Sales patterns

If you are in any form of sales, you probably know what I'm talking about. Sales are rolling along nicely and for no particular reason, things seem to come to a screeching halt. Or, on the flip side... the day you are expecting nothing turns out to be one of the biggest sales days of your life!

Over the years, we've attempted to identify what makes the difference and concluded that there absolutely is no rhyme nor reason.

In the shop, the days we assumed everyone would be hunkering down at home, like during a snowstorm or a hurricane(!), it seemed our customers decided our shop would be a good place to spend their time.

One sure thing we did determine was that summer basically meant slow sales and small classes since everyone had other plans. We were sure that everything would pick up as soon as the kids were back at school. No.. apparently there is an adjustment period of about a month before they pick up.

Oh, and "black Friday" in a small shop is not what it is cracked up to be. I remember going in one year, stocked up and raring to go. Bam... nothing! We were so disappointed. In our shop, the real boom time was the last two weeks before Christmas. We made a good percentage of our yearly sales in that very small window, and once we adjusted to it, it was fine.

At shows and at the Ren Faire, we assumed that good weather meant good sales and bad weather meant bad sales... Again, this is not necessarily so. Some of our biggest sales at shows were during really nasty weather. I guess the customers that came out were the serious shoppers and they went from booth to booth, intent on finding what they wanted while staying out of the rain or heat. Good weather allowed a lot of wandering aimlessly (and at the Faire, it meant being able to sit comfortably at the various shows - all wasted "shopping time". Sometimes this still meant good sales, but not always. Again... unpredictable.

When I named my soap company "Lancaster County Soapworks", I was aiming for the large tourist business in our area and it worked out well, but it is very seasonal. Christmas is not big for me... but watch out in the spring and summer.

Now, with the addition of the jewelry business, I find it fascinating that when there is a slump in one, the other picks up. About the time I think I'll never see another order for soap... a jewelry order pops up.. and vice versa.

Oh, and Heaven forbid I should plan a vacation. There's such a rush of orders that I'm sure I won't be able to get everything out before we leave...

It's just another one of those things that defy explanation and my conclusion is that nothing means nothing! No expectations works best for me. That way I am often pleasantly surprised and seldom disappointed.

HTML & Mercury in Retrograde!

What a combo! (Caution - pathetic, possibly bizarre, rant follows.)

If you believe in these things, supposedly when Mercury is in retrograde - a couple of times a year - it affects communication in all forms and the sense of direction. It was explained to me like a plunger being pulled back on a pin ball machine... that everything seems to be suspended in preparation for the plunger being released when the planet goes direct once again.

When I have trouble finding places or get lost, my first thought is, "What's Mercury doing?" Silly? Maybe, well, probably.

But after the past few days, I'm thinking it's a doozey this time! At least I'd prefer to think that it's the fault of a planet rather than that I'm just an idiot!

I've just spent 2-3 days trying to update my "vessels" page. It still isn't right, but at least the pictures appear and seem to match the descriptions. I really need to learn html - I certainly learned a lot through this. Switching between two design programs probably isn't a good idea, especially when I'm working with a template from one and they apparently make changes all by themselves... Oh well.

Then there was the ad... I put an ad together for a magazine and sent it in. Well, it was in the wrong resolution, so we decided to do something else. I just sent in pictures at 300 DPI - although my current mail client refused to send them, so I had to switch back to OE. That went relatively well, but my mail was delayed and a note requesting my font didn't reach me 'til 7PM (it had been sent at 3!) I trudged out to the shop and finally sent the font - again in OE! We'll see how this goes...

I have to send out some charms for a swap today... I dread attempting to use the machine at the P.O. which is usually a joy.

Mercury retrograde usually lasts a couple of weeks... have to check, because I can barely stand much more of this!

Edited to add: Of course, when I posted, the original link to my Vessels page didn't work! Of course it didn't. And you may need to refresh the page to get the correct pictures to show with the descriptions... just love Mercury!

We now return you to our normal programming.... thanks for listening!

Visitor revisited

Remember this guy?

I think I had mentioned that I made a vessel that these colors inspired. Never got around to posting it, so I thought (since I finally got a decent picture) I'd post it today.

I'm slowly updating my vessels page. New pictures will be replacing all the ones that have sold. I'm not an expert, so it's going slowly - everything seems to be shifting around on the page, but sooner or later, I'll get it under control.

Probably this one would be a nice addition too. I call it Lily Pond.. Don't you think it looks like lily pads floating in a clear turquoise pool. If I ever do a design like this again, I think I'll add a couple of Koi. Then I can call it Koi Pond.



I have a number of new vessels and another of my favorites is one I call "Shooting Stars". I used Gaffer glass which results in a wispy appearance as the threads of color flow around the glass. I'm loving the way that silver wire beads up into "stars" as it melts into the glass.

There's a bunch more coming, but the challenge of html is slowing me down...

Walk in the Woods

It's always good to get out in nature, take a break and explore. It was (as our grandmother would say) beastly hot yesterday and Tina came over. We decided to go down in the woods since we haven't taken one of our walks for some time. We barely got down the hill before we realized the heat was a little stifling, but we pressed on.

We were hoping for raspberries. They usually are ripe right around July 4 so we were a little late. Luckily though, we found some wine berries. I was surprised that Tina had never tried them before and we agreed they were almost better than the raspberries we had missed.

Wine berries are ripe when the berries are bright red as opposed to the black raspberries which, oddly enough, need to be almost black. The wine berries have a hairy covering over them which pops open shortly before the berries are ready to eat.

We located the trilliums & wild ginger that we had planted this spring, but the bayberry bushes will have to wait 'til some of the undergrowth is gone before we'll be checking them again. Besides, there are too many snakes in the deep grass near the stream! They are non-poisonous, but I just don't want to get close enough to confirm this.

After wending our way through the woodland path which was liberally festooned with spider webs I might add, we had to climb back up to civilization. In the heat, it was something of a challenge, but we came up behind the house to the couple of Mimosa trees which line the top of the hill behind our house. I always loved them in the morning because I would look out the kitchen window and imagine I was in Africa. Mimosas have the same horizontal look as the trees that are always shown in movies about Africa - Acacia trees, maybe?

The pink and yellow powderpuff blossoms are a jaunty addition this time of the year and their fragrance is intoxicating. Might make a nice color combo for a set of beads.

We were grateful to get back to the air conditioning, but certainly did enjoy our brush with nature.

Beads to York Show

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long. Lots of things going on and I finally crossed out most of the stuff on my list.


Last post I showed what I bought at a bead show and here's what I'll be selling at the next one.

On Saturday and Sunday, the Sizzlers are again sharing a vendor's table at a bead show in York. I'm really looking forward to it.

Here are some of the sets and a few of the other beads (bubbles, bees, flowers and bubbles) I'll be taking.

Got a little torch time today and hope to be able to get some more time tomorrow.
I'll try to get some more pix of new beads and some new vessels to post then too.


Otherwise, our son, Rob, moved out to his own house the week of the Fourth. I think we're seeing more of him now than before he moved out! He's still close, but will be moving 2 hours away when he moves to Ursinus in the end of August. That's still close enough to see lots more of him than when he was in Rochester.

If you want to see some pictures from the past, visit my sister, Tina's, blog. We were going through some old piles of pix today from our days as the "Herb Ladies" at the Ren Faire and a couple wound up on her blog!

Take from Timonium!

My sister and I went to a bead show in Maryland today. I was hoping to meet up with some friends, but we must have crossed wires! It is a big show, in two different buildings so that's easy enough to do.

This is my "Take". Lots of different colors - we were thinking ocean with most of the beads on the left. The deep pinks are hard to find, so I was pleased to get a few strands of those. Some lapis and some garnet.

I went to the show last year with a bunch from the Sizzlers. The show itself was one of the first I attended with a strictly wholesale section. I was happy to find silver at good prices and this year was no exception.. Unfortunately silver was not what I was looking for and the variety I remember from last year just didn't seem to be there.

Last year, it was a revelation, but this year, it was a bit disapointing. I'm not sure why, but I think it is catering more to retail and finished jewelry. Another reason is probably that this show also is held in Baltimore a couple of times a year and the selection there is much better in the larger wholesale section.

I did need to find my "chain people" and when I finally did, they were out of the chains I was looking for! I met them before at the Baltimore show and I guess they remembered me. I placed an order that they will send out when they are back in the office on Tuesday, so that problem was solved.

Love the shows, but oh, so tiring! Unfortunately, by the time I get to the second building, nothing looks terribly new or exciting any more. By the time the next show rolls around, though, I'll be ready!

Work Space

Thought there might be some question as to how the beads I talk about and show are made.

This picture shows my torching area. You can see I'm a messy artiste! I sit down to make one thing and the glass has other ideas. The plan goes up in smoke and new glass seems to leap out into my hand and so the clutter begins...

The box on the left side of the desk holds a number of lengths of PVC pipe which hold my glass rods and separate the colors. On top of the box are jars of frit and some Zoozi presses that are used to help shape the lentils, diamonds, pillows, tablets and tile shapes I like to play with.

The kiln is to the far left of the picture and on top of it is a can of mandrels. Those are the stainless steel rods that the glass is wrapped around to make the beads. The mandrels are dipped in a "release" which is sort of a clay mix which keeps the beads from sticking to them. The reason those mandrels are on top of the kiln is that I just dipped them and they need to dry . What better way than to put them on top of the kiln as it heats up?

The desk is littered with rods and tools left from the last couple torching sessions. Pictures for inspiration are on the wall and actually inside the hood over the torch. The hood is fitted with a fan to suck the noxious fumes out out of the room.

The cup in front of the torch holds water in to cool tools and quench beads which have gone wrong! And last but not least, the plant on the windowsill is an aloe.... for burns. Luckily, I haven't had a lot of occasions to use it (knock on wood!)

Jewelry plus This and That

JEWELRY
I have been working on some jewelry.. I had two big (35mm, point to point) diamond shaped beads. Each one was gorgeous, but I wasn't sure what to do with them. Finally I put something together.. not sure how I like either one, but I'll post them anyway.

On the left is "Bloomin' Blues" . The focal bead is black with a reactive frit swirled on it. The colors don't show up very well here, but they include all the colors of the beads on the strings plus more. It almost has an inner glow about it!

On the right is "My Safari" - you know, the one you imagine, without the bugs and heat, where you could actually wear jewelry!. Another focal using a reactive glass, only as a stringer this time. Lots of scroll work and lots of nifty colors popping, including a lovely pale turquoise, soft orange and lots of variations of tans and browns. I have smaller matching diamond beads that I'll be making into earrings.

These are not my usual style of jewelry, but I made the beads and decided I needed to try something new to do them justice. A stretch is always good... just wish I had some more experience with this type of stringing...

THIS
Do you know what these guys are? They are Guinea fowl - originally from Africa. They are pretty ugly (the proverbial face only a mother...), but they eat tics and we have very little problem with them around here... even in our woods, although our dog, Rudy, managed to pick one up very early in the season before we had started the drops on his fur that seem to keep them away.

In our area, farmers often have Guineas to act as "watchdogs". We only have three since ours tend to be suicidal, but on farms they run in packs of 15-20! They set up such a racket when someone comes in the driveway or farm lane that they certainly alert the people who live at the farm, not to mention various neighbors!

THAT
Our son is planning to move out on his own next week. Well, more or less on his own, he'll be moving into a house that we own. It was rented and has just become available. It's only for two months, until he leaves for college in August. I remember when he was little and I couldn't imagine him ever living away from me. It made my heart physically ache to even consider the possibility. People told me that when the time came, I'd be ready and you know, they were right.

He was gone for the fall session last year in Rochester. It was a tech school and various factors, not the least of which was the weather, brought him home to a semester at a nearby state college. I was happy to have him home, but in the time that he has been home, he has lost a lot of the independence he had gained while being away. And, you know, empty nesting it isn't all that bad either...

Shopping Cart!

No pretty pictures today, but I am excited about adding a shopping cart to my Torchsong website.


My sister has been encouraging me to do this and since I added the soap beads and soap jewelry, I thought it was probably time. I emailed Traci at BETA, and on Thursday, she set it up for me very reasonably - one of the many services available as a BETA member.


She explained how to add new items and, in fact, as I was inserting the code for each item, I noticed a couple other things I wanted to add and was able to easily do them myself.


I thought, "Okay, nothing ventured, nothing gained." Really didn't expect anything much to come of it, but, bam, there was an order within 24 hours! I like this way of doing business. Now, it's even more exciting to open my mail each day.

Bubble, bubble, toil & trouble... and Gaudi

I've had the materials and idea for these for so long and I finally put it all together. This pot is outside my soap/jewelry studio. I love that it combines soap and glass once again!

The glass bubbles are much more irridescent than they appear on the picture and as I walk to the shop, they just seem to be floating above the flowers.. exactly what I had in mind.

On WetCanvas, we're doing another charm swap and I've been racking my brain trying to come up with something original for my theme that I would really like. My icon on the board is a picture of one of the medallions (like the one on the right of the collage below) by Gaudi in Parc Guell in Barcelona.

I was talking to my sister about Gaudi the other night and it occurred to me that that would be a great idea for an inspirational piece, so I searched the internet for Gaudi images and put together a collage that I posted as my theme.

When we were in Barcelona, we took a Gaudi tour which was probably the high point of our visit there. Until that time, I had probably heard of him, but had no idea of what he had done. The Parc Guell was fantastic and the Cathedral of the Familia Sagrada (which is still a work in progress) was truly amazing.

I laugh and say that the man could not draw a straight line to save his life! He just seemed to love color and texture - I really wonder what drugs were available to him at the time. His designs are absolutely psychedelic! To see them (and be "in" them) is breathtaking!

On the trip, we were with another family. The husband is involved in a major downtown revitalization project in the Southwest. He was telling us how hard it is to decide on building designs.. that it's difficult to judge what will be truly unique and yet classic in years to come and what is just wacky and a flash in the pan. The fact that the Gaudi structures actually got built is a tribute to not only Gaudi's foresight, but that of the city planners and those who financed his work.

Raku - finally!

Just a quick post. I finally got some good results from the "Raku" glass.

Really pleased with this bracelet!

The main beads are a steel blue (denim) base with stripes and dots of Raku. I combined the beads I made with some jade and mahogany obsidian.

This would look great with jeans or any navy, jade green or "safari" buff outfit.


Oh, okay, I had to add this one too.

I call it "Moonchild" and the beads are a glass called "Galaxy" . It may not show in the picture, but they have a definite translucent quality very much like moonstone.

Spacers are opalino white along with some clear AB crystals. I just happened to find the butterfly bead in my stash and it matched perfectly.

I know just where this one is going, in fact I knew from the minute I took these beads out of the kiln.

Back to Work

After a couple days of recuperation from the weekend, I got back into gear and made a number of new "Soap beads". The top bead (#1) was the most requested one at Ft. Wayne. Tina was wearing a necklace just like it and everyone wanted "hers"

#2 is another engraved bead, only using a green enamel instead of the soft blue-green and #3 is a purple enamel stamped with a special SOAP stamp made by my DH, Bob.

I'll be putting these up on my website and attempting to add a shopping cart soon.


Last night, since it seems Wednesday has become "inspiration night", Tina was over and we made another "Salt Spa Soap". We're calling this one "Forever in Blue Jeans".

We used some of the blue Australian clay we got at the conference in Ft. Wayne from Kangaroo Blue along with a bit of Blue Oxide. It's scented with a fresh, woodsy fragrance with just a hint of smoky vetiver. Yummalicious!

The basic recipe for this soap is on our book "Herbal Soaps from Scratch" which is available on Tina's website.

Today, I'll be heating up the kiln and lighting the torch to make some fun beads. Time to stretch.

And I'm looking into some sterling soapmaker's charms to add to my line and offer to some of the vendors who have inquired about my soap jewelry.

Ft. Wayne

What a great weekend! The First Annual Soap and Candlemaking Bee in Ft. Wayne, IN was a rousing success!

My sister, Tina, and I drove the 9 hour trip in about 11 hours (there are a lot of nice rest stops between Lancaster and Ft. Wayne!) The drive out was fun and relatively easy since it was almost all interstate highways. We didn't get lost even once... door to door.

The hotel and conference center was a perfect venue and everything was organized to a "T", even with a few last minute glitches that seemed to come the way of Traci, our "Hostess with the Mostest". I won't even get into the food... we seemed to eat non-stop from the time we left until we got home, but the chocolate buffet Saturday afternoon was the highlight of the trip.

It was a blast meeting, in person, many of the people we have only met through forums and email over the years - putting faces to their forum personae, so to speak!

We picked up a lot of new and interesting ideas and products to try from the wonderful selection of vendors. And the goodie bag(s) was a definite winner.

The presentations were fun and informative, and our talk on adding herbs to soaps went very well, especially considering we haven't spoken together to a group in over five years!

As vendors, it was a great show. I sold a number of my soap bead necklaces (as well as a few bees) and will be hard at work making a bunch of new ones. I'll be adding them to my website soon, on their own page. Tina gathered quite a few new fans for her magazine, The Essential Herbal as well as selling a number of her booklets and kits. Our book, Herbal Soaps from Scratch was also a hit. The books are available on the Essential Herbal Site.

The trip home was still fun, but much more tiring than the trip out. Coming in from the nice, flat, smooth, straight highways of the midwest to the mountainous, twisting highways of western PA is a challenge.

Our worst problem was deciding to get new windshield wipers somewhere in Indiana. We had experienced a number of showers and downpours on the way out and thought it would be nice to have a clear view on the way home, just in case. The problem came when we had to install the new wiper blades. We couldn't figure it out and neither could the people working at the rest stop. After about 45 minutes of struggling, Tina turned the unchanged wiper upside down and said, "I think this is the trick." We tried it and she was right... they just slipped right on! We were on our way with something new to talk about. Oh, and we never did get a chance to try them out since the weather was perfect the whole way home!

Then there was the stop for fireworks in Ohio. Bob (my husband) and Rob (our son) requested we stock up. It was interesting reading the names of all the various fountains, mortars and other amazing things available in the store. We made our choices... it was a two for one sale after all and it only took 1/2 an hour to fill the trunk! We moved all our goodies from the show to the back seat so we could stow the fireworks safely in the trunk, and were on our way again.

After a stop for gas, we decided we were basically driving a bomb... an overstatement for sure, but one we found more than amusing as we (now a bit punchy) rolled along through PA on our way home.

Almost exactly 12 hours after leaving Ft Wayne on Sunday, we drove in my driveway. What a fun trip... The Twisted Sisters definitely ride again!

Now, we're considering doing the Chicago Soap Convention in August. It's only 70 miles longer than this one... why not?!

More for the Bee

A few other beads I'm working on for the Soap and Candle Bee. I'm having much more fun with the bees than the soap.

We did a very slow, unexpectedly long craft show this weekend... time which could have been better spent making beads or trimming soap. I'd go into it, but don't want to wind up insulting anyone! I will say that Tina and I still had fun. Lots of opportunity for people watching.

Now that I seem to have caught up on soap, I'm actually creating at the torch again. Mainly working on things for the Bee, but next week, watch out!

What's new? Well.....

It's been a while, but I have been busy. Going in just about every direction I can.

First, Here are some little soap bar beads I've been making to take to the Soap Bee in Ft. Wayne. I've been trying different ways to get the word "Soap" on the bar and am using some of the techniques I learned in a class this winter with Kate Fowle-Meleny. They're cute. Some are wired to be worn as charms and others have a big enough hole to be strung on snake chain and worn as a choker. In the picture, they are in various states of production. The ones on the "sticks" will be put back in the kiln so I can heat them up to add bubbles.

Then, also for the Bee, we are working on a booklet that will compliment the talk Tina and I are going to be doing about adding herbs to soap. The book wasn't hard to write after having made soap for well over ten years now. Setting up the type and layout, now that's a different matter! But, it is something I enjoy, so....

Over the weekend, we developed and tried out some recipes for the booklet and here are the results. The one in front is a rash soother for poison ivy or bug bites that we made with plantain, jewelweed, oatmeal, lavender and tea tree oil (oh, and a shot of emu oil.)
The right rear is a Baby soap with camomile added in three different ways plus chickweed and goats' milk..
The left rear is comfrey and aloe, pretty basic, but, oh, so soothing.

Finally, one of my favorite online hangouts, Wet Canvas, seems to be down for a few days and it's really killing me since I participated in a charm bracelet swap and received my charms two days ago. At least I can post the finished product here... We did this in groups of ten and each person started their bracelet and named her theme. Mine was "Must have been Moonglow". Then, we each made two charms for each of the other participants. Wound up with 20 charms for the bracelet and the work of 10 jewelry artists on one bracelet. It was a great idea and I'm so pleased with the result.


Oh, yes, the Soapworks goes on too... Making soap today!

In search of....

The elusive Tina...

Here we see her in her native habitat. Granted, it's a blurry picture, but exciting nonetheless. At first, I thought it was the rare Sasquatch, but understand they are great hairy beasts (seldom seen in the east wielding cameras) and then realized this is the an even rarer find. Watch it, she may be a bit grouchy. I have gotten closer, but find she's apparently frightened of the camera when it is pointed at her, and becomes skittish.

Seriously, we did a delayed woods ramble on Wednesday evening and found everything to have grown immensely in the past week and a half. Wild phlox and false Solomon seal nestle together in the lush growth. Poison ivy and its healing companion, jewelweed, run rampant. In open, meadow areas, we see places where deer have bedded down, or left their fawns to sleep, hidden among the tall grasses.

I did manage a session at the torch and produced a couple of new vessels. One in particular is my interpretation of a pond, with the first water lily leaves just starting to rise to the surface. The colors reflect the moth I showed in my "visitor" blog entry a few days ago. Soon as I have a picture, I'll post it.

I've been getting ready for an outdoor show I plan to do in June and yesterday, Bob (my DH) and I went shopping. Picked up an Ez up tent along with more flowers for a backyard transformation we've been working on. We've been in a bit of a mini drought, so rains predicted for the next few days are most welcome. Maybe I can stay inside today and get some more "inside work" done! Maybe...

Soap, soap, soap!

Wow! Here it is, Wednesday and it seems soap has taken over my life! Almost no time for the torch the past few days since I looked around and saw practically empty shelves. I made soap almost every day for 1 straight week and now my shelves look bountiful again. All the colors and scents...

That's the way it is in the spring, all my tourist area customers are stocking up and already re-ordering. A sign to me that people are traveling again, and from what I've heard, they're buying too.

Today's a day to round up some supplies, ship a couple of orders and hopefully, get a little torch time again.

My sister, Tina, and I decided - seemingly last minute to attend the Candle & Soap Bee in Ft Wayne, Indiana, June 11th. Now, I find out she volunteered us as speakers on "Using Herbs in Soaps." Should be a blast even though we haven't done anything like that together for over 5 years . For some reason, people think we're funny as we bounce off one another telling our stories.

I think it will be great to meet some of our "Cyber-pals" and finally put faces and voices to the words typed on the pages of emails and forums.

Day at Ursinus

Today, we went to visit Ursinus College in (strangely enough) Collegeville, PA.

Our son has been accepted there and may be attending in the Fall. I, however, had not yet seen the campus, so the guys took me for a look-see.

What a beautiful place!

Everything was in bloom and the campus was preparing for graduation tomorrow. Along with the flowers everywhere, the campus is itself an outdoor modern art museum.

The architecture is a good smattering of old and new buildings. There are lots of nice facilities, and from what we saw and heard, a great attitude toward learning and an actual interest in education for education's sake. It's a lovely place to spend a few years and
it seems to be everything a small liberal arts college should be.

Our son, with his many and varied interests, is quite pleased, as are we.

No actual work done today... nice to have a day with the guys. I did meet with some of my lampworking friends last night to share some ideas for future shows, etc.

A visitor

Look who was waiting for me this morning on the door to the shop!

After a day of soaping... lots of it, making it, cutting it and wrapping it, this should be another beautiful day for finishing up a couple of orders and then hitting the torch.

As always, I have lots of ideas for new beads and vessels... can't wait! In fact, the color combo in the picture is certainly inspiring itself!

Mothers' Day

Well, it's a beautiful day here in SE Pa.

This little vessel isn't brand new, but I love it and it's a good start to the show here. Just reminds me of the deserts of the Southwest... the red canyons, streaming skies at sunrise with maybe a few stars still visible.

Off to a Mothers' Day brunch with my Hubbie... hope to squeeze in a couple batches of soap and a walk in the woods later.

In keeping with the Southwestern theme, here's some soaps my sis and I did a couple of weeks ago....