Dusty

Back in the studio also means back to sanding pieces... Bweurk!
I sand most of the porcelain before it even goes into the kiln and then again after the first firing and again after the porcelain firing. That's a lot of sanding but then the porcelain feels really soft even though it's stonehard...

Cookie cutter love

I love cookie cutters! And while posting these images, I regret that I didn't take one of my cookie cutter jar. It's nice and big and always puts a smile on my face - even if it doesn't involve cookies...

Back in the studio

Last Tuesday I started working again in my part-time job so I thought it was about time to set up my studio again too. The maternity leave passed by superquick and I thoroughy enjoyed every minute of it. The past months, I had lots of broken nights (and I still have) and busy days that I spent with baby Julie. We get to know each other so much better and every day we have new adventures ahead of us.
The good thing about working at home part-time is that I don't have to miss out too much on seeing our little girl grow up. I'm very happy about that as she grows superfast like all kids do I suppose.

Anyway, I started out with some porcelain work as that doesn't take up too much space on my table so there is still place for Julie and her play blanket & baby gym. It makes the transition to 'back to work' a little easier... :)

Winner uppercase magazine

Thank you all for adding a comment to the Uppercase give-away. All good reasons to get a copy of the magazine and I wish I had enough to send you all one but too bad there is only one lucky winner.
Random.org picked a random number and the lucky winner is Wilma.
Please send me your address so that I can send you the copy!

Hello Etsy 2012 recap

Quickly wanted to drop by to tell you about how amazing 'Hello Etsy' was yesterday!
I did take my camera but found it hard to take images and hold baby Julie at the same time so I have no images on my card at all! That's a first but please go look at Janine's blog from  Uppercase Magazine (and see baby Julie in her blog). Not only does she make a truly magnificent magazine, she's a supersweet and kind person too. She started out the event with her story and her presentation was truly inspiring.
You can find all the presentations in de on line labs of Etsy as the entire event was livestreamed. Don't forget to watch Satish Kumar's presentation. Together with Janine's, it was one of the highligths of the day!

At the end of the day, I took part in a panel about selling on Etsy. This was lead by Simone Weimans, a news anchor and Etsy shop owner. Together with Kim, Nelliana & Kenneth we answered some questions that Simone had. Previous to this presentation, we Skyped to prepare things a bit. After that Skype conversation, I put some lines on paper as I knew I would be nervous to speak in public and I didn't want to have a black out. Haha!
Of course I forgot to say a few things here and there but I thought that it would be nice to put my notes in my blog for you all to see. Nothing spectacular but perhaps there are a few tips and tricks in there that can help you...

What did you learn since opening your shop?

• Make better images
• Realistic price setting: first low priced items, lots of sales, lots of stress to produce.
  Then I increased my prices so that I would have to make less but earn the same.
• Branding is important!
  Have your name on your products if possible with a label, a stamp or a sticker.
  Be consistent in use of avatar, banner, photo’s  
• Be passionate about what you do and let that reflect in your communication to your customer.
  
• Give people something to talk about: packaging, product, name…
• Word of mouth is the best advertisement! 
• Stand out from the crowd: pictures, products, descriptions

Tips for other sellers

• Be part of the community by joining a team
• Treat your customers the way you want to be treated and have great customer service. Ex. Quick reply to convo’s, respond to special requests, add a handwritten thank you note,…  It generates repeat sales… 
• Connect &  Collaborate with other 
•  Make new products & do some one of a kind stuff or limited editions.
•  Make people curious about your work: show work in progress in your blog, sneak previews on Flickr or Facebook, let ‘em know when a new line will be launched 
•  Dare to find media exposure: write to appropriate blogs to let ‘em know there will be a new product launched and that they are the first to know. Blogs love to feature new products that haven’t been seen before.
• Share knowledge – don’t frantically keep everything you do secret because you are afraid of copycats, people who want to copy you will find a way. Instead, share your knowledge, make tutorials and show people how clever you are. It will bring them joy and creativity too and they’ll be grateful for good advise and will talk about you and your site/blog/shop.
• Be positive - don’t get discouraged & negative when things don’t take off right away. It takes time to built a solid base.
• Use social media: Flickr, Twitter, Pinterest, Blog, Facebook,…
• Have dialogues with future customers on social media – ask advice, feedback,…
• Write a newsletter to connect with your community

Next Hello Etsy will be in NY city in March 2013! Mark your kalender on 22/23 of March!

Part of something bigger - volume 2

Remember that I told you about lots of surprises for Julie in the mail and that is was part of something bigger?
Well, the mailbox got more of those and I'd love to share 'em with you. I still have not put together the entire poem as some words are still missing but I'm getting there. All of the gifts have a hanging tag and it will look so pretty when I will assemble the mobile. As soon as it's ready I will show you!
Anyway, here are some more words that came in the mail...

 Judit from Vadjutka (Hungary) send two times the word 'een' (means: a).

Anna from 'the house of mouse' (the Netherlands) send Julie the cutest sleep mouse. The mouse is holding the word 'slaap' (means: sleep).

Annemiek from TwoTreesWorld (the Netherlands) delivered her gifts in person. So nice to catch up with her. She made the words 'slaap' in the form of a flying porcelain sheep - cute! (means: sleep) and 'van' (means: of)

Anna Denise from The yellow umbrella (Belgium) drew something mighty cute - I love her drawings! Her word says 'reuzeke' (means: small giant)

Caro from Honoriginal (the Netherlands) made a supertiny & pretty book and a paper cloud with the word 'doe' (means: do)

Stephanie from PetitPlat (France) proves here that she can not only make tiny things, haha, she made a giant pea pod with the word 'reus' (means: giant)

Elles from Misusu (United States) send two intricately made patchwork pieces (amazing) with the words 'een' (means: a) and 'doos' (means: box)

Marijke from Sweet and simple stuff (the Netherlands) send a very soft and cute crocheted babushka with the word 'dicht' (means: closed)

And Kim from Viltalakim (the Netherlands) came to deliver her gift in person too. A cute felted heart with the word 'roos' (means: rose) and she also gave me a few tips regarding the poem.
Like that I was still missing about 8 words and that the poem consisted out of 8 lines.
Thanks Kim for clearing a few things up for me. I suppose that I'll be keeping an eye on my mailbox a bit more and hope that the mystery will be revealed soon.
Thanks so much everyone! You can't imagine how curious I am to see the end result! :)

Oh, and for those wanting to see how much Julie has grown, you can subscribe to my newsletter because I add images from her in there. We are a bit hesitant to post images of her on the world wide web...

Hello Etsy

Oh oh oh, it's been a while since I popped by here. Can't believe how fast time flies!
Two weeks ago I have taken images of new gifts that came in the mail for Julie, but haven't gotten around to blog 'em yet. Will try to do that soon. I still miss a few words to complete the poem so I can't connect the dots yet...

Another thing I wanted to let you know that I will be attending 'Hello Etsy' in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The summit will be part of the Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. I'm so much looking forward to meeting 'old' friends and making new ones again.
I'll also take part in a panel about selling on Etsy which will be lead by super sweet Simone from mooivintage. I met Simone for the first time at Hello Etsy in Berlin last year and see her frequently as she's a news anchor on Dutch television. :)

There are still tickets available for those who haven't decided to go yet. And if you go, don't forget to order your free MOO cards so that you can connect with all those cool people attending

Hope to see you there!
Please say 'hello' when you see me as I would love to meet you!
(I'll have 2 small pigtails and most likely, a little baby on my arms! )