Tutorial For Making Beaded Wine Charms

Making Beaded Wine Charms

Every Christmas Holiday season I receive lots of orders for my beaded wine charms.  These are one of my favorite - and actually easiest items to create.  The possibilities are endless for themes, colors and materials.  These charms are great for dinner parties and entertaining - helping your guests keep up with their glass - and making nice conversation pieces.  They also make great hostess gifts!



This tutorial will show how I make my beaded wine charms.

Materials: 

• Beads of your choice 
• Charms
• Wire hoops (I use 25mm earring wire hoops)
• Small jump rings to attach the charm to the hoop - or headpins for converting a bead into a   charm with its own loop using a wrapped loop technique. 
• Round nose and needle nose pliers

Instructions:


1.  Choose your wire hoop.  This tutorial uses a 25mm gold-plated wire hoop.

25mm Gold Plated Wire Hoop

2.  Place beads and charm onto wire hoop.  For these charms I made my own charm using beads and a headpin which I wire-wrapped to form a loop for sliding onto the charm.  You can also use ready made charms - available in a wide variety of materials and themes.

Wire Hoop with Beads and Charm

3.  Form a closure for the hoop so that the beads and charm does not fall off.  The wire hoop has one end with a loop and one straight end.  Working on the straight end, use your round nose pliers to bend the end up to make a 90 degree angle.

Wire Hoop with 90 Degree Angle Closure

4.  Some people stop with step 3 but I prefer to finish the closure by using my round nose pliers to bend the tip of the hoop backwards to form a u-shaped closure.  To do this, grasp the tip of the bent up portion of the hoop end and bend it backwards over the top of the pliers tip.

Wire Hoop Finished with U-Shaped Closure

5.  Voila!  You now have a perfectly finished wine glass charm.

Finished Wine Charm

6.  Make as many as you want for a set - four, six, eight or more!

Set of Six Beaded Wine Charms

You can find more of my beaded wine charms in my Etsy shop!

History of Pandora and Pandora Style Jewelry

Pandora Style Rose Chintz Bracelet
By DJAjewels

I recently have made a couple of the popular "Pandora Style" bracelets.  Although they are not a big part of my line, I felt the need to at least design a couple of pieces because of their immense popularity.  And so, I became interested in the origins of the Pandora® jewelry line.

Pandora style jewelry is also called "European Style" jewelry because the Pandora line originated in Denmark and was initially a European trend.  Pandora introduced its first bracelet in Denmark in 1999, and the style quickly became popular across Europe.  By 2002, the brand arrived in the United States where its popularity also quickly spread.

The name for the Pandora® line was inspired by Greek mythology goddess Pandora.  Of course, now there are many "Pandora Style" designs not made by Pandora® but created in the same or similar style.  It is important to recognize whether you are purchasing an actual Pandora product or a design inspired by their line.  An actual Pandora® piece of jewelry is, of course, going to cost more than a "Pandora inspired" piece.

The unique style of Pandora® and Pandora inspired jewelry allows the wearer to create a unique design by choosing individual charms and beads.  The design is customizable as beads can be added, removed, moved about on the bracelet.  The design can be completely individualized because the clasp/closure allows the large hole beads to be added and removed so easily.

So whether you are looking for an actual Pandora® piece of jewelry or want to experiment with a Pandora style piece, go ahead and have fun creating your own original design.  There are many sellers on ArtFire, Etsy and elsewhere that offer a wide variety of beads and components. You can also purchase a fully beaded design - for a look at my designs, click here!

ArtFire Versus Etsy

This post is a follow-up to my last one on the ArtFire Group Deal.  I did opt in and I became a Pro Member as of October 1, 2010.  I now have my shop up and going and fairly well stocked with just under 50 items.

I continue to operate my Etsy shop and will likely continue to sell in both venues.  I have to say, however, the ArtFire platform is very user-friendly and has some features I really like that Etsy does not offer.  For example, I can create "coupons" for customers to use to receive discounts.  I can also mark individual or multiple items for "sale" with price markdowns.  I can even create gift certificates.  I can also show a link to my Etsy shop in my ArtFire shop - not permitted on Etsy.  I can also show 10 pictures of an item versus 5 on Etsy.  And my overhead is less selling on ArtFire's site as well!

Still, Etsy is not a bad place at all.  It certainly contains a thriving community of talented and interesting artists.  It is also very well known and has a large following of customers.  The selling platform is simple to use and easy to upload items for sale.  Visibility is Etsy's strength, however since it is still the best known site for handmade items.

Still,  ArtFire is coming on strong and with all its perks and low fees, it's market presence is steadily growing.  So for now, I will continue on with both shops.  It might be that I eventually settle on one or the other.  Or I might find that I want to divide my inventory of designs and sell one type on Etsy and the other on ArtFire.

Please check out both my sites - feedback and comments are welcome!

DJAjewels.etsy.com
DJAjewels.artfire.com

ArtFire Group Deal for $5.95 Per Month

Last week ArtFire rolled out a huge promotion - if they can get 20,000 people to sign up for a Pro account, those people can lock in for a lifetime rate of $5.95 per month.  Up to 50,000 people can sign up - then the ArtFire Group Deal is gone.  So far, over 4000 people have signed up.

Apparently $5.95 per month is all you'll pay - there are no listing or transaction fees!

Signing up costs nothing - if ArtFire fails to reach the 20,000 people minimum (which is unlikely) you owe nothing.  What if you sign up and later decide to cancel? You are only obligated to pay a one month subscription fee at the $5.95 rate before canceling.

This is a no lose offer for me!  Now having said that, I have had a basic ArtFire account for about a year and have not enjoyed the same amount of sales as on Etsy - but truthfully I have not put the same amount of energy into my ArtFire shop as on Etsy.  With this offer, I feel the need to give ArtFire a real try.  So yes, I have opted in for this great deal from ArtFire.

Click here if you want to know more about the ArtFire Group Deal.

I would love to hear others' thoughts and views on this deal!

Autumn Hues

Just finished my newest creation today - this "Art Nouveau Glass Topaz Pendant" is my first item this year inspired by fall:

Art Nouveau Glass Topaz Pendant

So I took it one step further and put together an "Autumn Hues" Treasury on Etsy with spectacular creations from some really amazing and talented artisans.

Go ahead, sit back and check out these autumn treasures:
"Autumn Hues" Treasury on Etsy

How to Offer Multiple Shipping Options on Etsy

I have always wanted to offer more than one shipping option for my Etsy customers.  Currently Etsy is not equipped to offer more than one option.  But did you know you can offer multiple shipping options through PayPal during checkout?  Here's how:

1. Sign in to your PayPal account.  At the top of your page on the line beneath "My Account" select "Profile.
2. You will be taken to another page - look for "Hosted Payment Settings" and select "Shipping Calculator."
3. You can then set up your shipping options for both Domestic and International.  You can determine whether to charge based on total order amount, shipping weight, or number of items.  You can even have a "Free Shipping" option based on your pre-set criteria.
4. IMPORTANT:  At the end of the set up process there is a box that says "Use the shipping fee in the transaction instead of your calculator settings."  Leave this box blank so that the customer will have a choice of shipping options.  Otherwise, PayPal will default to the shipping charge set in your Etsy listing.

Be sure to explain your shipping policies in the POLICY section of your Etsy shop.  Here is my shop's explanation:  DJAjewels Shop Policies.

I hope this post is helpful for other sellers who would like to offer shipping choices for their Etsy customers.  Feedback is welcome!

Do You Belong to SRAJD?

Today I joined the  organization "SRAJD" (Self-Representing Artists in Jewelry Design.)  It is something I have been curious about for a while as I have taken notice of other jewelry designers who have joined.  It certainly sounds like a credible organization and one that I hope will lend credibility to me as a jewelry designer.

I am interested in knowing what kind of benefits other members have found in belonging to this organization.....and what other organizations you might belong to that have helped you along the path in jewelry design.

So fellow jewelry designers - let me hear your feedback!

And if you want to join SFAJD, here is the link:  SRAJD