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Total Immersion: Facebook |
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Scritto da Tim James
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Venerdì 07 Maggio 2010 04:51 |
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There are no translations available.
Well, my head is spinning from being immersed in Facebook this week, although I am making Some progress. About a week ago I decided to relent to anybody and everybody that recommended FB as the next logical marketing step for our retail store and its family of websites. I have to say that in some ways the "Social Networking" challenge is even more daunting than I would have guessed. I feel like a caveman stumbling upon New York City, and this from someone who has been designing websites and working the net for years. One thing is true though; It is an incredible way to interact directly with clients, potential clients, other artists etc., and a great fit for Lily and I as artists who have a multi-faceted small business. One more tool to help keep the "starving artist" from starving! PS: We invite you to Follow Us On Facebook.
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Big Hole Beads |
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Scritto da Tim James
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Domenica 25 Aprile 2010 05:16 |
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There are no translations available.
Geez, it looks as though I've neglected my blogging duties for some time now... Lily and I have keeping very busy with the stores, both virtual and physical. Our newest venture stems from a request by a bead wholesaler in the states: Large-Hole Pandora style beads. I've really been getting into the possibilities, and enjoying taking the idea to extremes in terms of size. Of course I've been making the more standard smallish bagel-shape you tend to see with Pandora & Trollbeads (as seen in the photos I've posted - Pictured are without the silver insert) but I am also digging on creating focal and even medium-size beads with the with large-hole silver inserts. They look great and Lily really LOVES working with them! To be honest, she prefers the big-hole beads without the silver insert. She especially loves using these beads with the Tubular Wire Mesh Ribbon. My next (related) big project is an e-commerce website specifically for this new big-hole line. We are calling it Beaded Lily Changeables (www.BeadedLilyChangeables.com). The site itself is well under way (I LOVE a good web project!), although without much in the way of product images yet. Even those are coming along quickly. We've had a fantastic response to these new beads in the store. I can't wait to make a big splash with them...! Below are a few more photos of some of the styles I've already photographed, all of which are based on regular beads I created previously. My newer styles are really rocking (So I say), including a whole slew of hollow beads created in the Pandora style with silver inserts - Stay Tuned!
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Hail Augustus! |
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Scritto da Tim James
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Domenica 23 Agosto 2009 13:51 |
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There are no translations available.
August in Italy (and the weeks immediately before and after) means the Ferragosto holidays. Officially celebrated on 15 August, Ferragosto is a day when more shops are closed, per capita, than on Christmas. Unofficially it is when shops and businesses of all kinds are commonly closed for up to a months time. State-run offices switch to bare-minimum only schedules or close all together. Even the tourist industry businesses run on bare bones schedules immediately before and after the holiday itself.
A piece of advice: Unless you are seeking empty streets and closed stores fronts, don't visit Italy in August. There are times in August when finding an Italian in the heart of the city feels like a challenge. Each year I'm amazed at the number of tourists in town despite warnings found in any respectable guide book. I think that it is hard for non-Italians to imagine just how seriously locals take Ferragosto. Coming from the states, I can certainly understand their surprise, I mean how can they be closing during the height of the travel season? A month?! How can any business close for a month every year??
We have, I do believe, hit on one of the many reasons why I love living here: Priorities. Italians, by and large, are more apt to take the time to stop and smell the roses, whether it be by spending vast amounts of time with friends and family at the sea in August or by stopping and chatting with a friend, even if 20 people are held up in line because of it. I like that, even if I am one of those 20 people.
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Where do all the locals go? Al mare - To the sea. When learning Italian, it is one of the first phrases you begin to hear, and not just in summertime. Heading off to the sea, and talking about going, is discussed year-round. Since Italy is surrounded on 3-sides by water, it does make sense. The sea is never too far away, no matter where you are!
What does Ferragosto mean for the good folks at BeadedLily? Honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. First and foremost I love it as an integral and traditional part of the Italian mindset. Pre-dating Roman Catholicism itself, Ferragosto has been celebrated since BC times. I love the single-mindedness that surrounds Ferragosto, an event shared by all of us because each of us will be, without a doubt, affected by it. I enjoy the celebratory factor of bidding farewell to people as the head off al mare for the month, and the individual celebrations post-Ferragosto as the city begins to fill once again with the familiar faces, now tanned, that make up ones day. I also relish the amount of parking that is available in August. It is literally like a dream; The best spots available all day and all night for a month. I also appreciate, in the beginning anyway, the peacefulness of a relatively empty city. It's just so tranquil.
The flip-side, however, is that it can be quite difficult from a business point-of-view. For at least a week before and a good week after August it is impossible to get things done. The week prior means people are already in vacation mode and are reluctant to accept new work. You begin to hear talk of work needing to wait until September more and more frequently as you work your way through July. Immediately after August is the re-settling in period when folks just aren't yet ready to seriously get down to it.
I'm also not a big fan of the last 10 days or so of the month. You have to understand, I'm a man of routine. Ferragosto puts the kibosh on that routine. At first it's somewhat charming, needing to go to different bars for coffee in the morning, but towards the end of the month it is just annoying. Never being certain what will be open and what won't becomes annoying. Not being able to get light bulbs at the local guy down the street becomes annoying.
As I write this, on 23 August, I'm just entering the annoyance phase. It's very hot, and has been very hot for some time. Lily and I closed the store for a week over Ferragosto and went to visit friends in the Tuscan countryside near Lucca for a number of days. That vacation, however, is now over and we are back to the regular work schedule, despite the temperature. Our daughter, who is back from 3 weeks visiting friends and family in the states, is now staying out all night and sleeping all day for the remainder of the month...
While far be it from me to complain, I do have to say: Bring on September with its fixed schedules and cooler weather!
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In other words... 私の頭が痛いわー！ |
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Scritto da Tim James
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Lunedì 10 Agosto 2009 08:36 |
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There are no translations available.
At times I feel that maybe I've gotten in over my head a bit. I mean if you get right down to my roots I'm just a hick from Nebraska. Sure, it's been decades since I've had any real association with the place but still...
What I'm talking about here is the fact that I also give glass bead making lessons in Italian.
(How is it even possible that the person I was all those decades ago could today be someone that lives in Europe and teaches an ancient art form, let alone doing so in another language?! I always thought I was so incapable.) The reason I'm writing this installment, however, is not something so simple (relatively speaking) as me teaching glass bead making in Italian to Italians, but rather to non-Italians with whom my shared common tongue is Italian. For example, I once taught a 12-hour course to two young women who were both Japanese, one of whom also spoke Italian (To some degree. Honestly, Dante wouldn't have been real impressed by either of us). Unfortunately the other young lady only spoke Japanese and was dependent upon her friend to translate. Believe me, it wasn't pretty. In fact, it was a language massacre. |  |
I feel bad because truth-be-told, the quality of the information being passed suffers when I teach in Italian. It's just that I'm so much more eloquent in English (Not necessarily a word I would have previously used to describe myself). I can clarify a point in English in a way that is just not yet possible in Italian because I don't have the same vocabulary at my disposal. Hell, in English I can ramble on and on endlessly, it seems, without lifting a muscle (So to speak). In Italian those same muscles feel atrophied. It has crossed my mind that I should offer a discounted price because of the disparity but man, I have to work so much harder for it in Italian! And then to get paid less?! No can do. I am a bit of a perfectionist so hopefully I'm overstating the difference.
Learning another language has not been what I expected. In fact, it has been much more difficult than I imagined, especially after reading all of those I-moved-to-Italy novels where people become fluent in a few weeks time just by hanging around their local cafe. Now, I wasn't so foolish as to think that, but I did think that just by being immersed in the language and country itself I would ipso facto arrive at a certain, base skill level. And now that I've written that, I suppose that is indeed true to some degree but not in the way I expected. Now that I am more fluent I am more able to interact in Italian to a greater degree and for longer periods of time, therefore working that muscle on a more consistent basis. That has and will continue to speed up my learning process, feeding on itself more now than before. It does not, however, happen by osmosis. Some type of studying is necessary, and I mean book-study, study by watching TV (As bad as it is - Although it isn't so harsh an experience as it is in the states because the violence factor isn't there), and study by interacting to the best of your ability at the local cafe. The cafe is perfect because they are a captive audience, paid to stand there and deal with you (And yes, they may even come to like you).
What surprised me about learning a language is that it isn't so cut and dry as: a) You speak a language, or b) You don't. A very long time is spent between the two; Not being able to express yourself fully and not being able to comprehend what is being said to you. Gradually, Slowly over time you will inch your way along, literally word by word. As mentioned previously, it does at some point begin to gain momentum and I certainly don't mean to dissuade anyone from this noble task, I'm just attempting to paint a more realistic picture than the one often portrayed. And certainly it is different case-by-case! The younger you are, the easier the process will be (Us old folks... Ugh!). Our daughter was 9 years old when we moved here and threw her into the Italian public school system. Now, at 18, her true personality is her Italian personality. Lily and I are both American born and therefore live our home life and the management of our business life in English. That has obviously slowed our progress. What has sped our process in recent years is having a public business in an artisans neighbourhood, forcing interaction that then becomes, over time, the norm. (Another sure-fire way to speed the process is to get a dog, as that increases interaction with your neighbours 100-fold.)  | Learning another language takes time. Fortunately in Italy time is defined differently then it is elsewhere. Here time allows for the creation of a 50-year set of doors or for the duomo to sit without it cupola for a century. Time in Italy moves along at a gentler pace, so relax, have another cup of coffee and work that Barista! |
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