I’ve been working hard this fall to make ornaments to fill up my Etsy shop. I’m happy to have sold a good amount and to have rented more and more shop time. Now that Christmas is approaching I’ve been trying to develop new products for my shop that I can sell once ornaments season ends. One of my biggest challenges when it comes to making and selling is continuing to do so once the holiday rush is over. Last year I developed a line of vases but got caught up in moving and never got a chance to make more.

This year I’m working on a series of small and simple bud vases. I’m still drawn to bright solid colors but and am aiming for a more simple look. I’m also hoping to design some tumblers and experiment more with using cane.

These bud vases measure only about 4 inches tall and will hold a small flower (or sprig of holly if that’s what you have).

When is started making ornaments last year I realized I was out of practice and hadn’t quite gotten the hang of making ornaments that didn’t weigh a lot. I didn’t practice ornaments much in college so I spent a lot of time getting better at making them last fall. I dug out one of the first ornaments I made when I started a year ago and weighed it to see it was a beefy 4.5 ounces. I was really proud last year when I was able to get my ornaments down to around 3 ounces consistently, which is pretty nice and light. I got my most recent batch of ornaments out of the annealer yesterday and found that this year they’re even lighter, most weighing only a bit over an ounce! On the bottom is a picture of one of my first ornaments from last year and one of my most recent ones this year. What a difference a year and some practice makes!

It’s not too hard to see why the one on the left weighs so much more. Luckily I’ve gotten much better at making lighter hooks.