New Web Site Logo

One of the many things on my list of changes to make this year was a face lift to my web site. Earlier this year my current web site got panned on an "it's stuck in the dark ages" web site and while they weren't too horrible about it (they liked the jewelry, just hated the site design), I had to sit back and take stock and ultimately agree.

I started out by making my own web site with Microsoft FrontPage in 2001. Back then, I was wholesaling handmade greeting cards that I made with vintage papers, fabrics, and buttons. Then in 2004, jewelry took over my life and I reworked the web site (still in FrontPage).

Advance a year and I traded several hundred dollars of beads to a fellow beader to design my current web site. I picked the colors and the idea of stripes and you have what you see now.

I don't know if it was the rude web site or the stripes starting to give me a headache or my loss of love for the Harrington font, but this year, I decided for a total and complete face lift. We're talking a TOTAL face lift, a face lift that both excites me and scares me. It is SO different from what I have now that I can't even decide if I like it. It's completely, totally unlike ANYTHING I've ever seen - unique to be sure. But will it work? Will it translate? Is it too much change?

The web site is due to launch later this summer, but I do have a brand new logo. I kept the colors, but toned them down. Here it is:

The one person I've shown the entire web site to loved it. I'm living with it for a while and trying to get used to the new font, the Chinese lanterns (which I may translate to my trade show booth) and just the newness of it. Is it ok to be scared of change?


Lori Anderson designs jewelry at her web site, www.lorianderson.net. She also writes the blog Pretty Things.

My Etsy Bead Store is Now Open!

I finally uploaded a few small sets of my own handmade lampwork spacers. They're my humble beginnings, but maybe you'll like some of them! The shop is www.lori2.com, and as I learn more and more, the beads will become more intricate and varied.


Thanks for looking!

I'm in my first Etsy Treasury

I just got notified today that I'm in my first every Etsy Treasury, with the beads that I JUST posted last night in my new store, Lori2....

So someone must like these humble little beads!

Just a little something new

It's been raining, I've been under the weather, taking some REAL time off to read and knit and be a mommy, but I do have a little to show.


This one uses some new (new to me) wire techniques. I'm inspired quite a lot by Cindy Wimmer of Sweet Bead Studio and she's been very encouraging.


I learned chain maille back when I first started beading but this is a new style for me. It's very delicate, with cultured pearls. Not the best photo, but it's eluding me and the camera.



So those are a couple of new things, using my old styles and mixing it just a bit with new styles.


I've been giving a lot of thought to how my customers would take a huge departure from my current style to a totally different style, the style I see in my head when I imagine jewelry, and I've decided that too big a leap, too soon, would be too jarring. I'd certainly lose a huge portion of my customer base, alienate them, as they are used to seeing a certain thing. Adding bits and pieces, such as in these two bracelets, is more apt to garner interest, and I can add bit by bit a few "wow" pieces, because you never know who will see them and fall in love. But if I want to stay in business, I can't just jump ship and change boats and start sailing for a totally different port of call.


That doesn't mean I'm not going to continue experimenting. It means I'm going to hone my current skills, and pick and choose skills that work well with my existing style. It means I may back-burner some of the elaborate things I've been imagining. I keep thinking I have to do it ALL this year, and that thought has just been completely overwhelming me.


What do you think?

Book Review -- Living the Creative Life

I just finished reading the book "Living the Creative Life" by Rice Freeman-Zachery.



When I first opened the book, I felt immediately intimidated by the artists featured. THESE are ARTISTS, I thought. What the heck am I?


First, their art is fantabulous. Exquisite, unique, and ground-breaking. Second, their studios are divine. Beautiful fabulous places that are portals to creative energy.


Then I started reading. In addition to information about the specific artists and what make them tick, the book offers little vignettes of wisdom that can actually be used -- things like immersing yourself in color by picking up paint samples of every color at the hardware store, or making a list for a day of all the things you saw, smelled, or heard.

(An abandoned bee hive I found... what will it trigger?)

This is the sort of book that you can pick up and put down as needed just as easily as you can read it cover to cover. It's a great book for any artist to have on hand to refer back to when they're having a stagnant time (that would be me right now!), and the visuals are just excellent.


Highly recommended! Click here to buy it on Amazon.com.