How would you like to help me improve Polka Dot Creations? I want to make it easier for people to find the books, magazines, and DVDs that would most appeal to them. Right now, there are several ways to browse:
- by media (book, magazine, dvd, etc.)
- by what’s new or coming soon
- by what’s on sale, on closeout, or an overstock
- by author, publisher, or series
- by what “shelf” the item is on (polymer clay, precious metal clay, dolls and miniatures, etc.)
The “shelf” system comes closest to what I want to accomplish, but it’s a bit too general, and each item can only belong to a single shelf.
What I want is for a jewelry artist to be able to say, “show me all of the books you have on millefiori jewelry.” Right now, she can look in the Book Section, she can look on the Polymer Clay Shelf, or she can search for the term “millefiori,” but she can’t get a list of items that involve all three things.
So I think a tagging system is in order, most likely to replace the current shelf system or at the very least supplement it. I’ve got some ideas, but I’d like to hear yours.
What techniques do you think a book should be tagged with? (millefiori, mokume gane?)
What areas of study do we need to think about? (jewelry-making, sculpting?)
Every item should be tagged with at least one technique and one discipline, but are there other things that I need to consider? What kinds of tags support what you do with clay?
By way of example:
 | Media: Book Main material: Polymer Clay Areas of study: Jewelry Techniques: Mica shift |
I’m looking forward to hearing your ideas.
And to thank you for participating in this discussion, one random comment will win a $25 gift certificate to Polka Dot Creations. I’ll choose a winner on Wednesday evening.
Thanks, everybody!
I think if a book is primarily geared toward cane beads, that would be a good tag. Or if it covered sculpting critters, faces, etc that tags like that would be helpful.
That’s pretty much what I was thinking. Thanks for the input!
The shelf system is OK and it works for me. You can probably add tags if the author or book specializes in a specific technique within the main theme (sculpting, millefiori, colors,etc). Also sometimes I’ll like to know if its a mainly a project book or a technique book or includes both. Hope that helps.
Projects vs. techniques – I hadn’t thought of that one. Good!
Dear Lisa,
I am brand new to your site, and like it very much. I am blown away by it’s integrity and content. I am interested in many crafts, my fav, right now is knitting. For knitters there is a new Forum called Ravelry. you can sign up free of charge and partake of many good things, one of which the Library. Case in point. On Ravelry I let everyone who is interested read my knitting books, I uploaded about 14 of my fav. and when one clicks on the cover it will open and you can look for a pattern etc. Now I would advise you to check in with the staff, how you ould use this library. I am not sure how many other crafts are on there, it is huge. I have heard that there are a million people are signed up on Ravelry, most likely
for many different reasons. After you sign up,my name is Etoile 7 there. I hope this is an idea that comes to fruition for you.
My Best,
Rita
Thank you for the nice words and the information. I’ve been a member of Ravelry for a few years, actually. I love it, and I often think how great it would be to re-work it for use with other crafts including Polymer Clay.