A Magazine Wants My Buttons!

I got an email yesterday from a Knitting Magazine (I'll name it later if this actually happens). They wanted a picture of my buttons for their magazine. They were going to put a picture of them and my web address on their recommendations page! How cool is that. I would imagine that IF they use the pictures that it will be a few months down the road but you can bet I'll be watching that magazine for my button images and if they do actually use them I'll be sure to buy a few issues. It's so exciting how these things can come about by having a product out there on the web and I think a huge part of this is having a site on Etsy. Etsy is becoming so popular these days and there seems to be a fresh feeling to the site these days. There seems to be a more positive outlook in the forums. It may be that their new/old CEO is back and he seems to be bringing a positive outlook with him. I also watched a Wayne Dwyer show on my local PBS channel this weekend - The Power of Intention. It basically said if you want something you have to intend for it to happen. For me this means you have to do the things to make it happen. Since the New Year began I've been focusing more on my buttons and to a lesser extent my jewelry. Exciting things have happened already this year. In addition to the magazine wanting my pictures I also have my buttons in a local store here in Ontario. I have been asked in the past to do wholesale orders for brick and mortar stores but have turned them down. This time I decided to go for it and put my buttons in an actual physical store. I always thought that I didn't have time. I'm going to play it by ear and see how it goes. I also just did a big button order for someone for their wedding. They are going to use the buttons for wedding favours/favors. How honoured I am for my buttons to be a part of such a special day in someones life! How cool is that.

Lot's Of New Buttons!

I just added lots of new images to www.buttonsbyrobin.com and these are some of my newly listed wooden buttons. These are available now in my Etsy store. I had a request by someone with the same first name as myself (Robin) for some robin buttons. Funny I hadn't thought of that before since I have lots of bird buttons. I took the request and made a couple of different kinds in both wood and my usual resin buttons. I think they turned out really well. I also took a few of my wooden buttons and made them into pendants. I listed a couple of these at my other Etsy shop www.outspokenjewelry.com although I haven't been listing too much jewelry lately these were seen and featured in this blog http://www.thischarmingcandy.com/2010/01/since-were-offering-free-shipping-on.html by This Charming Candy. That was a really nice surprise. Thanks very much Charming!

New Kilns

What a day. We went and picked up a couple of new kilns that I purchased from the parent of a co-worker. My husband I went and picked it up and it was a fair bit heavier than I anticipated. I am very excited to have the much larger kiln even though it will mean that I have to get an electrician in to do some rewiring. I will also have to call my insurance guy and make sure I am covered before we get this big boy going. I also got a second test kiln which I can use for small runs of ceramic or glass. Right now I only have a very small tabletop kiln I use for glass but hopefully once we get these all up and running I can make larger items.

Anyway the problem came when we came to lift it out of the van we had borrowed (with no help). I have an injured shoulder at the moment so was concerned about trying to lift the 250 lb beast with my hubby. I could just envision either crushing my fingers, injuring my shoulder more or having the whole kiln either crash into my father-in-laws van or just simply crash to the ground. I do not know how we did it but we did manage to get it out of the van and onto a dolly and then somehow lift it to its stand. What is even more amazing is my husband did not get upset, did not get angry and just calmly did what had to be done. We had no choice. We worked as a team. We did it.

It was a good day.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone. Here is to a great year and fresh start. The new year is the perfect time to focus on fresh starts don't you think? Yesterday I was fortunate enough to be able to leave work early. They let us go at 1:00 because it was New Year's Eve. My husband was working so we didn't do anything but he did manage to get home shortly before midnight so we were able to share a midnight kiss. I've never beenmuch into New Year's anyway. I usually do manage to stay up and ring in the New Year but don't usually go out or anything. Last night while hubby was at work I did manage to get over 70 bird silhouette buttons made for a custom order for a wedding. Today the resin should be set so I can add the holes and take the pictures and hopefully the bride to be will be pleased and I can get them mailed off to her. She wanted them for February so for once I'm ahead of the game. It's really an honour for my buttons to be included in such a special day. I hope she sends me a picture of the finished wedding favours. I also finished up a couple of robin (the bird) buttons that were requested. My first name is Robin and so it's the name of the preson that requested the buttons as well so I'm pleased to be making them. The ones I made are resin but I'm also going to be making some in wood. I've go the wood all painted up so just need to add the image. These wooden buttons are priced a bit higher priced as they're much more labour intensive than the resin buttons so we'll see how that goes. I think they look great but so far not too many wooden buttons sales. I also found or refound some fused glass pieces I had etched a while back. I'm hoping to do some silversmithing today and make some bezels for them. I've go some really cute ideas and we'll see how they turn out. I'm really new to working with metal/silver so it takes a bit of time to make these items and its hard to get the quality to the point to where I could sell it but I guess that's where the practice comes in and I actually love the finished pieces I've made so I'm very happy to wear them. I'm probably the only one to see the tiny imperfections but until they're perfect I won't be listing them for sale. Anyway so New Year's eve was productive and today I've made a couple of purchases so all in all the New Year is off to a pleasant start. Today my husband and I are just relaxing at home and tomorrow I get to go and pick up two (yes) two kilns I purchased from a co-workers parents so I'm very excited. The one kiln is pretty large compared to what I have now so I can try new things and the other is a bit bigger than my current kiln so now I can fire a lot more items if I want without having to wait a whole day for the one small kiln I have to cool down. I may end up giving one of the small kilns to my son who is super creative as well and makes jewlery for a living - stainless steel and titanium mostly for body piercing etc. but he's getting into silversmithing so would love a kiln to expand his creative possibilities as well. We'll see.