Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The tjaps are here!

Remember the cool copper tjaps I showed in Stuff, Sewing and 5S? They produced the designs in Weekend Follow-up. This just showed up in my inbox.
Hi Dharma customer!
Our only shipment of Copper Batik Tjaps from Indonesia for this year has finally arrived! We will start taking orders some time this week. As before, they are all different shapes, sizes and complexity and some are in really good condition, some less so. They are priced accordingly. They are interesting to both collectors and users and would make great gifts for the artsy folks in your life.
I really shouldn't be advertising this for them because then you will compete with me when they open the on-line sale. Every time the copper tjaps are on sale at the website, their server is swamped. I mean, try back every 30 seconds swamped. But, I did get 5 of them and I think it is only fair that others get a crack at them.

In the past, they posted pictures of the tjaps a few days before they go on sale. Write down the numbers of the ones you want in a prioritized list. When they go on sale (~10 am PT on the announced day), you login and start going down the list to put them into your shopping cart before someone else buys them. If you login at 10:10, chances are that 90% of them, including the ones you want, are sold.

The tjaps are priced by weight and by conditions. For instance, the celestial one is about the same price as the smaller shell one because it was in worse condition. Among equal condition ones, the heavier ones will cost more. Luckily, an engineer at my last tie-dye playdate knew how to fix the celestial tjap and did it while I was still noshing on a bialy.

Read all about it on the Dharma copper tjap webpage.

I have no affiliation with them whatsoever. I am just a very satisfied customer. Besides, I think they are really cool folks with a business model worthy of emulation.

Have any other bloggers out there been contacted by PR firms to blog for their clients? I think that is really tacky and I don't do that. Besides, I read in the newspaper that some bloggers earn money as paid shills. Maybe I am offended because the PR firms in question didn't offer to pay me. ;-) But seriously, people who take money for blogging should make their affiliations clear.

Why do PR firms expect bloggers to do their jobs for free? Who do they think they are? Newspapers?

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:41

    I get approached by a lot of pr firms. They usually say something like,

    "We at P4 (pink pony product pushers), just LOVE your sense of style and read your blog faithfully. We just love your cutting edge, you're a real fashionista! and know your readers are just going to love our latest pink pony product!"

    I used to tell them that I don't even wear matching socks (socks that match each other, much less my outfit) but it doesn't slow them any.

    A lot of the pink pony blogs love this stuff, eat it up. It makes them hip to be in the know for their readers. And no, they don't pay but they do give out freebies. The thing is, I don't even want the items, free or not. If I like something enough to write about it, I'll buy it or at least it'll be something I covet. Most of those things aren't exactly popular since most of those items require three phase power. Or a six figure outlay (I still want that automated leather cutter from gerber).

    To deal with all the pushers, I wrote an entry called "how to pitch me" and send them the link. However, I will do product announcements for "my" designers, putting those in my weekly "news from you" column.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:21

    I've been contacted although I can't imagine why. I agree that it is tacky and wouldn't do it.

    ReplyDelete

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