Original Beadwork - my jewelry stories

A look into my process of packaging

2010-03-17T22:19:00.018-04:00

As an online seller, packaging is a big part of the process that I go through when I've made a sale. For my jewelry, I use nice cotton lined gift boxes, but the majority of my online sales are for my handmade findings - and for those I use recycled packaging. So, I thought I'd document the process through photos etc.
First of all, I consume a lot of wheat thin crackers. Paper board is not recyclable in my area, so I save the boxes.

Next, I get my tools together: scissors, ruler, scotch tape, packing tape, pen, stapler, bubble wrap, then there's also little zip-loc bags and my own handmade thank you tags.

I start to cut apart the cracker box. Half of it gets cut into three pieces that get simply folded in half for my flatter items.

The other half of the box gets cut into three more, slightly larger pieces, that I then make my own small boxes out of.

The items get bagged, I hand cut my own printed cards, and staple them together. These get wrapped in bubble wrap, tucked in a box.

For my envelopes, I buy the larger manilla envelopes - for some reason these are cheaper than the same amount of smaller envelopes! I fold them in half to get the size that I need.

The boxed items get placed in the envelope with a copy of the paypal slip, I tape everything up, and off to the Post Office I go!

Busy Season and Roman Jewelry

2009-12-27T21:55:00.003-05:00

Wow! I've been so busy! Now that the Christmas season is over, I don't know what to do with myself! It has been a profitable few months. Sales have been really good all around. I was one of the top five selling atisans at the Jewelry Cafe, and my etsy stores experienced a burst of activity as well!

Yesterday, I spent several hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. We spent a large amount of time in the new, and ENORMOUS Roman and Greek wing. I was amazed at the jewelry! It was really quite amazing. There were pristine, intact, beautiful wire wrapped necklaces. I unfortunately, did not bring my camera. My friend did, and I coaxed him into lending it to me to try to capture a few of the designs. Due to the fact that we couldn't use a flash, and the camera was trying to focus throught the glass, the pictures didn't come out very well.

There was one display, it was new, and there were NO dates or descritions attached, but in it were several necklaces made of of gold wire, wire wrapped links of beads, with, of course, hand made hook and eye closures. Truly inspiring. These pieces must have been 2,000 years old!!! And very much like the work that I do! Different styles, of course, but I am tempted to try to make some recreations.

Donations Well Received by the Birmingham Group

2009-11-20T22:29:00.002-05:00

I'm a bit late in posting about this, but now is better than never. As a part of the Manifest Beading Buddies, a club to support and encourage the art of beading, I donated a piece of jewelry to a charity event. The event was hosted by the Birmingham Group and the Rape Crisis Center of Milford, Ct. They put together a special evening gala called the "Bridesmaids's Ball: Men and Women Partnering to End Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault" on September 26th. Tickets were $75, and women were encouraged to wear their old bridesmaid's dresses, and men - their tuxes. Besides the dinner and dancing there was also a silent auction. The Manifest Beading Buddies donated several pieces of jewelry, and at the end of October were given thank you letters and this one anecdote:

One of our pieces was so popular, that there were two women who were actually fighting over it during the bidding!

All of our items sold, and the event as whole was very successful.

Here is the necklace that I donated: It is one of my eternal swirl series, made with sterling silver and rose quartz, at a retail value of $65.

Show this weekend!

2009-11-12T20:39:00.003-05:00

I have been busy getting ready for a big craft fair this coming weekend. On Saturday, Nov 14th, my jewelry will be at St. Marys, in Milford Ct (on Gulf Street). I'll be sharing a table with my fellow jewelry artisan Sam Rawls.

ALSO on Saturday, a couple of my other fellow artisans will be at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Wallingford, Ct, 382 Hope Hill Road. Jewelry by Renee and Rosaries by Fal will be there together!

Here is a chance to see our work in person!

Since all of us from Beadworkartists.etsy.com are taking our things to these shows, our online shops are going to be put on "vacation mode". After the weekend, the shops will be back up!

Thanks to my Fellow Bloggers

2009-11-08T11:48:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to say thank you to my fellow bloggers and artisans who have been kind enough to mention my work in their blog!

Recently, my work was featured in Regina's Writings
http://reginaswritings.blogspot.com/2009/11/original-wire-components-for-my-jewelry.html#comment-form
(www.reginaswritings.blogspot.com)

She reminded me of another blog I was in earlier this year, The Beading Gem's Journal
http://www.beadinggem.com/2009/03/handmade-earring-supplies.html

Then there was this, from last year, on craftstylish.com
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/8264/beautiful-handmade-findings-for-sale-on-etsy

I love it!

Photography Presentation for the Manifest Beading Buddies

2009-10-25T18:59:00.005-04:00

This afternoon I did a demo/presentation for the Manifest Beading Buddies, a bead club based at Manifest Beads, of which I am a member. Kristen LaViola, owner of the store, first presented how she uses a professional light box and manual settings on her camera to take pictures of jewelry. Very different from how I take MY pictures!

Now, I am in no way a professional photographer. But I have learned some tips and tricks along the way, and have seen my photography improve greatly since last year! I shared my tips and tricks and techniques with my fellow club members, and it went really well!

I set up my amateur jewelry photography "set" and club members took turns taking pictures of their jewelry with different backgrounds, and props, and from diffferent angles etc. One of the main things is figuring out how to adjust a couple simple settings on your camera!

Valerie Johnson joins me on BeadworkArtists.etsy.com

2009-10-23T14:16:00.007-04:00

I am very excited to have Valerie Johnson joining my cooperative etsy store! Her work is absolutely gorgeous. Valerie loves to work with seed beads, and stitches up the most amazing intricate pieces. Find her work on http://www.beadworkartists.etsy.com/ soon (hopefully next week???). In the meantime, here are some pictures of what is coming:

Introducing WillOWispWire.etsy.com

2009-10-12T22:03:00.008-04:00

Months ago, I snagged up the etsy account, "WillOWispWire.etsy.com". Now, I already have two etsy stores. I have my handmade wire findings store, which continues to do well, with repeat customers. I also have my cooperative store that I started, featuring jewelry by ladies that I know that have wanted to sell online.

I currently have so much inventory, that I have decided to open my new etsy store! This shop will feature my one of kind, Will-O-Wisp Wire designs. I have dozens, if not a hundred plus items to list. Will be filling the shop throughout the next couple weeks. I had a great photo shoot today, the light conditions were perfect! Here is a hint of what's to come...

Santa Fe

2009-09-24T23:08:00.002-04:00

I just spent a week in Santa Fe. I'm pretty exhausted right now. I was looking forward to seeing some jewelry and making some connections out there, but barely succeeded.

The jewelry I saw was all the typical turquoise and silver work. Unfortunately, very little of that interested me. I was looking for new/inspired/ingenious designs that might be found in a very artistic and creative community. Almost everything I saw was homogenous. The same thing over and over again. I was a little depressed at the sight of the Native American market in the Santa Fe plaza. I did get one smile from a Native woman whom I complemented on her wire work with her earrings. I attempted to share with her that I do wire work as well, but didn't really get a response.

At the ancient Pueblo, in Taos, we did find one friendly jewelry artisan who talked a little bit about his work. It was only after we left that I thought of a dozen questions I would have liked to ask him. "How long have your people been working with silver and turquoise?" would have been one of them.

I manged to make almost a connection with a Santa Fean. She does glass bead making, and combines her glass pendants with tiny little porcelain bottles for display/storage. We were going to try to network with a sharing of beads/jewelry/porcelain bottles, but on my last day in town, she was not around. Sadness. Perhaps I'll be able to get in touch her.

Sterling Silver Dust

2009-09-07T22:13:00.003-04:00

My lap is covered with sterling silver dust. Currently taking a break from working on an almost record number of ear wire orders that came in this weekend. Enough orders to pay for 1/2 of my plane ticket for my upcoming vacation! Woopie! A lot of work though. I've blogged before on just how much work ear wires are, for the little money that I charge. And it's been a while since I've had so many bulk orders.

I have to work on these orders in batches, otherwise I'll do damage to my hands which will last for a few days. It's the filing of the ends that creates all the silver dust! I wonder if it's harmful, and if I'm actually inhaling any of it. It certainly doesn't brush off of the clothes very well, tends to stick. I had a pair of pants that actually started to get a tarnished silver colored section, from all the filing that I was doing while wearing them.

I probably shouldn't be working over my lap anyway. I've temporarily moved my "studio" into the kitchen yet again. Better air flow when it's hot (my "studio" is a tiny spare bedroom that has the climate of an attic in the heat). AND the kitchen is closer to my computer and online pandora.com radio station that I am addicted to.

Can already feel my hands stiffening up. Time to package up two of the completed orders so that I can get them to the post office after work tomorrow!

Another Financial Set Back

2009-06-25T00:18:00.002-04:00

So, a few hours after posting my last blog about spending lots of money on things to make jewelry with...I suffered a major financial setback.
My cat and I had...a misunderstanding. Monday night I walked onto the screened in porch in time to see the neighborhood bully cat engaging my sweety through the screen window. Snarling and lounging ensued. Afraid of one of them breaking through the window I clapped and yelled to break them apart. My cat freaked out at the loud noises I was making and whipped around to defend himself from the threat he couldn't identify through his frenzy. I put my hand out to fend him off, I got bitten. Really bad. Right down to the bone. Had to throw pillows from the porch chairs at him to break him off, as he couldn't see anything but a threat.
Three deep punctures from his teeth into my finger. One right into my knuckle. One puncture from his claw into one of those veins in my forearm. Bled under my skin breifly creating a huge egg sized bubble, which dissappated into a low, bruise-like mound.

$95 doctor visit, $75 tetanus shot, $70 antibiotics. I am doing better today. Can bend my finger. It is only still slightly swollen and looks less sausage-like and less inflamed with infection. Glad I am able to work with it. Very upset with my cat. I had saved up some money for finally purchasing some health insurance...ironic.

Spending money to make money

2009-06-22T18:17:00.005-04:00

Oi. Spent a lot of money these last couple weeks. Last week I dropped $238 on argentium sterling wire. I'm pretty well stocked up on that now.

Today I went to a bead show. Went looking for summery colors - blues and teals and oranges. And wow! I only went a little over my budget.

Spent $117. Got a beautiful pile of stones to play with. Love the colors. Have some ideas of what to make. Will probably do one or more designs tonight. Most likey I will discover that I need something else to go with these stones...meaning I will have to buy more things...like some crystals.

For the moment I wish I could listen to pandora.com while up in my studio....

getting back on track.

2009-06-17T22:17:00.002-04:00

Gosh, it's amazing how much life can get in the way of work! After a couple weeks of losing track, I am starting to pull myself together again. Making new jewelry, and getting together new pieces for my etsy store! I also have a custom set for a bride (my neighbor's daughter), that I need to finish! So little time....and I am SO good at wasting it! It's late, and I am trying to decide if I am going to work on something tonight (after teaching all day). Ugh. Tired. Maybe I'll have time tomorrow?

Keepin busy!

2009-05-13T22:12:00.003-04:00

So, for a while there, I was worried about the state of the economy affecting my business. Turns out...that's not going to be a problem! (crossing fingers, don't want to jinx things)

For several months, I have had low sales for my jewelry. My guess is that this reflected the fact that for several months last year, I wasn't making a whole lot of new pieces to sell. This has started to change now that I am creating more! The month of April has been one of my best months ever for sales! I am anxiously awaiting the check from last month's settlement, as I will probably spend it all on getting my car fixed :(

My findings store on etsy continues to do well. I haven't seen several of my big-order repeat buyers, but I continue to have new ones, and some new repeat customers!

My jewelry store on etsy has started to see some sales, which is great! Still worried that it might be a flop, as there is SO MUCH jewelry competition on etsy!

Business at Manifest Beads continues to bloom. We are having some of our best months ever!

AND, word of mouth and networking with people that I know seems to help as well. One of my neighboor's daughters is commissioning me to make the jewelry for her bridal party.

Busy busy. This is good. Keep it coming. I can take it. As long as I don't suddenly develope a social life....

:)

Sobobo Gallery

2009-04-17T22:16:00.002-04:00

I really should pay more attention to my blog. It would help if I knew that people were reading it. Comments woul be a rare treat. Just to know you're there. But seriously. Most of my time is centered around my work. If I'm at home I'm either managing my etsy stores, managing my income and inventory for taxes etc., and making things. OR...the big time consumer, is keeping up with people I know on facebook. Basically, I'm always at my computer unless I have tools and wire in my hands.
The recent news is that I now have my jewelry at a gallery in Milford, Ct, called Sobobo. They had an event last night with a neighboring gallery, and when I stopped by, there were a lot of people there and wandering back and forth between the two places. I'm hoping that this will be lucritive. The gallery is small, but attractively decorated and has a broad range of art for sale: from prints to orignal works, sculptures, and other jewelry besides my own. Sobobo Gallery is planning on moving to a biger location later this year, which would be great, as I could probably fill a good part of it!!!! I only brought about 10 pieces of new work to Sobobo, but many of my Will-O-Wisp items will be coming out of rotation from the Jewelry Cafe soon.

I welcome comments. Say "HI - I read your post!" and maybe I'll be more prone to updating this place.

Earth Hour

2009-03-28T21:50:00.002-04:00

I just finished celebrating earth hour. For those of you that hadn't heard of it, earth hour was started a few years ago in Sydney, Australia. Last year, 400 cities participated, this year, 4,000! What it is: between 8:30 and 9:30, local time, around the world, people were, and still are, turning their non-essential lights off. Why? To conserve energy!!!!

I had a lot of work to do tonight, between orders to make for shipping out on monday, two months worth of new classes to get organized by wednesday, and Mother's day jewelry ideas to get sorted out as soon as possible. Well, for a little excitement on my Saturaday night, I decided to celebrate Earth Hour by turning off everything in my house at 8:30, and lit a candle.

What to do? I can't make jewelry by candlelight, and I turned off my computer, which means no procrastination on the internet. So I called a friend in far away Georgia. She didn't answer, so I played with my cat with his laser-pointer (which is all so much better in the dark). Then decided to go for a walk.

I was hoping to see lights winking off as they noted that 8:30 had come, people in their homes gathered around candlelight. I walked along the waterfront. Turns out that that majority of the homes there are dark and empty on a Saturday night. It's been a while since I've walked down there at night. I know several of the homes are just huge summer homes, but not all. The ones that did shows signs of life had lights blaring, and huge flat screen TV's showing sports. I was even shocked and horrified to see one brightly lit home with it's Christmas tree and stockings still on the mantle. Hello?

It was chilly, foggy, and misty out, and there was quite a breeze along the water. Turns out I was reminded that damp + cold = bad for wrist. So when I got home, I wrapped my damaged wrist up with my re-usable heat warmer thing (thanks Tanya, it's been life-saver). And walked some more. Unfortunately, my re-usable wrist warmer doesn't seem to last as long as it used too.

I passed the time wandering around the neighboorhood, encountered a couple looking for their last cat (so sad!). And now I'm wrapped up in my larger micro-waveable warmer, but my hand is still SO stiff and ouchy.

There is so much that I need to be making tonight, but I don't think I'm going to be able to!

Making the switch!

2009-03-15T22:44:00.002-04:00

For a long time I have heard about Argentium Silver. Argentium Silver is a version of sterling silver, which is alloy of 92.5% pure silver. With argentium silver, part of that alloy is germantium. The addition of germantium created a sterling that is highly tarnish resistant. Argentium silver has been slightly more expensive than regular sterling, but not by much. If I switch over to it, I won't have to adjust my prices.

Tomorrow I am making an order of Argentium Silver, and will begin to make all of my new jewelry and findings in Argentium!

New Store!

2009-01-14T21:52:00.002-05:00

I haven't posted on here for while. First I had computer issues, then no intenet, but lately I've just been way to busy. Working way too much (a lot of it from home). Anywho, I've started up a new online store for my jewelry and for jewelry made by other women that I know. More info will come soon....

torn ligament?

2008-09-24T13:24:00.002-04:00

The Saga of my wrist pain continues.
Yesterday afternoon I had my third appointment with my hand doctor. The cortisone shots haven't worked. And I had a very interesting and stressful consultation with my Doctor.

There happened to be a Doctor from Sweden who was there visiting the center, working with the doctors to demonstrate a new piece of equipment that tests muscle strength. Dr. Brown gave him a little of the background information on my case, mentioning that I had been worried that one of wrist bones seems "prominent"? was that the word he used. My Doctor hadn't seen anything wrong around that bone, telling me that the bump on the wrist is normal and that it was nothing to worry about (he wouldn't listen to me when I said that it WASN"T normal for me, and that my wrist seems to be twisted to the side). The swedish doctor immediately and gingerly picked up my wrist, felt around, and said "that bone isn't pushing up. THIS other bone is pushing down!" I knew that was always the case, but Dr. Brown had never paid attention. The appointment continued, with me being tested by the swedish doctor with the new machine, and nothing came up abnormal. So basically, at the end, Dr. Brown told me AGAIN that he just couldn't tell what was wrong me, and if he couldn't find anything wrong then he couldn't fix me! (but he will keep trying) It was at this point that Swedish doctor said to mine, politely, obviously not wanting to intrude on his diagnosis. "Her case reminds me of one I have seen before". The swedish doctor knew what was going on, and I'm going to get an official second opinion from someone else, because this is what the Swedish doctor said - he has seen cases where a very small ligament inside the wrist has come loose, making the wrist look very much like how mine looks. It apparently is very difficult to diagnose, and even harder to fix. The only way to know for sure if this is what's happened to me is to open up my wrist and look inside.

I need surgery. I'm screwed.

So many ear wires!

2008-09-07T20:07:00.002-04:00

My gods. I have sold and made SO many pairs of ear wires through my etsy store. SO much! My ear wires take a lot of time and work (with the measuring, cutting, shaping, re-measuring, hammering and filing), and I know I'm underselling myself. I'd love it if my other findings received as much attention and orders.
I just calculated how many ear wires I've made to order since I opened my store a few months ago. 116 pairs, total. Out of those, 60 pairs have been my "Curly-Q" style. Those are definately my best seller. I'm relisting them every couple of days.
I'm getting a little -ear-wired-out. Making them to often. Now that I'm back to work, and back to teaching classes, on top of my etsy store, I have had NO time to create jewelry. What to do? Perhaps in a few weeks I'll let some of my ear wire designs sell out for a little while. Take a little break. In the meantime, I've got some ear-wire orders to make....

Back to work and busy busy

2008-09-02T19:19:00.002-04:00

On a side note....I'm having some serious problems with etsy.com!!!! I haven't been able to log on and access my store. Which is very very frustrating as I have orders in progress, and need to contact some customers!!! Even my link from this blog to my etsy store is all screwed up. I had to remove the link in order for my blog to even load! Arg!

So. I've been busy. Back to work at Manifest Beads after 4 months and wow is the store busy!!!! Tons of new customers, lots of sales, including jewelry sales and custom orders. Classes will start up soon and then I'll be even busier. And my etsy store has been keeping me busy as well. It's a lot....but it's nice to be seriously making money again. Hopefully it won't take too long to replenish the savings I used to have (after paying off some debt).

Oh, and I thought my wrist was fixed, but it's not. After working for several hours last night, the familiar ache and pain was back. Which means that the doctor will want me to come back so that we can try again. Ugh.

exciting news???

2008-08-28T20:55:00.002-04:00

So, the coolest thing about my day today:
A fellow Etsian linked me to a posting on craftystylish.com - which was about how awesome my handmade findings are!!!!! Wow! Cool! Craftystylish.com is a HUGE site with thousands of subscribers. Can we say massive free advertising?? Perhaps!
See it here: http://www.craftstylish.com/item/8264/beautiful-handmade-findings-for-sale-on-etsy

The other cool thing:
I went to the hand doctor again this morning. He's not exactly sure what is causing the pain and discomfort in my wrist besides tendonitus...BUT - he gave me another cortisone shot, this time in a different part of my wrist than before. AND I am not in excruciating pain! The last time, a few hours after the injection, I could barely move my hand. It took days and days before I felt close to normal (normal being the daily level of pain and discomfort when I do too much with my hands). So. No horrible pain. Does this mean he found the right spot? I am still feeling the normal stiffness and achiness... but its not bad at all. The cortisone DOES take several days to fully take affect and work as the "magic cure". Does this mean that my wrist is actually going to be fixed??? Gods. I hope so.

Exciting stuff!

Creator's block

2008-08-18T21:50:00.002-04:00

SO, it's been a couple weeks since I've created anything. Last week I was busy helping out at Manifest, getting ready for the store open, the week before I couldn't handle my tools to do ANYTHING because of the stupid cortisone shot in my wrist (which HASN'T cured me, by the way).
I know I need to make more jewelry....I just can't think of where to start......

Is my wrist WORSE now???

2008-08-11T19:52:00.002-04:00

Well, it's been almost a week since I saw the hand surgeon and got the cortisone shot (I think I finally have the spelling right). The shot was horribly painful for days. That pain has lessened, but my wrist still feels aweful. I can move it up and down pretty well, but I physically CAN'T move it from side to side. It generally aches. My fingers go numb periodically. And sometimes simple actions like turning a doorknob causes a jolt of pain, with my wrist giving out at the same time. I managed to make a custom order of ear wires this weekend, and /luckily/ I haven't had any other orders. I can work on them little bits at a time, but damn, is it uncomfortable. My fingers are half numb and stiff right now. Trying to find somethig I can do to keep busy without having to use my hands....I can't think of anything. This is one of those times I wish I had TV.

horrible pain, but good news

2008-08-06T18:27:00.003-04:00

The good news is that there is nothing seriously wrong with my wrist. I saw one of the best doctors in the region as far as hands and wrist and arms go. Diagnosis? Oh...probably tendonitus. SO I ask him what I can do about it. He tells me that there is nothing I can do on my own. The only thing that will help is an injection of cortizone.

He tells me that from the injection I will feel some pain and discomfort for a few days. That's fine! Thats what I've been experiencing for months now! Well, different type of pain. It's called horrible excruciating pain. Yesterday afternoon I couldn't move my fingers. It's been a day and a few hours and I can now turn the keys in the ignition and shift into drive - slowly and carefully - without wanting to scream. Had to drive entirely left handed yesterday, it was very interesting. I can bend/rotate my wrist a few degrees more as the time ticks by, but only in a few directions. There's no way I'll be using any pliers any time soon. So no jewelry making.

After five days or so, the cortizone should kick into gear, making my wrist feel better instead of worse. For many people, this stuff makes you feel like you have a brand new wrist (or other joint). If there's no improvement in three weeks, then I'm supposed to go back. Hopefully that won't happen.

This cortizone stuff better work...because right now it REALLY SUCKS.

Oh yeah, and I'm going to be able to pay for this...not an arm and leg at all...spread out over as much time as I need. Thank god for having a sister in law with connections to doctors.

Appointment with a hand surgeon

2008-08-04T21:11:00.002-04:00

My wrist issue has really come to head. I'm still able to make things, but I have strained my wrist severely, TWO times this past week...last thursday, getting up from a sitting position, I accidently put my full weight on my bad wrist. It hurt SO badly, it felt like I had broken it. It was the kind of pain that transported me to another place. I had to sit there for a few minutes before my head cleared. Then yesterday, getting out of the car, I used my bad wrist to close the car door. Big mistake. It took the breath right out of me. It hurt and continued to hurt, then it burned. Then my pinky finger started feeling funny. I used my microwavable heat pack on it, and felt better.

Friday night I had a long chat with Mark's parents. This was only just after thursday's experience. Both of his parents have had hand/wrist surgery (from the same place I'm going to tomorrow). They convinced me, quite easily, that it was time to see a doctor.

There is this money situation, however. I don't have any. No health insurance either. Can't afford it. So my biggest fear is that what I will need to do to fix my wrist is going to cost an arm and a leg. My parents have never offered to help me. I think Mark's parents just did on friday.

Luckily, I am going to be able to do this without anyone's help. I have this connection, thank god. My sister in law used to work with a hand surgeon. She was his main surgical nurse, and worked with him in the operating room for ten years. The surgeon's daughter ended up becoming her best friend, and her maid of honor. This doctor's office has been known to work with people who don't have health insurance.

I talked to the office manager today. She knows me. She set me up with an appointment to be seen tomorrow afternoon. The doctor will more than likely give me a reduction in the fees, then I will be able to work out a payment plan. Just being diagnosed shouldn't cost too much. It's possible the doctor might recommend a cortesone (spelling) shot. I don't think that will cost too much either. But if something anomolous shows up in the x-ray...will I need surgery to fix it? I'm already in a little bit of debt from my lack of work this summer. Gods.

I am really glad that this is going to happen. Years ago, when my wrsits first started acting up in grad school, I had an orthopedic surgeon tell me there was nothing wrong with my wrists. Just go home and rest them. Hah!

Making A Living

2008-07-21T21:09:00.003-04:00

A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting another one of my fellow artisans at the Jewelry Cafe. He was a skinny man, scarecrow style. He had greying strawlike hair in a ponytail down his back, and he was either really unshaven or just had an unkempt beard. He reeked of cigarette smoke, and sounded like it too.
I was there working on switching over my tags to my new logo, and he was there to meet with Laura about a style of earring he wanted to bring in. This man has been in the jewelry business for over 30 years.
I wanted to ask him how his hands were....heh.
We got to talking because I needed some advice on what to put on a price tag. I had brought in some of my sterling ear wires, not the finished earring, just my ear hooks, to put up for sale alongside the JC's tiny little bead bar. Now I've been selling these ear hooks for $3/3.50 a pair, but figured I could get more at a place like the JC. But how much more?
Laura was too busy, so I got a chance to talk to Scott. And he had lots of questions for me. "How much wire is used per pair?" "How long does it take to make a pair?" These are questions I have thought about, and answered. But he had more. "What about your overhead?" Overhead??? Gods...how do you figure that one out?
I make my own tags and labels. I don't think about the cost of this in my final price. Scott asked me, "If you had to pay someone to make these tags, and then pay someone to put them on, how much do you think you would spend?" I have NO idea. But it adds up. The ink, the paper, the time.
Scott mentioned, back in his "heyday", he sold wholesale. BIG wholesale. Department stores. 5000 items made in 3 weeks type of orders. So he had to hire people. Some one to cut the pieces, someone to make the tag, put the tags on, etc etc. Costs a lot of money.
I don't think I want to do wholesale. Ever. I want my jewelry to be one of kind, and with my findings, I could never make them fast enough to wholesale at big orders like that and still make money.
I don't know if jewelry making is Scott's only income. He has really been making a living of it all these years? Can I do it?

Wheeee!!!

2008-07-14T18:15:00.002-04:00

Etsy sales are blossoming! I actually ran out of envelopes this weekend and had to go out to get more today. Now I am SO well stocked in envelopes...bring it on!!
I am looking into RME - Revolution Money Exchange - as an alternate form of payment. It sounds pretty good. No transaction fees like with Paypal. I have only just heard of it, and am surprised it's not more widely used. Everyone should check it out. If you are looking into making an RME account, let me know, because they have a referal rewards program (we both get FREE money).
Cool.
On a note besides jewelry sales, I have SO many zucchinis. I'm picking one or two every other day, and I'm swamped. I was supposed to be baking loaves of zucchini bread tonight...but the internet has sucked my time away.

Manifest Beads

2008-07-11T11:34:00.002-04:00

Ahhh... high speed internet. Laptop. Wireless. I'm at my boyfriends's house, drinking his coffee, using his internet connection. I have dial up at home. Dinosaur age, I know. It makes it impossible sometimes to check my email, let alone upload or download anything. Someday I will remedy this.

Any way - I need to tell every one about Manifest Beads! Manifest is a bead store in Milford, Ct, where I have been working for three years. Mostly what I do is teach classes, three days a week, with the occasional day or two of working the store. This is also where I started designing and selling my handmade wire findings.

Earlier this year, we were looking for a change. While our location had been very functional, we weren't in a very busy area of town. Knowing our lease was going to end in May, we found a new place to move the store! An amazing location, right in the heart of the downtown, and twice as big. We scheduled the move, giving us a week and half off to get everything together. New stock, and some minor facelifts.

Then the city screwed us over. We were supposed to open on May 9th. Today is July 11th, and we're not open yet. We had planned to re-face the bathroom: new sink and toilet, new tiles etc. The city said, "Hey, this bathroom is not handicap accessible. It needs to be made so before you can think of opening." Okay, no problem. Plans were drawn up by the city architect, and the permit for construction was applied for. 30 days later, after much complaining to the city and politcal battles, we FINALLY got the permit to be LOOKED at. And it was failed. Permit application resubmitted. 30 days LATER it was looked at again and approved. It took TWO months to the go-ahead from the city to do the work they told us to do. Now work is STARTING VERY SLOWLY. It's been painful. For all of us. Manifest Beads has been my main source of income, and I haven't been able to work for over two months. My bank balance is hysterical.

This "lay off" is what prompted me to look into selling on Etsy.

It will be fabulous when we can get the store open again. By the end of the month? Most likely, and if not, then something is seriously wrong. I think we have to apply for an occupancy permit once the construction is done, and knowing how much the building department hates us.....ugh. I don't want to think about it.

www.manifestbeads.blogspot.com for more on our story.

Figuring Things Out

2008-07-07T18:22:00.003-04:00

I've been spending a lot of time lately trying to figure out how best to sell online.

I'm learning about selling fees and international shipping costs.

I'm figuring out how to treat my wrist problems.

I have had a few more sales through Etsy, including custom orders. I'm going to be doing a little more revising on my pricing tonight. I'd adjusted my sterling silver findings, but hadn't fixed my plated wire findings. Then I got a custom order request, and couldn't afford to give any kind of discount on some of my earlier listed items. I want to be fair, affordable, and still make a living doing this sort of thing. Selling through Etsy has been a nice little side job, and I hope to do more, a lot more.

One thing I've noticed, when I go searching, as a buyer would, for certain products that I sell, they end up buried under pages and pages of items. Etsy is VERY big. Items are listed every second. Some stores have a system, that I am trying to do, in my own way. When you search for items, they are listed chronologically with the more recently listed items on top. If you relist the same item every couple days (like handmade earwires let's say), then that item is more likely to be noticed by buyers. It's tough. Because I don't want to be that seller that's trying to drown out every other seller. And it costs $0.20 every time you list an item. It's not much, but it adds up if you are trying to push an item that's not a big seller.

So here's my listing plan:
Since I make my findings in all different shapes and all diffferent metals, I can list each individual variation, one at a time. When I have every single style that I make listed in my store, I can start listing bulk item deals. Actually, I'll start mixing in those bulk item listings before that happens. If I can just keep up with listing something new every day or two, then I won't get lost in the sea of Etsy sellers.

Wholesale Pricing Plan:
Individual items will have a set price that you can click, buy and pay for. Discounts will be available on custom orders of 5 or more of a type of item. I.e. one pair of curly-Q ear wires: $3.00. Five pairs of curly-Q ear wires: 2.75/pr. I'll have the different prices noted on each item.

One another note, my darling boyfriend has been helping me with my wrist problem. His mum gave me one of those stiff wrist braces for the right hand (I'd only had one for my left hand, which has been fine lately). I wear this at night and when I know I will have to be lifting or moving heavy objects (like my vacuum, good lord). On top of that, he bought me three wonderful stretchy wrist glove/wrap thingys that I can wear while I work, AND one of those amazing microwaveable heat wraps. LOVE that thing. It's easy to use, and I don't have to try loading a tub full of heavy hot water to soak my wrist in - this does basically the same thing.

Time to go edit my etsy things. OriginalBeadwork.etsy.com

Price Revisions

2008-06-23T11:44:00.002-04:00

Now that some of my items have been selling on Etsy, I have seen that I need to raise my prices. I hate doing it, because I want to keep my items affordable. But there are all these fees to consider on top of my materials and time costs.

So I've come up with a plan. Most of my sales have been custom order bulk requests. I've only listed my ear hooks by the pair, with the option of requesting a bulk listing. I'm going to have to raise the price of individual items, and do a discount on bulk orders.

How things are currently:
one pair Curly-Q ear wires: $2.50
Shipping: $2.00
---------
Total: $4.50
Fees: Etsy Listing Fee: -$0.20
Etsy sale fee: -$0.09
Paypal Fee: -$0.43
Postage: -$1.34
Delivery Confirmation: -$0.75
---------
End Total: $1.69

Hardly worth my time and effort and materials costs. Now I could leave out the Delivery Confirmation, but that's my security. I'm currently using packaging materials I've had around, but when I need to buy more, I will have that cost to think about. Right now my shipping charge doesn't cover it. And I had no idea how much paypal was going to charge me.

Previously, I have been selling my ear hooks retail at prices of $3.50 and $3.00 a pair. I get 60% of that: earning $2.10 or $1.80. Not a whole lot either, but OK for retail.

Revisions:
Single pair ear hooks at $3.00
Postage w/confirmation: $2.50

Custom order Bulk discounts: after the first item, $0.20 off each additional item.

Etsy Sales and Wrist Woes

2008-06-22T18:43:00.002-04:00

Hooray! People are starting to find my Etsy store (4 sales so far). I've only sold some of my ear wires (they ARE awesome, aren't they?) and I'm hoping to get some jewelry sales. I finally got some better pictures for the necklaces I had listed - I modeled them while my boyfriend played photographer. They look much better on a neck.
Geez, my wrist is killing me. I made six pairs of "fancy" ear hooks and now I can barely use my right arm. Damn. It's an ongoing problem, and it's been at it's worst lately. Typing doesn't help. Time to go soak it in the sink.
Ow.

Will-O-Wisp Wire

2008-06-18T12:05:00.002-04:00

For years I have been using the name "Original Beadwork by Kira" for my line of jewelry. I love the name. I registered it as a business, bought originalbeadwork.com, and had goals of setting up a fabulous website. I got as far as getting a spiffy logo made for me, and a web page design that I never fully used. As a name for jewelry, it is all encompassing, I can use it on all my styles of jewelry (stitchwork, stringing, wired).
However, my work at The Jewelry Cafe, which is the main place that I have been selling at, is entirely my wire line of jewelry. Original Beadwork no longer fits, as the focus is the wire, not the beads.
So I contacted my handy-dandy web designer/graphic artist friend.
Henceforth, my line of wire jewelry is going to be called "Will-O-Wisp Wire". What do you think? I LOVE it. My friend designed a gorgeous new logo for me, and there are plans in the making for a new website that I can more easily take care of than my old one.
Excitement!
Gosh, it means I have a lot of work to do. All of my tags for my creations say "Original Beadwork". I've got to print hundreds of new tags and change everything over. And my printer is broken (I print the tags myself). Speaking of which - I'd better got on it.

Doing Well at the JC, and first Etsy sale!

2008-06-12T12:40:00.002-04:00

Yay! I had my first sale on etsy! (OriginalBeadwork.etsy.com). A woman in Switzerland bought a bunch of my handmade ear hooks. Yay! First etsy sale!

I've been doing pretty well at the Jewelry Cafe. Just got my check from last month's sales. Gosh...I've got to explain what the JC is...but not right now. Anywho, I was the top-selling artisan for the month of May out of 20+ artisans!!! I've been in the top three for several months, and missed "first place" (it's not really a competition) back on December by about $5. Laura publishes a newsletter to all us artisans at the end of every month, in it the announcement on the top three sellers. It's a way for everyone to see what is doing well, (who's doing all the selling and why), and for those who aren't selling well to be able to aspire to do better.

Well, I've got to go weed my garden, clean my house, and make some jewelry. Ambitious.

Etsy Store

2008-06-05T11:13:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I decided to look into ways of selling my work at more places. I'd heard about an online place called Etsy.com, and decided to check it out. Wow, what an awesome thing Etsy is. I joined up right away.

About Etsy: Etsy is an online vending site exclusively for hand-made goods. You can find ANYTHING handmade here. Pottery, paintings, clothes, sculpture, refridgerator magnets, sketches scrawlled on newspaper, all-natural-vegan soaps, AND jewelry. There are some other things that can be bought and sold on Etsy as well: supplies for making handmade goods. You'll find yarn, thread, buttons, beads, findings, and I'm sure loads of other things that I haven't surfed upon yet. And vintage goods. You can't get around not selling vintage stuff.

The coolest part about Etsy is the COMMUNITY that it fosters. There are groups and teams to join, tutorials, articles, interviews with sellers, featured artists, events, and tons of networking possibilities. Pretty much everyone that is a member is there because they love hand-made goods.

It's very exciting.

I'm working slowly on building up my Etsy store. There is the picture taking process - very difficult to make images look good without the proper lighting. And the uploading process - very slow and next to impossible with dial-up internet. So I do most of it at my boyfriend's house using his high-speed wi-fi lap top from a borrowed flash drive. High tech.

I have yet to make a sale through Etsy. That's a tough part. Because I am a new member, I don't have a substantial "rating" - this comes through feedback from buyers and sellers and can be positive or negative. So, no one knows how awesome I am.....yet.

References for people who want to know if I'm any good:
Manifest Beads 203-877-7778
The Jewelry Cafe 203-263-8599
newspaper article: http://www.newtownbee.com/Features/2007-12-06__12-10-17/Jewelry+Cooperative+Works+For+Jewelers+And+Customers

new blog!

2008-06-04T19:45:00.000-04:00

I often have things I could write about, concerning my jewelry business. Things that I know my customers, and my friends, might be intertesting in reading. So here is the start! I will start posting news about my jewelry and other things...starting...soon.