No way!

So I was feeling a bit bummed about how my buttons only seem to slowly gain a bit of interest.  I also have tried contacting a few places, but have usually not heard back from them.
While I was at a recent anime convention I found a booth in the artist alley that had stuff I liked.  The friend who was with me at the time said it is the place she gets a lot of stuff from.  I didn't want to commit to a big print, I was thinking a button would be good though.  They didn't have any!  I put it off for a bit, but then decided one night to try sending an e-mail.
Well, we have been talking and she is very interested!  I didn't want to say anything and jinx myself before this.  She is making a contract tomorrow and I just finished sending her an invoice.  I'm so excited!
Since there is still time for things to go wrong I won't mention too many details.  Though once things are going along I will put more info here.

Because of this, I get a new toy.  I've always cut out the button circles by hand.  This is soothing to me, but takes a while.  Because of the number of buttons she wants, I got myself a little punch.  It looks like a lot of fun to use.
http://buttonmakers.net/product_info.php?cPath=59&products_id=78
That is the specific one I will be getting.
I can't wait to play with it!

Is that a light I see?

The end is really getting near now. While that is a good thing, it is also a bad thing. The Accessory Lady is making less sense than usual.
One minute she is saying that she is disappointed that I didn't get more done (even though I told her I was sick) and then telling me how she appreciates how much I have gotten done.
I am looking forward to one day though. She wants to learn how to make all of these, then she will see how hard it is, and how time consuming. (I also have a feeling we well need more than one day)

There might be hope (but probably not)

So this is the crunch week before the big meeting. Of course I have over three designs to finish in that time. I had hopes, then I became 2 days behind. I had no idea how I would even get close to getting done.
Now I'm starting to think that if my idea works and I change the order I do things in, there might be hope again.
Fingers crossed everyone!

Another day gone...

...and again I didn't get as much done as I wanted.
I wanted to get all the bows done and a few of the metal mesh clips done.  I will hopefully get one set of metal mesh clips done tomorrow.  Some glue is drying now.
I didn't get all the bows done because of two things.  One was that I didn't have all the fabric I need, and the other was that I wasn't sure if she wanted the overhang of the lace to be on the sides or edges.

Here is another odd thing.  I cut the metal mesh into a square and then cut the square in half.  One would imagine that they would be roughly even...well, they were not.  I had to take off two rows of mesh off of the one side.  I'm taking a different approach to cutting this stuff.  It is a bit faster, so it isn't a bad thing.

...and it takes you how long to make one?

I'm running into some time issues with these bows.  While they are taking me longer to make than expected, not all of it is billable hours.  I am getting paid for 1-1.5 hours of work per bow, but it really takes me longer.  What is the problem? Glue dry time.
It is very annoying to me that glue dry time does not count as billable hours.
Don't get my wrong, I totally understand why they don't count, I'm not actually doing work, I'm just waiting around until I can do work.

Anyway, I ran out of time to open my bead package, so no fun picture to share.

My packing list seems to have grown...

My (and The Accessory Lady's) original plan was to get all the bow variations done before I left for NC.  This did not happen.  This definitely did not happen.  The other part of the plan was for me to take what I needed for a chain design down with me.
My crafty packing list went from:

• chains
• pliers
• glue
• metal mesh
• laptop

To:

• chains
• pliers
• glue
• metal mesh
• laptop
• fabrics of various kinds
• sewing needles
• thread
• interfacing
• mini-ironing board
• glues of various kinds
• cutting matt
• cutting ruler
• rotatory cutter

*sigh* I hope I remember it all...

Good News!

I managed to talk The Accessory Lady into less of each design.  Initially we were going to make four of each, but that was when I thought it wouldn't take long to make each bow.  Once I started working on it, I discovered that each bow is going to take about an hour to finish.  With as many variations as she gave me, that would be 36 hours worth of work.
While that doesn't sound like a big problem, there are other things to consider.

• She would like them all done by Fri
• I have to work my "day job" during this time
• We finally decided on sizing on Wed night

Now I only have 18 hours of work to do (assuming nothing goes wrong).  Another good thing about only having to make half the original number, I don't have to worry about running out of fabric and needing to go to her place to get more.

I'm almost half done with the other items I needed to get done for our Fri meeting.  I'm feeling a lot better about this.

I have a bad feeling about this...

...as of right now...I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make the deadline if I take time to do the following: eat, drink any kind of liquid, sleep, go to bathroom, act in any kind of personal hygiene.

This job might kill me...

So many glues!

I've been working on the accessory job I mentioned before and I've managed to go through a while 8oz bottle of glue just on one design!  It is about $6.99 at Ace Hardware.  I love the stuff. Weldbond is one of my fav glues.
Since I used so much, and it was mostly gluing fabric to ribbon, I was wondering if it would make more sense to get some fabric glue at work, since I could use a coupon to make it cheaper. A bottle of Elmer's Fabric Glue caught my eye.  I got the 4 oz bottle and went home to go and do some more gluing.
When I used it I found out that my bottle needs to be opened all the way, or you only get a tiny amount of glue.  You can squeeze until you feel like you are going to burst the bottle, but nothing much comes out.  Another thing I thought was weird was the smell of it seemed familiar.  It wasn't until later when I realized what it smelled like.
I have some glitter-glue that is glitter in a gel kind of glue.  This one smells just like that!  It also acts like it too.  It seems to be a white glue mixed with a clear gel glue.  It also says on the bottle that it takes 24 hrs to dry.  If you spread it thin, it goes clear before 24 hrs, but remains a bit tacky feeling.  Not tacky feeling that makes it feel sticky, but kind of like rubber that is grippy.  I have a bit of ribbon where it oozed out a bit and it still has that tacky-rubber feeling.
I've a bit torn about it.  I do like it, and it seems strong enough, but it takes so long to dry.  It also takes a bit to grab (which is more important to me than the actual dry time) but that would give you a bit more time to mess with things.

I'm going to have to play around with it some more to decide if I would use it for my things.

New ideas

I haven't been able to do as much as I have wanted with my Etsy shop.  It is not for a bad reason, it is for a very good reason.
I was approached to make some samples for an accessory designer.  I have been very busy trying to meet her dead-lines.  While I have been mostly focusing on that, I haven't forgotten about my own stuff.
I have a ring idea that is floating around in my head, and I'm also thinking of a fun new bracelet design.
As of right now, the sample-making job will go through the beginning of Aug.  I will then be able to focus more on making my own items.

Still nothing new in the store?

I know missing the holiday season isn't the best idea for someone trying to sell things.  It would have been nice if I had decided to start this whole re-vamp sooner... and if general life inconveniences hadn't popped-up.
I've also been testing a few knitting patterns while I get other things for the shop in order.

Some good news is that I have been hired by someone to crochet some squares for them.  She called when I was at work to ask if the crochet class was going to happen or not.  Since she was the only one taking it, it was going to get canceled.  She asked if anyone in the store knew how to crochet.  When I told her that I did she asked if I would do something for her.
When she came in to talk to me I found out that she has a degenerative disk decease.  It doesn't let her do crafts for very long before it hurts.  She had made a crochet blanket for her daughter for Christmas, well, it was seen.  She promised her niece one, but hasn't been able to complete it.  She has been working on it for 4 months and have only been able to finish 2 squares.  She asked me to finish the last ones for her, and I agreed.  We both agreed on a price and I now have all I need to work on them.
I'm going to try and finish them before I do too much more with the shop.