The Importance of Feedback, and What I've Been Doing.

 Any of you selling out there will know how much of a buzz you get when someone actually buys something YOU’VE made. That buzz continues if that buyer then takes the time to leave you some feedback.

It’s not just the buzz though. It validates what you do, it shows others that what you make is good enough, it shows that the posted item arrived safely and most importantly, that the customer is happy with their purchase.

I got twice the buzz this morning, when someone bought some of my polymer clay buttons last week, they left me lovely feedback in my Folksy shop, then gave me more feedback in her blog. It is a lovely thing to do and made me feel really proud. The blog post is here if you want to see for yourself. It’s a fantastic blog and the owner has already included quite a few of my pieces in her write-ups, but never as a buyer before.

I’ve been very busy over the last couple of weeks, hence the blog being slightly abandoned. I haven’t done much with my Amazonite necklace, that’s in the plans for this week, as I really need to catch up, but here’s what I’ve done so far.

The stones and rivolis have all been attached and beaded securely in place, and the leaves have been outlined in gold lined jonquil seed beads. I've also added freshwater pearls to the leaf points, outlined the entire necklace shape, cut round to make it easier to handle and begun filling the leaves with colour,

So what distracted me from that? Polymer clay again. I’ve learned new techniques including mica-shift.

‘What’s that?’ I hear you say. Well dear reader, it is when the clay, which contains fine mica particles is embossed, then the raised parts shaved off (talk about patience!) and the ghost of the pattern remains. The mica particles shift to the sides of the impressions when the clay is stamped or embossed, so it is these that form the ghost texture.

There are a few pieces I’ve done. My first I’ve kept for myself, and the rest will appear in Etsy and Folksy over the next week or so. But for you, here’s a sneak preview.

My First, and a keeper, but shows the mica shift perfectly.

A pendant using two colours as well as mica shift.

Folded lace. I think that works quite well. 

Lastly, yet another tile bracelet. I love making these, and with the mica shift, it's especially effective.

Oh and I forgot to mention, I was on another blog this week too, one of the latest in a series of mini-interviews with Folksy sellers. Here it is