April | 2020 | the z-beads blog

Archive for April, 2020

new beads for you!

Posted in shop update on April 22, 2020| 2 Comments »

Click HERE to get to the shop, or the pictures below for each item.

funky mushrooms

modern mustard hana

happiness in milligrams

‘rona bubble katamari in periwinkle and green

‘rona fly-eye katamari in true blue and red

under the microscope: rust fungus spores

That’s everything! I’m not currently taking made to orders for any of the above items because I need to get my oxygen delivery situation sorted out first. Due to the obvious circumstances it might take a little while. You are still welcome to ask, I will just have to jot you down and let you know when I can get to it. I still have a mostly full tank and will be working with silver instead, since it uses so little gas and air compared to the glass. So the perk of that little bugaboo is rings, pendants, and there’s no telling what else.

Thank you so much for checking in!

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change your mind, change your life

Posted in blah blah blah on April 20, 2020| 2 Comments »

It’s a quick update to let you know that my z-beads online shop is live! There are a few things in there right now that didn’t get picked up at the last sale, and there is more to come.

this is about what it looks like, and you can clicky the picky to get right on over there

I’m so glad I went ahead with this plan. I did figure out a thing or two in the process: firstly, for the purpose of selling, it’s so elegant. I realize many of you are using various devices, oftentimes smaller than a home computer or a standard laptop, and it looks great and works well on a small screen. And the shopping cart! What a wonderful thing. I don’t have to tend to the inbox like I did before… even though I never hated the extra chit-chat, sending the invoices manually created a good bit of extra work for me and I’m pretty relieved that a bot is going to do that for me. (but again, if you want to say hello directly, please do!) I was also able to find my Photoshop disk last month, so now I can properly edit my photos to a reasonable size, and they are also saved to load quickly. I think you’ll be pleased with the appearance and functionality.

But one not so great thing – sales tax is added to each item. I know, it sucks. It’s getting harder to escape this on the various online sales platforms. I’m sorry. I just thought I would warn you because I still forget about it when I buy stuff on ebay and I’m surprised almost every time. Apparently I have the memory of a flea.

Here is how I will be doing this – on the days I list things for sale, there will be a brief period when my shop won’t be available, so be aware of that and don’t worry. Also, I’m pretty sure I have arranged things so that even if something is sold out (and it will be marked as sold out, so there shouldn’t be any confusion there) you can still see it in the shop until I manually remove it. I don’t necessarily expect you to be waiting with baited breath, but either way, I will announce it here when the listings are live. I’m reluctant to make a big to-do about it like I have in the past, times being what they are and all that rot… then again, creating a little excitement about something fun and positive like beads might not be such a bad thing.

I normally list things for sale on Thursday, but I might change it up a bit – let’s just say I’m aiming for sometime this week, for sure. You’ll be hearing from me again soon. Thanks for being such wonderful and patient bead friends!

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love and smooches from my bubble to yours

Posted in blah blah blah on April 15, 2020| 12 Comments »

missing the not so old days when you and your bestie could lick the world with reckless abandon?

(Before I begin, I will note that I refuse to give the THING – you know the THING to which I refer – any more acknowledgement than it already receives. I won’t get politicky or boss you or rehash what a bummer it is because you already get it, and you’re probably here because you need a break from it. But I will say that anything you buy from me will be cleaned and handled carefully on my end and suitable for being submerged in disinfectant on yours, unless otherwise noted. In that circumstance you can use your own judgment.)

So, hey, remember more than two years ago when I was all “Blah blah BLAH, Etsy Wants to Usurp The Bank Accounts of Helpless Little Artists and I’m gonna get a bigcartel shop”… and then I was all “NEVER MIND, I’m a cheapskate.” Well, I had pretty good luck hosting the last few sales on my blog in 2017, and the best thing about it was that I could have all the pictures I wanted, I could blather on endlessly about what a bead dork I am, and best of all it was FREE.

Then, in accordance with The Divine Law Of Nothing Is Free, several people informed me that they couldn’t tell if stuff was available or not at the last sale. I updated when things were claimed in real time, many times, but everything still showed as available via most viewing methods. My apologies. On that Sunday that I announced the upcoming sale, I had decided just a few hours earlier that I was going to do it and that I didn’t care whether or not I had everything perfectly perfect. As such, something was bound to go wrong, and I’m glad it was something minor. I’ve learned that excessive nitpicking doesn’t necessarily get you any farther than not giving a rat’s patoot. Something somewhere between the two things is probably going to accomplish something, but without the added stress of feeling like a control freak or a lazy bum. Who needs that kind of aggravation? Not me, homes. I’m just a chill bead artist without an Etsy shop.

oh, but wait!

With the come-what-may attitude I have acquired over the last couple of years, I said frig it and gave Big Cartel’s free trial a go just to see how functional it is. And I’m happy to report that it’s fine. It’s customizable and seemingly without hassle. But the best thing of all: we now have a functioning shopping cart. That’s in bold because it’s so freaking great. You won’t even have to email me unless you just want to, and please do email me if you want to say “hey. great stuff but your hair’s a mess”. There will be no mistaking available vs not, because if it’s sold you can’t see it anymore, as far as I can tell. Seems easy enough to add photos here too when I announce the sales. I like to show my work, and you seem to like to look at it, and it would be a good solution to that little nuisance and give me something to talk about besides… well… this. I’m a problem solver who often gets so bogged down in the details that the solutions just look like more problems. No solution is perfect and everything in life is fraught with drawbacks – but the easiest, most comprehensive one is often the best option. Even if it costs (only) $10/month. And it does, with no additional fees per item. I guess I can deal with that.

like you don’t know who this is

So HERE is my bigcartel shop (it likely isn’t live at the moment, but you can have a link to it here, as well as on the sidebar: z-beads.bigcartel.com

Also, I ditched the z-beads facebook page in favor of Instagram. I mean, the z-beads page is still active but utterly useless as a means of marketing unless I want to fork over the dough, and I reckon facebook has enough money, don’t you? And since Fakebook owns Instagram it doesn’t really matter anyway. Instagram is way more fun and breezy, allowing for less frustration and more whimsy. So here is my instagram, and you can also find links to it in the sidebar: https://www.instagram.com/zbeadslampwork/

Now, if only someone could tell me where I can dump my 2016 and 2017 galleries with such grace and ease. Or my whole website. Gah. I need to do something about my website. It’s old and clunky and needs to be updated. I don’t want to think about it.

Meanwhile, I’m working up to having a little sale next week – nothing too big, just something to alleviate the boredom, hopefully yours and definitely mine. Keep your eyeballs busy with some things I’ve made for myself over the last little while:

BRACELETS: