New Aspirations in 2015

Today's Silver Price: $18.33/t.oz.

I've recently relocated to sunny Florida. I've said goodbye to the cold grey skies of Long Island, NY. I am currently settling in to Palm Harbor, which is in the Tampa Bay area. While I am enjoying the blue sky and the warm sun, it's also time to focus on developing my business and creating higher quality jewelry.

I've just signed up for a jewelry metalworking class with Dunedin Fine Art Center (www.dfac.org) and I'm so excited! It starts February 24th and there will be a 3 hour class every Tuesday night for 6 weeks. So now, instead of buying components and putting them together, I will be able to fabricate my own components! The class teaches soldering, stone setting, piercing, forging and hammering. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to learning are the finishing techniques like filing and polishing. Also I need to find out how to keep copper from tarnishing. I've made some copper cuff bracelets in the past but they get dull very quickly.

I'm aiming to create more artisan quality jewelry this year. I want to move away from the silver-plated pieces I have been making, and get back to sterling silver jewelry. 

New skills and a greater focus on social media marketing (Twitter, Facebook and Instagram) will hopefully lead to a prosperous year! 

Below are some of my recent designs:

Ciao for now, and Happy New Year! 

Mulit-Strand Necklace- First Attempt

Today's Silver Price: $31.33/t.oz.


My first attempt at a multi-strand necklace (please excuse the bad lighting in the photo):

So this is a copper necklace with three strands. The top and the bottom strand are simply copper chain. The middle strand is copper beads strung on beading wire.

I tried to be very careful of measurements while constructing this necklace. I laid out the beads and the chains, and I made each strand exactly 2 inches longer than the last. I thought I would end up with perfectly spaced strands- but as you can see from the picture I did not.

To fix this issue I'm thinking of adding two more strands. One would be a chain in between the shortest strand and the beaded strand, and the other would be a chain below the last strand. It would then become a five strand necklace. I think I may just eyeball it this time instead of wasting time measuring everything.

Updated version coming soon!

Miles and Miles of Wire!

Today's Silver Price: $32.81/t.oz.

Ok, not miles and miles, but feet and feet. 400 feet to be exact. Today I received a delivery from Paramount Wire, or http://www.parawire.com/. I ordered 200 feet of 18 gauge silver-plated copper wire, and 200 feet of 18 gauge copper wire. And yes, I've already gotten into the copper wire to make a new necklace!

I've figured out that one necklace uses about 11 to 12 feet of wire. Each heart link uses 4" of wire, and there are 32 hearts in the necklace. That's 128", or 10.66 feet. Add in jump rings and I guesstimate it's about 12 feet. So if I have 400 feet of wire from this new delivery, I have the potential to make 33 necklaces. If I sell them for $25 each that would be $825. I spent about $70 on the wire, so that's about $755 profit. Not bad! Of course I have not factored in the cost of labor but that's ok. I will probably sell the silver-plated necklaces for a higher price as that wire is more expensive.

Anybody want to check my math?

I definitely would recommend checking out the ParaWire website if you are interested in wire wrapping or wire jewelry. They sell wire in a very wide range of colors, gauges and lengths. Good find, I am grateful for that Etsy forum I stumbled across!



Non Tarnish Jewelry Wire

Today's Silver Price: $31.44/t.oz.

I've been wanting to purchase some copper wire so that I can make more of the heart link necklaces. So far they've gotten some great responses. I had a coworker ask if I could make one in a different color (besides the nickel silver) and I have a friend that wanted one but is allergic to nickel. I've gone to both Michaels and Joanne's to try and find 18 gauge copper wire but haven't had much luck. I am looking specifically for non-tarnish copper wire.

I came across a website just now that sells non-tarnish copper wire in a large variety of colors. They also sell silver-plated wire that I may try out as well! The website is http://www.parawire.com/. I actually stumbled across it in an Etsy forum while doing a Google search on Zebra Wire reviews (I found the Zebra Wire on Fire Mountain Gems but it doesn't say 'non tarnish') Seems to be decent pricing, they have a 200' spool of 18 gauge copper wire for $19.00. I think I'll be purchasing some wire this weekend!

It's been a long week, I deserve a treat, right? The silver-plated wire was $35 for a 200' spool, so I'd be spending about $60 total. With 200 feet of wire I can make about 18 necklaces, so that's 36 necklaces if I get both kinds of wire! Totally worth it!

New Additions

Today's Silver Price: $32.24/t.oz.


Some new items I've added to my Etsy page... finally used one of those abalone shell pendants!

Quickie

Today's Silver Price: $33.94/t.oz.



I'm not feeling well today so let's make this short and sweet. Here's some pics of new jewelry I made over the weekend. The first two are bracelets, the rest are necklaces. Most are silver-plated, the last one is a copper necklace. Also check out the necklace display I made out of cardboard and a black tee shirt!

Anticipation...

Today's Silver Price: $33.49/t.oz.

I have two supply orders coming... and I can't wait!

From Rio Grande I've ordered 1 lb of the 18g round nickel alloy wire along with two sizes of nickel jump rings- 4.5mm and 6mm. I also will be getting two kinds  copper beads- one 3.5mm smooth (200 beads) and 6mm corrugated (100 beads). Also arriving soon will be 20 feet of silver-plated brass chain.

Fire Mountain Gems will be sending me another package of goodness. 18x18mm lampworked glass heart beads (2 15" strands), purple glass pendants, turquoise glass pendants, 10 feet of 3.2mm silver-plated steel curb chain, 8mm 16g twisted silver-plated brass jump rings (100 pieces), silver-plated pewter toggle clasps, silver-plated pewter 28x24mm heart charms (2 charms), silver-plated pewter 14x14mm heart charms (20 pieces), 6mm round silver-plated brass beads (100 beads), and 6mm silver-plated brass corrugated round beads (100 beads).

Check out this video on making wire hearts- I'll be trying the second technique shown in the video once I get my nickel wire, which is making small wire hearts and linking them together to form a chain. Soooo excited to get that wire!

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~~~{{Blog Playlist}}~~~

Rihanna, "We Found Love"

Christina Milian, "AM to PM"

Christina Milian, "Dip it Low"

Aaliyah, "Rock the Boat"

Bead Landing by Michaels

Today's Silver Price: $32.19/t.oz.

I was in Michaels last night picking up some scrapbooking paper for a project I'm working on, and I of course wandered into the jewelry isle. I noticed that a lot of the beads and components were on sale, except for a certain brand called Bead Landing. I had never before seen this brand, although I haven't investigated the jewelry isle at Michaels in quite some time. 

Apparently Bead Landing is owned by Michaels, as noted on the back of the packages. There was actually some cool stuff that I almost bought. Almost. I'll get to that in a minute. They had a large selection of chain, as well as lots of metal components, some jump rings, earwires and head pins. They also had a large section of pendants which were a little to shabby for me. I guess they are going for the shabby-chic thing, with lots of antiqued metals and large oversized pendants. Anyway, what I suspect was happening at Michaels was they had the other brands of beads and jewelry components on sale so they could get rid of it and bring in a larger stock of the new Bead Landing line. How crafty.

I was looking at some rather attractive chain I spotted and was leaning toward purchasing it. I turned the card it was attached to over to find out what type of metal the chain was. I was thoroughly disappointed to find that they did not list the metal type anywhere on the card. I proceeded to inspect other cards and packages only to find that none of them had the actual material listed.

One of the great things about Etsy is that you can list all of the materials you have used in the items you are selling. I always include the type of beads (usually glass), the stringing material and the type of metal components (usually copper or sterling silver) I have used. I want my customers to know exactly what they are getting and what kind of durability they are getting.

This mystery chain from Bead Landing would not allow me to inform my customers of what type of metal they were purchasing. While the chain was decently priced, I did not buy it because I had no idea what it was made out of! Maybe it wasn't even metal... maybe it was plastic made to look like metal! No me gusta!

So for now, I give Bead Landing by Michaels a big thumbs down. It will however be interesting to see how this new line evolves and hopefully expands... and hopefully figures out that they should list the materials on their labels!

If I Had a Nickel...

Today's Silver Price: $30.21/t.oz.

I've been looking at some nickel alloy wire on Rio Grande's website. The wire is 65% copper, 17% zinc, 18% nickel. It has a silver-tone finish. It comes in a 200 ft spool for $27.00. They also sell nickel jump rings which should work well with the wire- I don't want to mix metals too much, I'm not ready for that! LOL.

One of the advantages to using this wire over silver-plated or silver-filled is that there is not a different metal at the core of the wire which would show on the wire ends. If I were using a silver-plated wire I would have to have  a way to hide the ends of the wire to not show the brass or copper core.

A disadvantage would be that this particular wire only comes in dead-soft. I prefer to work with half-hard wire as it is more rigid. I am a little concerned about the wire holding its shape in jewelry designs. However wire is supposed to be come harder as you work with it (and becomes most hard when hammered).

I think I will give this wire a try- you can't beat the price! I'm going to try some linked hearts necklaces and bracelets and see if I can come up with some other linked shapes. Maybe Celtic knots? I have to make some prototypes out of craft wire to see what the designs will look like.

So now I can say... if I had a nickel for every time I've heard that... I'd make necklaces!

Copper Oxidation

Today's Silver Price: $29.54/t.oz.

Ok, not copper plumbing, copper jewelry. I've been doing some research on polishing copper as I have had some trouble with my copper jewelry. I had ordered a large quantity of copper recently and made some interesting pieces. The copper strip and copper wire arrived in spools and was very shiny and smooth. I made some earrings and made a prototype for a cuff bracelet.

I participated in an outdoor vendor party in the beginning of December. After a few hours outside I noticed that the copper was no longer shiny. At the end of the day I was slightly horrified to see that the copper items had become dark and tarnished. They were no longer bright and shiny, the very qualities that made the jewelry attractive.

Apparently when untreated copper is exposed to outdoor elements it oxidizes and looses it's shine. It becomes dull and looks dirty, and in a way it is dirty. Oxidized copper can leave black or green marks on skin which is a problem in jewelry making. Copper will turn green if left outdoors, most famously illustrated by the Statue of Liberty which is made of copper.

In order to prevent copper from oxidizing it must be treated with a solution or polishing compound. These solutions are applied with a polishing wheel or Dremel tool as I would use. I have to do more research to find out exactly what polishing compounds should be used on copper. From what I have read these compounds will not keep copper jewelry bright and shiny for ever, it will keep it shiny and polished for quite some time. It should also prevent the copper from leaving any marks on the skin.

I was truly disappointed when I saw the copper cuff bracelet turn dark and dull. I thought that I may have wasted time and money on the large amount of copper material I had purchased. However it turns out I was just not familiar with copper and how to work with it and polish it!

I am amazed by how much I have learned about jewelry making, and I am also amazed at how much I still have to learn. Little by little I am becoming a jewelry expert! I am eager to learn as much as I can about working with different metals and different materials, and I am happy to be able to share all I have learned through this blog!

Silver, Copper, Brass, Nickle, Pewter... All of the Above?

Today's Silver Price: $26.89/t.oz.

Wow-za! Silver prices are pretty low right now! It would be a great time to by materials, but I just don't have the money right now. Christmas tapped me out. Hopefully these prices will remain low into the new year and I can get a good deal when I'm ready to stock up again.

I've been looking at silver-filled wire and components on Rio Grande's website lately. Silver-filled is a silver coating over a base metal such as brass. The coating is thicker and supposedly more durable than silver-plated. I'd like to get some wire and experiment with it. The only problem is an exposed edge would show the brass core, so I would have to be creative to hide that.

I think I will also start using metals such as aluminum, nickle and possibly pewter. Many jewelry suppliers have a large selection of lead-free pewter components. I have to get over the idea that I was only going to make sterling silver jewelry. It just isn't realistic given the price of silver these days. Also I have seen that people will buy costume jewelry, and they will buy it like it's going out of style. Women seem less concerned with high-priced accessories these days.

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback and several sales with copper items, so I will continue to include copper jewelry in my collection.

Another material I need to examine is glass from broken wine bottles. I think with the right tools, ie the right Dremel bits, I can shape and smooth the broken glass pieces into jewelry components.

2012 should be a very constructive and productive year. I plan to learn a lot of new jewelry making skills so that I can expand my product line and attract wider variety of customers... and to satisfy my own creative curiosities! I love learning new things and I love creating something new. I am looking forward to the challenges and triumphs that 2012 will bring!


Have a happy and safe new year, I'll be back in 2012 with more adventures in entrepreneurship!

Double Header

Today's Silver Price: $32.93/t.oz.

I received my order from Rio Grande today! The production line is now in full swing! I have a craft fair on Saturday and Holiday Boutique Party on Sunday... LOTS TO DO!

Right now I'm working on some sterling silver earrings with Murano glass beads. They are very long dangle earrings and have sold very well in the past. They are fairly simple to create. The only tricky part is creating links for the beads. I am using 18 gauge sterling wire to thread the bead, then forming wrapped rings on each side. The beads can then be attached to the sterling components with jump rings.

Also in progress are several beaded bracelets, both sterling silver and copper. I should have almost 40 bracelets when I am done, including bracelets that I have made previously. I have a whole lot of wire spiral charms to make for these bracelets.

I'm very excited and optimistic about my two events this weekend. I will be displaying my largest collection of jewelry so far. This will be the biggest opportunity I have had for making money selling jewelry. Having two events in one weekend is great. I am doing two events, but I really am only preparing once. It will be a very busy weekend but I think it will be worth it! 

In my order today I received copper stripping that I am hoping to make cuff bracelets out of (with my baseball bat). It is very thick and I'm not sure if I will be able to cut it with the tools I have. Also I will have to file and polish the edges which are unexpectedly rough. I am also going to attempt to make rings out of this material. I think I can make some funky chunky rings with this stuff.

My displays are pretty much all set. I am using the same displays I have used in previous shows. No need to change things now. The earrings will be hung on window screens with painted black frames. The rings will be nestled in between rolled up black felt that has been sandwiched into black wire trays. The bracelets will be draped over paint rollers that have been wrapped in black felt. I will also have elastic wooden beaded bracelets and elastic shell beaded bracelets in glass bowls on the table. These I make and sell for a few bucks- they are usually pretty popular. I'll buy a plastic black tablecloth from the dollar store and be all set! Totally a DIY table display!

Tuesday evening I will be reporting my success...  :)

"Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence."

                                                            -Helen Keller

Stocking Up On Supplies

Today's Silver Price: $32.30/t/oz.

Yesterday's price of silver was $31.20. Perfect for buying!!! I went online to Rio Grande and I bought some sterling silver earwires, some sterling silver pear shaped components in two sizes and sterling silver jump rings. I also got some 10mm Murano glass beads. All of this is for making earrings. I've made these earrings before, they are long dangle earrings with one colored bead in the middle and they sold like HOTCAKES when I set up a table in my sister-in-law's teacher's lounge one day in 2010. Teachers love jewelry! It of course helped that it was a week before Mother's Day.

I also purchased some 16 gauge copper wire to make wrapped wire rings, and I bought a pound of copper stripping with which I hope to make cuff bracelets. I'll be giving the baseball bat a try for those.

From Fire Mountain Gems I ordered 18 different colors of 6mm glass beads. The beads come in 16" strands so I am going to have a whole lot of beads! I'm looking forward to making multicolored glass bead bracelets in both sterling silver and copper. I also bought some 10mm Greek evil eye beads- one package of 100 in traditional blue and white and another package of 100 which is multicolored. I have a friend that requested a bracelet with green evil eye beads so I thought I'd make a whole bunch, I think they would be popular. 

I spent a little over $200 on these orders combined. Hopefully it will be worth it! My supplies should be arriving early next week. Can't wait to get to work on it!

To List, Or Not To List, That Is The Question.... and Show & Tell

Today's Silver Price: $34.24/t.oz.

Ok, Twilight is on FX at 7:30 tonight so lets make this quick. LOL.

To List, Or Not To List?

One of my challenges in keeping an online shop and doing craft shows at the same time is which items to use in which arena. When I list an item on my Etsy site I don't like to take it to a show or fair because if I sell it, I would have to immediately take it off of the website which is not always possible. Today's smartphones do offer easy internet access, however my Crackberry has limited capabilities (I may have to upgrade- I need better technology!!!). So if I am taking particular items to a craft show I cannot post them on Etsy. I want to have a large selection on my website, but I feel that I have a greater chance of selling something when customers can pick up a piece of jewelry and try it on.

For every piece of jewelry that I make I must decide if I will post it on the website or use it for a show. I suppose if I were to have an inventory large enough there would be enough merchandise to fill both the website and my table at shows. I feel like for a craft show or fair I should bring every piece I have and sometimes I have even removed pieces from the website in advance of a show.


Show & Tell

Over the weekend I finally got to make my new rings out of the sterling silver patterned wire that I've been babbling about. This is the patterned wire. It comes in a coil- I believe I purchased two feet of it (not all of it is shown below). I cut it down to 3-inch pieces in order to make rings.

 I've grinded down the ends of each piece with a Dremel to a diagonal slant to match the pattern of the wire. After grinding with the Dremel I used a file to smooth the edge.

 The rings have been bent around a ring mandrel. The ends have to be bent using pliers, it's too hard to do with my fingers.

I've made several of the rings below using 16 gauge sterling silver wire. I made one for myself and I wear it all the time. I've also made these out of copper wire.

Below are some copper bracelets with glass beads that I've made this past weekend:

I still have to add the spiral charms to each one. The charms are made from copper wire.

Here's some sterling silver bracelets that I've made previously. The first two pictures were taken using my homemade light tent- you can see the difference in these from the third pic below which was taken only using the camera's flash.

 Amethyst Beads:

Black Onyx Beads:

Multi-colored Glass Beads:

That's all I've got for Show & Tell tonight!

Holiday Prep!

Today's Silver Price: $34.11/t.oz.

I've got one month to go before I do a craft fair and a holiday boutique party in one weekend (Dec 3 and 4)! I'm hoping that these two events will be my most successful yet! I'm also hoping that silver prices stay relatively low this month because I need to stock up on materials. The price of silver has been creeping up in the last couple of weeks. The patterned sterling silver wire that I bought recently worked out REALLY well, so I am hoping to purchase more of it. And.... it comes in copper!  I'm going big on rings this time around. I made a great ring out of the patterned wire but I gave it to my mother and forgot to take pics. I'll have to make another ASAP so I can post images. I also learned to use a Dremel to grind down rough edges on the wire. I'm on my way to being a real metalworker, haha!

The patterned wire also lends itself to making cuff bracelets, however it requires a bracelet mandrel- which I don't have! From what I've seen they cost about $30 to $40. I may just have to spring for one! The wire is bent or hammered around the mandrel to form a bracelet shape. Pretty simple process and could produce some very popular pieces (no alliteration intended).

I have a new necklace idea that I want to try. I saw it at a jewelry party- it's a 2-in-1 necklace. Basically it's a 32" necklace that can be doubled to become a 16" necklace. I think it would be pretty expensive to make in silver so it may have to be only in copper. Maybe I'll try out some silver-plated material, but that makes me nervous. I worry that the silver plating will chip or peel. Also I think any cuts made would not be clean. I guess I'll never know until I try it.

So I've been re-thinking my display as I seem to do before almost every show, lol. For my first show I displayed my earrings on homemade black earring cards. Then for a couple of events I used window screens to hang my earrings from. The window screens were great because they allowed light to pass through the earrings and a lot of my pieces have glass beads that reflect light. However when a pair of earrings was purchased it was a little tedious to take them off the screen and put them back on a card. I'm debating whether or not I should go back to the card display... which now that I think about it may pose a problem as I believe I threw out the display box I built... hmmmm. I might also need more boxes for ring display, since I plan on having a ton of rings available. If I have necklaces to display (which I haven't in the past) I will have to come up with some new display ideas. Better start planning for it now...

I'm very excited about these two events coming up and I am anxious to see what the public will think of my new items. There's lots of work to be done so I will be a busy bee for the next month! Time to get the production line (me) cranking!

Silver Market takes a dip... Buy! Buy! Buy!

When I first started buying sterling silver materials from Rio Grande in 2009, the price of silver was around $18 per troy ounce. This was very cheap pricing for sterling silver. Some people even commented on how great my prices were when I was selling jewelry. Over the last few years, silver prices have been steadily increasing, making it more and more expensive for me to make jewelry. In May of this year, silver prices reached almost $50 per troy ounce. The big three metal markets (gold, silver and platinum) have been on the climb during the economy's downward spiral. How is the price of silver determined? I have no idea. I guess I should do some research on the subject. Rio Grande posts the price of silver daily on their website. Every day I check to see where it's at!

   

In the last few days silver prices have dropped dramatically. On September 21 silver was about $40, on September 26 it was about $29. Today's silver price is $30.91 per troy ounce. Nowhere near what I was paying a couple of years ago, but a hell of a lot better than $48/t.oz. (as it was in April of this year)!!

I placed an order last night (silver was at $30.92) through Rio Grande. Jump rings, wire guards, crimp beads and lobster clasps for making bracelets. 16 gauge sterling wire and half round patterned wire for making rings. Learning to make rings was one of the most exciting things ever! Most of the techniques I've learned I've found on the Internet, there are even videos on YouTube showing you how to make things!. There is a plethora of information out there in cyberspace! Anyway, I bought a lot of material so I will be making a lot of jewelry, although I'll probably end up making another purchase before the holiday season is over. I only bought silver items because I wanted to take advantage of the low prices. I'll buy other supplies at a later date. Rio Grande has a huge bead selection and also sells jewelry components made of other metals such as brass, copper and pewter. Of course they sell gold as well, but I've never liked gold. I suppose it would be in my best interest to make gold jewelry in order to have a wide variety of merchandise and appeal to a wider audience, but I'm so damn stubborn. And gold is currently $1,613 per troy ounce. Slightly more expensive than silver, lol. I can't say why I don't like gold. It might be because gold is a warm color and silver is a cool color. I've always gravitated toward cool colors- blues and greens and purples.

Over the summer I started experimenting with copper when silver prices got too high. Copper is very cheap and I can buy it in large quantities from a local craft store like Michaels. I can produce a large amount of jewelry, but I have to sell it cheaper than the silver items. 'Costume Jewelry' has always turned me off, I never liked the idea of cheap or 'fake' jewelry. However copper has been a big surprise. It is easy to work with and creates a really unique look. And the best thing? Wearing copper is GOOD FOR YOU! Copper is a natural mineral found in the human body and a copper deficiency can be detrimental to your health. Copper is very soft and wearing copper jewelry allows your skin to absorb some of the mineral and utilize it in your body. While it still feels cheap and not as classy as silver, I have grown to love copper and will continue to work with it.

So I should have a nice package of goodies arriving sometime next week. It's very exciting to get a box full of silver wire and components...it's a box bursting with potential! I'll be trying a new ring design with the patterned half-round wire. I'm planning to cut 3 or 4 inch sections and wrap them around the ring mandrel once with the ends laid parallel to each other on the top of the ring- sort of on a diagonal. It may or may not work! I don't know if the wire will be strong enough to hold the shape, I've never worked with it before. I honestly am not even sure what I'm getting with this patterned wire- I'm expecting it to be a chunky piece of wire but I could be very wrong. Either way, I'll figure out something to do with it! I can't wait for the delivery...there's nothing like diving into a box of fresh silver... :)