Serious Craft Blog

We all know that Google is the king of search and tracking of web content, along with a smorgasbord of other tools.

Did you know you can even use Google to keep track of your own business on the web? Let Google tell you what it knows about you and your business, as soon as it finds out!

"Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic."

You set up alerts based on your desired search keywords, the same way you would search on google.com. As soon as Google finds something new relevant to that keyword, it will email you of its findings. Or, you can choose to have daily or weekly alerts too. You can even choose to receive notices as a feed for your RSS reader, instead of email.

How handy! Now you'll always be the know whenever someone gives you some cred or rats on your back. Use it to keep track of happenings, specific news topics, shopaholism—so many uses. What was the world like without Google?

Just go here to get started: http://www.google.com/alerts

Did you know some vintage typewriters are actually affordable? Say hello to my Sears Tower Quiet Tabulator Manual Typewriter from the 1950s.

I was shocked that I didn't have to break the bank to get my hands on one of these cuties. I happened upon this gem at my local antique store, The Antique Barn. Tucked away at the bottom of a shelf full of knick knacks, this baby screamed my name and yearned to be taken home and loved.

Her real name is the Silent Super by Smith Corona - a popular typewriter manufacturer in the US of A around that time. This is the rebranded version by Sears. It comes with a CHARMING carrying hard case that can be repurposed as a travel case. That's like two deals in one! Oh, and ribbons are not hard to find online at all.

So what's the damage? Just a couple of Hamiltons ($10s). I'm serious! And I'm not even "good" at antique shopping.

Go visit your local antique shoppes! Now leave me alone so I can type my to-do lists, recipe cards, love notes, not-so-mental notes... I'll be bringing her to my wedding. ;)

There is a very handy add-on called "Autofill Forms" for the Firefox browser. It memorizes form fields so that you can autofill them the next time around. You can customize it for basically any webform that you regularly use, such as writing template email and posting duplicate listings on marketplaces like Artifre/Etsy/etc.

...especially for Etsy Batch Feedback. I value all my customers. The nature of my Etsy shop is that I go through a lot of small orders each month. So it is easy to get bogged down by routine sometimes, things like fulfilling buyer feedback get piled up before I know it. Thanks to Autofill Forms, I don't have to bash copy and paste for every feedback to my buyers. I have a great experience with most of my customers, so I have nothing but great feedback to give them.

Let's go through how to fill out and memorize the feedback form. Most operations will work the same way. It's very easy once you see how it works!

Get Firefox and Install Add-On

First things first, have the Firefox browser installed, and then go to the Autofill Forms page and install that plugin. Restart the browser.

Etsy's Batch Feedback Tool

Now go to the Feedback page on Etsy, and go to the Batch Feedback Tool page via the link under the "Items Awaiting Feedback" tab.

Fill out feedback for one customer. Then right click in a form field and choose "Add complete form as profile...."

A window will pop up with the plugin's settings. There may be a number of entries listed. REMOVE ALL of the ones that have blank Values, by highlighting the entries and clicking the "Remove" button on the bottom. You should have only two entries left (the top two entries remain in the example below).

Highlight the top entry that looks something like "Feedback_value[1234567]".

• Change the Name field by removing the numbers, so it looks like:

Feedback_value[xxx].

• Change the Field Rule field to exactly this, you can copy and paste this in (this means to apply the same rule for all field names that look like "Feedback_value[somenumbers0-9]"):

(?:^feedback_value\[[0-9]+\]$)

Now, highlight the bottom entry that looks like "Feedback_message[1234567]".

• Change the Name field by removing the numbers, so it looks like (this is just for your reference):

Feedback_message[xxx].

• Change the Value field to the precise feedback message you want. Avoid special characters aside from periods, commas, exclamations.
• Change the Field Rule field to exactly this (this means to apply the same rule for all field names that look like "Feedback_message[somenumbers0-9]"):

(?:^feedback_message\[[0-9]+\]$)

Lastly,

• Change the Site Rule field at the top to (this makes sure these rules only work for that feedback page):

(?:^http:\/\/www\.etsy\.com\/feedback_awaiting\.php)

• Click OK. You're done with setting it up.

Now here's where the magic happens! When you're at the Batch Feedback page, click ALT + J.

ALT + J!!!! You should see your form all filled in automatically with the feedback you've set. If there is one feedback you want changed or left blank, you can easily just change that one and move on.

It's just that easy. You can set Autofill Forms to work for you in similar ways with many other kinds of forms. Typically the settings will fill out for you automatically and you won't have to mess with it. But for this Etsy one, we have to make sure it'll work for all feedback fields now and for the future. This plugin is also great for things like posting new listings on Artfire or writing generic emails ("Hello, Can I have info for a wedding reception at this venue for 100 people in May?").

I hope this helps! Feel free to comment if you have any questions or issues.

Now I know there's already an #!etsyhack for batch feedback, but Autofill Forms has more uses than just this. Plus, in the #!etsyhack...hack, if you want to skip or customize one feedback, you can't unless you go back to the old way of filling out all the feedback individually. With Autofill, you just have to erase/replace the one feedback input you need after you autofill it.

Bezel set gemstone rings are all the rage nowadays! Its design is simple and elegant, and highlights gemstones perfectly. It is probably the simplest type of setting to make from scratch, making it a great and economical choice for both shoppers and independent jewelers.

So why not try to make one out of PMC3? I've always wanted a bezel stone ring, but I didn't want an engagement one (I wanted something classy and timeless). I recently discovered a plethora of faceted cabochons on Etsy. They are so beautiful and are perfect for this task.

Note: If you're completely new to PMC3, I would recommend visiting my first PMC3 tutorial and going through that first to get a feel for the clay and the tools.

Finished product - labradorite ring. Looks fancy in that box, yea?

For your first time making a bezel ring, it is best to use a round faceted/non-faceted cabochon that is at least 7mm in diameter. I started out with 6mm, and it can be pretty finicky to work with even for my small hands.

materials

All of these things can be bought for fairly cheap online at sites like riogrande.com, or in craft stores with jewelry specialty.

• PMC3 of course - 6.3g is enough for most ring sizes
• Fine silver bezel wire - 1/8 x .010" (30 gauge) worked well, you only need a 1" strip or so. Make sure it's fine silver, not sterling. Example from Rio Grande
• Round cabochon of your liking - should be at least 7mm in diameter
• Metal file set - (~$10)
• Sandpaper or nail filers - various grits between 400 and 800
• Burnisher - (~$4)
• Butane torch - any ol' kitchen butane torch will work
• Olive oil
• Distilled water
• Bezel rocker / pusher (optional, ~$4)
• Mandrel

step 1 - figure out your pmc ring size

You need to know your ring size to figure out the PMC3 ring size, which is 10-12% larger because of shrinkage. Use this online conversion to help with that.

• Say you're a (US) size 4. According to the conversion chart, size 4 has a diameter of 14.86mm. Assuming PMC3 shrinks 12%, then divide 14.86mm by 88%. In other words:

14.86 / .88 = 16.88mm

• Now pick a larger size on the online conversion until the diameter shows something close to 16.88mm. In this case:

Size 6-1/4 = 16.71mm
Size 6-1/2 = 16.92mm

So our PMC3 ring size is around 6-1/2. You will wrap your PMC around that mark on your mandrel.

step 2 - prepare the bezel

• Prepare a little PMC paste by mixing a tiny amount of PMC and a tiny drop of distilled water. I have heard essential oils like lavender oil work well in the mix here too. Mix the paste until it has a yogurt like texture, adding more water sparingly if necessary. This will act as the glue for your putting silver pieces together.
• Take the fine silver bezel wire and wrap one end around the cabochon. Mark where the wire meets for cutting. Cut a little more wire than the mark to allow for filing.
• File both ends of the bezel wire so they're even and smooth. Wrap wire around the gem again to ensure it fits just right.
• Spread a little bit of PMC paste onto both ends of the bezel wire. "Glue" both ends together. If the wire bounces back apart, tighten the curve by wrapping it around something smaller, like the file handle. Make sure there is not much PMC oozing out from the inside of the bezel or it will block the cabochon later.
• Let bezel airdry or use a hairdryer/heat gun. 

step 3 -make the ring shank

I won't go through all the steps here, as that's all covered in my previous tutorial, except I didn't flatten the shank here, I left it round.

Rolling out the clay with an acrylic block. Oil surfaces to prevent stickiness.

• Cover the mandrel with some parchment paper to prevent stickiness.
• Wrap shank around the mandrel where your PMC ring size is marked.
• Using some more clay, make a flattened circle for the base of the gemstone bezel cup. Make it a bit bigger than the gem because it will shrink 10-12%.
• Glue base to the shank with water or the PMC paste.

• Let ring airdry or use a hairdryer / heatgun. When dried, carefully remove ring from the mandrel.
• At this point, carefully file and sand the ring into a style you like. You can sand the shank flat at the sides so it's not as round or add any other designs to it.
• Carefully sand the cup base so that it is flat and will hold the bezel wire without gaps in between. You can also sand the base smaller if necessary, but remember to accommodate for the shrinkage. Do this carefully as the clay is still brittle, you can continue to make refinements after firing.

step 4 - the firing

You will fire the bezel and the ring shank separately first.

• Fire the bezel for about 2 minutes (again, for basic firing instructions, refer to previous tutorial). Quench in water to cool.
• File and sand the extra bits of fired PMC smooth on the outside so that the bezel looks like one continuous piece. Do not sand too deep.
• Next, fire the ring shank. Quench in water to cool.
• File and sand the ring shank to your desired finish.
• Place the bezel over the cup base of the ring, ensuring the bezel is round and centered. Use a fine point permanent marker to trace around the bezel on the cup base (see picture below). Now sand around the cup base until you reach the circle and the bezel fits right on top of base. This part can be tedious if your base is much bigger than needed (took me almost an hour), but you will get to it!

step 5 - put it all together

• Rewet and reform that PMC paste if necessary. Spread paste along one side of the bezel loop and glue it onto the base. It is better to use more than less paste. Make sure there is not excess paste inside the bezel that will be in the way of the gem (outside is okay). Scratch off excess with a toothpick or needle.
• Apply more paste onto any areas on the outside where you can still see the seam between bezel and base. Let dry.

Bezel "glued" to cup base with PMC paste

• Fire this piece once again, for about 3 minutes. Quench to cool.
• File and sand smooth, making sure not to sand to deep and breaking the connection. File and sand the bezel shorter so it fits the size of the gem. It should not be too tall, but just enough to hold the cabochon at the sides.
• Place gem into the bezel cup. If it doesn't fit immediately, use some pliers to bend bezel into a fitting shape.
• Use the bezel rocker/pusher to push the bezel flush against the curve side of the cabochon.
• Complete any finishing touches and sand entire piece smooth. Polish with the burnisher until you reach a high shine, if desired.

There you have it! It may be tedious work making one of these from scratch, but it's totally fun and rewarding in the end!

Who doesn't love letterpress? And now pretty much anyone can own their own letterpress with Lifestyle Crafts' new Letterpress Combo Kit, available for $134.99 at Oh My Crafts!.

While I love this new age of bringing artisan crafts to the everyday consumer (die-cuts, embossing, you name it), usually the limitations of these converted products are still very prevalent.

The machine is similar to the Cuttlebug + its embossing plates. It's rather small, so it's good for small cards and tags. But you wouldn't be able to print stationery or anything. On the plus side it does offer its own proprietary printing plates with some nice modern designs for weddings and whatnot. To print your own design, it may be possible to have your own traditional plates custom made and use them in the machine.

Overall, it's a pretty simplistic system. As a crafter, I would probably prefer to make my own because I'll have much more control and a much larger dimension to work with that way. (I'm already set on doing letterpress wedding invites. :P ) There is a very excellent tutorial on woodblockart.ca on how to make a press using an automotive bottlejack, some pipes, and plywood.

Bottle Jack Press

It's a very impressive design. Bottle jacks are quite the cheapo at Home Depots, you can even get a powered hydraulic one so you won't have to crank. I'm sure you can maintain a pretty nice impression that way. You can probably add some registration elements to it too for more accuracy. If you're really a serious crafter, you would even get a boxcar aluminum base. *drool*

Boxcar Press Boxcar Base

I guess what letterpress one would want is their cup of tea. Lifestyle offers a nice all-in-one package with virtually no assembly required. A bottle jack press can be cheap and has more expandability, but certainly would be a lot more work. Or, you can also just do some online shopping for some pretty dazzling readymade letterpress prints.

Letterpress Delicacies: letterpress.etsy.com