It's done and it's open.

[Carl Martin]

As you all know I've been working on the website for the past month or so .. I've been promising some that I would get my butt into gear and put some of my jewellery on my website for sale - I'd promised that the Shop and Gallery would be open on the 1/1/10 - it's now open - Let me know what you think.
I'm not a photographer or Website Designer but I think I've given it a fair attempt at both.

Happy new year to everyone...

Carl

[Mila Jewellery]

Looks good There are some really nice pieces there - I like the silver & yellow gold bangle. Good luck with it

[Petal]

Looks good There are some really nice pieces there - I like the silver & yellow gold bangle. Good luck with it

I agree, I think the website is much improved. The only question I have is regarding the beautiful rings shown on the front page. They don't have prices when you click on them? Are they only available for couples to make on one of your courses, or are they all bespoke items?

Apart from that, excellent work Carl

[Mystic]

Very nice Carl, I love the first silver bangle, it's beautiful

[Lisa Quinn]

That's certainly a huge transformation Carl, well done, it looks great ( I hate to think how long it must have taken you?)

[Carl Martin]

I agree, I think the website is much improved. The only question I have is regarding the beautiful rings shown on the front page. They don't have prices when you click on them? Are they only available for couples to make on one of your courses, or are they all bespoke items?

Apart from that, excellent work Carl

Hi Petal,

I have only ever worked to commission for the past 13 yrs.Every item that I have produced has becuase somebody wanted it.

I have only been full time "smithing" / jewellery for the past 10 months and worked full time in another proffession prior to this. I have been kept busy over the last 13 yrs purely by word of mouth with an average of 3 or 4 commisions per month. I've done an awful lot of wedding rings over the years and was the basis , along with opening a studio and teaching, of going full time at the beginning of last year. What has transpired in that time is that the teaching has taken up 85% of my time. The silver bangle range is just to have a small shop presence on line to begin with, something thats has not been available from me previously. I have always worked with traditional methods and everything is made by hand in the true sense of the word as I do not use any machines other than a pendant drill.

For 2010 I'm actually moving into a totally different field, more out of total obssession than anything else and thats lampworked glass sculptural work using predominantly Borosilicate glass (pyrex strength and properties). This in the main will then add to the underestimated designs such as the silver bangle range which are relatively inexpensive but very elegant and can be worn with virtually anything.

Main reason for moving to another medium is that with teaching almost full time the jewellery which has been a very busy passion for me over the years is now quite demanding mentally. I'm not complaining by any means but I now want to move into a more fluid medium to work with and to incorporate silver and gold within Sculptured glass work, I'm also totally obsessed with glass.I have held 4 open days at my studio, now this was open to all but not one "jeweller" attended any of them. I was, however, absolutely inundated with lampworkers who wanted to know more about complimenting their bead work with silver.What has transpired is that I now also have demonstration days by a couple of very skilled glass workers who come along every two weeks and give instruction and help with all things glass.They are starting with me next monday to actually teach lampworking and dichroic fused glass from my studio on a formal basis.

Long winded but I hope that answers your query.

[Helenka]

What a lovely website - I bookmarked it for inspiration.Thanks for sharing.

[Hart-Star]

Two very minor points, which do not detract from a very business-like site which does the job well

It might help the purchaser if you included some rough dimensions on the bangles and pendants, just to flesh-out the nice pictures.

Not sure what software you are using to load your pictures into the web pages, but often there is an option for "Alternative Text", which can then pop-up when you hover your mouse over the picture - and/or include the item description itself into the name of the picture e.g. heart_forged_bangle.jpg, rather than DSCN0825.JPG

[ben b]

I see a logo at the botom of the homepage, 'top 50 crafters' which links to a website, not suprisingly..."top50crafters.dot whatever".
I dunno about anyone else, but the logo '98, top crafters' as appears on the page, is contradictory, and following the link, to find your 98 on the top....50...crafters is a bit odd to me? when i see there's more than 300 top 50 crafters on the site....it starts to loose relevance but is good for a laugh. I hope you didnt pay for it!

It reminds me of this silly logo you see on some sites, 'self representing jeweller' mebership number so and so. Hang on, if your representing yourself...why do you need to pay a no mark to sell you a numbered logo saying you represent yourself?...brilliant marketing, and a wish I'd have thought of it...but like they say, a fool and thier money....and like i say... i wish id have thought of it...

I mean this light heated of course, overall the site's great carl...but harsh critique is the realest!

[Carl Martin]

Hiya Ben,

no worries my friend I wondered if at first when I added it it might bring in some traffic,that was the only reason, and I also must agree that it looks poor, it will be removed sometime when I get 30 seconds. And no didn't cost me a thing.

I agree with the other point you made about the representing bit, does seem a bit daft.