Changing Directions in your Jewelry Making

If someone had told me 10 years ago that I would be spending my retirement making jewelry, and not playing golf...I would have told them that they were nuts. I'm the one who was wrong though - two years of shingles totally ended the golf game that was already waning in interest for me even though I was a single digit handicapper.  The jewelry appeared by chance.  I am probably the only artisan who got started because she needed to have cataract surgery.  After the healing, I needed to wear reading glasses, something I'd never done before.  I wanted some eye glass leashes and there were none that I liked - so I remembered a small bead store close by, figured "how tough can this be" and got there, bought some stones and tools and off  I  went.  Before I even got home the thought of what cute earrings I could make with my purchases were floating through my head.  I made my leashes and I made a few earrings...by the way, if you're ever looking for eye glass leashes, I think I have cornered the market on them...somewhere around here, is a basket filled with about 75 leashes...I wish that I could learn to bring some moderation to my life.

I did have some motivation here - I had badly wanted to take a jewelry making course in college, but I was a chemistry major with a minor in math, and I could never fit the 2 prerequisite art classes in my hectic schedule filled with labs.  That whole thing sank way back in my mind as I went about my life.  Always did crafty things...was an avid knitter and was a fairly good tole painter. But those and all the other things that I dabbled in, never sucked up my life that way that jewelry has...I would do it 24/7 if I could.

I started out using good stones and precious metals.  During my first trip to Tucson for the Gem and Bead Extravagancia held there every year, I got seduced by the beauty and versatility of  Tibetan pendants and started incorporating them into my jewelry.  Did very well with those necklaces for a long time and then I walked into two of my best boutiques and there were necklaces that looked exactly like mine,  down to some of the same pendants, but they weren't mine.  I know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but don't try  to sell them in the same store where you stole the idea...that approaches tacky!! !

At about this same time, the bottom fell out of the economy here...I sold absolutely nothing for almost 3 months and knew that I could continue the way I had been going,go broke, or I could try some new things.  I didn't have allot to invest, because I hadn't sold anything,  but this is where I discovered resin - colorful and cheap...is there a better combination???? I also found annealed steel wire, which you can buy in the hardware store for next to nothing.  Unfortunately, I also discovered Swarovski crystals at this time - which are also colorful, but not cheap - but I loved the combination with the steel and the resin - they dress the resin up and they do incredible things for the steel wire.

To me, these are not just attractive pieces of jewelry but they are fun, colorful and unique.  The Swarovski makes all four of these special and different, they're combinations that aren't often seen.  The resin pieces have been selling like hot cakes and they have a great price point, people are buying and often buying more than one piece at a time.  The annealed steel does not have as good a track record, because most of my shop owners don't like it, so they don't carry it, but the one that does has sold a few pieces and I love the medium so much I will keep plugging away with it. Either way, these are vastly different from the tradition stone, or pearl and precious metal that I was doing.  I am using plated silver or gunmetal to finish these , so that also helps keep the costs down.

In my first jewelry life, I made beautiful, expensive jewelry and I did truly love what I made but,  I knew with the economic climate here that not only did I need to change what I made, I needed to lower my price point.  The boutiques that carry my jewelry are VERY high end, and they were having problems selling their clothing and jewelry wasn't moving at all.  These well to do women had the  real thing jewelry wise, and they weren't about to spend their dwindling allowances for  high priced bling.   I changed directions for a number of reasons, mostly because I wasn't selling and I was being copied, but also I needed to get the attention of these women again. I am really excited about where my journey has taken me.  I think that change is good for all of us and helps us to grow...I hate to admit it, but I usually fight any kind of change...but not this time and it has really paid off for me and my Artfire shop

Time versus Money in Jewelry Making

As allot of you know, I have started working with annealed steel wire and I love the product.  It is inexpensive and extremely easy to work with.  If you make a mistake, you can fix it, unlike most metal wires that we, as jewelry artisans, normally work with.  Forgivable goes a long way in my book - especially when I am saving major time by rescuing a piece that I have put allot of effort into already.  


I have made many necklaces with the industrial look of the steel wire combined with both Swarovski  crystal and  or freshwater pearls.  I love the combination of these two opposites - it really meets my esthetic.  My pearl and steel necklace is in my Artfire shop and every time that I make one, they seem to sell.  I keep making them because I want one for me...but I can't get upset because they are selling...

I really do think that this is a great look.  It's funny though, I have two retail shops that sell my jewelry and they will not touch the steel.  One owner doesn't like the color of the steel and the other one feels that the pieces belong in a gallery, not a retail location.  The shops that do carry it, sell it consistantly...life really is a crap shoot, isn't it??


In any case - back to the reason for this blog.  I have been wanting to make a couple of very dark, almost black, necklaces out of the steel for me.  I worked on them this weekend and they came out even better than I expected. As soon as I get some pictures taken, I will insert them here.

Remember - I promised the pictures and here they are - unfortunately they are not the cropped, fixed pictures. But, as confirmed techno-tard, I have to be happy that I am able to upload a picture, something I couldn't have done about a year ago.
 I said to my husband that much as I liked them, I'd never be able to sell them - it took me almost 3 full days to make these 2 necklaces.  He thought that was my learning curve and any more that I made could be done faster - I said no, it's just that they are very labor intensive.  These are simple link necklaces, one with large links and one with medium large links and they are connected with fairly small jump rings.  Each piece is hand forged. Each ring is hand filed, even if I do use the dremel for the initial clean up.  I did wrap each joint on the large and medium link with fine wire because I don't solder and they were too flexible just left alone.  They needed something and the fine wire wrapping filled that need - and I did add a few very small Swarovskis to the wraps on the large chain as eye candy. Both of these were minimally cleaned, to keep them black, and waxed so they wouldn't rust.  All in all, allot of work.


Before we make anything that we intend to sell, we need to assess the old time versus money equation.  Is the piece going to be so expensive to make, that no one is going to be able or willing to pay the price that the piece must command if we intend to sell it.  It's a fine line that we must tread...are we making something to make us money, or are making something to give ourselves pleasure.  Material like steel wire is a great thing to gauge this on, because it is so inexpensive that time is really your only investment...so my advice is to think long and hard as you plan what you are creating, and why you are creating it.


I could conceivably charge $500.00 to $600.00 for these to barely cover my labor costs, but no one is going to pay for them...I could do them in sterling for about the same price, but I don't want them in sterling.  So I am left between a rock and a hard place...I'm just gonna use them as I envisioned them.  Necklaces for Linda, lucky girl. I know that, at some point, someone is going to say..."I love that necklace and I want one, how much does it cost?" At that point I will reassess these points and see what I want to do...and I will report back here.

Fun with Steel Wire or Making Steel Magnolias

I purchased a new book a few weeks ago - Brenda Schweder's "Steel Wire Jewelry  " and it is the best book I have purchased since I started purchasing books about making jewelry about 6 years ago.  I buy books more for the tips and background of the material rather than for ideas or how to make a specific thing.  I am one of the fortunate ones who is usually overflowing with ideas, I poccess a kind muse. But I might need help getting a certain finish on metal or just to see a process - I bought a book on making beads and I am never going to make beads - but I so admired this artists' beads that I wanted her book to see what she went through to get the product that I admired so much.  Basically the same thing happened with Brenda's book...I was looking through the class schedule for Santa Fe and saw one of her pieces, and loved it.  A little while later, I got an email about Tucson and some classes that were being offered - and again there was a piece that I loved, and it was the same person I'd admired from Santa Fe - so I did some Google work and finally found her Etsy shop...bought the book and a bit of wire and I was hooked.

I found out that steel has been used for jewelry since forever and that steel is one of the most recycled materials in the world and is the most recycled material in the U.S.. I also found out that    Alexander Calder did much of his jewelry in annealed steel...anyone who makes jewelry should take a look at some of his pieces. He made a chandelier earring that I think was big enough to use as an actual chandelier.  By the way, annealed steel is steel that has carbon added to it, but not more than 2%.  It is  soft and very workable, and unlike other metal wires - it does not get brittle and break if you work it too much.  It usually has a coating on it, that needs to be removed for most jewelry, this is put on as a rust inhibitor.  That is the one drawback to steel wire - it can rust, but if it is coated with an archival wax, like Rennaisance, that won't happen.

These are some of the pieces that I have created with steel wire and I have loved every minute of the creative process.  Before this, copper wire was my favorite medium, but the steel is a little firmer and it most certainly is more forgiving.  Steel does not require the lengthy finishing and patinas that copper does either, so the process is less expensive.

I have finally gotten some pictures taken so these will be in my Artfire shop as soon as I have a few   free hours - it's such a time consuming boring job to enter pieces and pictures onto your website and I do tend to put it off as long as possible.  These are the first pieces that I made and I do like them allot.