Facebook Page: Timeline
31 Mar 2012 Leave a Comment
in beads, canes, classes / tutorials, Fimo, memorials, nail art Tags: Facebook Timeline
I gotta think out loud.
What I mean to say is, that I tend to think better when I can get it down on virtual paper, or talk it over with a friend. Okay, hundreds of friends, in the case of this post. But you get the idea. And right now I’m thinking about the fact that I’ve procrastinated — drug my feet — on dealing with the new Timeline format for my Facebook business page. I personally don’t like the Timeline. So happily in denial, I ignored the coming change-over until the fait accompli had happened.
Dun-dun-dun…..
Today is the first day of the rest of your……facebook business life. Right.
So what I’m up against here is the fact that I’m one gal who has three distinct businesses under a single label. How do you make one facebook page that “covers” the spectrum?
The answer… I think…. is that you don’t.
This morning I started doing some reading on the new Timeline layout, to find out what the marketing guru-ru-rus advise. They said things like making a clear, emotionally appealing statement with your cover photo and the first 140 characters of your “about” section.
Hmmm….. how to sum up C. A. Therien Polymer Clay Arts in an 851-x-351 photo and 140 characters. Yeah, not gonna happen. If I tried to put all 3 divisions under one Facebook cover, it’s gonna dilute them all to the point of confusion. I know this for sure because I have one main website that tries to funnel customers to all 3 divisions, and I occasionally get the eyebrow-raised question from customers. If you follow the “100 rule” — for each person who takes the time to mention their confusion, there are 100 who thought the same thing but never made a comment — then you know you’ve got a slight problem. People coming to my facebook page for Fimo Nail Art aren’t going to be interested in Memorial Beads. And the Memorial Beads customers aren’t going to be interested in cane layering tutorials. Etcetera, etcetera, ad infinitum.
So that means I’ve got to have 3 facebook pages in order to have them be effective for reaching the customers they serve. I’m not happy about adding extra work on my plate, but reality is what it is, and I should have made this decision a long time ago. I gotta put my big girl panties on and deal with it.
*Deep breath* Alright then. To work.
I’ve already got the one main facebook page — somewhat sorely neglected, but not abandoned — which has the C. A. Therien label to it. I’ll probably use that one for my tutorials, videos, etsy cane shop and ebay store.
Then I’ll open a facebook page for Memorial Beads’ website and etsy shop, and Brides & Bracelets’ website-in-progress (two sides of the same coin, floral remembrance keepsakes).
And finally open a facebook page for Fimo Nail Art.
I’ve got galleries for all three, enough to fill a decent album or two. And I’ll link the three pages together somehow… That’s going to be a bit of a challenge, but it’s not the main one. The main one is that the new pages will have no Facebook histories attached to them, and I’ll want to explain that a bit. Or not. But probably will.
…..Later that day…..
Polymer Clay and Stemware
05 Sep 2011 2 Comments
in canes, Fimo Tags: adhering cane slices to glass, fimo, fimo fanatics, polymer clay canes, sanding and polishing polymer clay
Yesterday I had a question posted on one of my Polymer Clay Basics pages of my main website. The reader wrote:
“I am placing canes and/or sheets of polymer clay on wine glasses and bar ware. Do I need to sand these items? I just did a test sand, and a few of the dots and triangle embellishments came off. Horrors!!! Did I not bake the glass long enough or was I too rough? I’m using Sculpey III. Bake 275 15-30 min. I baked the glass for about 20 minutes. The canes were about 1/4 thick.”
I had written a pretty long reply to her, and thought it might be something that other fimo fanatics have had questions about. So I’m reposting my reply here:
“That’s a great question! You’re wondering why the cane slices sanded right off. Okay, here are some possible solutions for you:
1. Sculpey III might be the problem. This particular kind of polymer clay is known for it’s brittleness and tendency toward breakage. I would recommend using Fimo Soft or Premo for decorating your stemware and barware.
2. Using liquid clay to “glue” your cane slices on will help. Liquid clay bonds two clay items together. Brand names are Liquid Sculpey, Kato Liquid Clay, and Fimo Decorating Gel. Or, you could use Poly Bonder, which is a super-glue like substance that can be baked. All three kinds of “glue” would be baked at 275 degrees for 30 minutes to seal the bond between your cane slices and your clay base.
3. If you are attaching the cane slices directly to the stemware glass, then you will want a 2-part epoxy to adhere the baked cane slices to the glass. Nothing works better than a good, strong epoxy like Gorilla Glue’s 5-minute epoxy. It dries to a translucent yellow, and if you are sparing in how you use it, the yellow isn’t obvious. It will provide a permanent, water-resistant bond between the baked clay and the glass.
4. Baking times may need to be lengthened if you are placing raw clay onto the stemware. I highly recommend a minimum of 30 minutes in the oven, at 275 degrees. with aluminum foil tented over the glass while it bakes (to prevent browning of the cane slices.)
5. Sanding is a good idea, but only if you are embedding the cane slices into a sheet of clay to create a pattern sheet. Pattern sheets benefit from sanding and polishing, whereas dimensional cane slices used in a 3D applique technique don’t necessitate sanding. It can be done, and nothing wrong with it – sanding will smooth the surface of the clay and even out the thickness. Ii would use an 800-grit sandpaper for this purpose.”
Does anyone have any advice to add to this polymer clay newbie? Please post a comment if you do. And this has sparked a question, don’t hesitate to ask. If I don’t know the answer, I will have a pretty good idea where I can get it answered.
Recent Comments