The Jig Is Up!

My Etsy shop is expanding to include Paracord products. I finally bought a Paracord Bracelet Jig and it arrived today. I’ve made the cobra and fish tail bracelets and chokers with hemp, and I’ve made lanyards with the plastic lacing, but I think paracord is so much better.

Trilobite

Fish tail and Cobra

ID Lanyard

Before I got the new Paracord jig, I bought some pink and black paracord because my partner promised a pink and black ID lanyard to someone last year when he was in the hospital. He told me, but I really hated making the ID lanyards with the plastic lacing unless I was being paid to make them. The plastic lacing lanyards take about 2 hours to make, and they cause numbness and pain in both my hands. It’s not a pleasant experience, so I avoid making them at all costs. Making this paracord ID lanyard was so much faster and easier, although my hands did go numb and I had to shake it off, shake it off. Sorry, Taylor Swift got a hold of my keyboard. I was just making it without trying to make it perfect, so it got a bit twisted up. She’s getting it free, but if someone pays for one, obviously I will make it straight.

I used the remaining pink and black to make a cobra bracelet, which I gave to our tenants daughter. I also made a tan fish tail bracelet for myself, and I love it. I also made a trilobite bracelet, but I made it smaller than I can wear just because I wanted to make it for the picture. I kind of wish I made it bigger though, because I really love it. I hate the color, but I love the pattern, so I will make one for myself eventually.

What I really love about the paracord bracelets is that you can put them on and take them off to match your style or mood. I also love that there are so many patterns, so I literally will have many options to choose from on my Etsy shop. Of course I will have to make them, then give the option of size and color.

I hope the paracord bracelets, keychains, ID Lanyard and eGo e-cigarette lanyards will sell more than my other products, which don’t seem to be moving as much as they used to. Then again, perhaps paracord products will give my other products more visibility, I hope so.

Why did it take me so long to make paracord products? It’s expensive, and I didn’t want to pay for a bunch of colors with no sales. I don’t just buy a few feet at a time, I buy spools so I don’t have to keep going to the craft store. Unfortunately, until I know I will be successful, I will have to buy packs of 10-20 colors with 10 feet of each color. If someone requests another color, I will have to go to the craft store. I’d rather be safe than sorry since I have tons of the plastic lacing, and no sales.

Last year before Christmas I said I was closing my Etsy shop due to lack of interest, but I just put it in vacation mode for a couple of months. I figured I’d keep the shop just in case I really needed the money, and when I was eating Top Ramen for lunch and dinner, I had the Etsy shop so I could beg people to buy stuff so I could eat real food lol. I’m not eating Top Ramen now, but I’m almost there.

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New Keychains and Cheaper Shipping

I have been working hard making keychains over the last few months and have come up with 5 different styles of rainbow.  First there was the translucent with a clear center, when I ran out of those translucent colors I switched to another shade of translucent with a more solid red and light purple with a clear center, but then someone asked for a rainbow keychain with a black center so I made some of those.  When I ran out of those translucent rainbow colors, I switched to a new color combination which is what you see in the image above.  Rainbow C1 C2 and C3.  They are all solid colors except for the orange which is translucent, that was all they had.

The reason I am making the rainbow keychains is well, um… because I am gay and the rainbow is basically my flag, so it only makes sense, right?  Not to mention they are pretty.  Speaking of flag, I have also made some American Flag keychains for the 4th of July.  I really like both the DNA and the Crinkle Cut style.

The shipping went down from $3.20 to $2 because I was able to buy cheaper padded envelopes, so I am passing along the savings to you.

The keychains are around 6 to 6 1/2 inches long.  My earlier keychains were a bit longer and thicker, but that was because I wasn’t tightening them enough, so they seemed to be a bit loose in some spots, but I have gotten better at making them tighter so they look more uniform.  Uniformity is very important when I am making the rainbow keychains because I want them to blend evenly when I change colors.

Since DOMA has been found to be unconstitutional, you can now take 25% off your keychain order by entering the coupon code NODOMA.  That is my gift to you.  That coupon code expires on July 31st, 2013.

Thank you for reading.  I am off to go make more keychains.  Have a nice day. 🙂

I sold my first keychain on Etsy

I have been having a blast making these rainbow DNA keychains. I spent a lot of money on the materials, and I spend a couple of hours making just one keychain, not because I feel that I have to, but because it’s fun. I decided that I should probably sell them on Etsy because if I don’t, I’m going to have the biggest keychain collection of all time if I didn’t get rid of them lol.

I wasn’t sure what I should charge for them, so I browsed other people’s lanyard keychains and finally came up with $4 for the keychain and $1 for shipping, but after I shipped the first order out today, I ended up with less than $2. The reason being, the padded envelopes were $1.50 and the shipping was $1.67. That brings my profit down to $1.83. So I’m not actually getting $4 for the keychains. I decided that I’m going to keep them at $4, but just raise the shipping to $3.50 just because I want to use those profits to buy more material to make more keychains.

Of course I don’t know if anyone else will buy a keychain or if this one sale was my first and last, but I don’t care because I don’t want to stop making them. It’s too much fun for me.

I am currently still working on the rainbow keychains, I made 3 yesterday and I still have enough material to make 12 more. After that, I’m going to buy some white and blue and more of the clear so that I can make some patriotic ones. I already have a big roll of the red. July is coming and people love to be patriotic, so I figure they will probably buy the patriotic ones. Of course that’s a crap shoot, but it’s still going to be fun to make even if nobody buys them.

Who knows how long I will be able to continue making them before my hands just give up on me. After all, I do have carpel tunnel syndrome. I think that’s why I would like to get more money for them, not just the time that it takes to make them, but also for the pain that it will eventually cause me.

I would also like to make some trans colors and some bear colors. I think someone out there would like to have one of those. Of course if I have the materials, I would take requests for specific colors. I don’t just know the DNA pattern, I just love that one compared to any other I’ve seen. I hope other people do too. 🙂