The Price is Right... Or Is It?

Today's Silver Price: $34.89/t.oz.

One of the most difficult things in selling your creations is determining how much to sell them for! If you do some research there are all kinds of formulas out there to figure out what to price to put on your product. Obviously I have to cover the cost of materials. And then there's labor. Should I use an hourly rate? How much is my hard work worth per hour? $20? $50?

One of the ways I determine my pricing is to think of how much I would spend on the piece if I were buying it in a store. I'm pretty knowledgeable on purchasing sterling silver jewelry... I've bought a ton in my lifetime! So I try to think about how much would I spend on a pair of sterling silver earrings and price my earrings accordingly.

A tricky little curve ball here... the price of silver has fluctuated tremendously in the last two years. Metal markets have been a roller coaster ride recently. So if the price of silver goes up, should I raise my prices? I guess not for pieces that I have already made from materials that I bought when prices were low... but any pieces made with new materials should be priced higher... but my customers wouldn't understand why there is a difference... arrrgggghhhhh.  

The objective is to keep merchandise prices low so that people are more likely to make a purchase. However if prices are too low I won't make any profit and it won't be worth all the time and effort. Finding the happy medium is quite a challenge!

Wine Bottles

Today's Silver Price: $32.64/t.oz.

I've had this idea for a while now to make jewelry out of recycled glass from wine bottles. The idea was inspired from an empty Riesling bottle that was a beautiful blue-green color. I have always loved glass beads, their transparency and the way they reflect light. I thought large glass pieces would make really interesting jewelry components.

At first I thought about cutting the neck of the bottle into rings and using those as jewelry components. Then I thought about cutting or breaking the bottle into pieces and shaping and smoothing them to use in earring designs.

I learned that wine bottles are a lot stronger than they seem! One day I took an empty wine bottle outside, wrapped it in a plastic bag and hit it with a hammer. The hammer bounced! I kept hitting the bottle trying to shatter it into pieces (so I could at least practice smoothing and shaping the pieces). However the bottle would not break!

I have a glass cutting tool that I haven't really tried yet. It is a small handheld tool with a cutting wheel on one end. The tool is supposed to score the glass and allow you to break pieces off. I'm not sure that it was designed for cutting wine bottles... but it's the best option right now. I have seen tools sold online that are specifically made for cutting the tops off of wine bottles to make them into drinking glasses. I may purchase one and see if it will be useful.

Wine bottles come in several different colors- clear, green, blue, brown and of course blue-green. Some of the shades are really beautiful and I am excited to incorporate them into new jewelry designs... if I can figure out how to break them into pieces!

Information OVERLOAD.

Today's Silver Price: $30.35/t.oz.

The amount of information now available to us is staggering. These days if I am curious about something or need an answer to a question the solution is always "Google it!" The internet is a vast library of endless information and resources. I have learned to make rings from videos and articles online. I made my light tent from an online article. I check the price of silver everyday on the internet. Anything I want to know about or learn is at my fingertips.

Lately I've been feeling overwhelmed by all of this information. I keep finding new websites or new blogs that are interesting or educational. Videos on jewelry making, articles on fine art, blogs on selling handmade goods, webinars on utilizing social media to promote your business... I want to absorb it all! Then there is the news and current events, protests, wars, politics... forget about it. It's too much! Even if you stayed on the computer all day everyday you probably would not be able to soak up everything.

I just watched an instructional video on metal stamping on JewelryMakingDaily.com. It was a short five-minute video. Wasn't earth-shattering but was still informative. This is the kind of stuff I want to see more of and could see more of if I didn't have to work an office job all day. After spending most of my eight hour work day on a computer, coming home to use my computer is not all that appealing.

I have a ton of saved emails from Handmade Success that I never have time to read. They are full of tips and advice for crafters and artisans that have their own business. I keep saving them thinking one day I will sit down and read all of them. I may never have the time to read them all.

Today on my lunch break I was on Facebook and I saw an interesting post from Halstead Bead Inc. However I was using my Crackberry which is not conducive to reading an article, so I told myself to remember to come back to it later when I could sit down at the computer. Today I actually did go back to it and read the post and watched the free metal stamping video it linked to (mentioned above). However this is unusual. Typically I glance over the posts on Facebook and make note of the interesting things, but then never go back to get a closer look. I tell myself that when I have time I will look at all this stuff that I've perused. I think trying to catch up on everything would be impossible!

I have a Twitter account but I hardly ever use it. I really should utilize it more often, I have heard stories of jewelry designers who have been successful simply by promoting their product and website on Twitter. I haven't fully grasped Twitter. I don't see how people find one or two sentences to be interesting. Also I feel it contributes to our rapidly shrinking attention spans. We read a post, we giggle, we move on. Always worried about what's next; what else is out there.

So many ideas floating through my head. It's hard to hold on to them! Do you ever get home from work and try to remember some really great idea you had in the middle of the day but it's gone? This happens to me all the time! The ideas that I can't hold on to are jewelry designs, patterns, painting inspirations, interesting shapes and new materials or a new way of creating something. A coworker's necklace, the shape of the clouds in the sky, or the color of a highlighter can all spark a new idea. Today I brought my sketchbook to work. On my lunch break I started jotting down some of the things that had been bouncing around in my head that morning. This may partially solve my problem of fleeting ideas and thoughts... if I can hold onto the thoughts until lunch time! I feel that I may start to become preoccupied with the sketchbook when I should be focusing on work projects. Today I was doodling at my desk on sticky notes. Not a good habit to get into. Even though my office is super laid back, I don't think they would appreciate me using company time and supplies to scribble down the designs in my head... sigh.

Managing the information- both on the internet and in my head. I believe this will be one of the biggest challenges I find in maintaining my business, improving my jewelry making skills and nurturing my creative energies. Being able to focus on one idea at a time and seeing it to it's fruition. I think I need to start meditating to keep my mind clear! More yoga!

Different Brushstrokes for Different Folks.

Today's Silver Price: $31.65/t.oz.

When I started doing craft shows I quickly learned that my style of art is not exactly mainstream. I enjoy exploring and learning about other cultures, and some of my paintings reflect that part of my personality. I connect with exotic patterns and designs and I am particularly interested in Indian and Asian art. I naively thought that everyone would appreciate this type of aesthetic- but I was wrong. Below are some of the first watercolor paintings I displayed for sale at vendor shows.

Most people had no idea what the Om symbol was or what Namaste means. I got a lot of compliments and folks passing by said that my paintings were beautiful or lovely, but no one was buying them. Not my audience? I still have not sold these pieces.

In February of 2010 I was doing a vendor fair at a high school. A very old woman in a wheelchair came by and was looking through my paintings. She left, but a while later she came back and bought this painting:

The woman had no knowledge of the symbolism of a lotus flower; that it represents strength and perseverance. She bought it because it was a pretty flower. Again, not my audience. It made me think about my customers and what they were looking for. Being the stubborn bull that I am, it was hard for me to put aside my own ideas about art and try to create pieces that would be more popular and more attractive to buyers. I noticed that vendors around me were selling items that were cute, witty, or personalized. While I still like to create spiritual or cultural pieces, I am starting to incorporate paintings such as this into my offerings:

Items for the home (mostly the kitchen) that are witty and playful are being added to my collection. I have a wooden sign that I made in my kitchen that says La Cucina (The Kitchen in Italian). These are the kinds of things people will by, and I have to offer at my table. I am also considering offering personalized signs that people can order, such as "John's Tavern." I think that personalized items with children's names would also be very popular.  

I did a show at a bar last spring. The show was held on the second floor in their catering room. It was part of an Earth Day celebration. There was live music and dancing downstairs in the bar, and the attendees would wander upstairs to see what was happening at the craft show. I found that people are more likely to buy something if they've been drinking... lol. I sold the painting below, a 9x9 watercolor along with two others.

That event turned out to be rather successful for me. I sold several jewelry items and 3 or 4 paintings. A woman stopped by and complimented my wire technique. She stated she was a jewelry maker and was impressed with my rings. There was a heavy hippie population at this event and lots of young artsy hipsters. Had I found my audience? 



I guess I have to find a balance between the super artsy paintings that I enjoy creating and the more commercial pieces that are more likely to sell. Then of course I have to think about the time of year...jewelry with hearts and paintings about love will sell well around Valentines Day, Celtic jewlery and art will sell more around St. Patrick's Day, etc.

I guess when I'm rich and famous I can paint whatever I want and people will buy it...  For now I will cater to the conventional masses and see if I can make a few bucks here and there.

What's In A Name?

Today's Silver Price: $31.66/t.oz

I originally registered my business name as Silver Current Jewels. Drove out to the County Clerk's office and registered a sole proprietorship. I think it was about $35 to register. A sole proprietorship is the simplest form of business. Soon I will incorporate which will legally separate my business completely from my personal finances. Incorporation is a bit more pricey... I have to figure out what it's going to cost. I see those commercials for Legal Zoom all the time saying they can help you incorporate your business. Maybe I'll check them out.

So Silver Current Jewels became official in 2010. However I realized that I also wanted to sell paintings. And perhaps start making furniture someday... who knows what else! So I changed the business name to Silver Current Designs. I figure I can have different product lines such as Silver Current Jewels, Silver Current Home, Silver Current Body... the possibilities are endless. At the time I had thought I would only be selling sterling silver jewelry. I did not foresee the drastic jump in silver prices which would force me to find other materials! However silver will always be the main focus of my jewelry, so I do not see a need to change the name.

I have read that a business name should be short and simple; easily remembered. It also should reflect the product or service that the business makes or provides. Silver Current Jewels would have been more descriptive of the business and the product, but I felt it was too limiting. Rather than creating multiple businesses to sell multiple types of products, I changed the name to a more generalized version.

The idea for the business name came from a novel by Ursula Hegi called Floating In My Mother's Palm. In the novel the main character is floating in a river at night and the author describes the flow of the water. "Where the two currents merged, a silver line shimmered under the moon, shifted, and adjusted itself, over and over." This is such a wonderfully descriptive line which has stuck with me for many, many years and has inspired the name of my business.

Will Silver Current Designs become a household name? Who knows! That's the exciting thing about life- you'll never know what's possible until you try it!

Craft Shows, Vendor Fairs, and The Pickle Man.

Today's Silver Price: $32.18/t.oz.

When I started thinking about selling my jewelry and paintings at craft shows I figured I should do some research on the subject. I knew absolutely nothing about it. How do you find shows? How do you get into shows? How much does it cost? Do I need my own table? Do I need a tent? Do I need a permit or a license?

I read a great book called "Crafts and Craft Shows: How to Make Money," by Philip Kadubec. This book showed me the world of crafting and craft shows. It got me excited about pursuing a career as a craft vendor. Kadubec helped his wife turn crafting into a full time business. Together they sold baskets at craft fairs throughout the country for many years. The book gives an excellent look at the life of professional crafters, artists and artisans. Kadubec tells you what works, and what doesn't work at craft shows. It includes everything from work schedules to pricing; booth display to customer service; cost of materials to paying taxes. Also the author tells you what to watch out for, i.e. event organizers that take advantage of vendors. One big thing to watch out for are event promoters that collect booth fees, but then don't spend any money advertising the event. An event must be well advertised within the community in order to get the maximum amount of attendees.

I found a picture from my very first vendor fair. It was held at a local volunteer fire house. It was the First Annual Vendor Fair of I Don't Remember Who/What. I heard once you should never go to the first annual ANYTHING. Apparently the best shows/fairs are the ones that have already been running for several years and people already know about them.

Looking at the picture now it's a little embarrassing- I had nowhere near enough merchandise! The table is almost empty! LOL.

I was very excited about this show. I had high hopes. A couple of hours into this show I realized that this was NOT my target audience. Hardly any of the women there were into jewelry. They weren't wearing any and they weren't interested in mine. I sold a pair of earrings to a teenager, and I sold a few elastic bracelets. A few of my friends stopped by and we had some laughs, but it was a disappointing day. I did not 'make my table.' Oh, did I mention there was a nor'easter that day? Yeah, so the event was not well attended. The terrible weather made packing everything back into my car a miserable experience.

One of the most surprising things about this event was The Pickle Man. Now this was a vendor show, so people were allowed to sell whatever they wanted. There was a Tupperware table, an Avon table, a Pampered Chef table, a woman selling handbags, etc. Hardly anything handmade. And then there was The Pickle Man. This guy shows up with four huge buckets of pickles and sets them up on a table. He scooped them out of the bucket and put them into plastic containers and sold them. Guess what? He sold pickles like they were going out of style! People were lining up to buy pickles! Unreal! The guy made a killing selling pickles! I later found out that he had driven to Brooklyn that morning, purchased the buckets of pickles, then brought them back out to Babylon to sell them! Come on! This was not the kind of show I wanted to be in. I was pissed off because this guy put no work into the product he was selling. Also reinforced the realization that this was not my target audience! Maybe I could sell olives...

So a weak display and lack of merchandise led to a flop at my first show. 'Making your table' means that you sold enough items to cover the cost of your table fee, or break even. If you don't make your table, you've lost money. I lost money.

Nowadays my displays have improved. I bought two window screens and spray painted them black, added a piece of wood to stand them up, and use those to display my earrings. I took paint rollers and covered them in felt, and I drape my bracelets over them. I also have small rectangular metal baskets from Staples in which I rolled up three pieces of felt lengthwise and placed them inside, creating slots for my rings to sit in.

I have a table rack for my watercolor paintings, and I'm considering bringing my easel to my next show. I'm almost to the point where I could fill up two tables, and eventually I will start using two, but that means twice the table fee. Outdoor summer shows are a whole different ball game, for those you usually pay for a 10'x10' space and bring your own tent and tables.

The most exclusive of shows are juried craft shows in which only handmade items are sold. In order to enter a juried show you must submit photographs or slides of your work to the show's organizer. They will choose which vendors to allow at their show. These are some serious shows. You must have a tax ID number and it must be displayed in your booth. You must have your own tent and tables. Vendors at these shows are professionals and go all out on their booth displays. Some vendors use lighting and require electrical hookups (which is another fee). Many organizers require that all fabric in your booth is fire-retardant. This is a whole other ball of wax than what I am involved in. This type of show is my goal. As Kadubec explains in his book, a vendor must prepare months in advance for these types of shows. Most vendors plan out there events for the entire year, budgeting money for entrance fees 12 months ahead of time. This is when crafting becomes a full-time job, as I hope it will for me.

For now I'll settle for the vendor fairs... but I've got my eye on bigger things...

Swarovski Crystal: A Rant

Today's Silver Price: $31.68/t.oz.

Let me tell you something about Swarovski Crystal. I don't like it. I don't like the way it looks, I don't like the way it feels, it's hard to spell and hard to pronounce.

Swarovski Crystal was the latest rage a couple of years ago. The craze seems to have died down a bit but it is still very popular. I suppose people like the crystals because they resemble diamonds. Well guess what? I don't like diamonds! Diamonds are not this girl's best friend. I don't like faceted gems in general. They feel sharp, harsh and jagged.

Once when I told a coworker that I made jewelry she immediately asked if I used Swarovski Crystal. She was very disappointed that I didn't. Again, as with gold, I should expand my jewelry collection to include Swarovski in order to appeal to a wider audience, but I really don't want to!

To me it seems like a passing fad. A part of the ridiculous 'Bling Era' in which decadence is the style. Rappers wearing diamond encrusted necklaces makes me laugh... are they serious?? I remember when everyone was ordering tiny Swarovski rhinestones to glue all over their cell phones.

Here's some irony for you. The thing that made me realize I could make my own jewelry was a Swarovski beaded bracelet. Ha! I had ordered a bracelet online that I liked and also helped support victims of domestic violence. It is a multicolored crystal and silver bracelet with a heart charm that says "courage." Half of the Swarovski beads were square and smooth; half were tapered faceted beads.  After purchasing the bracelet and wearing it almost constantly, I started to look at the components of the bracelet and how it was constructed. It was made of course with beads, and the other materials were bead wire, crimp beads, jump rings and a clasp. Until then the only way I knew to make a beaded bracelet was with elastic cord or with fishing line, both tied closed with a knot. Realizing that I could make real bracelets with clasps was very exciting. I could make this bracelet- but I could make it better because I wouldn't use Swarovski Crystal beads!

I can understand the attraction. They are shimmery and shiny and dynamic. It's just not my style. They seem to scream "Hey look at me!!!" As I said before I feel its something of a fad. I think that smooth round beads are more classic and do not go out of style. I have found some beautiful fire polished Czech glass beads through Rio Grande and I love working with them. Glass is relatively inexpensive and comes in an extensive range of colors. Of course there are different shapes and sizes but I have yet to experiment with those. 6mm round beads are perfect for bracelets!

So, while not the popular opinion, I do not like Swarovski Crystal. You're not likely to find it on my site or on my table at a craft show.

I'll take smooth glass beads over faceted crystal beads any day of the week.

Etsy!

Today's silver price: $29.68/t.oz.

A friend of a friend told me about Etsy a couple of years ago and I decided to check it out. Etsy is a website which allows artists, crafters or anyone creative to sell handmade goods through the site for a minimal fee. The site is a community of vendors selling a wide variety of products- art, crafts, clothing, jewelry, body products, candles... you get the idea. For twenty cents you can post and sell an item on Etsy. Payments are made through PayPal. 

A great thing about Etsy is that it is a learning resource. Through blog posts and online workshops, Etsy staff and Etsy sellers share their experiences and give advice to their peers. Sellers who have found success on Etsy are eager to pass on tips and secrets. It is a very supportive environment where both buyers and sellers are willing to help you out. Etsy's blog entitled "Quit Your Day Job" tells stories of sellers who have done exactly that.

There is a book I have to purchase- it's called "The Complete Etsy Kit" written by a woman with a background in small business marketing. It is a guide to getting the most out of your Etsy site. I have subscribed to her "Handmade Success" emails through her website. I receive emails with tips and suggestions on how to grow my business several times a week. 

I hope that in the future I can become a resource for budding entrepreneurs and pay it forward. At which point I imagine I will have quit my day job and will be making a living (and then some) selling my jewelry and decorative art... right?

I started my page in February 2010. As of right now I have 14 items for sale on my Etsy page which is NOT ENOUGH! In order to have a successful shop on Etsy, there should be multiple pages for people to browse, this keeps them looking at your products longer and they are more likely to buy something. I have a lot more jewelry and also some paintings that I can post but I have to really dedicate some time to getting it all listed.

I have over thirty rings that I need to photograph and post. Half are sterling silver and half are copper. Some of them are made with buttons (which I get a real kick out of). I learned how to make them from a YouTube video.

The process of photographing jewelry and posting the pictures to Etsy is a very time-consuming process. I use a regular digital camera. It's about five years old and has 6 mega pixels (a new camera is on my list of things to get). The biggest problem I have is getting the pictures to come out clear. I am taking close-ups so the camera has to be held very still or be mounted on a small tripod. Usually I hold the camera in my hands and I have to hold my breath so the shot doesn't come out blurry. I've used the tripod a few times but it doesn't allow me to get the close-ups I am looking for. Sometimes I just set the camera on book or small box. I sometimes set the timer so I can get my unsteady hands off the camera and hopefully get a clear shot.

I've experimented with different kinds of backgrounds for my photos. I've gotten some good results with scrapbook paper. Plain black paper was good because it made the silver jewelry stand out, but the photos were rather boring. A textured black paper adds a little more interest. I also use paper that is colored and patterned but muted; colors that contrast the colors of the jewelry and make the piece stand out. If the paper is too vibrant or busy it can overwhelm the jewelry. There are actually some old photos on my Etsy site that I need to re-shoot. My more recent photos look better and make the older photos look pretty bad.

Etsy allows you to post five pictures of each item. This allows you to get a full shot of the item, then some close-up shots of details. I usually end up taking at least 10 pictures of each piece of jewelry, then deleting the worst ones until I get to the five best shots. I have read that it is best to use a close-up shot as the main photo in order to draw a buyer in and make them want to see more of the item.

Most photographers recommend buying a light tent to fully light your object and cut down any glare. A light tent is great for photographing jewelry because it lessens the shine coming off of the silver. With direct lighting the shine would be too much in a close-up photograph. Light tents filter the light through fabric. It's like a mini photo studio. The light tents I've seen for sale are around $40 or $50 and I've even seen some for over $100. I chose to build one myself following an article I found online. I always feel that if I can build something myself that works just as well why should I buy it?? That's sort of how I got into making jewelry. I can make it myself rather than buying it! So anyway, I built my own light tent out of a cardboard box and some cotton fabric. Marvelous!

I'm hoping to get those rings posted this week. We'll see. I do tend to procrastinate.

Side note: I got my delivery of silver today! Super exciting. The patterned wire was everything I hoped it would be. I immediately cut a three-inch piece and wrapped it around a ring mandrel to form a ring. Now I just have to either file or grind down the ends so they are round not square. I have to look up what kind of Dremel bit I could use for that, otherwise it will take a very long time to file them down.