The Web is a Wondrous Thing

The web is a wondrous thing - especially for someone who grew up when encyclopedias were the only way to go.  I was such a nerd...that I used to read the encyclopedia like it was a good book.  Maybe that's why I have trouble with the web.

People say that you can find anything that you want on the web...and I guess that you can...but you can also find things that you don't want ( I am not referring to porn here).  Every time that I start searching for something that is relatively new to me...I end up all over the place.  The web tempts me with all kinds of  new information that I feel compelled to follow up on. By the time that I am done purusing all this needless information - I can rarely find my way back to where I really need to be. These searches can be very time consuming and that makes them expensive for me - I am an artisan jeweler...with a shop on the web, that you really should visit...and time is money for me. I honestly don't know what I was looking for last night, but I ended up watching some videos on coloring metal and they mentioned a craft pad.  It sounded great - didn't leak - liquids just sat there - you could wash anything off it....something that I just had to have.

So I proceeded to search for these little miracles and found one for about $15.00 somewhere.  Then I saw something from a woman who was buying oven liners at Walmart and using them for the same purpose at 1/3rd the price.  Sounded good to me - until I found the stuff at the bottom of her page that said she was all wet...that the oven liners didn't work like the craft pad, but what this women had found, was working well at 1/2 the cost.  I wasted allot of time on these stupid pads.

I got up this morning to the realization that I should have just bought the $15.00 one and not wasted all that time looking for cheaper alternatives - I figured that I'd blown anything that I would have saved with all the time I spent looking for a cheaper product.  No sweat, I said to myself, I had to go to Michael's Craft Store today and I'd just pick one up.  Guess what....they had no idea what I was talking about...Zip ... Nada ... Nothing.

I came home - used an old paint dish from my tole painting days and decided that what I really didn't like were the patina's and acid paints that I had bought to color my metals....you know, some days you just can't win.....

The Bottom Line in the Jewelry Business

Several years ago when I had barely gotten going on Artfire, I did a blog about time and artisans.  But I think that it is time for another one. No matter who you read or where you read it, there is a continuing theme about artisans and how they either do not value, or they undervalue, their own skills.  Going hand in hand with this is how we as artisans, think that if we get some portion of what we paid for supplies returned to us in sales, that we are doing great. I heartily , do not agree with that.

First of all, we need to review exactly what it takes to produce a piece of jewelry or any hand crafted goods.  We have many overhead expenses...electric, water, gas, heat, taxes, telephone..if your studio is at your home, whatever it takes to keep your home running, is also needed to keep your studio running.  Supplies do not magically appear on our benches to enable us to make what we want. ...wouldn't it be nice if they did.  I don't know about you, but I spend hours on line, first of all, being a very careful shopper, and secondly, trying to find that special piece of something that will help me to make my jewelry special.  Then there are the trips to the shops that carry my jewelry and at the end of a long day, I usually have to go home to some bookwork from the trip and usually make or alter something for one of the shops and that means a return trip.  Now, that makes my car part of my overhead and I keep very careful mileage and money charts for these "road days".  If you are on the show circuit, those days are like my shop days.

I probably spend one day a month, trying to find more boutiques to carry my jewelry.  These are frustrating days - owners are rarely in and managers don't like to come to the phone, nor can they make decisions.  I do not like to do cold calls, so I am always trying to set up appointments and that doesn't always work.  I get lots of information from the internet, and more often than not, the info is out of date or the phone number is wrong.  I have spent whole days without talking to anyone that I really want to talk to  -  so it's slow, frustrating and very time consuming.

Next we come to the computer - beside my Artfire Shop, I try to blog regularly, I need to keep up with my facebook pages, do my email, and show up at a few sites where I am a member.  The shop is the hardest, look at the amount of time that it takes to enter just one piece of jewelry, and that can only be done after the photos are taken.  I think that the forums are important and I wish that I had more time to build some relationships there..  Google tends to ignore you, if you ignore your shop...so you can't afford to let that happen.  I tend to use my web site as my catalogue so I'm not as paranoid about this aspect as I might be.

There are also 2 other time consuming factors to out businesses that vary from year to year, but are usually always there.  The first one is going to shows and taking some continuing ed at the
show and of course, checking out what's new to buy.  The second time consuming nugget is marketing ourselves.  Whether we do it all on the web, or we give a jewelry  party, or we send out emails or postcards to previous buyers, it is another time consuming, sometimes expensive proposition.

Okay...so we have all this stuff to do, and our "real" goal is to make jewelry, which we haven't done yet.  All of the above are part of your business - you cannot pay yourself  $10 or even $20 per hour for making a necklace and expect to cover the costs that you have incurred.  If you cannot cover the costs that have incurred, then you shouldn't be in business.  That is the bottom line, pure and simple.  If that sounds harsh, then I apologize, but you talented people need to take a close look at what you are charging and what you are netting from your talents.  If it's not enough, then raise your prices.

I read a fairly well known artisan who charged $60. /hr for when she was creating jewelry.  She felt that by the time she added everything in to her overhead, she was may be clearing $20.00/hr  for herself.. This was several years ago - she's probably charging $100.00/hr. now, and my feeling is, if she is, then God bless...I hope that it works.  I see women on the forums who have had a wholesale offer and they can't do it.  The wholesaler wants 50% off...the artisan has priced her product so low, that 50% off would break her...she is truly between a rock and a hard place.  Don't get yourself stuck in that same place. Realistically look at what you are charging for your product, and ask yourself what would happen if someone wanted a wholesale order from you...would 50% off leave you high and dry or where you should be????

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

Silver Filled in Jewelry Making

I decided several months ago to try a fairly new product, silver filled.  It is made in basically the same way that gold filled is made and should last indefinitely.  As we all know, plated metal materials not only often look differently, they are not meant to last.  I work too hard on my metal jewelry to use a material that is not going to last and yet, sterling had gotten to a price point that was beyond me, and most important, beyond what my clients were willing to pay.

As you can see, when I use metals - it is allot. The first bracelet uses quite a bit of 24 g wire and there is a huge difference between SF at $0.22 per foot and sterling at almost a dollar a foot.  I have about 20 feet of 24g wire in the first bracelet which translate to $4.40 as opposed to $20.00. For the final pricing, i.e. retail, that can mean the difference in the price of the bracelet of $17.00 or $80.00.  There is even a big difference in the 16 g that I use as the frame.  I have about 18 inches that I use - SF is priced at about $3.00, whereas, sterling would be about $9.00. If you double your price of materials for a wholesale price and then double again for retail, these get to be really big numbers.  In SF, I have $7.40 in materials, but in sterling, I would have $29.00.  I would love to be making these in sterling, but they are very time consuming and the final price would have to reflect that and it would put them out of the ball park. The second bracelet is the same as the first except that I use thicker wire for the decorative part. I don't use much more than 10 feet, but SF for 20g is $0.76 and for sterling it is $2.30 per foot. So once again, in the thinner wire alone, we see a monetary difference of more than $15.00. These are huge numbers when you are figuring your final price.

The only real difference I have found between the two types is that I feel that the SF work hardens much faster than sterling.  For that reason, I only buy full soft wires.  I think that it must be the interior brass in the wire, because brass has always seemed much harder to me than copper or sterling.  I have oxidized SF numerous times and have the same results that I had with sterling.  You do have to be a little more careful handling it during working so it's not gouged - the one time  

that I slipped and really gouged it, I was very pleasantly surprised when I grabbed my trusty Dremel to polish it and see what I could do about the brass showing - and somehow, the silver migrated to the polished part and no more brass showed.  My husband, a retired dentist, says that that can happen occassionally with precious metals... so I don't know if this was a one time occurrence or something that I can count on to happen again. It is recommended that all polishing be done in the tumbler and with a cloth, not to use mechanical polishers.

I have always used sterling earwires and I recently switched to SF for most of my earrings and have been very pleased.  The least expensive sterling that I used was $3.00/pair, and I can purchase SF for $.40 a pair. Once again the cost differential of $2.60, or $10.40 makes a big difference in the retail price. These earwires can be seen on my website, but I have not gotten the bracelets on there yet.

It seems that every day there are new products arriving on the market made in SF, and I for one am very happy about it. There is chain, and sheet, and all kinds of findings.  If you have hesitated to try SF, give it a try, I think that you will be very happy with it, I know that I have been.

Like all my metals, I am very careful where I purchase them.  I have stuck with Rio and Fire Mountain and I'm sure any of the other large, well established metal places would do fine.  There are two types out there. One with 20% sterling and one with only 10%, and I have stuck with the 20%.

If you have hesitated to use silver filled materials, I think that it is worth a try. I know that I have been very happy with the product and I would hope that you would be too.

Why Do I Love Being on Artfire?

Why do I love being on Artfire, you ask. Artfire treats me like I would treat people if I owned the web site and since that was the whole basis of our business when we were in business, that is saying allot coming from me. I have had two instances where the COO has actually answered the questions that I was asking and he regularily appears on the forums to help everyone on the site. Not only does Tony, the COO, appear but if someone else at headquarters is better equipped to help us, then they also pop in as the situation dictates.

I also love Artfire because they have helped me to grow and learn.  As any reader here knows, I am an admitted techno-tard and yet I was able to get my shop up and running with minimal pain.  I stopped learning about computers when they stopped printing documentation in the early 90's - I can no longer say that now though, because I have learned so much about computers in the last seven months that even I am impressed with myself...and my husband thinks that I am an absolute genius, and that is always good and doesn't happen very often.

I love Artfire because of the people who are there for me.  I have already mentioned the staff and they are incredible, but the forums alone are worth the price of admission.  There is ALWAYS someone there to help you.  People making jewelry help others who make jewelry, and I find that refreshing especially in the business environment that we are in right now.  People will critique your website, they read your titles and discriptions, they look at your pictures, everything on your site and make fixable, kind suggestions so that you are able to make your site a better selling vehicle.  If one succeeds, we all succeed - pretty amazing, isn't it????

I love Artfire because it made me make my jewelry shop a better place to shop.  I have just redone all the pictures in my shop - not because anyone told me to, but because I learned through looking around Artfire that my pictures were a real detriment to my efforts to sell my jewelry.  Because of Artfire, I have learned about SEO and how to make Google find me easier.  I have learned how important outside links to my shop are and how they increase my visibility and how to find some of them.

Because of Artfire and all of the above, my shop can now easily function in the other venue that I use it as. The majority of my sales is to small boutiques and my web site is my catalogue. I cannot have a "line sheet" because the majority of what I create is OOAK ( one of a kind pieces ) and line sheets do not function well in those situations.  As is my shop, my presentation to my shops is now so much better and professional that I am proud to give out my web site to any retail shop.

So in closing, the above is a small sampling of why I love Artfire and why it might be a place that you also could use to sell whatever you want to.  If you do have an interest please go to http://www.artfire.com/users/LindaSudimack/sell-crafts
and sign up for a shop, and if you do - we could both benefit financially, because Artfire has come up with another great idea. So please, take a look, you will not be sorry.