The Good, The Bad & The Ugly.....

...the trials and tribulations of running your own business.

I'm actually going to start this post with the ugly and end with the good as I feel it's always better to end on a positive note!
As most of my existing customers and followers will know, my communications are rarely negative whether they be posts on social media, blogs or emails but I felt this last week has been important to share. I hope it enlightens my fans as to how hard I strive to offer exceptional products and customer service but also to any fellow artists/crafters/self employed business owners to stay strong and true to yourself and your business ethics.
Those who follow my blog may remember a while back that I completed a commissioned larger version of my Mighty Oaks necklace which was going to be presented to a headteacher of an American school as a retirement gift. All went well and the order shipped off with plenty of time to spare as the deadline was the 1st of June.
As I prepared for a weekend away in Wales for the bank holiday, I received an email from this customer on the evening of May the 22nd informing me that the necklace arrived, she liked it very much but the chain was tangled. I emailed back asap to apologise profusely, assure her that it had not left me in such a condition and asked what I could do to rectify the issue given that the deadline was fast approaching. She asked for another necklace to be sent as she desperately needed it for the 1st of June.
Merely wanting to ascertain how the chain became tangled, I asked her if she thought the package had been opened (perhaps at customs) or if the postal box was damaged in anyway. I told her that perhaps if this was the case she could send me a photograph as she could be entitled to some compensation from Royal Mail.
What followed were three rather angry, rude and abrupt emails accusing me of calling her a liar, threatening to report me to Etsy for not wanting to refund or replace her necklace, not standing by my product and that it was far too much to expect her to send photographs but that the package had not been opened or damaged.
I referred her to my shop policies which state that I am happy to refund or replace any item once it has been returned to me and that in this instance all shipping costs on her behalf would be paid for. I also explained (for a second time) that this was going to be physically impossible given the timelines - even if I could re-make the custom order and ship it on the 26th of May (given that it was bank holiday too) the earliest it would arrive would be Thurs 4th June.
She kept insisting that she needed a replacement, that my emails were harsh and that she had never had such an issue before shopping on Etsy. She was also angry that we had been emailing for over a day - it had been 11 hours since I received her first email. I cannot begin to tell you how upsetting this whole exchange was for me as I pride myself on going above and beyond for my customers but it seemed I just couldn't do right for doing wrong here. Eventually she informed that if it arrived by June the 4th that would be acceptable. For me, that meant returning home from my weekend away earlier than anticipated to start work on remaking her necklace so that it was posted on May 26th. Since emailing the customer with her tracking number and letting her know a new necklace was on its way and where to return the damaged necklace, I have heard nothing.
I anticipate she will leave me negative feedback but I can't worry about that any longer! After a week of reflection I finally feel at ease that I have done all in my power to appease this customer and none of my correspondence can be deemed anything other than polite and accurate but the financial and emotional cost is, well, ugly! So there you have it! Shall we move on to the bad?!

Graceful Deviant jewellery display at Bradford-on-Avon

The last couple of weekends, excluding the bank holiday, have seen my jewellery out and about in Lacock, Bradford-on-Avon and Devizes but to say they have been bad is not necessarily fair. In terms of sales and footfall, they have been awful - to the point at which I am considering having to suspend working on my jewellery full time and look for something to bring in extra, steady income. I had been so hopeful that getting back out there to do these events would help supplement online sales but it's actually costing me money. It may be too early to say but it will require some serious thought after I return from my Canada road trip. *sigh*
And how could I forget that on the way to the fair in Bradford-on-Avon this Sunday, someone drove into the back of our car as we were stopped at a roundabout! Both us and the car are in one piece thankfully! Plus, there was also some sad family news to round off the 'bad' but there has been some 'good'.
I had some lovely feedback once again whilst exhibiting including a customer return to a fair a month on from buying my full moon studs just to let me know how comfortable and well made they were :)
I've also had the need for some greeting cards and so some time to unwind and relax with a little water colouring - my favourite!

Before and after - the image is stamped using archival ink and then water colored with Tim Holtz distress inks

This gorgeous Santoro Mirabelle stamp lends itself so well to distress ink water colouring and I recently bought some pretty papers from Trimcraft which worked perfectly:

A personalised birthday card using the Santoro Mirabelle collection of rubber stamps

 In a bid to cheer myself up I also snagged some Magnolia stamps in a sale - her name is Tilda and here is my first attempt at using the fairy version:

A sneak of the water coloured Tilda fairy princess

I can't show you the whole card just yet as it won't arrive with the recipient until later in the week :)
After a day of card making yesterday it's time to dust myself off after a horrid week and get my mini 'Sunken Treasures' collection back on track. To say I've been less than inspired to get back in the studio and creating is an understatement but some 'down time' has certainly helped and I'm raring to get going again.
To those of you that realise, understand and appreciate that this is a one woman show and not Amazon or a Chinese factory - thank you! I will endeavour to hone my smithing skills and offer the best, personalised customer service that I can within the space and time constraints that we all have to operate under in this universe :)
Thank you

Tea & Jewellery....

...does it get any better?!

It was a bit of a short week in the studio as I had to head back down to visit family on the South Coast for Thursday but some new earrings appeared using these fantastic little chunks of Fools Gold!

Domed sterling silver stamped arrow discs with turquoise & pyrite

Plus I also created this stunning necklace for a custom order - a 30th birthday gift:

Sterling silver angel wing charm & amethyst with oxidised silver chain

On Friday I paid a visit to the most fantastic little tea shop in Brighton called Talk of Tea on Spring Street. It's just off of Western Road, one of the main shopping streets in the city centre but pretty well tucked away which is why I would never have known it was there!
What a gem! Over 60 types of tea to try and all available to buy in 100g bags.

Talk of Tea on Spring Street, Brighton

I'm building my own collection at home now as I've got their breakfast tea, snow buds and jasmine dragon phoenix pearls - I can't wait to try more and I'd really recommend hunting it down if you're ever in the area.

So it's back to the studio this morning to catch up on orders and also to test one of the five new metal stamps that has arrived from the States - it's quite small but very detailed! Hopefully I can show you all what I've created with it next week so stay tuned :)

Handmade Cards & Commissions

A week of card making and silversmithing - perfect!

It's been a busy few days full of birthdays, Father's Day and more so the dining table has been littered with pretty papers, ribbons and flowers!

These are just a hobby for me really, I take commissions by word of mouth and don't sell them anywhere online but if you think I can help with anything - just ask! I love making them!

A couple of weeks ago I also got asked to come up with a floral necklace in silver with the recipients favourite stone - emerald. It was decided that a poppy shape would be just right as she had them in her garden!
And here is the result:

I still get nervous soldering but I know it's just a practise makes perfect issue - I'm always so conscious of how much the materials cost, what if it solders in the wrong place, what if I get too much firescale etc!!!
But I'm pretty pleased with this one and it has definitely inspired me to get back to the torch - at least once a week!

My next post will show you my latest Graceful Deviant product launch so stay tuned!

End of Day 2 & Some Commissions

Homemade Leek Soup and Friendship Bracelets

It's always rewarding to see happy, appreciative customers wearing their latest custom order! The most recent of these was for 2 of my cord friendship bracelets with some personalised charms.

 They were kindly shared on my facebook page too!

I would love to see any pictures you may have wearing my jewellery whether it be Graceful Deviant of The Blue Starfish. Facebook is one of the easiest ways for The Blue Starfish but you can also find Graceful Deviant on Twitter and Instagram.

And the day wasn't too tough detox wise either! If you remember from my plan it was a whole day of veggies. Here's what I ate:

1 x jacket potato (for my breakfast), 3 x leeks, 2 onions, 1 pepper, 1 x tin of tomatoes, 4 mushrooms, 1/2 tin of sweetcorn and my 2L of water.

Doesn't sound like much but here's what I did - I ate the jacket potato which a small pat of butter very slowly which filled me up until around 1.30pm. Then I made a leek soup!

It was delicious and I still have a little left for the next day too. I usually make this with leeks, onion, veg stock, potato and milk but cut out the last 2 ingredients not really knowing how it might change the flavour. I needn't have worried, it was lovely!
Then for dinner a tomato based soup stuffed with chopped pepper, mushroom and sweetcorn with a few dried herbs and seasoning.
Now I must admit I was getting chronic headaches from caffeine withdrawal and so I did have 1 cup of tea with a tiny splash of milk :/
I'm still feeling a bit bloated but that's probably the water more than anything! Let's see how it pans out!

Weekly round-up

Custom Orders and New Ideas

This week has seen a few custom orders, the largest of which was a set of four of my Mighty Oaks Necklaces but with an additional acorn. This was for a lady who had given birth to twins very prematurely and had since spent a lot of time in hospital under the care of four exceptional nurses. And so these necklaces are for those nurses.

 

Sterling Silver Mighty Oaks from Little Acorns Necklaces

I have also been playing with my metal hole punch and doming tools. The soldering torch will make an appearance again next week and hopefully with some better results than last time as I'd like to turn these into studs. I'm thinking they could be mini moon and black hole studs!

Sterling Silver Mini Moon and Black Hole Domed Studs

Lastly, I wanted to share a photograph of my latest card make - for my Valentine ;)
I used a new stamp from the Gorjuss range and coloured with distress ink and layered with some of the papers from the range. I have, however, had to scribble out the little sentiment to the right - it's just too naughty for general consumption!!

Handmade Valentine's Card

Hope you've enjoyed and join me next time for new ideas!

Ellen