Procrastination and Pinterest Anxiety

Hello readers, how nice of you to join me here today. I am still recovering from a terrible cold and jet lag hasn't helped me feel any better. I've decided that I shall spend a few months this year attempting to take Caprilicious Jewellery to places where it is likely to be seen more easily, rather than just the website and Facebook, although I have quite a few sales from these. I started by making a contact list and phoning around. The first lady I called said she'd love to take a look at my 'lookbook' - so I decided to make one. As I intend to show others my jewellery, I figured that I'd better sort it out once and for all.

I began the dreary process of researching how to put one together and collating a catalog of the jewellery I would like to show people, should they display the least interest. I know what I have made in the last week isn't the slickest effort, but Hey, one has to start somewhere. I decided that for a first effort, all I would make was a slideshow catalog with the photographs of the jewellery and wholesale prices displayed. As it evolves, it will become an all singing, all dancing affair - just now I'm not terribly proud of it.

I know it is fabulous to have wonderful packaging, both virtual and real, but I prefer to spend my resources on the substance within - the jewellery! Maybe one day, Caprilicious will become a high fashion brand and I will have the packaging I would like and I can hire someone to write my lookbook - one can but dream.

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While Sneezy, Sleepy, Grumpy and Dopey played a string quartet concerto in my head, I've stayed away from my pliers. However, the ideas have not stopped and I've put them all in the fabulous scrapbook in the sky that is Pinterest. Caprilicious Jewellery has a page on Pinterest with a number of boards and over 9.5K pins.
Pinterest looks to collect pictures only, it will not collect verbiage from an image free page. I find images that interest me and Pin them onto one of my boards straight away - eventually hoping to take inspiration from a bit of this, and add a soupçon of that to my creative cauldron. The fear is always that if I lost the idea I may never find it again. Do feel free to take a look at my Pinterest page.

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When Pinterest first started a couple of three years ago, the crafting community was up in arms - there was a suspicion that the people at Pinterest were waiting to devour our ideas, and sell our souls for a few shekels, and other artisans were going to copy designs left, right and centre. However, now that the dust has settled, I don't know anyone who creates and crafts who doesn't have a Pinterest page. There, now that I've said this, plenty of people will come out of the woodwork as 'non Pinterest users' - but even then, they will be in a minority.

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As I've now built up a library of  almost ten thousand pins you can imagine my anxiety that it might all disappear in a puff of smoke. Pinterest also stores the origins of each Pin and it is easy to then revisit the site, should one wish to. I can easily while away a morning flicking through other people's pages, referencing and cross referencing ideas,  all the time adding to my own cache of Pins - in other words wasting a load of time without feeling an ounce of guilt.

So, now that I'm completely and totally hooked, I'm terrified that something dire is going to happen to my Pinterest page and it will go the way of Latitude, Google Friends and now Picasa which is being threatened, and vanish completely, sweeping my pins into the dustbin as it goes. Facebook too has suddenly become so commercial that it doesn't allow more than a handful of people to see a post unless it's visibility is boosted by advertising revenue. The thought of it is enough to make me hyperventilate into a paper bag!

Seeing that I haven't made any jewellery this week and this is a jewellery blog, let me show you some of the pieces I bought in India for my own personal collection. I know you probably think I'm crazy to buy more jewellery when I already have, or can make most of what I want. Oh well, I shall concede the point, but I cannot promise that I won't go out and do it all over again. These are pieces made by master craftsmen in India and I have picked those that can be worn with both Eastern as well as Western gear, which makes sense as I very rarely get to wear Indian clothes in the UK.

These are all made from 0.925% silver and I love them. The snake vertebra chain at the end is a particular favourite - and to all those detractors of wire work, it is entirely made from wire coils that are linked together invisibly.
That's me for this week folks, have a fabulous weekend and I'll catch you next Friday, same time, same place.
Until then
xx