plans to make mermaid accessories

[SeaVixen]

Hi guys
I plan to attempt making hair accessories and jewelry and belts for mermaids and nonmermaids alike to sell so I can raise money for my tail fund. I figure selling things would help raise the money faster. I need to try and see if I can do it but I think I can. If they turn out good then I will sell. If its a success would anyone be interested in them? I would be selling on etsy and only use paypal. Hope I have a hidden talent in this! Really need a new tail!

[babsannee]

Sure! I'm personally always interested in any kind of homemade jewelry.

[spottedcatfish]

I'm making a costume for Halloween and I'll need some accessories. I'm interested to see what you have to sell.

[SeaVixen]

Well I haven't made anything yet. Just an idea for the near future. Plan to get supplies this week and start. I was just seeing if anyone would even be interested if I did and if this was something worth pursuing. Also I assume using E6000 is the best glue to use for the hair accessories so they can be worn in the water? Hope its a success. Does anyone know how much shipping I should charge for necklaces, mermaid belts, hair clips and such? I plan to use USPS but have no idea what shipping to charge because its different everywhere.

[spottedcatfish]

Cool, I still have to make my costume anyways, but I will be looking forward to seeing what you have to offer. USPS is ok for shipping... but I heard they are getting into debt, because they are not making enough revenue to operate. They have also been dropping the ball with shipping lately. Depending on what you are shipping, it may be cheaper, more efficient, and secure, if you ship with UPS.

[SeaVixen]

I want to make sure I can track the packages I send so I know where they are and they were delivered successfully. Also I know customers like to track packages too. Hope this idea takes off and is successful. I want nothing more than to be a good salesperson and give my customers a good experience. I think handmade items are better quality because they were carefully crafted. I will take pride in my creations! I really need some help building my tail fund and I think this will help me out a lot and I can earn the money in the process. I like earning things. I just hope I'm good at it. Fins crossed

[Ayla of Duluth]

I wouldn't ship with ups. When I sent out a etched glass to a customer, shipping was $20 bucks. It was a martini glass. =,,= I'm never using them again. I'm going with USPS from now on.

Spottedcatfish, that's strange to hear they're going into debt. Every single time I order something online, its shipped via USPS. We have a USPS building by our house and its almost always full of people sending out things, to the point where I've seen lines of people standing outside. I might check into their business status.

SeaVixen, I imagine most of these accessories (the mermaid belts and hair clips and such) would be able to easily fit into one of those yellow paper sized envelopes lined with bubble wrap? You can send those by regular mail I think. I'm not 100% positive, but it might be worth looking into. It would be a cheaper alternative, but you wouldn't be able to track the shipment. I wonder if that would even pose an issue though, seeing as I rarely hear of things getting lost in the mail anymore. Most the time it's just delivered to the wrong neighbor. That's our situation. We live on east buffalo street, and new mail carriers sometimes get it mixed up with west buffalo street. Anyways...

[SeaVixen]

I've had things shipped to me from amazon and had a tracking number through USPS so I can just ask. Mermaid raven sent my necklaces in a bubblewrap yellow envelope and the cost on the envelope is $1.71 so that's definitely cheaper. Don't want to be charging customers outrageous shipping just because that is what mail carriers charge just for a small item. I don't see where they're getting these prices but I've heard that its because of gas costs these days. USPS hasn't raised their charges though which is weird. Necklaces and bracelets and small items like that can go in envelopes and I plan to put them in a cardboard jewelry box for extra protection. A friend of mine worked at ups and said he saw boxes being thrown and kicked and roughly handled even the ones that said fragile. They don't seen to take care of items. That's another thing I'm so scared of is the item getting damaged because some idiot mail carrier was careless.

[SeaVixen]

Ok guys I'm starting my accessory making project later this evening. Buying supplies later this morning. Should be interesting to see how they turn out. Sketched some ideas down yesterday. Should be great if they turn out the way I plan! Also I'm thinking about doing clip on mermaid earrings for those mers who don't have pierced ears (me). Once I get a few items finished I'll take photos and make a new thread to show y'all assuming they turn out. Fins crossed it works out

[SeaVixen]

So far I've made 2 barettes, a clip, 5 pairs of earrings, a pair of clip on earrings, and 2 necklaces. Long process but its coming along and they look awesome. Definitely worth selling to people. I used e6000 glue to glue things to barettes and clip on earrings so will they hold up in water? I'm hoping they wont fall apart. I used quite a bit of glue to make sure they stick good and when dry they are very durable just haven't tested them in water.

[spottedcatfish]

Cool If you could post some pictures of them, that would be nice.

[SeaVixen]

If any of you haven't already I posted another thread with some pictures. The thread is called Seavixens accessory preview. Head over and check it out