Glass Kanvas

Bit of an update....!

2009-05-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

Well it been a while since I've last posted. That's mainly because I'm so overstretched at the moment! Sadly, I've had to cut down on the amount of work I know produce as my other work commitments have really taken over. The upside to this is I'll now have more time to dedicate to producing new and exciting items as well as some very exciting new ranges, using new techniques i've been able to learn thanks to members of Crafteroo.

I'm now producing a range of stained glass items and i'm also combining handmade candles into my product list to compliment candle arches and tea lights i'm about to start selling- exciting. Anyway- just a brief note to say, i'm back- and now blogging 3 times a week!!

GlassKanvas.com is back online!

2009-02-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

After a long break Glass Kanvas is back online! I'm busy adding stock to it and it's a long process but it should be stocked to the brim over the next few weeks!

I'm adding a full catalogue of designs plus the bespoke ones such as Tapestry, Aurora etc that hall become my hallmark!

I'm so busy at the moment. As most of you who read the blog know, I also help run the Crafteroo Craft forum which is a lot more work than it looks! I'm also getting the dichroic glass tutorials site, DichroicGlass.co.uk back in full working order. Helen from Blue Fairy Designs is helping me out a lot with it, i'm sooo grateful! Thanks Helen!!

Another bit of news.... I'm going to be an author! I can't say too much at the moment, but... I'm currently working on 3 (yes 3) books! I'll keep you updated as soon as I know more but the first one is in the bag!

Crafts for Comic Relief

2009-02-07T13:19:00.000-08:00

The Crafteroo Craft Forum have teamed up with the UK Craft Auction site Folksy, to help raise funds for Comic Relief.

Organised by Kerry from PennyDog Jewellery, members of the forum have each donated pieces to a collaborative shop of handcrafted items. Folksy in tern, have kindly waived the fees for these items so more funds can go to such a good cause!

Please visit the Crafteroo Comic Relief shop here and help support charity work here and overseas.

New Crafts Forum

2008-08-03T06:43:00.001-07:00

A brand new crafts forum has opened it's doors

Crafteroo is a new forum, part of a larger site to be launched later this year. It's a place were anyone of any crafts discipline can get together and talk shop. It's brand spanking new so go and make yourself at home! The crafts forum is very much in the users hand and new alterations will be added to suit. The only rules are to chill out!!...No bitchiness, no nasty comments, no worries!

Save Money Using Ebay...without getting on seller's nerves!

2008-07-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Ok...so the blog has gone a bit consumer crazy lately but I'm on a bit of a mission!
Anyway... there are plenty of bargains to be had on ebay. Everyone's heard of auction sniper tools...they lurke around auctions putting late bids on things and driving sellers crazy!

There is a way to save money using ebay another way... a bit sneaky...but it's a win-win for you and the seller!

First...hunt down items using spelling errors on ebay...using websites such as
http://www.auction-typos.co.uk

These are great sites to mooch around on as there are loads of items on there with simple spelling errors, meaning that prospective bidders can't find them, therefore next to no (or no) bids!

Next, take a note of the item details and hop on over to BigCrumbs.com . Buy the item at the bargain price you've found it at and buy it via the bigcrumbs site and recieve money back from it!
Win-win!

How to drive Traffic to your Ebay Store

2008-07-26T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've just written an article explaining how to drive traffic to your ebay store or shop. You can read it here .

Drive traffic to your ebay store.

No matter what you sell via ebay, we could all do with ways to boost traffic to ebay and therefore hopefully pick up a few extra sales. I'll add to it as needed so check it out!

Save money using Ebay with BigCrumbs.com!

2008-07-26T07:30:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this excellent site will I was tinkering around on the internet http://www.bigcrumbs.com/ . The idea of the site is simple. Shop and earn money back will you do so! The site works by giving you back some of the money the webshops pay to advertise. There's no tricks or gimmicks....think of it like coupons from a magazine!

Glass Fusing Kilns

2008-07-20T07:55:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy this weekend troubleshooting some new ranges i'm bringing out. I'll try and get some nice piccies on ASAP. When I get a mo i'll try and add some more glass fusing tutorials to the dichroic glass website too.
For the time being though, I've written a guide to buying a glass fusing kiln on ebay so have a look if you're interested!

Dichroic Glass Jewellery on Ebay!

2008-07-19T14:43:00.001-07:00

Check my latest listings on ebay!

Dichroic Glass Jewellery Making Videos!

2008-07-19T06:40:00.000-07:00

Beads By Lilli have given us the honour of being featured in one of their fabs jewellery making videos on You Tube.

Beads by Lilli's web store is jammed packed with jewellery making supplies and anything and everything beady- well worth the look! A few of their handy guides are featured on the dichroic glass tutorials site with more to come. They are excellent quality and make everything look so easy...although perhaps they are a bit more challenging to us lesser mortals!

Glass fusing tutorials!

2008-07-18T10:43:00.001-07:00

More tutorials have been added to the Dichroic Glass website-join up and join in!

Dichroic Glass How To and Glass Fusing Tutorials

2008-06-30T16:56:00.000-07:00

Get your self over to the new dichroic glass forum and have a goosey at the latest glass fusing tutorials, lampworking how to 's as well as the latest glass art news and info.
There are monthly competitions and you can also submit glass fusing URL 's and lampworking websites to the monitored links section.
Get over there and take part!

Glass Fusing Book Reviews

2008-06-28T02:34:00.000-07:00

There's an ever increasing amount of books reviews now available on www.dichroicglass.co.uk .
Don't waste your money on books that offer you only pretty pics. Get a review and buy wisely!

There's a glass fusing forum on the site too to discus your opinions and ask any glass question you might have.

If you've got an Etsy shop, ebay shop or other glassy website, add it to the links section and shout about your fabulous work- join now!

A Big Thanks to Swirly Arts!

2008-06-11T12:14:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to Lynsey from SwirlyArts who sent me this fab Chicken doorstop! Lynsey came to one of my glass fusing classes and noticed I had a need for the door stop so...taadaa!
I love it. Lynsey is a recycling fanatic! I found this out when she could resist using every single scrap of glass. Nothing went to waste!

SwirlyArts was fabric specialist and sells lots of eco-friendly goodies so check them out. Check out Lynsey's blog here too!

Glass Kanvas goes green!

2008-06-10T14:22:00.000-07:00

So, I've decided I'm way too wasteful with the packaging I send out. People don't really need boxes and boxes and boxes. My home is full to the brim of boxes of boxes and boxes of envelopes for the boxes, it's ridiculous!

From now though, all my dichroic glass pieces are going to be sent out in recycled packing, using recycled paper or if possible reusing envelopes! I'm sending out everything in bags that can be easily reused and recycled and i'm making my own protective packing for the pieces!
Every little helps!
TTFN

Glass Fusing Classes

2008-06-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

I've had a hectic weekend hence a lack of new posts for a while. I've been busy making alterations to the new glass fusing and lampworking forum , plus I had one of my glass fusing classes on Sunday.

I'm really pleased with the work people turned out. Really impressive for new fusers!

The people who came were great and really enthusiastic. I purposely keep the classes small because I have tendancy to baffle people initially. Keeping the numbers small means I can respond to confused faces quickly!
I think this will be my last class for a while. I'm just so busy, but I'll put the details up here again once I restart.

TTFN

Competition!!!

2008-06-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

I've started the first of Dichroicglass.co.uk 's monthly competitions. These competitions are open to anyone on the forum and to enter you only need to post a comment on it. To enter have a look at the Competition Post . Good Luck!

Glass Kanvas on ebay!!

2008-06-03T05:18:00.000-07:00

Mid season is a dry...dry time. Stock up now for Christmas then!....Bargains to be had!

Glass Fusing/ Glass Artists forum

2008-06-01T05:39:00.000-07:00

The new glass fusing forum is going well with nearly 6000 hits in just 2 weeks! Join up, drop in and say hello!

The new dichroicglass.co.uk site is a site for glass artists of all disciplines. The aim is to share information and increase the knowledge and profile of all our work!

We're looking for moderators to help out with the site so if you're interested join the forum and send me a message!.... Send the message to info@dichroicglass.co.uk

Glass Related Blogs

2008-05-25T14:30:00.000-07:00

I move a good mooch around the internet looking at all the beautiful work glass artists produce. Blogs are quite addictive too here's a few I love!

www.amazingglass.blogspot.com

www.gj-dichroicglass.blogspot.com

www.glassprimitif.blogspot.com

Take a look yourself!

Weeeell, what a week!

2008-05-24T00:55:00.000-07:00

Things have been so hectic this week that i've not known whether i'm coming or going! The new dichroic glass website and forum is only a week old and going strong! The site stats are really interesting to watch in the background...I can see where people are from and it's coming up some surprising hits...and some not so surprising!

Come and say hello on the dichroic glass forum and make yourself known!

Lee from Kilncare is now watching over the kiln/technical bit for us so all your kiln related queries will get answered by an industry leader!

I'll be starting the first of my monthly competitions this week also. Check out the website for details.

With all the hubbub with the dichroic glass website i've not forgotten either my dichroic jewellery website or ebay shop!

I've added lots more dichroic bangles...and more are coming over the next few days. I'm also adding lots of new dichroic ranges too-so think on!

DichroicGlass.co.uk-Now Online!

2008-05-20T16:23:00.000-07:00

The new Dichroic Glass Website is now up and running!-Come and say hello in the new forum or drop us a line if you've got something to share!

Ebay Changes

2008-05-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

I know this a bit of an obsession with me but ....have you checked the new feedback changes?!
My feedback doubled in one fell swoop! Another new addition is the fact that the negatives and neutrals are now linked....you can click on 'em and have a snoop why the customer left the negative score. It's actually quite funny!....Also check out other people's feedback, you can see the seller who previously were attacking customers with negs and also telling complete lies about them!....Maybe they're a good thing?..Well maybe not but they're a good laugh at least!

Exciting new glass fusing website-preview!

2008-05-16T01:14:00.000-07:00

Ok, so i've had a few emails ths week asking where the tutorials have gone?

The answer is that i've still been doing them-but they're now going into the new dichroic glass and glass fusing website- Launching early next week!

The new site will be packed with news and info relating to all things glassy-with the emphasis on glass fusing! They'll be a tutorials section as well as forum to swap all of your tricks and know-how. A new links section is being added to get the details of your crafts out there an there'll be a website of the week, in which we'll spotlight an artist, supplier or resource website. Check out www.dichroicglass.co.uk early next week!

Ebay's been Credit Crunched!

2008-05-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

Anyone who deals on ebay know how many changes it has gone through over the past few months. There have been price hikes, listing regulations added, feedback changes and a hell of a lot of disgruntled sellers!

I sell a lot through ebay as I repeat...well, repeatedly. This changes have affected me heavily as they have everyone selling either dichroic glass jewellery and other handcrafted goods-to the point that a lot of sellers have simply abandoned ebay altogether.

What ebay don't seem to grasp is that those who sell on ebay also buy via ebay-I myself, buy a lot of findings etc on ebay simply out of conveinience. As the sellers have packed up shop, this in turn has had a knock-on affect on our sellers all noticing a slump in sales.

A few months back, Ebay announced the restoration of visibility to the US and Canadian markets via ebay.co.uk. This change will have a similar affect in reverse on ebay.com. This means that items placed on auction on the UK version of ebay will be advertised on ebay.com also...for a fee of course! This change couldn't come soon enough for me as before the drop in visibility ,I was regularly posting 3-4 items to the US daily, after the change 2-3 per week.

Ebay have now also announced that this summer, the gallery listing-the picture that appears on the auction listing will be free , all summer!

This is unprecedented for ebay, and I can only assume it's due to the amount of people no longer bothering with auctioning item, coupled with people's strained finances at the moment.

Hopefully this incentive to list, along with access to overseas buyers will restore people's faith in ebay-myself included.