Wine Bottle Centerpieces

Today's Silver Price: $31.79/t.oz.



My wedding centerpiece planning has come full circle. Forget the pressed flowers, forget creating my own floral arrangements, it's back to wine bottles. Check out some pics I found on the internet today:

I'm definitely going to need a bottle cutter for these. I've done some brief browsing on the internet and found several for around $30. Well worth the investment I think.

From this last one I was thinking of using the greenery around the bottom of the wine bottles. Apparently you can just spray evergreens with adhesive and stick them to glass. Not sure how long they would last, but it looks really cool! I also thought about wrapping lace around the bottom half of the bottles. I guess there are a ton of things that could be added! I'll use the battery operated tea light candles to make it easy.

I'll be ordering a bottle cutter this weekend- and soon I'll finally put my stock of empty wine bottles (which are currently cluttering up the attic) to good use!

Etsy Direct Checkout

Today's Silver Price: $32.40/t.oz.

There's a new feature coming to Etsy. It's called Direct Checkout. Customers can use their credit card on Etsy without having to go through PayPal. The third party has been eliminated... 2's a party, 3's a crowd...

I am very interested in this new feature. I think that customers will be much more likely to buy from an Etsy page if it is a simpler process. Now they do not have to have a PayPal account or enter their credit card info into PayPal, they can simply enter everything right on Etsy.

It seems that this new feature is in a pilot state. It is not available to all Etsy users at this time but apparently it will be eventually. I have requested participation in the trial and hopefully in a couple of months it will become available.

I don't think it will make much of a financial difference in terms of fees taken out of each sale. In order to use Direct Checkout Etsy will charge the seller 3% of the transaction plus $.25 for every purchase (this is in addition to the 3.5% of the sale that Etsy takes and the $0.20 listing fee).

PayPal takes 2.9% of the sale plus $0.30. So it's just about the same percentage taken out, but Etsy would charge $0.05 less than PayPal.

Hmmm now that I'm seeing all these fees I'm starting to wonder if this is all worth it. It costs me $0.20 for every item that I list on Etsy. Then when I sell an item, Etsy takes 3.5% of the sale. Now for the actual transaction, either Etsy or PayPal will take 3% of the transaction AND $0.25 or $0.30. So I'm paying at least $0.45 plus 6% for every sale. Bummer.

I guess for now it's not too bad. I've only had a handful of sales so far. Perhaps in the future though it will be beneficial to start my own website. If I start now, I can learn to build a website by...

Mulit-Strand Necklace- First Attempt

Today's Silver Price: $31.33/t.oz.


My first attempt at a multi-strand necklace (please excuse the bad lighting in the photo):

So this is a copper necklace with three strands. The top and the bottom strand are simply copper chain. The middle strand is copper beads strung on beading wire.

I tried to be very careful of measurements while constructing this necklace. I laid out the beads and the chains, and I made each strand exactly 2 inches longer than the last. I thought I would end up with perfectly spaced strands- but as you can see from the picture I did not.

To fix this issue I'm thinking of adding two more strands. One would be a chain in between the shortest strand and the beaded strand, and the other would be a chain below the last strand. It would then become a five strand necklace. I think I may just eyeball it this time instead of wasting time measuring everything.

Updated version coming soon!

Wire Om Pendant

Today's Silver Price: $31.61/t.oz.

I love the Sanskrit OM symbol. I love the beauty of the shape and I love the concept that it represents. Om is the sound of the universe, the sound from which all other sounds arise. Chanting the word Om during yoga practice or meditation has mental and spiritual benefits, while the vibrations of the sound massage the inner organs of the body.

I've purchased some sterling silver Om charms in the past and made some beautiful earrings. However these charms can be quite expensive.

After receiving my last wire shipment I started playing with some of the silver-plated wire, bending it into shapes. I wondered if I could bend the wire into an Om symbol. Here's what I came up with:

It's a little sloppy, but I think with some practice I can perfect this! I also have to experiment with hammering the wire, because hammering will make the wire harder and stronger so it should hold the shape better. I think this would be a great pendant!