Got Gilding Flakes!

Hmm, it's not easy to write a blog post when your two year old keeps driving a toy fire engine across your keyboard, but I thought I'd better make an announcement about my latest product.

I had a hell of a time tracking down a supplier of gilding flakes (or gilding foil), there is currently only one comprehensive supplier of gilding flakes on the Chinese umbrella site I subscribe to, and for some reason they only take the trouble to respond to 50% of enquiries, and unfortunately my emails were in the unlucky half that gets ignored. However I was able to find a UK based company that produces all manner of gold leafing and gilding products. The profit margin won't be as high, but at least now I can assess the demand.

It's such beautiful stuff, and great fun to pack into jars, I'd just managed to get the last of the glitter cleared up, now I have fragments of coloured foil everywhere!

These are currently available via my Etsy shop, though I'll be adding them to my Folksy very soon.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/123662308/gilding-flakes-four-colours-available

Please check them out.

Yay, glitter all packed

Well, it involved a lot of evenings sitting in front of the TV with sacks of glitter and a tiny half teaspoon, but all the glitter is packed and labelled. The hardest part was trying to come up with names for everything, I started by calling the red one 'Ruby Red Slipper' with a nod to The Wizard of Oz, and therefore felt obliged to give all the others the most interesting names I could think of, while at the same time referencing their actual colour. The other hardship (sort of) was having my living room slowly turning into a fairy cave as glitter found its way all over my couch, clothes and the rest of the house.

Now they're all listed on eBay, though I think Etsy and Folksy are probably a better location for them.

Speaking of Folksy, I've had a recommendation from a lady who's compiled a list of online craft shops on her blog, to save shoppers the tedium of spending hours searching through google for comparisons:

http://pastimehobbyist.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/craft-supplies-uk/

I've checked out her Folksy shop, and there are some beautiful things on there, she does lovely things with felt:

http://folksy.com/shops/LeisureTime

My next challenge, sourcing some of those gilding flakes to sell.

Notice Given

Well, I took the plunge, and handed in my notice.

Oddly enough I did it on New Year's Day, as that was when my boss returned my phone call. I told her it was all about the pressures of family, and that I needed to find a job locally. Which is all true, I just didn't mention that I plan to set up my own craft business. My boss was incredibly nice about it all, as I thought she would be.

Now I'm just counting the remaining shifts until I leave for good. I've five more to do, can't wait for them to be over.

I'm also impatient for 2,000 little plastic pots to arrive for me to pack glitter in. I ordered 25kg of glitter just before Christmas, which I plan to sell in 15g pots. Unfortunately the first batch of pots I ordered turned out to be too small, and after potting up 160 by really packing it in to reach 15g, I've had a rethink. If people buy a pot of glitter packed so tight it explodes all over them the first time they open it, they might not want to buy from me again! Therefore I've decided it's worth the time and effort to start over with slightly larger containers. It's all a learning curve, right?

My Ersatz Ocean

I love the ocean. If I were ever to live somewhere other than London it would have to be a coastal town.

I also love sea glass. But as I don't live near an ocean I decided I'd spend this week trying to obtain the next best thing, tumbled glass. Hence the title of my post, the ersatz ocean I refer to is my tiny stone tumbler, which has finally come out of it it's box ten years after I bought it (long story involving an ex boyfriend who liked pebbles).

Initially I just wanted to make tumbled glass chips, but then I got the idea to try a whole jar, and so make a vase. I used an old curry paste jar, which is a lovely square shape with a long neck. It looked lovely all frosted.

To decorate it I marbled it using nail polish to create a crashing waves pattern. Overall I'm quite happy with the result. It's the first thing I've made for years.

Introduction

My situation is basically this:

I am going to turn forty at midnight this New Years Eve, and already I'm evaluating where my life is going.

I am single, with a young son who's almost two, I share a house with a friend of twelve years, I have a BA in Literature, and a crappy dead end job in a shop. I have much to be thankful for, the main one being my wonderful son, the light of my life, and the best, if most radical decision I've ever made in my life. What would I like to change? Well being single kind of sucks, but that's a topic for another blog. The other thing is my job, which I've held down for seven years (less ten months on maternity leave), and I reside at exactly the same place in the pecking order as when I started there. That's the nature of small businesses, there isn't much of a career ladder.

I was trying to find a new job, just for a change of scene, but the moment I read the words 'must be flexible' my heart sinks. Because for 'must be flexible' read the words 'must not have kids'. Having kids means you can't be flexible in a shop involving shift work, you can't come in to work at a moment's notice, you can't just stay home when they don't need you, and you can't organise your life around the company's needs. In short, employment opportunities for women with toddlers are limited.

My solution, to start my own online business, become one of these 'mumtrepreneurs' I've been hearing about. I'm going to sell craft supplies, it's a market I have some experience with and one which I can see is growing, it also has a very strong online presense. So far I've set up shops on Etsy.com and Folksy.com and I also sell quite a lot on eBay. Bit by bit I'm going to build up my business until it's something I can make a living at.

I hope anyone reading this will wish me luck.