Summer greetings, I hope you and your flocks are staying cool in the heatwaves! I've got a lot of news to tell you about! It's been a few months since I've updated my blog, and it's great to be back in touch with you all! Due to some health challenges, I had to take a break from creating the monthly newsletter and Bird of the Month collections, which you can read more about below.

BIRD OF THE MONTH COLLECTIONS

As you probably know, for quite a few years I have offered a collection of new jewelry in a different species, for auction on eBay at sale prices, every month. It's become a bit too much for me to continue doing this each month, while still keeping up with custom orders through my website. So, at least for now, the Bird of the Month will change from being a collection of items to just a single item auctioned on eBay.

"VIP" CUSTOM ORDERS STARTING AUGUST 1!

As mentioned a few months ago, I had planned to have the "VIP Custom Order" option going by now, for those of you who wanted to be able to place rush/confirmed orders for a higher fee. There were some delays, but I have good news for you! On August 1st, I will be putting the form up, and will begin accepting a couple of VIP orders each month. To read more about it, please go to the new VIP Custom Order page.

For those of you wanting a "regular" custom order, I'm continuing to do monthly drawings from the custom order requests that I receive, on the first day of each month. If you haven't had your order drawn yet, please keep trying and know that I appreciate your interest. When I have cancellations, I generally pick a replacement from those of you that have been entering the longest.

WHITE BELLIED CAIQUE & BARE EYED COCKATOO ON AUCTION

The Bird of the Month is the White Bellied Caique and this Glass Beaded Necklace and Earring set shown above is currently on auction. I have also listed a Bare Eyed Cockatoo Charm Choker necklace, shown below. They are on auction on eBay until July 27th.

I hope you are having a lovely Spring, and have had a wonderful Easter and Passover! I've been enjoying the jonquils outside my window next to my sculpting table, as well as watching the beauty of the trees starting to bud with leaves. Each day brings something new to enjoy outside at this time of the year!

I was not able to make a Bird of the Month collection for sale this month, however, I do have a new "scrap clay" necklace for you! It is on auction on eBay for the next week. A portion of the final sale price will be donated to the Oasis Sanctuary Foundation.

For those of you interested in placing a Custom Order Request, the entry form is on my website here: http://www.parrotjewelry.com/orderform.html I draw a limited number of custom orders on the first day of each month. (You can read the full details about the current system of placing custom orders on my website.)

Also, some of you have been asking about the "VIP Custom Order" option, as I had planned to have it set up this month. Due to some health issues that came up this month, I wasn't able to work on it, so this addition will be postponed until next month.

In honor of Mother's Day just around the corner, I'm having a sale of 5% off through May 31st, on all eBay Store items! There are still several unique pieces available for immediate purchase in my eBay store, including this Congo African Grey face charm necklace. To see all items that are available, visit my eBay Store.

I have also listed a whimsical blue African Grey necklace & earring set in my Flights of Fancy style, from my own personal jewelry collection, on eBay. The bird holds a charm with the word "Believe", and is beaded up with some gorgeous glass beads in periwinkle blue, silver, grey and black. The set is on auction for the next week, with a low starting bid!

This has certainly been an eventful and rather challenging few weeks! If you are one of the many people who wanted to place custom order earlier this month, or want to in the future, please take time to thoroughly read through the following.

I have been booked up solid with custom orders from my last opening about 2 years ago, so the opening on February 1st was a long awaited event for many of you. At noon, I placed the order form up on my website, and the plan was that I would leave the order form up only until I received the number of orders that I could fill within ONE MONTH. I would then "turn off"/remove the order form, until the next month, and continue on in this way. The strain and constant demand of custom orders has taken a toll on me over the years, and I refuse to book myself years in advance any more. I have had to consider no longer doing any custom orders. However, I hoped that working in a monthly system as described would be more manageable and comfortable. The plan sounded great.....in theory.

Well, we "live and learn", don't we? Things did not quite go as planned. Within only 6 minutes I had received the maximum amount of orders that I could fill within one month, and I quickly removed the order form. However, it turned out that many people were still in the midst of completing the order form during those moments, and despite the form being "turned off", these orders were still successfully processed by the form, and came through within the following 3-4 minutes. What was only supposed to be one month's worth of orders, quickly turned into about three month's worth, with each of these people expecting to have their order filled in February. What followed were several hours of sorting through the pages and pages of orders that came through, as well as the countless emails from others who were sorely disappointed that their order did not make it in time.

Needless to say, changes are required if I am to continue to take custom orders in the future. I have given this great thought and have come up with what I believe will be a much better plan, detailed in a separate post above. Some of you may not like the new plan, however please realize that it was either THIS, or no more custom orders *at all*. Please understand that the demand is far more than you may realize. It is simply beyond what I, as one person, can actually fill, considering I personally hand sculpt each custom created one-of-a-kind piece of art, which takes time due to the amount of detail and customization that I put into my pieces.

(I had to break this up into two posts, please read Part 1 if you haven't already.)

Here are the new options for placing custom orders in the future!

OPTION ONE: There will be a Custom Order Request Form on my website that will be open at all times, for your requests to be placed. It has proven impossible to accurately control the number of custom orders through the form - so instead, there will be no limit. It will be turned "on", and open at all times (unless I am ill or away). However, when you place a request through the form, it will NOT guarantee that your request will be accepted and filled that month - instead, each month's requests will go into a monthly pool, from which I will randomly draw a certain amount requests on the first day of each month. If you've followed me for a while, you will recall that I did something similar before several years ago. This time however, you will be able to place your request again, once each month, until it is drawn.

So, let's say you want a custom order, here is the procedure: You would go to the Custom Order Request Form (which will be located on this page: http://www.parrotjewelry.com/orderform.html ) and fill it out. Within 24 hours, you would receive a personal email from me to let you know that your request was received and added to the month's "lottery". Then, on the first day of the following month, if your request was drawn, you would receive an email from me to let you know and discuss the details. If your request was not drawn, you would not receive an email from me on the first of the month, and you could enter again for the following month.

The "odds" of your order being picked would depend on the number of requests received each month, and the number that I would fill, which may vary from month to month. (Due to some health issues which occasionally flare up, I can be slowed up in my ability to work at times. Therefor, some months I may only draw a few orders, and other months I may work overtime.)

OPTION TWO:
I have been approached by some of you offering to pay more, if I would work in your order. I have generally chosen not to do that in the past, but this continues to be requested, so I have come up with a new option for those of you who do not mind paying more in order to have a custom order accepted immediately. There will be a separate order form added to my website in the coming months, called the "VIP" (Very Important Parrot) Custom Order Form. Placing a VIP order gets your custom order automatically accepted, and worked in line immediately with the most minimal wait possible. (Wait time will depend on the item/number of birds.) Pricing will be double the normal custom order prices. More information on VIP Orders will be presented in the months to come.

WHEN CAN YOU ORDER?

Due to the excess orders that came through on Feb. 1st, I cannot accept ANY additional orders until all of those are filled. My first priority is to complete each of those before I will put the new ordering system into effect. I had planned to spend several weeks working on website updates - however, I will be putting that on hold so that I can more quickly fill these orders. I cannot determine exactly how long it will take to complete all of the orders, since many factors come into play, so at this point it is impossible to set a date yet when I will put the new order forms up. It may be April 1st (no foolin'!) at best, or more likely May 1st. By next month, I will be able to give you the date, so stay tuned!

I appreciate your patience and understanding as I do my best to manage the high demand for my custom work in the most efficient way that I can. The overwhelming amount of interest in my custom artwork continues to humble and astound to me. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

In addition to the penguins this month, there are a few Umbrella Cockatoos on auction including a bracelet charm, a charm choker necklace, and a glass beaded necklace/earring set. Please note that these items are on auction for the next THREE DAYS (not a week, like usual) ending on Monday evening! Go to my eBay Store to see the entire list of new items available!

I also have two Sulphur Crested Cockatoo bird face pendant charms (one on cord, one without) listed on auction on eBay for the next 3 days. I tried something a bit different with these cockatoos, using black agate beads for the eyes, and was happy with the very life-like look! Take a look at the listings and see what you think.

WORKS IN PROGRESS   Want to see some of my recent projects?   I recently posted some "work in progress" photos of a custom ordered owl pin in an album on my Facebook page. There are quite a few other photos of recent work there as well, so stop by and browse!