Transformation

While working to improve upon my jewelry design skills, I am finding myself discontent with items I made as a novice. Some pieces are slated for complete disassembly. Others, like the Steampunk earrings that are the subject of this post, are being transformed using my newfound skills.

These Steampunk key earrings started life like this:


I had purchased 70 antique brass keys of varying sizes, because they reeked of the potential to make some really fun designs. (Although I will admit, in retrospect, 70 keys may have been a bit much.) Some of keys are quite dainty - earring sized keys. The fact that the keys were not identical, made the earrings way cool in my opinion.

But looking at them now, with better design skills, I felt they could be improved. Here’s what they became:

Chain is a relatively new addition to my pieces. I love the effect of the chain in this transformation. Also, I added actual watch gears to the center of the chandeliers. Hopefully, these changes make the earrings more Steampunk-ish. (Is that a word?)

I am very pleased with new iteration. Now if I can get a handle on the Etsy algorithm that decides what items come up on the first page of the search. It seems to be a combination of the age of the shop, number of items in the shop, and number of sales. I can’t do anything about the age of the shop. I can increase the number of items in the shop given time, but removing items completely and reworking others doesn’t help - although it makes me happier. And, I’m considering the madness of setting up a vendor booth at some event in hopes of generating a quick jump in sales. I am rather daunted by this strategy though.

Anyway, it’s all a learning experience, and that’s a hoot!