Good evening all!
So, it occurred to me, some folks may have no clue what these "treasury lists" I occasionally post about are, or even what "Etsy" is, for that matter! So I want to do a quick post to answer both of those questions. Let's start with Etsy.
Very simply, Etsy is an online marketplace featuring vendors who either create/sell handmade or vintage items. It's a place to go if you're looking for something unique, different, cool, quirky, specific, or custom. So, if you really like a certain style of dress but would love to have one in a very specific type of fabric, Etsy is the place to go. Or, maybe you're really into something specific, like, I dunno, koi fish or The Hunger Games or an obscure foreign show none of your friends have ever heard of, and would love some kind of accessory, a throw pillow or necklace or original poster featuring imagery of that thing you love. It's likely you can either find it on Etsy, or get an artist on Etsy to make it for you for an affordable price.
All of the shops on the Etsy site are independent, their owners make or find their goods in their given location and ship from there. Etsy functions to maintain the site, make sure vendors and buyers are happy and are keeping up their ends of the transactions, and facilitate interactions between buyers/sellers. A lot of Etsy sellers also sell their work in small shops, galleries, independent studios and their own independent websites (like Hieropice, which is available at the Blue Cloud Gallery and Abeille). But, you generally won't find Etsy vendors' stuff in large chains like Target or Macy's, which is why having an international website to sell from, like Etsy, is important. I host Hieropice on Etsy because I appreciate selling in an arena where everyone is hand-making their goods. We're all trying to make something new and interesting, relying on our own skills and talents to create things we hope you will all like. It's a lot of work, and I know Etsy buyers understand that. But, the best way to get a sense of Etsy.com is to check it out, I highly recommend it!
Etsy gives users the opportunity to create virtual collections of items from Etsy shops they like called "Treasury Lists." A treasury is a collection of a maximum of 16 items, which show up on your screen as little thumbnails with their shop's name below, that can be absolutely anything you like. Like a curator at a museum putting together an exhibit, you create a treasury by thinking about how the items you love work together, what characteristics they share, taking into account how they've been photographed by their sellers. I'm drawn to peacock-related items, graphic African prints, blown glass, nature and vibrant jewelry, so, when I'm browsing around Etsy and I come across items like that, I often "favorite" them, a lot of those items are in the treasuries I've created.Treasuries are important though, beyond just being awesome to look at and pretty. The treasuries Etsy users have created are the first thing you see when you visit Etsy.com, they are the items that appear on Etsy's homepage. Take a look, you'll see someone's carefully-prepared treasury featured there. When someone takes the time to craft an Etsy treasury they always hope others will view and appreciate it, and maybe, if we're lucky, our treasury will appear on Etsy's home page!
Hopefully that all makes sense. If I haven't bored you to tears, I wanted to share my most recent treasury list with you, Here. It's in one of my favorite palettes, teal/robin's egg blue & brown, and I love it. I envision a room in my home one day being a wash of teal and brown, but until then, this treasury list will have to suffice! Enjoy all!
Dara
