Fellow Etsian Sightings – SkepticZone

Ok, I must admit that Richard was not an Etsian when I had the opportunity to sit across from him at a conference this past summer. He opened his Etsy shop (SkepticZone) shortly thereafter though, so I think it should count. Richard does really marvelous origami that you have to see to believe.

I actually had met Richard the previous year and marveled at his pierced earring origami creations. I don’t have pierced ears however, so I just window shopped. This year, I decided to look a little closer and realized that they would be easy to convert to clip earrings. The tiny, precise folds of his creatures are amazing. I found a pair of cranes that I just had to have. Now just two changes and they would be ready for me to wear. One, was the aforementioned conversion to clip earrings. I replaced the ear wires with hinged screw backs. I also wanted to find something to dangle from the loops under the cranes. Upon looking through my supplies, I found some small freshwater seed pearls that worked perfectly.

Richard’s origami skills are not limited to cranes however. He also creates flamingos, elephants, dinosaurs and more. (Oh my!) He treats the paper creatures so that the earrings will be durable. Currently his affordable earrings include free shipping anywhere from Australia.

Richard is the author of several origami books if you need some guidance in order to try your hand at this craft. You can also find some of his “how to” videos online, such as this one on the somersaulting horse. These step by step videos could get you hooked on paper folding in no time.

Etsy Front Page – Bringing People and Goods Together

I had a “pinch me, I must be dreaming” moment last week when I discovered that another one of EDCCollective’s items was featured on Etsy’s front page. Last Friday, my vintage cloisonné butterfly belt was picked by Etsy for a front page treasury that was posted at 12:30pm EST. You can click on the treasury to enlarge it.
And even better than the increase in views and hearts that I received from the exposure on the front page, is the sale that resulted! Thanks Etsy. I found out from my customer that she had had a similar belt many years ago that she loved and jumped at the chance to purchase mine when she spied it on the front page. Sometimes when people go to Etsy, they know exactly what they are looking for and sometimes things like Etsy’s front page treasuries will let them discover things that they didn’t know could be searched for. I think it is really cool that Etsy brought this customer and my item together like that.

Design This – Upcycled Jade n Pearl Necklace

What do you do with material from broken or outdated jewelry? You can recycle, repurpose and upcycle it into “new” fashionable jewelry that fits your current needs. This is exactly the charge that I was given by a recent customer.

My customer had some loose pearls from her mother’s necklace and an outdated double strand jade necklace. (See inset customer's photo in photo #1.) My instructions were to design a fashionable necklace for her daughter from these materials and any others that I thought would give the necklace a more contemporary look. The only other must have was to use 19 of the pearls in the design.

As with my other custom design orders, I took a photo of some possible designs and materials for my customer to give me feedback on. (See photo #1.) The feedback was to just use the jade and pearls that she had sent and surprise her with the design. She also mentioned that she loved the tiger’s eye beads and suggested that I might be able to use them in the bracelet that she wanted me to make for her. (I’ll share this project with you later.)

As I laid out the necklace, I took care to match the color and shape of the jade beads that would be across from each other. At first glance, they may look alike, but they varied by how the holes were drilled, their shape and length and color just enough that attention to these details would make a difference in the look of the finished necklace.

After I was happy with the design, I took a photo with all of the materials laid out, ready to string up the necklace if my customer liked it. (See photo #2.) I got the go ahead, so I assembled the materials into a “new”, upcycled necklace. (See photo #3) I had also had enough jade from one strand of the original double strand jade necklace for this project, that I was able to return it as an updated single strand necklace. At this point I still had some pearls and loose jade beads left. Since the daughter was going to have two new necklaces, I asked if she would like some earrings to go with them. Again, I gave a couple of design options to my customer and then assembled the winning one for a new set of earrings. (See inset in photo #3.)

So don’t rashly throw out that broken bracelet or dated necklace. Think about your current likes and see if they can become a new piece of recycled, repurposed and upcycled jewelry that you can cherish for years to come.

Etsy Front Page EDC Sighting

What’s even more exciting than being chosen by your peers to be in a treasury on Etsy? That’s being picked to be in a treasury by Etsy for the front page. EDCCollective was honored to have its Rustic Tealight Candle Holders included in a treasury featured on Etsy’s front page at 5:30am EST on Thursday, October 8, 2009. Below is a screen shot of that treasury. You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Fellow Etsian Sightings – EverythingDear

Whether by getting to know fellow Etsy team members, browsing through Etsy or hearting your favorites, one is bound to get to know at least some of the artisans’ unique styles. If you have done this, you may one day stumble across one of your recognized artisans in a brick and mortar establishment like I did recently.

My husband and I were invited to a large gathering of friends for lunch in Spring, Texas outside of Houston. Since we live in the DFW metroplex, this meant dedicating most of a Saturday to this sojourn. The organizer of our lunch didn’t realize that that particular Saturday was one of the busiest weekends for Old Town “downtown” Spring. It turns out it was their annual classic car show. The place was packed. We were lucky to find parking since the street that Google maps directed us to take was blocked and we didn’t know our way around.

We did enjoy looking at the classic cars on our way to meet our friends for lunch and noted that there were many interesting specialty shops in this area. After lunch some of us did a little shopping and looked at more of the cars. My husband and I turned out to be the only ones parked on the other side of this quaint shopping district, so after the others headed to their cars, we continued to browse some shops on the way to our car.

When we stepped into Mason's Art Gallery, the proprietor invited us to look around and let us know that her shop contained items from a wide variety of Texas artisans. As we wandered toward the back of the gallery, I noticed some prints that looked very familiar. Upon closer inspection, I realized they were the work of fellow Etsian, EverythingDear. This is a seller that is a member of one of the teams I belong to, TexasEtsyCrafters, and a seller that I have hearted. I told my husband that if we ever need a gift for a friend that is really into cats, we need to buy from this seller. Her work is every bit as good in person as it looks online.

EverythingDear’s photographic art is at its best, in my opinion, in her cat prints. They look like watercolors instead of photographs. There are also wonderful prints of flowers and butterflies. EverythingDear’s profile lists some other galleries where her work can be found. So if you are near one of these brick and mortar shops, you can get to see EverythingDear’s wonderful work in person instead of just admiring it online. (Photos in this article are from Everything Dear’s Etsy shop.)

Autumn Themed Etsy Treasuries

There have been some wonderful autumn and Halloween themed treasuries recently on Etsy. I would like to share some that my items have been included in. Click on the images to see enlarged views.

My Autumn Glass Earrings were featured in "Bourbon on the Rocks".

Treasury curators seen to really love my Autumn Beauty Feather Pendant. It has been featured in three treasuries; "Persimmons and Plums", "autumn orange from EART!" and "There's no such thing". Will you be the customer that loves it as much as the curators and add this lovely accessory to your collection?

See EDC at a Local Craft Show

I’m going to “get my feet wet” and participate in a local craft fair. If you have wondered what my handmade items look like in person and/or if you want to give me some moral support and you are local to the DFW Metroplex, I would love to have you stop by.

Saturday, October 3, from 9am – 4pm, I will be set up at Arlington Parks and Recreation’s 39th annual Fall Craft Fair. It will be held in the Senior Recreation Center at 1000 Eunice St. in Arlington, TX. View Map. Admission and parking are free. Their flyer states, “Come shop for handmade crafts and special gifts and win door prizes!”


I have been adding to my inventory and tagging my items in preparation. I have set up a display in my living room to get an idea of how to arrange/display my items. (You can click on the images in this post to enlarge them.) There will be several items at the craft fair that are not listed in my shop, as well as all of my handmade items that are currently listed and don’t sell before the craft fair.

EDC (Eclectic Design Choices) will be sharing table B-20 with Earlene Moore of Breads & Moore. Please stop by and say hi.