BAG WIRE

We have just added Artistic Wire to our inventory-it is something we have used for wire sculptures and mobiles plus some of our other creations.  We stock the large wire gauges (called Bag Wire), these are sold in 10 foot and 25 foot lengths plus we carry an assortment of nine (9) colors in 2 foot lengths and they are sold in a plastic bag, so Bag Wire.

The larger gauge wire is used for creations that require strength to hold the shape without any other support- the average wire gauge (AWG) is based on the diameter of the wire itself.  The heavier gauges include 10 AWG, 14 AWG, 16 AWG, and 18 AWG.  The smaller the number, the larger diameter the wire so 10 gauge is larger in diameter than 18 guage.  OK, what do you to use the gauge information?

What gauge wire is best?

If you are creating wind chimes, found object art, bookends, photo and card holders you need to use 10,14 or 16 gauge wire for best results.  You can include smaller wire 18, 20 or 22 gauge wire to add interest to your larger wire wind chimes for example. 

Use 18, 20, 22 gauge wire for floral additions, jewelry and beading.

Smaller gauges such as 22, 24 and 26 gauge are finer wires that are used for scrapbooking (embellishing pages) and for stamping.

Other wire gauges 28, 30, 32 and 36 gauge include the very fine wires that are used in weaving, knitting and other projects that require very fine, flexible materials.

I hope you find the information useful and try the Variety Pack to test out what you can do (choose 16, 18 or 20 gauge)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280129323624&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

We have 15 other Bag Wire colors, gauges and lengths to choose from and all are permanently colored copper wire.  Check them out in our store:

Whitebear Studios Collectibles

 

Cheers

 

 

I really enjoyed reading the comments on my Sear's Wish Book post.  It reminded me that when you are describing something you have to consider the context of the subject and let people know what you are describing.  My example of using the "Wish Book" was based on my own experience and the comments made me aware that there are folks out there that may not know what you are talking about.  To be specfic a Sears and Roebuck catalog that came out several times a year for many years.  I remember hearing my grandparents refer to it as great reading material in many differnt situations including spending time in an outdoor house (aka: outhouse).  My Dad and my Aunts and Uncles told of things that they bought and waited to have delivered and then as time went on almost every small town had a small Sears Catalog store where you could go in an give your order to a real person instead of waiting for the mail to deliver your order. 

Now, that aspect of the old catalog/mail-order Chicago firm (Sears & Roebuck) is now a shadow of it's former self and in many ways we have become a replacement except we do it all electronically.  In some ways, unless we talk to our customer/bidders by phone we have lost that direct contact between buyer and seller and in that respect we are a clone of the old mail-order business.

My true experience relating to mail-order came later in my life when I worked for Norm Thompson based in Portland, Oregon.  (Norm Thompson has now been sold and I have no idea if they are still in business).  I began in the Call Center and answered phones to take orders from customers.  I started at Christmas time and it was a hotbed of ringing phones, paniced customers trying to do late Christmas shopping.  Our hours changed to meet the call needs and at times the backlog of call waiting customers grew to large numbers.  I sometimes started a three in the morning to answer the calls from the East Coast then had a few hours off then returned to fill in again.  It was then that I realized that customers and customer service reps need more detailed information about the products in our various catalogs (Early Winters, Solutions, Norm Thompson).  I moved to detailing each item, and listing the details on our main computer so customer service reps could have the information at their finger tips.  I also caught calls from customers that wanted more information and enjoyed that.  It was great training and at the time I left they were considering  a on-line catalog test. I moved on to other things but took my experience to begin my online store, eBay auctions and other on-line businesses.

The bottom line is that folks still need good descriptions, good pictures and all the information you can give them.  All the things that mail-order business did so well including the Wish Book we need to do now for our customers.

Thinking about the number of watchers vs the number of buyers, it reminds of the Sears Catalog (now long ago and far away)  I remember grabbing it and laying on the floor looking through it when I was a kid, thinking about all the neat stuff I could buy if I had money.  My biggest area was the animal section: buy a raccon for a pet and be totally cool, even better a skunk-descented of course.  Then there were the chicks (aka chickens) that maybe you could raise to make money.  Of course, I never had enough money to buy a critter but that didn't stop me from looking over and over again-then waiting for the new catalog to see what else they had added.  If that catalog had a page view counter or a watcher count-it would have shown a hell of a lot of people looking at the critter pages for that one catalog.  However, it would have never shown a order since that was just a dream for me.

So maybe we are helping people dream about things they would buy if the had the extra money to spend.  And, even if it doesn't put money in our pockets it does put dreams in someone's heart.  And thats a good thing.

It amazes me watching sales both in auctions, fixed price on my other internet store that you can have a high number of watchers or people looking at your site and still have slow sales and at other times the number of the number of page views drop a bit and the sales go up.  I have heard that internet sales only capture about 10 per cent of the buyers who check your store/site and my store statistics seem to prove that out.  What happens to the other 90 per cent?  Why don't they buy?  Hummmm.

Finally put some of my pen and ink orginal art on showing some Northwest scenes.  Check them out at:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280122666941&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280122666932&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280122666924&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=280122666924&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT

 

The are prints that are matted as shown then shrink wrapped with a foam core backing to ensure safe shipping.

Any feedback?

Bill

If you are a bit confused about scale cars, trucks and trains you can take a look at my Guide at:

Comparing Die Cast replica and Model Train Scales