The Lampshade Lady Blog

Lampshade Lady's New Year

Happy New Year! It's been darn cold up here in Vermont! Sixteen below today was too cold for my old CRV to start, thank goodness for the charger thing to get her going! It's my birthday tomorrow and we went out for a birthday lunch in town. It was a new restaurant in town we'd heard was nice. We ran into friends that joined our table. Fun!

Last year was a busy one in my shop. Our lamp shop in town closed and brought quite a few customers trekking north out to my shop. I was sorry to see them go; they had a nice shop and did a great job, but I had a hunch business would pick up a bit filling in where they left off. I recently started ordering silk sewn fabric shades for clients that were once available at The Lighting Place. I got a kick out of the first custom order I did. The woman said, Judy, you can make money without having to make everything! Hahahaa, good idea I said.

Also great news this year was that my neighbor, The Pawlet Station Restaurant is open! It opened this summer and has been just what the community needs right now. They have been rebuilding their customer base and I for one is thrilled to have them. It was pretty dreary having a closed restaurant as well as a closed general store; no news on the general store. Guess it will eventually open. The rural economy still hasn't rebounded from the crash.

I've been up to my ears involved in a school merger with our town and the neighboring town. We had a vote after 2 years of haggling and educating neighbors on it's benefits and it passed in both towns!!!! Wonderful! But the big but the other town had 30 days to contest the vote and ask for a re-vote and guess what--- they did it just before Christmas! Yup. Must admit knowing these folks and the misdeeds they have done I'm not surprised. Small town ____ , fill in the blank!!! Our neighboring town of Rupert had 2 "self-appointed" members on this committee, both over 80. They came to the table without the ability to compromise or to look to the future. Urgggg. I got involved as I had been on the school board a million years ago and helped get a bond vote thru for a new elementary school- they said it would never happen either! It did! And they love it now and those same folks that didn't want the school are the exact same ones that showed up for the Merger meetings and were the NO's! That's all it took for me to jump back in the frey. I was only a little cog in the process but I'd had the history of the past 30 years of change! No excuses, but my blog was again the first thing to be set aside. Now the town of Rupert has to re-vote our Merger and has to pass it by 2/3 of the vote... just annoying after everyone's hard work. Fear of change, so much misinformation they are spewing.... oh well, back to lampshades, you don't want to hear this, thanks, just needed a little cathartic writing! You can see the handy work of the No's!!! I had a little touching up on my sign....bah...

I just listed this new square bell lampshade in my Etsy shop. I've been working like crazy to get my shop full for January's busy lampshade season. Did you know January can be a very busy month for lampshade makers? I have found it to be my busiest month. The shade measures 4" across the top by 8.5" bottom and 8" high. It is made from a vintage European Grain Sack. It's $85.

Bet you can recognize the check board house as Grandma Moses's House. I found a small piece of this vintage bark cloth before Christmas and made this pair of hex clip shades. This pair of shades measure 6" across the top by 8" bottom and 6" high and clip onto the light bulb. They are $75 each. Link above. I do not have any more of this fabric. It shows up periodically but quite hard to find.
I love this pair of grain sack lampshades. I made a pair for a client and decided to make a pair for inventory. They are blue and cream and have the most wonderful texture. They measure 4" top x 8" bottom and are 6" high. Clip onto shade. Here's their link on my Etsy shop.

A Bistro Linen Shade, shop classic. Love this with the vintage monogram on the bottom. Only one of these @$75.

If you need a pair I have a similar set here. These are a little darker but with the same great red stripe in vintage linen.
I'm pretty fond of this. It's a floor lamp size or good for a large table lamp. It's 16" across the bottom and 13" high. The vintage needlepoint is in the front and a cream handwoven fabric is in the other 3 panels. I think it would be stunning in the right room!
Last one for now. This is a vintage Japanese fabric made in a drum shade + vintage orange and green tassels to finish! Super cute. Just what we need to kick the year off. Funky fun! Don't we need bright this time of year.

Wish us luck with the school vote.... yikes strikes! A book could be written on all the devious things a town will do to not change and grow!  You JUST wouldn't believe them if I told you! To think of my little business if I never grew and evolved. It would not have survived all these years! That's for sure.

Hope you will plan a visit to my shop in 2018. No workshops scheduled, life is just too busy. No promises of lots of blogging but it is fun and I did remember how to do it. hahah. The way technology changes so fast I wasn't sure how this post would go.

xo

Judy

PS check out my Instagram page, I'm Lampshadelady there too. And I promise I post everyday, almost! It's a fun way to connect with fellow artisans.

 

A Sunday Hike up Haystack Mountain and New Projects from my Lampshade Studio

Me and Ziggy poked our way up Haystack Mountain on Sunday. I breathed a sigh of relief as the sun warms up a bit this time of year. Phew, we got by the coldest bit of the winter! I woke up to a beautiful day off and I definitely needed some serious exercise. We are lucky to have this little gem right in the middle of town. I grabbed some lunch, dog biscuits, hiking boot grippers, my ski poles and off we went.
I find hiking in the winter is much more fun than in the summer if the trail is packed and not too icy- somehow it's easier to slide your feet a long the snow than step up on rocks. It was a supreme day on Sunday and easy to stop and take a peek at the beauty in the land. I must admit my legs are still sore from Sunday... 3 days later. It was a good grunt up and pretty sweet on the way down. I ran into a couple I know in town, a nice guy that works at the local high school, a nice young woman that grew up in the area and another couple as well as Phil who farms the land abutting the Haystack hiking trail. Phil and his kids came sledding down the steep hill ready for some farm chores or maybe a trip to town. Pretty busy day for winter hikers I'd say.

With a hike behind me, I was ready to kick off the week with some new lampshade making! This pretty floral lampshade is from some bark cloth fabric I found a few weeks ago. It's $98. and measures 9"top x 14"bottom and 9.5" high on slant. It's hard to find some of these soft color curtain panels these days and was pretty sure this one will do well in the shop.

A friend dropped by some of her vintage Blue Fish clothes that she had cleaned out of her closet. I put them on my ironing board in the shop and thought....ohhh, maybe lampshades? Let's give it a try.
This was the first Blue Fish Shade- a big rectangle. Often the design of a shade is determined by the size of the pattern or imagine you want to show off. This one easily spoke to being square or rectangle and my rectangle frame fit it a little better. Fun! It worked together pretty easy. I chose the homespun European sheeting for the other 3 panels and trim. The next Blue Fish Shade I did was not as great- the light really blurred the image....I am trying to add some fabric paint to see if I can make it pop better when lit up. Stay tuned, I've got stack of clothes to make shades with!
My farm animal shades have become a shop favorite! Happy to have a few back in my inventory. How could you resist for a baby present! Easy clip on shade- 7"top x 10" bottom x 7" high. $75.

a detail of my next shade. I found this children's needlework matted in an antique shop up in Maine. The wooly lamb sold me on it! Had to get it for another kid's lampshade.
Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep lamp shade! Again, the shape of the textile led me to a rectangle frame. This one has a nice bell to it. I trimmed it with a rick rack and a vintage trim. $95. I can see this handed down from generation to generation. Sure was fun to make.
A pair of hex bell Daisy lampshades made from vintage embroidery. $68 per shade, 5" top x 8" bottom x 6" high and clip top. I found this embroidery on my Maine trip too. Always good to get away for some new inspiration! After a few days away I so happy to be back in my little shop again.

All for now,

xo

judy lake

ps, my Lampshade Lady book is no longer in print at Crown Publishing, but can be found on Amazon as well as maybe your local bookstore. I have a handful in-stock....would have been nice of them to communicate with me that they were selling them through... but why would I expect it now if they didn't communicate before... ahhh publishing..... guess I crossed that off my list after 2 editors (the second one didn't give a rats ass and came on just at publishing..... so helpful) and 4 assistant editors---interesting process during the crash of '08'. But sure glad I had the chance to make a book despite disappointments along the way.

lampshades

I've been busy listing new inventory.... it can be hard to keep up sometimes.Here's a sweet pair of grain sack drum shades that are 10"x10"x71/2" high. Etsy is where I sell most of my wares. I have found it is best to keep your listings above 100 items! It is believed that 100 is a vague tipping point to garner better S.E.O. aka "search engine optimization" although many other variables go into that algorithm such as customer happiness, how well you know how to write your titles and tags, if you have an about page ( I say about time) and recency. It's a complicated mix, but all in all Etsy is still a great place to sell. I've applied to Amazon Handmade and accepted but still reluctant to sign on board. The Lampshade section is kind of yucky and my policy is not to accept returns which Amazon allows them... as well as returns for CUSTOM work-  that's pretty idiotic isn't it. Can you imagine filling a custom order and the can return it??? nope, no, no.

This is the last of this amazing vintage black and white fabric. I bought this fabric back in 08 at Brimfield Flea Market. I stashed it away for a long time till I finally dug into it. It's cool as it fills a spot in my shop for the funky, contemporary shade. It measures 10"x10"x7.5" high

Guatemalan Vintage Fabric Drum Shade measuring 8" x 8" x 7.5" high. Pretty handsome drum shades for atmosphere not reading. We need lampshades for all different areas of our homes. Sometimes we need a shade like this to cover up a light bulb and give ambiance to a room. Lovely handwoven vintage fabric. $55. per shade. I have a pair at time of listing.

A pair of Periwinkle Vintage French Toile Hex Bell Lamp Shades. They measure 5" top x 10" bottom x7.5" high. Lovely I'd say as a fabric lover....I do make lampshades for the love of finding awesome pretty fabric. And I do think this is killer pretty fabric. Anyone can make lampshades... but to find the right fabrics is the skill. These are $85. per shade.

How sweet is this! Quilt cotton trimmed with a vintage ticking self trim. The lampshade measures 10" x 10" x 7.5" high. I was digging around one of my fabric bins for a certain fabric and found the last of this pretty cotton. Nice and bright for this time of year.

A 1950's fruit drum lampshade measuring 10" x 10" x 7.5" high. It's got 2 different vintage trims.  Fun pendant or kitchen lamp.
This was the gathering of drum shades "in the making". They are fun to make, go together fast and slow to trim or at least slow to find the right trims.

Today I headed out to my farmers market and then into town to start the holiday shopping. At first overwhelming and then fun. Finding the right gifts is an art; you hate to spend money on something someone doesn't want.... but think I got a good start. We love filling stockings with useful gourmet goodies, favorite pot scrubbers and yummy sriracha hot sauce and who knows what else... maybe socks!

Good luck with your shopping and don't forget to shop local....where ever you may be. And have fun, too.

xoxo,

judy

OOAK: One of a Kind on ETSY

It's my 2nd anniversary selling my wares on the craft/vintage online shop ETSY. I've had a real boost from the exposure and wide reach Etsy has brought my little niche.

An ongoing conversation has been going on in Etsy Forums and beyond, what is OOAK?? aka, one of a kind items. I recently scanned on of my favorite on-line food blogs now turned shopping experience! And one of their shopping categories was, One of a Kind, curious enough to take a peek to see what their offering might be... nice stuff and "sort of" one of the kind looking, but so not what the intent of one of a kind means. I'm wondering when One of a Kind became sort of one of a kind .... kind of handmade looking but really mass produced. humm. YIKES, Has the handmade item been buried under mass production. How will our customers know if handmade is really handmade. An infuriating conundrum to me and many others.

one of a kind lampshade. Mother and Child, vintage needlepoint sourced from Europe, vintage trim from a pair of French curtains, new fabric and trim to match!

True to be said, not all artisans do one of a kind items or wish to. 85% of my work is one or 2 of a kind; a few things I will do over and over! The goal of my business has been stay small and stay busy, stay fresh and creative. And continue to design and make the BEST lampshades I can challenging myself to grow and experiment with new materials.

Etsy has opened it's venue up for designers as of Jan 1, 2014. They are now allowed to design their work and OUTSOURCE and DROP Ship their work. Oh Boy, it's been hair pulling fall with this big change in direction. I certainly see a few good out comes, but mostly an onslaught of inferior produced work. The day after the announcement I watched a lampshade company in Berlin add 350 lampshades in one day; I've looked back and don't think they have done very well as their work looks pretty commercial. It took me months to get my inventory up to 100 lampshades and is a big job to keep my inventory up to that level, which seems to be a good number of items to have in one's shop as it is important to have enough choices.

On New Years Eve there was a forum post by a woman in India. She had said her friend's shop was just shut down by Etsy. She said her friend had just opened it and was afraid they would do the same to her. Folks posted encouragement to her and then checked out her shop after she mentioned that she could get such good prices as her wholesaler gave her a great deal.... OPPS, she let it slip out that she was a REseller ---- a HUGE issue for integrity in the handmade craft world and an Etsy issue. Her forum post really became a joke- no one called her exactly out but it was becoming apparent that she had become the fool in her own post. Eventually the post was shut down. I took a peek and her work was obviously totally mass produced! Holy Moly! The slippery slope Etsy Integrity will be up against.

Love these shades! So one of a kind!! Vintage embroidery, one trim on the bottom and rick rack on the top!

Here's a quirky shade for the eclectic home....so fun to make. Beautiful thick vintage crewel lampshade. Good luck mass producing this one! One of a kind for sure.

Happy New Year! I'm home & the shop is closed today due to a blizzard here in Southern Vermont! Maybe a foot of fluffy stuff. I swung by the shop this morning to pick up my laptop, feed the kitties and out to breakfast at The Station.  A quick Executive Decision not to open the shop and head home to watch the snow pile up and scribble out a sort of whinny blog post. ohh, it's just principles... isn't it. Slow Craft carry on!.... I did pick up one lampshade to finish up today.... yankee work ethic.... Happy New Year. Cheers to 2014.

xo

judy

The Foliage is Unbelievable Here in Southern Vermont NOW!

It's been years since the foliage has been this beautiful! Coming home tonight was really pretty. I live up on a hillside in the foothills of the Taconic Mountain Range / Woodlawn Mountain. The hillside was vibrant with reds and oranges. Heck, I was tucked in my shop all week working like a crazy girl... guess I need to drive around a little  and play tourist with the "leaf peekers"!

Just posted this lampshade on my Lampshadelady Etsy Shop,  Bird Needlepoint Lampshade

I've been back home in Vermont a couple weeks and trying to get my inventory back in shape. This has been a tricky week with our dear ETSY proclaiming big changes to their policies... It been pretty hard on many of us that really put our hearts into our product and make many ONE of a KIND items, aka OOAK. I have done well on Etsy, really loved my time there, but it does mean committing a significant amount of time and energy into making a great shop and keeping it FULL and fresh. And just figuring it all out--- photos, seo, titles, tags... there's more than meets the eye. I do feel like the artisans feel like they own a piece of the company but were somewhat jolted at the stake... Etsy has just announce in their Town Hall Video Event that they are now allowing designers to outsource some of their work--- what will this bring? how do we standout amongst the other "factory made" lampshades in Thailand...? or wherever. There are tricks that companies use to make their products come up in different searches... constantly and mostly infuriatingly often and hence---- they get seen more often. Not to mention the curated pages are by a "young sensibility" ie. trendy young/ hip styles while the rest of us land and languish on perhaps page 20.... sorta sucks. humm. we've all been fuming in the forums. All in all with that said....Etsy is a wonderful resource for small, creative businesses.   

Fresh inventory---just listed:

Vintage Manglecloth Hex Bell Shades

One interesting thing I noticed last night... someone posted in the forums... something like... do you feel like you've been a jilted lover by etsy.... my feelings have evolved from really furious at first, then resolved to continue my high quality and then mad, mad again when I checked my category, lampshades--- we mostly know each other, some as friends, some as students, some as acquaintances, luckily it's not the biggest category-- but last night I looked on and there was a big ass company from Europe-  must have been right after ETSY's Town Hall Pow - Wow- they were ready to pounce. And a little further investigation and then there was another new company with a very similar situation. 

Yesterday afternoon I loaded up 6 or 7 new lampshades I was pretty happy with- trying to catch up from being away for almost a month with my family. After I load on new inventory I usually check it out later to see how it looks and see if I need to change anything... easy to make mistakes or whatever. So I checked under "recent" listed items and saw several NEW companies loading on their NEW very commercial lampshades... just barely after the ink had dried with the new word from Etsy's CEO Chad Dickerson. yikes. I think Etsy has NO idea what they are in for... which makes many of us sad, mad as hell, feels like a sellout... --- I know my customers what quality, great and creative work. Let's see how EtSy will help us rise above the dull factory crummy quality. Here's what I wrote in a forum last night in my continuing furry:

oooh, dear etsy, dear etsy, first i was really pissed, then this morning i was coming back around.... then I listed up some great stuff this afternoon and was feeling pretty proud.... and tonight I checked to see what new stuff was in my category... we mostly know each other.... and now already there are some big, new slick boys already arrived. big factory is already at your door. one "new designer" has 400 listings and one sale....they've been busy since yesterday loading on their new crafts...??? red ones, blue ones, polka dots ones... oh etsy, do you have any idea what you have invited to the party???

 

Another Vintage Needlepoint that was added this week: Vintage Needlepoint Cut Corner Rectangle Bell

Okay, enough for now. I'm sticking around ETSY as I have just figured it all out, sort of, but others vendors are flocking to other craft sites by the hundreds.

Did I say how great the foliage is!!!! BEST in YEARS! Come to Southern Vermont the next couple of weeks and you won't be disappointed. It's a short time but wow the colors are vibrant. We have had pretty crummy leaf color the past 4-5 years and even "the locals" are excited. Today was overcast and the colors were even more beautiful.

just listed this week: Pretty Vintage White on White Embroidery Hex Bell Lampshade- 7" top x 12" bottom x 8 high. I've got a pair of them at  time of listing.

 To wrap it up in a very Vermonty way- A pair of Rare Vintage Grandma Moses Fabric in Square Lampshades

We shall see what happens with Etsy. As I was grabbing my links I just happen to read that even someone on Ebay thinks Etsy's move was pretty bad... I guess, I will just try an keep on doing work that rises above without being TRENDY and 30something.... yikes. guess I'm starting to feel like the old bag. ha, ha. It's been a long week in the craft world--- I can only imagine how many Advil the staff has gone through... I wouldn't wish to be in their shoes. In the meantime, I'm working on my "back links" to improve my seo.... how's that for this techno turd! 

Vintage Ticking Hex Bell Lampshades  5" top x 8" bottom x 6" high, easy clip on.

Happy Leaf Peeking! Have fun eating Cider Doughnuts, apple picking, craft shopping, antique show going, Cider sipping.

thanks for putting up with my  disjointed  blog post,

xxx0x000x,

judy lake

 

 

My Lamp Shop in Deep Winter

Snow has just started, again. The days are starting get longer and customers are waking up a little. How hard is it to keep making our inventories when things are slow? Sometimes I have to keep reminding myself to keep MAKING and DESIGNING because the busy days will be back. The Brimfield Flea Market will be here before I know it! I know my other craft friends that do shows have a few events in the deep winter, but mostly slim pickings. oooh how to survive the deep winter as an artist...??? recharging our design batteries is not a bad idea.
Painting my shop! I went to pick up a quart of paint in Rutland and the dear little man that mixed my paint gave me a gallon instead of a quart. I have been redoing my son's crudy bathroom and this is the wall color. LOVE it. Soooo. It's time for a new color at my shop and most likely I have almost enough. It's called Cool Aqua Semi Gloss from Benjamin Moore. It is super happy and time to say goodbye to the California Lilac!
I have a pair of these ticking shades. One of the most beautiful vintage tickings I have seen. Size 7" x 12" x 8" high, hex washer. Also just started a pair of 5" x 10" x 7" clip on, too. Fabrics like this don't last long in here!




New wall color! Everything looks so pretty against it. And the cobwebs are gone, for a while.
Pretty Paisley. One of the best ever!





One gray day this week I pulled every crazy bright color off the shelf and started in and made springlike shades! It turned into a really fun day. Color is such a vital element in our lives. Remember to USE it. I was recently in a friend's house and beige and gray were her main colors... even a little of this magenta would light a spark of light.

oooh and look at this! Do you remember these cloth kids books? I just sold one yesterday, but still have this one. Can't wait to make more. Just love the idea. So cute for a baby present or for the farm house.
here was another from the dark, winter day this week. THINK SPRING.
Well, it's time to do the other side of my shop!

Here's to hoping the snow drops come up sooner than later.

xo

judy

April Workshops Scheduled for 2013

     

 

      April Lampshade Workshops      2013

   

April 10th, Wednesday

*cost $175. includes all materials except fabric

*One Day Lampshade Workshop in Pawlet, VT in my studio/shop

* 11am-5pm, bring lunch or pick up at The General Store or Station Restaurant next door.

* 50% non-refundable deposit at time of registration

*We will be doing a small square or hex shade, many size/shape options available. Materials are available for purchase after our class.

*I will cover lots of lighting info, lampshade sizing, tips of the trade, entrepreneurial encouragement, best fabrics. A full days worth of information. Enough to get you started making shades!

* fyi- I do have a cat in the shop if that is an issue for you.

*We will be doing hard back shades; this is the style of shade that fabric is laminated onto styrene, NO Sewing!

*email me, [email protected] or call the shop to make a reservation shop tel.803.325.6308

****************************************************************

                 2 Shades in 2 Days

*April 12 Friday 11am-6pm, April 13th Saturday 9am-3pm

*This workshop is open only to new students, prior students may take the one day workshop for a refresher class.

*Cost is $295, includes all materials except fabric.

* We will have in-depth discussion on starting a business, fabrics, tips on fitting lamp shades, I will demo an empire shade as well as a drum shade. Lots of sources will be shared.

* I will host a Vermont wine and Cheese tasting on Friday after our workshop.

* I am often asked what is difference in my 2 workshops are. If you are hoping to start a business or use lampshades in your design studio the 2 day workshop does give you a stronger footing to get you started. The first day we will do the same frame as the one day workshop and then the 2nd day you can pick any frame in my shop that you would like to use.

* 50% non-refundable deposit is due at registration. to register, email me at [email protected] or call the shop at 802.325.6308

I often say I can teach you to make lampshades in a day, but it takes years to learn all the tricks of the trade in the lighting field. I know I am still learning new things everyday.

* FYI: I do have a cat in my shop if this is an issue for you.

_______

It's been a crazy busy year as you might be able to tell from my lack of blogging. Holy Moly trying to keep up with my pinterest, etsy, fb and twitter

It has been almost a year since my true introduction to Etsy. It has been great for my little business. It IS a lot of work, but it DOES pay off for me. Retailing has been changing, my village is in the start of an upswing and I expect tourism to grow in the future years, but I was in a place of needing to figure a way to be able to hang tight in my shop and ETSY did it for me. Yipee. I keep my camera close by on my desk and try to balance out filling orders and filling inventory. It has been a long trial figuring out how etsy works, using the best key words, figuring out photography-lampshades are super hard to shoot. I have more or less figured it out, but still pieces of the puzzle still to conquer.

Etsy is definitely a miss-mash of quality; the good with the horrid and ugly in all price ranges. Some sales are a piece of cake and others might entail 27 emails for one shade. I don't mind and encourage clients to ask questions on size and shape. I chose to make a no return policy. This was a reason it took me so long to jump into Etsy in the first place. I was concerned that shades would be returned often and would be spending lots of $$ and time on the shipping piece. I have found the community of buyers and sellers to be really super great, friendly and proud of their businesses.

There are several ways of finding things on Etsy, One is MOST RECENT- which is what I generally look under as I want to see what the newest fabrics have been posted. The other which is the default is by RELEVANCY---- Etsy has their own system of how they rate what is relevant.....I think it has to do with current trends, sales, hits, go figure, there are some shades that are ALWAYS on the first page... makes one kind of crazy.... oh well.

Have a wonderful holiday, Gift Certificates are always available. I am in my shop till Friday 21st. and will be closed until Thursday after Christmas. Time for a little r&r!

xo Judy Lake

Spring Update with Many Excuses.... to many social media places to be...

Happy to Have Spring here! Sorry for my tardiness; I've been absorbed with another social media...sorry my dear blog, but Etsy has tied my hands for 3 months straight.... and having fun for it. It is getting to my saturation point of how many places one can put time in on the internet. I tried HOUZZ and Pinterest....not exactly sure what they are yet, but signed up and slowly poking at them.  I have been observing Etsy for the past year; I jumped on when my book came out but didn't really have time to do it justice. I've looked at the lampshades, checked out the quality, styles, pricing to see if it was the right place for my product. There was a huge variety of stuff; some good and some not great. If anyone knows much about Etsy it is a commitment. It will do for you WHAT you put into it. I sort of get most of it now but know there is STILL more stuff that I might be clueless about, but eventually expertise will win out. right??? ha... I do feel that it is a fab place to sell, but some of my demographics are not aware of it's existence. I'm trying to spread the word to the older customers...some not always so computer savvy.

Here's a funny example of how great Etsy is for someone like me and my quirky little business. My shop, as some of you know is in the middle of NO WHERE...and I like that, but if one is in retail it is generally better to be SOMEWHERE in the middle of somewhere....but it's beautiful here, I love my shop, I save big time on gas, I own the building, the kitty can roam around and on and on.  Jan. and Feb. are desolate months out here; a few hardy souls venture out. I see maybe 3 dozen clients over the past 3 months, but with Etsy I have had maybe 30 sales! Retailing is changing fast and furious; I enjoy buying on-line as well as supporting my favorite local stores and friends with shops.

Etsy is pretty addictive. My goal was to get 100 lampshades posted on my Lampshade Lady Etsy Shop. I'm close... drats, but Brimfield is right around the corner. I think there is a way to close the store for a short time. Anyone done that?

We are also adding a new pup to our family. It was a difficult decision as are down to one dog and she is pretty happy being queen, but it's a perfect time for her to have fun with a new bud. Tomorrow we are off to NH to pick up Mazie, our new puppy. It's funny how you forget all the stuff one needs to do with the arrival of a new dog.... we've had our share of dogs over our 27 years of marriage... sure it will come right back. Ziggy came right in the middle of my book photography.... what timing. Today I decided to make a doggie shade for our dog breeder. She's super sweet and hopefully it might help ease her pain of giving up her babies.
top on is Mazie, isn't she cute? such a little button.
oh, look at the puppy pile. snuggy and sweet.

deep breath, I'll head home soon and pick up the winter boots, find some of our puppy toys, hope my new LL Bean puppy bed arrived and get a good sleep.Shop will be closed tomorrow....

Shop is closed Sat. 31st due to above committment, open again on Monday.

judy

I'm Up on Etsy, at last

Yipee, I'm finally doing what I tell my students to do. I am slowing figuring out Etsy. And this is a good time of year to do it as it is quite quiet here in downtown Pawlet Village. Downright desolate and cold, but my day has flown by with taking pictures and uploading them. How FUN is it to do something new. Yes, a bit humbling and mistakes will be made, but fun to figure it all out.

Here's my link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/lampshadelady

Check it out and let me know what you think. Suggestions are  great and most helpful.

I've put this off mostly because things were too busy and I was fretting about people making returns because the size was wrong or whatever. I have tried to make super clear descriptions with size, fittings, etc. and also made NO returns, but please feel free to email with questions, etc. It's kind of bitchy... but lampshades do not like to be sent more than once in the mail. When I get things sent back from a customer who is not an expert packer and they get damaged very easily.....bummer!  I get one or 2 damages a year, but that's pretty good considering how much I ship.

Then there is always the question of what to put up on Etsy??? I started in with some of my favorite things. I have a hunch themed things might be popular, too. I love my drum shades but big ones are soooooo hard to ship....and expensive. I do specialize in smallish shades which are not too bad to pack and not too expensive. And then there is the question whether to ship overseas... no clue on that. anyone? I'm open to it, just need to research more.

gotta get back to my photos....I've only got 19 shades up, they say you should shoot for 100!  I've got a ways to go; but Janurary has lots of cold, bitter days here in Vermont.

love to hear YOUR suggestions and HEART me or favorite me or add me to your circle.... all this new stuff for me to learn. My friend and book photographer George and I were just discussing if we were turning 52 or 53 this year....ha.  I said I'd been cheating and had been 51 all year, ha, ha. guess we are middle age kids!

xo,

judy