Status Reports & Other Ramblings / earring club

As you may or may not know, for the past nine or ten years (I'm slightly uncertain when I actually started doing this) I've been making a lot of earrings every month for a little thing that I verrrrrry creatively named the Earring Club. (Catchy, yes?)

The Earring Club is a lot of fun, because you get new shinies in the mail every single month just like magic, and I get an excuse to buy new beads on a very regular basis.

(Oh who am I kidding, I'd do that anyway. But if you're in the Earring Club you frequently get to see new beads before anybody else does, and sometimes I buy small quantities of special beads juuuuuust for the Earring Club.)

Not a subscriber already? We can fix that. For the next four days, use coupon code NEW when you sign up to get $10 off your first shipment.

I don't offer discounts on the Earring Club often - I think the last one was probably at least a year ago, so if you've been considering joining, you should do that between now and Friday. Just sayin'.

Shinies are flying out the door! Lots of them! Going ZOOOOOOOOOOOOM off to their new homes! This makes me very happy. 

(Also no one has found all the scavenger hunt clues yet! Although one person has come very very close and is now apparently digging through every single item I've ever put on the site in pursuit of the last few clues. *rubs hands together gleefully* MY EVIL PLOT IS WORKING.)

So let's talk about the Earring Club. I'm pretty sure I started it in early 2006, because I  definitely remember hand-addressing envelopes for subscription shipments when I lived in Manhattan. And I haven't skipped a month in ten years, not even the time I had brain surgery. Or the time I had a baby who wouldn't sleep for five years. That is... a whole lot of earrings. 

I really love doing it - every month I sit down and look at people's preference profile, and figure out what to make for them. Sometimes I get a bunch of really cool new beads and I'll use them for everybody that month, or almost everybody, if it turns out somebody doesn't like green or beads shaped like squares (I don't think I have anybody who specifically doesn't like beads shaped like squares, but it could happen) and sometimes I have beads left over at the end of the month and make a few more pairs to go on the website, but sometimes I don't, like that month when I got the thermally-reactive color-shifting beads and I used all but a few of them on Earring Club earrings. 

I buy beads a lot, so that sort of thing happens a lot, actually. We were at the bead store yesterday and my daughter said MAMA WHY DO YOU BUY SO MANY BEADS, and I said BECAUSE IT'S MY JOB, and then I bought beads for the new subscriber bonus exclusive whatchamacallit. I'm pretty excited about them. At first glance, from a distance, they look kind of boring: 

(Look how nicely they blend into the industrial carpeting in this waiting room!)

But then if you look closer, you realize that they're actually COVERED IN RAINBOW POLKADOTS. 

So you could totally wear these everywhere, and people who disapprove of bold jewelry would think "what nice grey earrings, very subtle, quite chic really" but actually you are SECRETLY WEARING RAINBOW POLKADOTS. And who doesn't want to do that?

Let's take an even closer look. 

And I will not be selling them on the website. The only way to get them is to be in the Earring Club. 

Now, if you're already in the Earring Club, you might get them in a month or two, if they match up with your preferences. (Don't worry, I also bought a bunch of other cool beads, and I might be going bead shopping this weekend at a tradeshow if I can get a babysitter, because kids under 8 aren't allowed into the tradeshow, which angers me because HI SOME OF US ARE SINGLE PARENTS WITH EXTREMELY WELL-BEHAVED CHILDREN, but I digress) But if you aren't, then this is the perfect time to fix that, and I will send you awesome STEALTH RAINBOW POLKADOT EARRINGS as a bonus in your very first shipment! Plus something else based on whatever you tell me you like. 

Wyrding Studios is 11 years old! I still boggle at that. 

As is the tradition, I am once again celebrating by putting a whole lot of stuff on sale, and offering some super-special deals, and this year there's even a hidden sale and a scavenger hunt of sorts. 

Here's what we have so far:

1. A sale! Coupon code ELEVENSES takes 25% off EVERYTHING. Yes, EVERYTHING. In addition to sale prices and any other discounts you might find, and speaking of which, I'll probably be tossing a few more things into clearance over the course of the week^[1].
   
   
2. $5 Surprise Earrings are back, and I'll particularly call your attention to the latest option I've added when it comes to picking a color, because there will be some nifty beads in that category. 
   
   
3. If you've been contemplating joining the Earring Club, now would be a super great time to do that. Maybe not super great like these pictures of dogs, but super great anyway. 
   
   
4. Something is on a really good sale, but I'm not telling you what and you'll need to go look for it because there's nothing like looking if you want to find something. Although if you think back to last year you might know what it is.
   
   
5. Speaking of finding things, there's a scavenger hunt. First you have to figure out the theme of it, and then you have to find all 11 clues relating to that theme. The clues are all bits of text, and they're scattered around the entire site - some are on the static pages with lots of text, some are in the descriptions of things you can buy, and at least one may or may not be in this blog post somewhere^[2].
   
   When you think you've figured it out, email me (kythryne at wyrdingstudios dot com) and tell me what 11 clues you've found - the first person (by email timestamps) to find all 11 gets a surprise shiny in their favorite color and an $11 coupon code! Everybody else who finds all 11 gets an $11 coupon code. 
   
   
6. STICKERS ZOMG STICKERS YAY. So a couple of years ago Rose Lemberg drew me this adorable little magpie doodle, and the other day I asked them if I could maybe make stickers out of it, and they said yes, and YAY STICKERS WERE ORDERED AND STICKERS ARE HERE AND STICKERS GO INTO EVERY PACKAGE STARTING RIGHT NOW and continues until I run out, which will take a while because, um, I got a lot of them so you might get more than one in which case you can give one to your friend or put it on your cat^[3] or something. 
   
   
   
   
7. See those candy-colored^[4] earrings in the bottom drawer? You get a pair of those with orders over $50. Just sayin'. Oh, and free shipping if you're in the US. Sorry, everybody else, I know your shipping rates are incredibly obnoxious. But I'll still send you free earrings and hopefully customs won't decide to take "a gift for you" literally when they read it. 
   
   
8. There is no #8. I just wanted to see if you were still reading.

I will probably come up with some other things to do as the week goes along, because I do that. There might be an Instant Gratification session on Friday, for instance.^[5]

Thank you all for 11 amazing, rollercoastery (shut up that is too a word now), wonderful, and very shiny years... [abrupt pause in typing while I investigate the sound of chairs falling over in the dining room] ...ANYBODY WANT A CAT WHO'S PROBABLY POSSESSED BY DEMONS? 

There were four folding chairs here. Now there are only two.

1. The sale runs through Tuesday November 7th. Hopefully the apocalypse will not be upon us on November 8th. Please go vote.

2. But I'm not telling you where or exactly how many there may or may not be because that would defeat the purpose. 

3. I am not responsible for any bloodshed resulting from putting a sticker on your cat. However, if you do so, please send me a photo. Thank you.

4. Please do not eat the earrings. They are not actually made of candy and I don't think they would be tasty. However, the things in the middle drawer are candy, and as you may already know, everybody gets a piece of interesting and/or delicious candy. Don't worry, none of it is durian fruit, I'm not that evil.

5. You never know. And neither do I. 

If you aren't already in the Earring Club, you might want to fix that... because this month, in addition to the usual custom-made wirework earrings, all subscribers will also get a free bonus pair of chainmaille earrings from guest artist Ben of Knitting Metal. 

Much like seed beads, pearl knotting, and organizing my sock drawer, chainmaille is a technique that I admire greatly but utterly lack the patience to learn properly, so I leave it in the hands of those who actually enjoy that much attention to detail. (I'll just be over here knitting lace and obsessing about symmetry in my wirework earrings instead...)  If you're local, you may have already seen Ben's lovely work at the Concord Arts Market, but the rest of you are in for a treat! He's made an assortment of earrings for me to include in the February Earring Club shipments, and I think you'll love them. 

If you're already a member, you're all set - you'll get your package at the usual time, just with a bonus pair of earrings this month! (While you're waiting, maybe check out Knitting Metal on Facebook or Twitter...)

Not a member yet? Sign up here!