictures. This happens after just completing a piece, and being so excited (yes, still, after all these years!) I go ahead and take pictures. I know the best light to show off my work~ late afternoon as the sun sets, or a little earlier on an overcast day. Too early, and everything is too bright. A little late, and everything is too dark. So there is a fairly narrow window of opportunity for the best pictures. But in my enthusiasm for a new work, I sometimes can't resist.

Often I end up going back and retaking pictures. Sometimes I am horrified by how poor the first pictures were~ no big surprise that the wonderful new piece didn't immediately sell!

After dropping my beloved old Olympus D-250 three times, it finally broke two years ago. After trying out several cameras, I chose a Panasonic Lumix DMC-LZ2, and love it. The macro function is fantastic, and it has this steady shot business which helps to compensate for a wobbly hand. Often I hold a big light in one hand, so taking dozens of pictures with one hand, this anti-shake function saves the day.

All I need is some sunlight filtering low through the sky, this time of year around 6:00 PM. Just a little while ago, 4:00 PM was the time to shoot. It moves up a few minutes each day, depending on the clouds, and how the sunlight is passing through the trees as it sets.

Yep, pictures eat time. But they sure are important.

Oh Boy, Copper Prices Soar~ Again!

Heavy copper chimes. Yeah, I know, they have to find the stuff, dig it up, melt it down etc. etc. But still. Over a two hundred percent price increase in two years? That hurts.

Thirty day prices for copper

Not so long ago, I used to think it was such a great deal~ a length of heavy copper for under $10. Then it went up. Then it went up a lot! At $17, I stopped thinking it was such a great deal. At $23, I started to freak out. Now at $33, I am starting to figure out why they put the copper and gold charts on the same page! It's not just the price increase: it's how fast it is going up. Over 200% in such a short time. Ouch.

Well, I may have to raise my prices, or people will start buying my work just to strip the copper!

Internet (customer) Appreciation

Pretty? I had forgotten all about this mixed-media style kaleidoscope wind chime until a customer asked about them. Thanks to the internet, customers, viewers, other artists are able to easily drop a note, a comment~ this is a huge source of inspiration and motivation. To learn more about this wind chime, or to buy it, why not visit my website?

I feel an often overlooked advantage to selling one's art on the internet is direct contact with people. When you place your work in a store or gallery, you drop it off and (with luck) later get a check in the mail. You have no inkling of who has seen the work, who bought it, what people said. You don't know if ten people saw it or a thousand, and you don't get any idea of what people said and felt. But, depending on which site(s) you choose, using the internet you can receive feedback within minutes from potential customers, and other artists or craft people.

First, using counters and other statistical gathering tools, you know how many people are seeing your work, and even where and when they are looking, and for how long they look and read. If you have only a few visits a day, you know you need to figure out better ways to get your work 'out there.' If you have hundreds or thousands of visitors, and no one buys, you know you may have a problem with the work itself, or with the price. Either way, this is valuable information you never get from dropping things off at a store, where your work may not be displayed well, or perhaps the store is just not a busy place.

Second, and even better, selling on the internet brings comments, suggestions, ideas: Inspiration. Some of my very best ideas have sprung from a comment or question. How valuable is that? Extremely, and, once again, you just don't get that through a store.

Finally, and perhaps sweetest of all, are all the people who take the time to simply email and compliment your work. What a pleasure to wake and, with the first cup of morning coffee, read several emails from people who simply had to write and say how they love what you have done, how one day they hope to own something, how something impressed them so much. This past Winter, many a cold, wet, dreary morning has been brightened for me by such emails. You don't get that by dropping your work off at store.

So internet appreciation ~ Yes!

More than Just Wind Chimes

Mission style table or desk lamp with tung nut oiled wood, copper and real beach glass. Some people think if they visit my website they will see only wind chimes. The picture above is proof that this is not so. From lamps to garden stakes to... yes, wind chimes. Why not visit my website and see for yourself?

Time passes. Some may recall the picture I posted of the huge mess from a small logging operation on our property. Now with only a few days left in the burning season, we are rushing to finish the clean up. It is hard, dirty work. But the job is almost done. It is still not exactly a Better Homes and Garden yard (not even close!), but it is a lot better than a few months ago.

Wind Chime Beach Glass Style variation

A pretty wind chime. A variation on my popular kaleidoscope style wind chime. It's surprising, but this one actually holds about three times more glass. The morsels are loose, so you can shake them into any position you like. Tung nut oiled red cedar. Eight copper chimes with my signature beach stone clapper~ Great sound. Learn more about this wind chime at my website.

Garden Stakes ~ Must be Spring!

It's been a l-o-n-g hard winter, especially for those of us working outside. Too cold, too wet.

Ahhhh! But it really feels like Spring all of a sudden.

And so I made a collection of garden art stake chimes. Copper supports with beach style glass and small chimes. It seems like forever since I last made these~ that's the type of winter it has been. And so I am very happy for the warmer days. To celebrate, I am offering a special on these. Buy two, and choose a third for free! Visit my website soon, as I only have six of them available for now. Enjoy!

Extreme Wind Chimes

A few days holiday at Whistler Ski Mountain got me thinking (oh, oh). Seeing how some people live, I decided some really large wind chimes might be interesting. This large, heavy natural beach stone is combined with extra-large copper chimes. It stands out. See this and other recently made substantial works on the 'Major Works' page of my website.

People who own multi-million dollar vacation homes are not the sort I hang out with. But last week I did get to spend a few nights at Whistler, soon to be the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The weather was crummy, so I must say, I enjoyed the luxurious accommodation:

But just because I was loafing around doesn't mean I wasn't working. I thought a lot about my designs, and I guess these oversized palaces got me dreaming of oversized wind chimes. So as soon as I got back home, I got going on some really large, new designs.

Who knows, maybe someone at Whistler will one day hang one of these at their little 'ol vacation hut.

Wind Chime Custom Work

Eight chimes instead of my standard five. Custom ordered as a birthday gift for a mother who has eight children. It's a pleasure to help people give a very special gift.

Two different people with similar ideas recently approached me regarding custom work.

The first said that for their seventh wedding anniversary (copper), he wondered if I could make a set of wind chimes with seven chimes for his wife. He's going to have something engraved (romantic, I assume) on each chime. What a wonderful idea.

The second asked if I would make a wind chime with eight chimes for his mother's birthday, as she has eight children. Again, what a thoughtful, charming idea. I'm sure his mother will be deeply touched, and reminded of all eight children each time the wind blows the beach stone clapper.

It's nice when people give some thought and come up with a special gift idea. That sort of special order is always a pleasure to make.

Aside from the very high quality and unique designs, being able to request such things is one of the benefits of dealing directly with the artist-designer. You can learn about custom work on my the special order page of my website.

Wind Chime Wondering

Three large smooth and rounded beach stones with high-quality copper chimes. Tung nut oiled red cedar. The beach stone clapper makes beautiful sound against the copper chimes. All handmade. Built to provide years of enjoyment.

For the price of filling a car with gas a couple of times, gas which is gone in days or weeks, people could have owned something that would have brought them pleasure for years, and no CO2 emissions. Usually offered on my various sites for around $177.00, I had this set on auction starting at only $97.50. That's an absurd price!

I guess this week people decided they would rather fill their tank, or maybe go out for a soon forgotten dinner at a restaurant. Too bad. I'll put them back on my various sites, but I'm going to raise the price. A lot. The point is, they are worth way more than $97.50. I know the right person will come along, and appreciate them. Maybe they will need to drive a little less for a week or two, or skip one restaurant meal, but they will have these for years of joy.

Against the Grain

With spring around the corner, these small beach glass inspired sun catchers seem like a nice way to celebrate. Something about them says 'spring.' I sell them in sets of five, three with chimes, two with copper spiral motifs. I have two sets on chime page of my website.

Being organized and neat is something that goes against my grain. I will never be organized and neat.

My environment is a mess.

But at times I do have to make a (for me) super human effort. For example, packing orders. I fully appreciate that when someone orders an art wind chime or sun catcher, their first impression will be the box and the packing. No matter how beautiful the work, something will be lost if it arrives in a tattered box with sloppy packing. I know that. And so I make an effort. I have to laugh each time the postal clerk complements me on my packaging, always telling me I have the best looking boxes of anyone she's seen. Believe me, that's not natural for me!

Another area I strive to be organized in is with all the different sites on which I have things listed. Ebay, Etsy, my own website, and several sites sometimes share the same works. So when something sells, I need to track down the other places where it is for sale, and remove it. This is oddly challenging for me. Just yesterday something sold on Etsy, and as soon as I saw the email my heart sank, as I was pretty sure this one was long gone. I'm human, I'm messy, and I make mistakes.

I strive to be organized, I strive to be neat, but it sure goes against my grain.

Spring Garden Tip, Wind Chimes

Large, freestanding, true verdigris copper wind chime with beach glass-inspired glass and a natural beach stone base. Just the thing for a lonely deck, or next to a pond. Year round use outdoors is just fine. To learn more about this wind chime, or to buy it, visit my website.

The time change is this weekend, I hear. Three weeks earlier than usual. That means Spring can't be far away, and thoughts turn to the garden, the yard. An easy way to make a dramatic improvement to your landscape is to add a special art wind chime or sun catcher. It's easier than planting flowers (and no watering!), and less messy than fresh paint. A special wind chime can be a focal point, and when the wind blows you get lovely sound as a bonus.

Yukon Pup Turns Five

How is it possible? My pup Yukon is just about to have his fifth birthday. Time flies.

It's been a super five years with this fellow. He has been excellent company, keeping an eye on me as I work all day on my wind chimes, sun catchers and home and garden art. Somehow, he always knows when I am at my toughest moment in a project, the moment that involves both hands and lots of concentration. That's when he gets up, finds his ball, and drops it at my feet. I know some people tease dogs. This dog enjoys teasing me!

Everyday, he reminds me enough is enough~ it's time for a walk. Sometimes it's hard to stop in the middle of a project. But never once have I regretted the time taken to enjoy a hike with Yukon. Most people forget in their stressful work filled days to take that time to smell the roses. Thanks to Yukon, I smell them everyday.

Often I think, 'Okay, I'll take you for a short walk" only to decide at the usual turning back point for a short walk that it would be best to carry on. So we hike on.

Yukon turning five already? Well, may there be many more years of hiking on.

Special Orders are Okay, Sometimes

Pacific driftwood with copper and red cedar wind chime, beach stone clapper.

There is much wood on our local beaches. But to find the 'perfect' piece, especially for a special order, is not an easy task. Seeing the wood packed beach, you think it should take only a minute, but instead it can take hours.

Sometimes people are hesitant to ask about having me make small changes to a completed work, or about special orders. It never hurts to ask. That's why I put information about special orders on my website.

I've done many special order projects. I recall very well the first one, which was a long time ago. It won't be forgotten by me, because it was complex and difficult. The customer mailed a large tube with drawings of what he envisioned, and I did my best to follow his blueprints. It was a challenge!

Since then, there have been many special requests. The vast majority are simply small changes to an existing work, and I complete them without any additional charge. Some I can tell from the start are going to be a ton of work, and I need to charge accordingly.

Other special orders appear at first glance to be simple, but turn out to be a great deal of work. For example, one recent one was a nicely open ended request: a nice driftwood wind chime. There is an enormous amount of wood on the beaches here, especially at this time of year. So you would think finding a suitable piece would be easy. It's not. I wanted to find the perfect piece. You can never find the perfect piece~ especially if you are looking for it!

After four trips to different beaches and many long walks, I found a piece that I quite liked. Now, after drying it by the fire, and doing the work to turn it into a wind chime, I like it even more. It wasn't the 'perfect' piece when I found it, but now it is. I hope she likes it as much as I do.

More Wind Chimes

Wow! Another whole page of amazing wind chimes just added to my website!

How do I find the time to not just make these, but take pictures and add them to my site? Well it's not a hobby, or a little craft I do on the side. It's my job. Sometimes, when I put in twelve or fourteen hour days, it seems like my life! Not a bad life, though. Most of it is a lot of fun, and it's rewarding to make things that make people happy. You can learn more about my art and my life (and even see a picture of me working!) by clicking here.

Wish I had more time to write, but... gotta go work!

Wind Chimes Going, Going, Gone

Too late~ Gone! This is the third large wind chime to fly away this month. And I don't have many left. Just one, I think. Well, not to despair. I hope to get out and make some more soon. In the meantime, there are sure lots of other super nice designs and styles still available at my website. And one really nice freestanding large double wind chime.

Here on the West Coast, Spring is in the air. Little flowers are coming up. The days are longer. And I'm loving it! I do most of my work outside. So just imagine how nice it is to have warmer weather. And dryer. Even better, the late afternoon light is improving for taking pictures of completed projects. Those short, dark winter days are awful for taking pictures. So warmer, dryer, and better light-- I'm happy.

It's clear that others have their thoughts turning towards Spring too, as I see an increase in the sale of wind chimes and garden art. One more reason for me to enjoy this change of season.

Wind Chimes for the Eye as well as the Ear

The main wind chime page from my new website. Three out of nine already sold. Not too shabby, considering the site is not really indexed by Google yet. Nice to know people appreciate my work.

Messing around with keywords, linking, and .htaccess for changed URL's, and making more of a mess than a fix. Oh well, live and learn. Or~ learn from you mistakes blah, blah. Gosh, I must be learning a lot!

Still, I'm very happy. There have been some sales, and that helps to make it seem all worth it. There were many rainy days where it was nice to have an excuse to stay inside, too! Now the sun is out, so heading outside to make more neat things. Much nicer doing that when it is not cold and raining!

Stoned Out

From the Sunshine Coast, B.C. ~ Pacific Ocean Beach Stones

Stones, stones everywhere~ but where is the right one?

Funny thing happened the other day. A customer bought two of the same beach stone wind chimes, and when it was explained to her that only one was available, that each work is unique, she asked if I could possibly make a second as similar to the first as possible. Always looking for an excuse go beach, I said sure.

Well, the beach is full of stones. But very few are suitable for my wind chimes. And even fewer look even close to the ones in the the wind chime this customer wanted me to match.

So anyone seeing me down there picking up stones, rejecting them, comparing them, would have thought I was a real nut case. In the end, I found the beach stones I needed. She will have her two matching wind chimes. You can see more wind chimes like this at my website.

Wind Chime, or Sun Catcher ~ Get $15 from PayPal

Beach glass inspired cobalt blue wind chime with copper

Sorry. You missed another one. Shipped out this morning.

But there is good news! First, there are more wonderful wind chimes, sun catchers, and art for you to discover at my new website. Some even on sale! Even better. PayPal has a promotion where you get $15 cash back on any purchase $30 or over. Now that's a deal!

So why not check out the items I have already marked down by 40%, and then get cash back from PayPal?

Oh, the PayPal cashback promotion is good at any site that uses PayPal, even eBay. You can find out how it works here.

I don't know how long this is going to be available. You can sign up, and then you have plenty of time to use it (or not use it, as the case may be).

So that's the 'push, push, push' for today. But hey~ maybe you can forgive a little pushing, if it puts $15 in your pocket.