Quirky Makes the World Go Round

"Strange, Not Normal, but Cool"

That's the way one source defines quirky. I prefer to focus on the cool, unusual, and unique aspects of those things we call quirky. Many handmade items can be called quirky. 

One of the benefits of handmade products is that many such items are unique and cool, the definition of quirky. Unusual color combinations, interesting use of materials, or a focus on shapes may define such creations. Many of these cool and unique items can be further adjusted to make them just what you want.

In one of my online shops I sell a line of quirky pendant necklaces. They are unusual and can be customized with your choice of color in the leather cord necklace as well as in the length you choose. Quirky meets customization! When you work with the seller of handmade items there is often the possibility for customization, perhaps for a small fee. 

Need it longer, shorter, a different color? Why not ask? We who create quirky items do love our work and will try to work with customers. There are limits, of course. I wasn't able to make a blue crystal pendant turn white,  a bracelet shortened to 4 inch length and still be closeable, or a cord swapped out on a necklace whose beads were too tiny. But many other requests were met.

Here's where you can find these and more quirkly items.

black and silver pendant

pink and purple pendant

turquoise pendant

Chainmaille items

More jewelry items

Choice, Options, or Customize?

My Blue Streak Perfecto

In a world flooded with things: choices, options, and customization all seem so common. But are they just alternative words for the same thing? If not, which is best?

I've thought about choices, options, and customization—and their subtle shades of meaning—for years. Why? I'm one dubbed with a first name that can have several correct spellings. As a child, those cheesy, store-bought name plates and name keychain displays caught my eye as if they were gold ingots!

The dozens of available names seemed like millions to me back then. But my most methodical scanning and searching revealed there was never just the right one for me—one with the correct set of letters for my name. Choice! Lots of choices, none exactly right!

It was so easy to envy Tom, Dick, and Harry or Ann, Sue and Marie! I looked for those displays with names back then and I still do search them whenever I see them.

Soon something better happened. During one of my parents' trips to the grocery store, I departed as usual for the cereal aisle and reading those "precious" offers on the back of all the 1950s cereal boxes. It was a marvelous exposure to offers, deals, exaggerated claims, and phoney images. BUT, one ad offered a little "license plate" customized in your choice of colors and words. Could it be?? My childhood grail! A customized plate for my old, second-hand, bike. Made the way I wanted! Now to convince Mom.

Thinking customization was the answer to all questions and world problems, it was time to plan. The bicycle was named "Blue Streak Perfecto," so a blue license plate was the obvious choice. Oh, how it now seemed wonderful to plan a plate with the bike name and not my name. Kids would know I got that custom plat somewhere extraordinary! Oh no! There was a limit on how many letters would fit and my poor "perfecto" couldn't make the cut. About 2 months later my "Blue Streak" plate arrived and proudly hung from the bike's seat for years. Lesson learned: customization has limitations and takes time.

There is a large span between many choices and customization. Price and time play in those extremes. I think products offering options suit many purposes. Products with options are not as expensive as a fully customized item, and yet they can more closely represent preferences without a big expense or long wait.

In one of my online shops I offer handmade chainmaille pendants on cord necklaces. People purchase for the design and color of the pendant — not the cord. Perhaps they do not like the cord. Now I am offering upgrade options on that cord. It can be leather, you can pick the best length — and happiest of all — you pick the leather cord color! The upgraded clasp is sterling silver. Make it classic, whimsical, or color coordinated!

What a difference a colored cord makes!



Order a pendant and custom leather cord in April, use coupon code BLOG04,  and receive free US shipping.

Coupon available in www.Lehane.etsy.com  for chainmaille jewelry and
www.LehaneArts.etsy.com for selected pendants

Spring Strikes Once Again

Are Humans Mostly Just Like Cars?

You know, they all are similar with a few different colors, horsepower options, and features. Are we all that different from each other? Or are we mostly similar? I've been thinking about this for a while, especially as I watched all the non-news regarding the missing airplane. We all are curious, worried, sad, and more. Nationality has nothing to do with it. Nor does language or color. A Chinese mother's sobs are not foreign to us, nor are tears and anger. I think we are just like cars, so similar!

Our ancient ancestors worshipped the sun and moon. They knew about seasons and plants and the time to grow. This information was crucial to survival for them. Today we eat food brought in from all over the world, but deep in our bones are the old memories of planting and seasons and sunshine. We no longer worship the change of seasons, or do we?

Today I walked through a garden shop filled with thousands of plants and flowers. The sun was overhead, filtered with just a screen. Plant pots for sale, and those occupied, were filled with water from yesterday's rain. That damp earth smell was everywhere. A riot of colorful patches filled the neat rows of flowers. It was easy to be one with those ancient humans who plotted the seasons and time to start their crops.

For me, it will be orange marigolds and red salvia that remind of ancient connections, gardens past, and happy memories. And if neighboring hummingbirds stop by, that will be fantastic.

Spring rituals are pulling me to a chorus of species' memories this season. Worries have shifted from an unfinished airplane story to concern about potting soil quantities. The flower pots have been patient until now.

You can get the celebration of spring started with a new piece of jewelry I made to look just a bit earthy. Click the links to see more and better photos as well as details and purchase info.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179084484/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179206051/

https://www.etsy.com/listing/178777997/

Humans and the Communal Bond

There are many ways we humans show and share our communal bonds. 

Major league sports exploit our need to belong to a group with their sale of team clothing, decals, and more. Kids wear their team colors, shirts, and jackets — or not. Each is a statement of belonging to something or deciding just the opposite.

We love flags and colors for what they represent. But we mostly love the feeling of belonging to something or the feeling of being somewhat outside the norm and bucking the tide.

And soon we will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day. A major event is some places and perhaps not noticed elsewhere. I grew up near Boston, a big city with a large Irish population. I'm descended from Irish immigrant grandparents. Our relatives in the "old country" sent my mother a small box of living shamrock each St. Patrick's Day and I took the mysterious green and white box to show off its contents at school. I wanted other kids to know I belonged to something mysterious and special.

There is something magical that happens when people wear patriotic colors on patriotic holidays, or pink for breast cancer awareness month, or red for heart disease. An instant bond or communication can take place.  Some become insiders in the special group.

My parents said that "everyone" is Irish on St. Patrick's Day. But for many years I was in the group that didn't want to identify with any trendy thing —no green on St. Patrick's Day, no patriotic colors on July 4th. So amid the greenery in my Celtic jewelry section on LehaneArts.etsy.com is a gorgeous blue necklace marking just a bit of the old rebellious spirit that drives my ambition.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179168466/celtic-necklace-double-strand-light-blue

Here's an invitation to view and perhaps purchase something special for St. Patrick's Day at LehaneArts.etsy.com and just because you do, I'll offer free shipping to a US address until March 14 with the code shipfree314 at checkout. Come on and join the fun of belonging to the ancient and mysterious Celtic ways, at least for one day this year!

My Jewelry Shop Calved!

A New Calf!

My jewelry shop on Etsy was a bit overstuffed 

with a wide range of items and so it "calved." 

The original shop Lehane.etsy.com now houses my chainmaille creations while the "calf," or new shop, LehaneArts.etsy.com is home to the crystal, gemstone, dichroic glass, and other jewelry items.

Both shops are popular and see roughly the same daily traffic. They each also inform viewers about the other.

Check out my renovated shops and their grand reopening. Use the code shipfree314 at checkout for free shipping to a US address now through March 14, 2014.

Group2020 Shop of the Week

Creations with Incredible Details

Every "Shop of the Week" seems to have some amazing aspect to their creations. This week is no exception. LanmomOriginals.com creates all-natural handcrafted soaps and incredible jewelry.

Today my focus is on the jewelry at LanmomOriginals.com, made using a technique called bead crochet which dates back more than 135 years! Incredible focus is needed to first. plan each design, then to figure out the pattern in bead sequence, to string the beads, and to finish the piece.

BUT, these beads are quite tiny and creations using this technique use hundreds and thousands of such beads in intricate patterns. Take a look at these two items and just think about the skill required to handle the beads, let alone design the patterns.

For details click here

These earrings measure just 2.25 inches from the top of the earwire to the bottom of the beaded area, and yet  hundreds of beads were used as this closeup shows. The beads are light and dark teal and copper color to suggest the Caribbean Sea on a warm day.

•   •   •

For details click here

Now that you know hundreds of beads are used for small earrings, just imagine how many are in this 7.5 inch bracelet! And if handling all those wee beads is astonishing, don't forget that the pattern must be followed exactly as the work is made. Wow! We should all be in awe of the work done in this shop. Seeing these patriotic colors is great, too!

My Chainmaille Now on Etsy

Selling Handmade Items Online
Some Thoughts and Migrations

I've been selling online for a long time, starting with Ebay back about 1999 and followed by a parade of other places. This week I decided to focus selling my jewelry in a new way. Rather than running several shops on various venues, I am focusing on migrating my items to two shops on Etsy: one for chainmaille and the other for all other jewelry made with crystals, beads, glass, metals, mood beads, etc. 

This will make each shop easier to navigate and categorize. At the moment many of my chainmaille items can be found at http://Lehane.etsy.com more items will be migrating in the next days.  Here are two items from the chainmaille shop.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/178827857/blue-and-silver-compass-point?ref=shop_home_active_5

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179042798/chainmaille-celtic-star-blue-silver-and?ref=shop_home_active_1

The other jewelry shop will debut shortly and there will be a blog post about it at that time.

Why does it matter where you sell online? 

As sales increase a few things take on more significance. For instance, can sales tax be automatically added to the appropriate sales, can the shipping label have the address info automatically filled in, do buyers trust and recognize the selling venue, is there an easy way to list variations on items, is there a shipping discount, and can a customer select an option or ask a question as they purchase. These minor things are not obvious problems until sales volume increases. 

So I choose to make a great effort to consolidate my shops in order to access these benefits. Check out the chainmaille shop, if you use the coupon code blogFEB2014 -- good through February -- shipping will be free on any purchases.