Buying American Made & Vintage

I've been looking for a new toaster for the past couple of years. I wanted to buy one made in the United States, and believe me, the search was a long and fruitless one. I was willing to compromise on one made in Canada or Europe, but definitely not one made in China.

I was surprised to find that even high end toasters, that try to give the appearance of being made in Europe, are actually made in China. You have to look hard to find the "made in China' label, but it's there. A $300 model at a famous kitchen wares store, and you guessed it, made in China.

Then I had the happy thought of buying vintage. There must be a lot of old toasters out there, from back in the day when we still made toasters in the U.S. And what better place to find vintage items than dear Etsy? A quick search revealed a lot of excellent toasters, reasonably priced, which were indeed made in the United States.

I decided on this beauty from Bliss Vintage:It was made in the 1940's, and as we all know, they don't make 'em like they used to. This toaster is a shiny chrome wonder, and makes excellent toast. And it was made in the U.S., in Elgin Illinois, which is only a few miles away from where I live.

Christine, the owner of Bliss Vintage, was a joy to interact with, so friendly and kept me informed all along the way. My toaster arrived quickly, and beautifully packed for its travels from Canada to the U.S. My toaster had returned to its' roots, back to Illinois, after its' adventures.

I have a wonderful, American made toaster, beautifully styled and classic. And while enjoying a crispy, buttery slice of toast with my morning coffee, I have the satisfaction of knowing I shopped successfully, getting what I wanted instead of just settling, and purchasing from an independent business person.

Don't you just love happy endings?

We're having a sale at Dalkullan Jewelry!

I've never had a sale at Dalkullan Jewelry before, and decided now is the time. Well, I've had sales, as in sold jewelry, of course, but I've never marked down my prices on certain items before. I'm taking Dalkullan Jewelry in a different direction than I was charting originally. I'm going to be focusing on fabricating jewelry from precious metals, and incorporating precious and semi-precious gems. I'm very excited in the new work I have in my shop, and in the lovely creations still on my jeweler's bench and my sketch book!

This new focus brings with it a great opportunity for you to own some gorgeous handcrafted jewelry at a very favorable price. I've marked down all the beautiful flameworked bead jewelry, 9 different colors and styles of earrings, all with sterling handmade earwires. The entire Lifesaver Line, shown in the picture above, is marked down from $25.00 to $20.00, and the shipping to U.S. and Canada is free. They'll arrive in a jewelry box, gift wrapped, and ready to give to that special someone, or for you to treasure.

This is a one of a kind earring, and it's on sale, too. I bought these lovely flame worked beads at the Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee a couple years ago, and thought they'd make a gorgeous pair of earrings. Hope you agree!

Don't you just love that shade of green? So fresh and spring-like. And they ship free to the U.S. and Canada.

There are more earrings on sale, just drop by Dalkullan Jewelry to see them all.

Happy shopping! Wishing you joy today and always.

Back to School Doldrums

Things have been a bit on the slow side at Dalkullan Jewelry. I noticed this last year, too. I call it the back to school doldrums, when internet traffic to my etsy shop slows down.

There aren't any major holidays that involve jewelry coming up soon. Mother's Day, June weddings, and Christmas are all a long ways away. I think a lot of people are focusing on school clothes for the kids and trying to get back into the regular routine again. That's my theory, anyway.

I'm working on some secret projects. Dalkullan is going to be offering more jewelry in 14K solid gold. I love working with gold, it's wonderfully malleable and the soft gleam of gold is like no other metal. The fact it doesn't tarnish is also a big plus.

I don't have any photos of my secret projects to share -- yet -- patience gentle reader, all will be reveal in time! But here's a lovely ring, with pink tourmaline I hope you'll enjoy:
I've been mulling over the idea of buying some ad space on a blog. If anyone has any experiences they'd like to share on this, please do! I'd love to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping by, you're always welcome. :)

Some advice on naming your Etsy shop

If you've ever wondered why I named my Etsy shop Dalkullan Jewelry, here's the story (If you're wondering what that has to do with the title of this post, have patience, gentle reader, all will be revealed shortly):

Dalkullan means "a girl from Dalarne" which is a province in Sweden. My Aunt was born in Dalarne and moved to the United States, where she opened a Swedish import shop, which she named Dalkullan. To honor her memory, I chose Dalkullan for my shop name. The photo above shows two Dalkullans wearing the tradition clothing of the region.

As a marketing strategy, my Aunt had a great plan, since she was selling principally to other Swedish speakers in the Andersonville section of Chicago. As a marketing strategy for online retailing, I probably should have chosen another name for my shop. But hindsight is always twenty/twenty, as the old saying goes. If you're trying to pick a name for your new shop on Etsy, you'd be better off picking a shop name that is easy to remember, and says something about your product.

If I could re-name my shop, I'd pick "Heather Braun Studios" because I would like to build product recognition and brand my jewelry under my own name. I'd like to make it easier for my customers to find my shop, and with the thousands and thousands of jewelry shops on Etsy, picking an easy to remember name is important. Outside of Swedish speakers, I suspect "Dalkullan" isn't all that memorable.

Just something to consider, if you're thinking about opening an online shop on any venue, not just Etsy. And it's also a good idea to use the same name for all your online venues, such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., because that helps people to identify with your product and find your shop more easily.

Thanks for dropping by! :)

Bead & Button Show Class

A couple weeks ago, I attended the annual Bead & Button Show in Milwaukee. Very exciting place to be, if you are at all interested in jewelry. I don't do much beading anymore, I've been making jewelry through fabrication techniques, but it's amazing to walk around the colossal show floor and see all the gorgeous things for sale.

What does fabrication mean, you might be asking. Fabricating jewelry involves the traditional jeweler's tools of saw, torch, files, etc., all the fun stuff that gets your hands dirty. Nothing like using a torch and heating metal and seeing that magic moment when the solder flows like a skinny silver thread.

Which brings me back to the B & B Show -- I took 2 classes there in goldsmithing. Not that we worked in gold, we used silver, but when you make an object that's smaller than the human fist it's called goldsmithing, and when it's larger it's silversmithing, regardless of what metal you're using.

The first class I took was taught by Leslie Frumin, and it covered making silver leaves. Here's a picture of the leaf I made:
It's made out of sterling. We started with a photo of a leaf, transfered the design onto metal, and began sawing away. After a whole lot of hammering, bending and soldering, voila! a lovely oak leaf emerged. A quick dunk in a patinating solution, and the amazing color you see above emerged. The addition of some fresh water pearls, and the project was completed. It was a fun class, Leslie is a sweet lady with a great sense of humor. And I walked away with a lovely new pendant. What's not to like? :)

Hope everything is going great for you, and thanks so much for stopping by!

Sapphire Trilogy Ring

I've been working on a new ring design for the past few days. It's a sterling band, with three tube settings I crafted from sterling, and then set with 3 colored sapphires. The sapphires are all genuine, and so sparkly and pretty.

I've recently bought a new camera, the Nikon D3000, and it's a sweet piece of hardware. My photography looks so much better. It's a digital SLR, the first I've ever used, my old camera was a trusty point and shoot, which met a tragic end when it leapt to its death off the desk during a download.

The ring is a sleek, minimalist design, that showcases the dainty little sapphires. They're 2 mm in diameter, and as you can see, they're one each in pink, yellow, and white. I'm going to do some more work with sapphires -- they're a really hard and strong gem, which takes some of the pressure -- for me, not the stone, :) -- out of stone setting.

Hope you're having a great week, and thanks so much for dropping by.

A Gift For My Daughter

My lovely daughter Angela graduated from the teaching program at San Diego State University last month, and received her teaching certificate in bi-lingual education. To commemorate this very happy occasion, I decided to make her a one of a kind ring.

It's the most elaborate ring I've made yet, and is completely hand fabricated. I started with some silver wire and tubing, and 3 royal amethyst stones, each 2mm in diameter.

It required many soldering operations, creating the dainty leaves, and melting silver to form the tiny spheres. After I'd put the ring together, there was the matter of cutting the dinky little seats in the tubing and setting the amethysts. Thank goodness for magnifying visors!

It's so gratifying to put a design on paper, and then to actualize it in metal and gems. I'm very thankful to have a skill that I can use to make a unique and lasting gift for my loved ones. A special ring for my beautiful and brainy daughter!

Ups and Downs

Running an online shop can have its ups and downs. Getting on the Etsy Front Page for the second time and having 5 orders in quick succession (for me, I'm not a major force on Etsy, lol) was quite exhilarating. I was hoping that things were really starting to gel, and that getting a couple of orders a week would be the new norm.

Sad to say, that hasn't been the case. Since then, things have been exceedingly slooooowwww at Dalkullan Jewelry. It's times like these that try women's souls, or okay, maybe it's not that bad, but at least try one's patience. But when the going gets tough, the tough make lemonade, or something like that.

While maintaining the requisite stiff upper lip, I've been working on some new designs. I'm not ready to list them yet, but here's a sneak preview of a new earring design. It's got carnelians, lapis lazuli, and turquoise cabochons.

It's really hard to hold the earrings securely to set the stones, so I'm going to try sinking the backs of the earrings in thermoplastic mounted on wood in a vise. Then a setting punch and a chasing hammer to smooth the bezel cups around the stones. That should get the job done. Afterwards, I'll just pop the earrings out, and polish them up bright and shiny.

Thanks for dropping by!

Copper Flower Necklace & Earrings

I just finished making a necklace in copper. Copper is a lovely metal, soft and easy to work with, and it has a pretty, warm color. The affordability factor is also hard to beat!

I call this set Copper Flower Necklace and Earrings, and it's completely handcrafted.

I made the clasp, chain and little copper balls using wire wrapping techniques. The central motif of the copper flower I sawed from copper sheet metal.

After filing, sanding polishing and drilling, I added the flamework cobalt blue bead with a copper wire wrapped tendril. Don't you just love the mix of cobalt blue and copper?

The little horse in the picture is from Sweden. I inherited it from my Aunt, the lady who ran the original Dalkullan, which was an import store. I named my Etsy shop after her store.

Thanks for dropping by, and hope you have a great day! If you'd have any comments, I'd love to hear from you! :)

Second time on the Etsy front page

Dalkullan Jewelry had the wonderful experience of being on the Etsy front page for a second time! My lovely Hammered 14k Gold Earrings were in a Treasury that was featured.

Christine of dollcloset was the curator of the Treasury. Christine makes beautiful things for American Girls size dolls, drop by dollcloset for a fun shopping experience!

I didn't make a sale of the earrings, but did get 3 sales of other items, and the gold earrings garnered a lot of clicks and hearts.

As luck would have it, I was without computer access at the time, and missed all the excitement. It was quite a wonderful surprise when I could finally log in, though!

Thanks for dropping by!
Heather