Thursday, January 29, 2009

New Arrival! Natural Horn Doublet

NOTE: Our "New Arrival!" posts are intended as an announcement to customers of special additions in the shop. The types of items that merit special posts would be rare, exceptionally beautiful or otherwise noteworthy pieces. Subscribe to the blog to be notified of updates as these items will likely sell quickly.

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Natural Horn Beauties - Hair Accessory, Doublet

Exquisitely understated and casual sophistication are apt phrases to describe these lovely vintage horn buttons. Made by a true craft artisan in the mid to late 1800's, the attention to detail is unsurpassed.

Measuring one inch in diameter, the buttons are created by joining two separate pieces. The base is a buff colored disk, with the center carved away to accept them second piece. Next a dome shaped piece of darker, mottled brown horn is seated perfectly within that framework. It is held in place with a screw, which is shown in one of the adjunct photos. Do take a look!

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The mark of artistry is evident when one considers not only the perfection in fitting the pieces and the joinery., but also for the selection in material. The maker carefully chose specific sections from a full horn in order to find the spot with a natural highlighted are cor the center of the dome.

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If the Craftsman era is one you appreciate, you will be thrilled with this hair adornment. The subtle, simple, sophistication is evident.
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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Traffic Direction

As a shopkeeper on Etsy.com, one limitation that I find issue with is that we may not have working links within our shops, unless they direct traffic to other Etsy pages.

Most shopkeepers have some sort of personal website or blog that can be an excellent selling tool. We use these sites to provide more information to our customers than is plausible within our shops. Instructional videos, photographs and stories about our working days and creative inspiration, details on special promotions, and interesting anecdotes that provide a sense of who we are as artists, business people and crafters; these are integral to our message as sellers.

Currently, we may include urls to these adjunct sites within our Esty shop, but they may not be working links, and that creates, in my opinion, a massive limitation. For starters, our customers need to take the time to copy and paste the link in order to view the adjunct pages, and in this age where time passes in nanoseconds, that is simply a cumbersome task many people will not make.

Should a viewer make the effort, the chance are high that they will not open another tab to view the page. They'll copy and past the url in the one they are currently in. When this happens - guess what? Elvis has just left the building.... Will I see him again, and get a chance to sell him my goods?

I'm not holding my breath for a policy change within Etsy that allows us to provide working links to our outside selling tools. But I find it essential that I provide a forum where my clients can develop a relationship with my company. So, this morning I came up with an idea that may or may not prove useful.

I've created an illustration that provides the url to my blog and added it to each of my listings as an adjunct photo. For my product line, 5 photos are not necessary. They are one of a kind items which really only need one or two shots. I can add in another photo that shows a model wearing the items, or even two photos, but I certainly feel a little "advertisement" for my blog is a worthwhile use for one of those photo slots.

Now, each time a customer views an item, they see a second photo to click on. When they do so, they get a crisp, clear direction to proceed. It should be interesting to watch my stats to see how my blog views change due to this.

There are problems, of course. The person must actually type in the url - they cannot even copy/paste from the illustration. It would be SO nice if they could click a hotlink that opens the page in a new tab.... But one has to work with what they have!
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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Come Plurk With Me?

In a sentence: Plurk is Twitter with a personality.

I have a Twitter account. So does my dog.... In fact, Teddy wants me to get off the line so he can Twitter all his followers and tell them to come Plurk with me. He says that it might help him keep me in line, when I see fellow dog's telling their owners "WALK ME!!!" He says I'll read their Plurks saying "Oup - Time for Fido's walk!" and...get a clue....

I screwed up my Twitter. It's a mix of my friends and business and I am pretty sure I've crossed the threshold of what the friends can endure on my business doings. You see - I have my animal care service. And a t-shirt shop that focuses on climbing(And, of course I have to plug ClimbAddict, now that I mention it!). When I decided to get my hair accessories on an Etsy shop, I knew it would be....too much.

And just when I was thinking "Uh ohhhh, what to do..." I found out about Plurk! I'd hotlink it, but then you won't get to be on my list when you click the link. And I DO want you to Plurk with me...So - See that sidebar conversation widget? Over on the right? Go over there - yes, now is fine with me; I'll be here when you get back - and click my profile and get connected. Because I want to read about your daily stuff too. We can brainstorm ideas. And stuff.

The interface of Plurk IS a little hard to understand at first. At least it was for me! It might be simply that I am...too old. A 45 trying to spin in an Ipod world.... So - what did I do? I went to ANOTHER of my finds - Squidoo!. That's exactly what I did! And I found a lens that explains everything about Plurking. Check out
Get Plurk-ed! The New Bite Sized Blog Site
once you've come on board and see for yourself.

This page tells you just what's possible with Plurk; here are some of the things you can do on Plurk:
~ add photos
~ boldface part of your post's text
~ add photos and embed videos
~ link to conversations and see replies in real time
~ customize your page with CSS

So....I'm Plurking with my Etsy shop, and leaving my Twitter for personal. I think my friends will be relieved...well, at least after I send them ONE last Twitter asking them to Plurk with me!
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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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Friday, January 23, 2009

Copy Listings - For Shopkeepers

I came upon a tool created by a fellow Etsy shopkeeper to copy listings within your shop. For me, this is going to be a HUGE timesaver, because my items all have nearly identical information - shipping, names, materials and tags are nearly identical.

You need to be running Firefox/Greasemonkey to install the item. It's a click of a button and done - so easy to install! Here's the link; it's called, obviously enough Copy Listing.

Thanks to Ehax at Etsyhacks.com for this!
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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

GRAND OPENING ~ FREE GIFT!

NOTE: Offer ends February 1, 2009 ~ OFFER EXTENDED! Requests postmarked by February 7th will be honored!

Talisman Studios hair accessories made it's start a few years ago, premiering at the exclusive Fifth Avenue boutique, Henri Bendel. Quite opulent, but not the best venue to reach a wide client base, we moved outdoors and began selling directly through the GreenFlea Market on Manhattan's Upper West Side.

Now we are back, offering our collection of hair goods online, at Talisman Studios.etsy.com. As a special promotion, we are offering a FREE hair accessory to you! Please follow these directions to get yours:
~ Visit our website and take note of the Special Promo Code you'll see in the Shop Announcement, above the collection photos gallery.
~ In a separate envelope, place a self-addressed, stamped bubble mailer, at least 5 x 8 inches in size, and send to our address below.
~ You must use a "Bubble" mailer(large envelope with protective inner layer of bubble wrap). This will protect your hair accessory during shipment.
~ Please have mailer stamped with postage of $1.25.
~ Send To:
T.Marcoe
P.O.Box 171, Old Chelsea Station
New York, NY 10113-0171
~ Enter the Special Promo Code in the top left-hand side of the bubble mailer(where our return address will go; please do leave us some room!)

~ Offer available for U.S. mailing addresses only
~ Limit: One per person/address
~ Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery
~ Non-bubble mailers and/or those received with inadequate postage will not be processed. Please address legibly! We cannot be responsible for undelivered packages
~ We reserve the right to extend this offer or to close prematurely if requests exceeding 500 are received. In the event we close the offer early, we will make the announcement here, and will honor all requests postdated before and on the date of announcement.

Note: We will be selecting goods for this promotion from buttons of more recent vintages, from 1970 through 1980. Some examples are shown in the photo below. The hair accessories will be either plastic, metal or mother of pearl. Please allow us to choose.
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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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Monday, January 12, 2009

Be an Educated Consumer!

I've made a web page to provide information about the various types of buttons I use for my hair adornments, which I hope people will find helpful. As many of these buttons are antiques and collectible, I felt it would be a good idea to give some details as to how these buttons were produced, where they were made, and other interesting trivia.

As well, I've chosen a few good reference books for the interested collector, and provided some online resources to delve deeper into the topic.

I hope you'll take a moment to visit Talisman Studios - Hair Accessories from Vintage Buttons and Beads, and let me know if you have any suggestions for additions or changes. This is a site that will be revised and updated frequently. I'll also post promotions and sales events on that page, so it is a good idea to bookmark it.
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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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Friday, January 9, 2009

My First Sale!

Not too bad, I think. And interestingly, my first sale happened to be one of my all-time favorite buttons from the collection. They are made of black glass, likely from the late 1800's, and have a silver lustre finish.

I had decided to try out a "Showcase" spot on Etsy.com, as a way to gain exposure. At the time, there was no way to know if my sale came from that showcase, because the site did not have a way to capture statistics. About a week later, the announcement was made that Google Analytics was up and ready for use with our shops. I hopped right aboard, of course, began scouring for details as to what was happening within my shop.

It was difficult to understand; the program is really very powerful. But I did stumble down some lane and - aha! There was the clue. One little visit to my shop via the Showcase... ONE! I was not a happy camper, having read on the Etsy site that Showcases were an "excellent way to increase exposure..."

Well, it is what it is. I don't think I will do a showcase again; at least the way theu are set up. But the good news is that, of that ONE visitor, I made a sale. My FIRST sale!

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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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Wednesday, January 7, 2009

No Buttons Were Harmed In The Making of These Accessories!

This is an important distinction to be made. Some craftspeople who work with vintage and antique buttons aren't fully aware of the fact that they are fully devaluing their collectible nature when they use epoxies and glues, or add non-removable metal findings. They use these techniques to attach the buttons to another element in their design.

At Talisman Studios, we are aware that a pretty old button is actually more than just that. They are historical artifacts, collectible not only for their intrinsic beauty but as a relic of our social, artistic and manufacturing pasts. There won't BE buttons like these, once they are gone. There's no place in a collector's cases not a museum's archives for a button that doesn't retain it's true nature. To a button connoisseur, the back of the button often holds as much intrigue as the face, for it provides clues as to the button's age and provenance.

As well, from a practical standpoint, a button that retains it's integrity may be used again, over and over. Whereas, once a button has been altered to perform merely as a decorative element, the damage has been done. The button loses all historical value and indeed any value whatsoever other than the cost of the doodad it is now indistinguishable from.

The above paragraphs may sound harsh to the average person. Talk to a button collector, on the other hand, and you will get an earful!

I've always loved antiques, perhaps due to the fact I was surrounded by them. As a child growing up in the midwest, our homestead, which had once been part of a working farm, still included some relics from it's previous owners. The barn included one of those wooden telephones one cranked a dial to signal an operator, and a glorious old oak icebox. My father collected functional antiques; a wind-up phonographs with 78rpm records, candle molds, lanterns and such became part of the home's decor. I still have an old coffee grinder that has been as much a part of my family as any object can be.

When I came upon a cache of antique buttons at a flea market, it was no surprise that I would sense in them a deeper value than their surface beauty. The idea of reviving their usefulness as hair adornments was obvious to me. Upon turning them over and seeing the craftsmanship in the backings, how could I even think of chopping their shanks, or plopping a glob of glue on them in order to affix the button to another, "prettier" article?

And so I have taken a very understated approach to the collection of hair accessories called "Vintage Notions." In their simplicity, I hope people will feel a gentle pull towards a quieter existence in their own lives.

In order to maintain the button's full function and not lessen their value, I do as little as possible in their transition. Obviously, there's the elastic band, which threads through the button holes or shanks as they were designed to do. In cleaning the caches I come across, I am quite careful. Many old buttons are comprised of several pieces, with metal and paper components. Soaking in water or chemical cleaning agents will be their ruin. Even the removal of patina built up over the ages is a no-no.

Mostly I buff with a soft cloth to remove dust and dirt particles, and leave things at that. Some buttons WILL show their age and use. Though I try to use "perfect" buttons, sometimes a beauty has a blemish. That's not reason to discard them. So, occasionally a gorgeous metal pictorial may show oxidation on the back. An exquisite faceted glass may have a chink in it's polish, nicked in the hands of time. In these cases, that devaluation is reflected in the cost of the item, and I hope people will understand.
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Esty Sellers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to helpful marketing/selling tool/informational sites sites.

Esty Shoppers - Scroll to the lower portion of this page to get links to blogs from Etsy sellers!
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