Well, that’s everything. I should mention that I’m quite behind on work, what with the nasty weather and other interruptions this past month. I have another sizeable order that’s been on the itinerary for weeks now, and that gets priority, so if you miss out on anything for sale this go-round, and must Must MUST have your own, please let me know, but give me a few weeks to get to it even if it’s just one set. I do apologize, this isn’t the usual thing with me… I mean, sometimes I’m a little slow, but I’m not generally quite THIS slow. (One thing I’m never slow about is shipping your beads, so at least there is that.) Thank you for understanding.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend! Thanks for having a look.
First things first: There will be new beads for sale in my shop this Saturday March 5th, 2PM Central Time! Prepare your eyeballs for some new and interesting stuff. Another notification will come on Saturday when my shop is updated with the new listings.
rescue us from this crazy bead lady
I’ve been quiet, but I’ve been busy: working on a gigantic order and maneuvering around the extremely cold, windy and icy weather. It was particularly frequent this year – January and February are always a drag, but we had way more objectionable precipitation than what is normal, and it was accompanied by an unusual amount of wind. One day was 80 degrees, and literally 24 hours later, it was 20 degrees. This jerk-around was happening about once a week for several weeks in a row. On Monday I was chipping 2 inch thick ice off of my front porch steps with a garden spade while it was 70 degrees. At noon. After spending several days in a row entirely below freezing last week. (I’m sure you guys up north are all “whatever dingbat”.) But that’s harder on your body than prolonged cold or hot temperatures because it requires constant adjustment and I’d rather it just be cold all the time in the winter because I’d prefer my hibernation not be disturbed. Then my ancient wall heater finally (FINALLY!) died in the middle of all of it, and it got replaced with something new and more efficient. All of this kept me out of the bead room for much more time than I’m cool with, but I got several projects done that I started literally years ago, and from the comfort of my comforter with a pile of cats on top. I also started a couple of pieces that I’ve been thinking about for months, which will be done in about 2 years, if I’m estimating correctly… and I probably am. I usually take several months to design a new piece of jewelry because I insist that the construction be almost seamless and resistant to wear and tear, and I put a good bit of thought into length, symmetry and flexibility. I often get so frustrated with my own perfectionism that I end up putting some things away for several months, and I’m usually glad I did because a better idea often materializes once the obsessive scrutiny is focused elsewhere. It’s a good thing I have a productive outlet for my less desirable personality traits.
apple coral, sponge coral, lampwork
big order
blue+green lariat thing finally finished
boyfriend’s superbowl ice cream cake
Here’s the PSA, maybe it will save you some time and extreme frustration – I know many of you sell things on the internet though your own shops or other avenues, and accept Paypal for payment and very likely have been purchasing discounted shipping labels through Paypal. Paypal has recently made the decision to switch to a shipping platform called Shipstation for this service. Why, I have no idea, because nothing was broken. I’m sure it has something to do with someone getting more money, and I assure you, it isn’t us. I got the warning email weeks ago, and sort of ignored it, but with my upcoming sale I realized I could ignore it no more. I almost integrated Shipstation as directed to get ahead of things, but stopped myself at the last fraction of a second and decided to read up first. So glad I did. Everywhere I looked (paypal community, reddit, and review sites), most of the comments regarding Shipstation’s usability/integration with Paypal contained words like “garbage” and “buggy” and “nightmare” and “no customer support”… which did not inspire much confidence, as this has been going on since last fall with no change. I also discovered that, like many service oriented large corporations these days, it appears that they insist on hanging onto just a few of your dollars at all times (also known as requiring a balance).
infer what you will from this…and this
But there is light at the end of this moneygrubbing tunnel – there are shipping platforms that give a discount on shipping and only charge you for the labels, like Paypal did once upon a better time. Pirate Ship is another reference that kept appearing in these comments, so I looked into it and it seems cute and quirky (but also fairly professional) and pretty much above board. It was praised numerous times for being easy to use. Also, Pirate Ship says it integrates with several major selling platforms (BigCartel, Ebay and Shopify to name a few), which essentially makes labels a bit easier to create because you’re not having to manually enter the info for each label and transaction in both your shop and the shipping service website. One more perk of Pirate Ship – it appears you are not required to maintain a balance, you can opt for pay-as-you-go, but you also have the option of maintaining a balance so that your money account isn’t charged so frequently (I guess for bank or credit accounts that have a transaction limit). Anyway, I’m happy to give this a go and report back once I’ve had time to form an opinion, but it didn’t cost anything to sign up and they don’t want your money info until it’s time to pay for the labels.
It really does pay to do your research. Honestly, I loathe having to constantly circumvent greed and thievery, now more frequently being perpetrated by once-reliable entities, and it gets worse every year that passes. Finding someone to get my compressed air from was a real hassle last year – being told that I’m not going to be able to find someone who delivers for less than $100 and being expected to just accept that as law, either because I’m a woman, or an owner of a small business, was infuriating enough for me to flip them the bird by calling every one I knew personally and on the internet and wouldn’t you know it… my deliveries are $4 elsewhere. Let’s pray my guys don’t get eaten by some interstate monster like the others have. Businesses have always been gouged on services for some reason, the smaller the business the bigger the gouge. So when you get internet for your office or studio, as proud as you are of establishing yourself as a business owner, put your ego aside and just do it in your personal name and sort it out later. “What? You live in a 50 sq ft room over a Chinese restaurant, surrounded by oil paint and sesame chicken fumes and no kitchen?” “Why yes, it’s 2022 and we’re all on the verge of becoming the fourth Mad Max sequel, so why are you giving me crap about this, or anything else???”
I dunno. Anyway. Sale this Saturday. I hope you can come!
the z-beads blog 