Delta flight 15 - A Good News Story

Received this email today and just had to share it - it is sooooooooooo refreshing to have something "nice" to put on my blog for a change.  There really are good people out there and they do truly wondrous things.

 

A 9-11 story I hadn't heard before.

GOOD ILLUSTRATION OF SOWING GOOD AND REAPING EVEN BETTER!

Delta Flight 15 on 9/11

A good story after all the bad ones we hear. Interesting and I guess in
all that I had never really thought of what happened to all the other flights
headed for the States.

*Take a moment and read this story, you will be amazed...*

Jerry Brown Delta Flight 15... (true story)

Here is an amazing story from a flight attendant on Delta Flight 15, written following 9-11:

On the morning of Tuesday, September 11, we were about 5 hours out of
Frankfurt, flying over the North Atlantic  All of a sudden the curtains parted and I was told to go to the cockpit,
immediately, to see the captain. As soon as I got there I noticed that the crew had that “All Business" look on their faces. The captain handed me a printed message. It was from Delta's main office in Atlanta and simply read, "All airways over the Continental United States are closed to commercial air traffic. Land ASAP at the nearest airport. Advise your destination."

No one said a word about what this could mean. We knew it was a serious situation and we needed to find terra firma quickly. The captain determined that the nearest airport was 400 miles behind us in Gander, New Foundland. He requested approval for a route change from the Canadian traffic controller and approval was granted immediately -- no questions asked. We found out later, of course, why there was no hesitation in approving our request.

While the flight crew prepared the airplane for landing, another message arrived from Atlanta telling us about some terrorist activity in the New York area. A few minutes later word came in about the hijackings.

We decided to LIE to the passengers while we were still in the air. We told them the plane had a simple instrument problem and that we needed to land at the nearest airport in Gander , New Foundland, to have it checked out. We promised to give more information after landing in Gander.  There was much grumbling among the passengers, but that's nothing new! Forty minutes later, we landed in Gander. Local time at Gander was 12:30 PM! .... that's 11:30 AM
EST. There were already about 20 other airplanes on the ground from all over the world that had taken this detour on their way to the U.S.

After we parked on the ramp, the captain made the following announcement:
"Ladies and gentlemen, you must be wondering if all these airplanes around us have the same instrument problem as we have. The reality is that we are here for another reason.” Then he went on to explain the little bit we knew about the situation in the U.S. There were loud gasps and stares of disbelief. The captain informed passengers that Ground
Control in Gander told us to stay put.

The Canadian Government was in charge of our situation and no one was allowed to get off the aircraft. No one on the ground was allowed to come near any of the aircraft. Only airport police would come around periodically, look us over and go on to the next airplane. In the next hour or so more planes landed and Gander ended up with 53 airplanes from all over the world, 27 of which were U.S. commercial jets.

Meanwhile, bits of news started to come in over the aircraft radio and for the first time we learned that airplanes were flown into the World Trade Center in New York and into the Pentagon in DC. People were trying to use their cell phones, but were unable to connect due to a different cell system in Canada . Some did get through, but were only able to get to the Canadian operator who would tell them that the lines to the U.S. were either blocked or jammed.

Sometime in the evening the news filtered to us that the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed and that a fourth hijacking had resulted in a crash. By now the passengers were emotionally and physically exhausted, not to mention frightened, but everyone stayed amazingly calm. We had only to look out the window at the 52 other stranded aircraft to
realize that we were not the only ones in this predicament.

We had been told earlier that they would be allowing people off the planes one plane at a time. At 6 PM, Gander airport told us that our turn to deplane would be 11 am the next morning. Passengers were not happy, but they simply resigned themselves to this news without much noise and started to prepare themselves to spend the night on the airplane.

Gander had promised us medical attention, if needed, water, and lavatory servicing. And they were true to their word. Fortunately we had no medical situations to worry about. We did have a young lady who was 33 weeks into her pregnancy. We took REALLY good care of her. The night passed without incident despite the uncomfortable
sleeping arrangements.

About 10:30 on the morning of the 12th a convoy of school buses showed up. We got off the plane and were taken to the terminal where we went through Immigration and Customs and then had to register with the Red Cross. After that we (the crew) were separated from the passengers and were taken in vans to a small hotel. We had no idea where our passengers were going. We learned from the Red Cross that the town of Gander has a population of 10,400 people and they
had about 10,500 passengers to take care of from all the airplanes that were forced into Gander ! We were told to just relax at the hotel and we would be contacted when the U.S. airports opened again. We found out the total scope of the terror back home only after getting to our hotel and  turning on the TV, 24 hours after it all started.

Meanwhile, we had lots of time on our hands and found that the people of Gander were extremely friendly. They started calling us the "plane people." We enjoyed their hospitality, explored the town of Gander and ended up having a pretty good time. Two days later, we got that call and were taken back to the Gander airport. Back on the plane, we were
reunited with the passengers and found out what they had been doing for the past two days.

What we found out was incredible. Gander and all the surrounding communities (within about a 75 Kilometer
radius) had closed all high schools, meeting halls, lodges, and any other large gathering places. They converted
all these facilities to mass lodging areas for all the stranded travelers. Some had cots set up, some had mats with sleeping bags and pillows set up.  ALL the high school students were required to volunteer their time to take care of the "guests."

Our 218 passengers ended up in a town called Lewisporte, about 45 kilometers from Gander where they were put up in a high school. If any women wanted to be in a women-only facility, that was arranged. Families were kept together. All the elderly passengers were taken to private homes. Remember that young pregnant lady? She was put up in a private home right across the street from a 24-hour Urgent Care facility. There was a dentist on call and both male and female nurses remained with the crowd for the duration.

Phone calls and e-mails to the U.S. and around the world were available to everyone once a day. During the day, passengers were offered "Excursion" trips. Some people went on boat cruises of the lakes and harbors. Some went for hikes in the local forests. Local bakeries stayed open to make fresh bread for the guests. Food was prepared by all the residents and brought to the schools. People were driven to restaurants of their choice and offered wonderful meals. Everyone was given tokens for local laundry mats to wash their clothes, since luggage was still on the aircraft. In other words, every single need was met for those stranded travelers.

Passengers were crying while telling us these stories. Finally, when they were told that U.S. airports had reopened, they were delivered to the airport right on time and without a single passenger missing or late. The local Red Cross had all the information about the whereabouts of each and every passenger and knew which plane they needed to be on and
when all the planes were leaving. They coordinated everything beautifully.

It was absolutely incredible.

When passengers came on board, it was like they had been on a cruise. Everyone knew each other by name. They were swapping stories of their stay, impressing each other with who had the better time. Our flight back to Atlanta looked like a
chartered party flight. The crew just stayed out of their way. It was mind-boggling. Passengers had totally bonded and were calling each other by their first names, exchanging phone numbers, addresses, and email addresses.

And then a very unusual thing happened.

One of our passengers approached me and asked if he could make an announcement over the PA system. We never, ever allow that. But this time was different. I said, “Of course” and handed him the mike. He picked up the PA and reminded everyone about what they had just gone through in the last few days. He reminded them of the hospitality they had
received at the hands of total strangers. He continued by saying that he would like to do something in return for the good folks of Lewisporte.
"He said he was going to set up a Trust Fund under the name of DELTA 15 (our flight number). The purpose of the trust fund is to provide college scholarships for the high school students of Lewisporte. He asked for donations of any amount from his fellow travelers. When the paper with donations got back to us with the amounts, names, phone numbers and
addresses, the total was for more than $14,000!

"The gentleman, an MD from Virginia, promised to match the donations and to start the administrative work on the scholarship. He also said that he would forward this proposal to Delta Corporate and ask them to donate as well.
As I write this account, the trust fund is at more than $1.5 million and has assisted 134 students
in college education.

"I just wanted to share this story because we need good stories right now. It gives me a little bit of hope to know that some people in a faraway place were kind to some strangers who literally dropped in on them.  It reminds me how much good there is in the world."

"In spite of all the rotten things we see going on in today's world this story confirms that there are still a lot of good people in the world and when things get bad, they will come forward."

*This is one of those stories that need to be shared. Please do so...*

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????

Marketing Madness for jewelers

In my first life - i.e. before retirement - I was something of a marketing guru.  My husband was a dentist and I was the out of office, office manager.  Along the way, I became a national expert on computer implimentation for the dental office and that entailed allot of marketing.  I was published numerous times in national Dental publications, I lectured and I consulted on Dental Practice Management and Marketing, and I had a book on marketing letters.  I am not bragging here, but I feel I have to establish my ability to write about what I want to address here.

I spend as much time as possible in the forums on Artfire where I have my shop for the jewelry that I make and I am continually amazed by the people who make pleas to have people "like" them on Facebook and they will do the same back to them.  So they get lots of jewelers and other artisans to see everything that they put on facebook.  Maybe I don't fully understand facebook, but that makes no sense to me - I don't want other jewelers to see my work - I want prospective buyers to see my work and hopefully buy it.  If I could figure out how to do it, I'd be advertising on facebook...but it would be to a small, select group of potential purchasers. I really wish that I had the computer skills now that I had in the 80's - but sadly, I don't.

I had two sayings that I flashed on my screen when I was lecturing - the first was - " if you follow the herd, watch where you step" and the other one was - " Marketing materials are like bullpucky( I think you know what I mean, it ryhmes with hit) they do no good unless you spread them around.  In other words, take the less traveled path, do not do what everyone else is doing...and if you are going to invest in marketing materials make sure that they get out to the people  you want to market to and hopefully they'll be in a place where they will share what you are doing with others.  We had a series of letters and gifts that we sent to people who referred a new patient to us and one of them was a bouquet of flowers, but we never sent it to their home....it always went to their place of work where more and different people were apt to see it, ask about it, and then ask why someone's dentist would send them flowers...it worked exceptionally well.

We lived in a severly depressed area and yet we managed to run a practice that was more like practices in much more viable areas than ours.  We worked very hard at it and it paid off. Treating people well and following through did wonders for our bottom line.  Every business has similarities  and I think that all artisan crafters share allot of the same needs - basically finding people who are willing to pay for the gorgeous things that we make.

I wish I had a magic wand and could translate my dental business knowledge to my jewelry business...but I don't ):
But I do think that any artisan has to think long and hard about how they spend their marketing budget - both the money budget and the time budget. Don't spin your wheels marketing to your peers and make sure that whatever you do that it is in good taste, unique and affordable.

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.

RESINation Revisited or Fun Resin Jewelry

I did a blog several weeks ago called "Do These Resinate with You" that was about my new resin earrings and I related how I had made these because of the demographics of one shop that my jewelry is in.  I was trying for a lower price point, but still with allot of pizazz...and I felt like I got what I was attempting.

So now I have to complete that story.  I had several earrings remaining from the first batch that I made and decided to take them out to my "high end" shops just before Christmas.  I had 11 pairs.  I figured that nothing was selling, so why not try something that I would never have thought would fit these shops.  The first shop that I went to wanted all eleven and I asked her to give me the pair that she like least so I had something tangible to show to my other shop owners.  The other owner that I was able to see, went bonkers...she loved them and wanted lots.  I got them to her just before Christmas.

Meanwhile, I am reordering stock like crazy, even did a rush shipment...something I've never done before and I decided to try some necklaces, too.  I took the necklaces out last Friday, intending to visit my 5 most active shops and I never got past the first one, the one who went bonkers with the earrings.  She not only took 95% of the earrings that I had with me, but she took 19 of 21 necklaces.  She kept saying that these are going to sell and sell fast!  She has added the necklaces to her website and is now in L.A. on a buying trip and says she is going to find a rep for me for the west coast.  I had to come home and reorder again, because I needed necklaces for my other shops.

I am starting my fourth full year as a business, the first 8 months last year were record breaking for me. I envisioned not only a huge leap in sales, but also profits...and then Sept hit. My best shop sold one pair of earrings from mid September til December...not one other piece of jewelry.  She had sold exceptionally well during the summer, when nothing sells in Phoenix...but it's hard for a small business to absorb no sales for almost 3 months...needless to say, I am not breaking any records this year...but these resin pieces may resurrect me.  I have sold allot of earrings in the last several weeks and now the necklaces are out and ready to go...I'm working harder with this much lower price point, but profits are profits whether you get there with one $250.00 or five $50.00 checks. So I have my fingers crossed that clients will like these as much as my shop owners have. The funny part of this whole thing is - the shop that I orginally made these for - the beads I never would have ordered if this owner hadn't given me a go ahead - she has not sold one pair.  Boy, life sure is a crap shot isn't it????

Here are pictures of some of these necklaces and they are available in my shop

Soooooooooooooo - whaddya think - kinda fun aren't they????Have a great day, all...til next time

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.

Redoing the Family Jewels

I have had allot of fun lately redoing and redesigning older and broken jewelry. It is sometimes a challenge and you have to be careful who your clients are, but I feel that it is worthwhile to add "rehabbing" to your studio. You do not want someone who has trouble making up their mind, not do want some one who tends to change their minds allot, but with the right clients, this is something that everyone could add to their business and have fun with as I  have.

Anyone that you do this for, must understand that you have no control over the materials that you are using, because you did not supply them, they did.  Things can and do break, especially if you are totally altering the use of a piece.  Like making a pin into a necklace.  You must remove the usually soldered on pin backing and anything could happen to a stone when you are exerting force into the rehabbing equation.  As long as you inform your clients of this before you start working, rather than after a stone breaks, things should be okay.  If I were working for a total stranger, I would probably use a contract of some sort to cover this eventuality.

It is also hard to give a realistic projection on costs up front because you have no idea how much time might be involved.  Wire wrapping presents, for me, the most trouble, because I'm never sure how the time will work out.  Just restringing and adding some stones is much easier to estimate.  I find that the cost is usually very close to what I would normally charge for say a necklace, because you have all the same time and most of the same materials that you would have if you were starting from scratch.  I charge less per hour for my time on rehabs, a little more for my supplies, and nothing for any consult time or design work.

Here are a few examples of rehabs that I have done recently.

This is what I started with - one garnet earring, one pair of amber earrings, one pair of amber earrings with very bad sterling, 2 single amber earrings, one bracelet of pearls missing clasp.

This is what I sent to the client when I was done.  An amber, pearl, and black obsidean necklace with 3 amber single earrings hanging from a sterling hoop. A freeform garnet and pearl necklace with the single garnet earring hanging from it.  The restrung pearls with a new sterling clasp and some chain to extend the length. 

This is another job that I did. This was all done for the mother of a friend of mine.

These gorgeous quartz faceted beads were my friends great grandmother's! They were knotted on silk and it had finally died.  I cut everything apart, added a central crystal, and used natural, faceted, rhodolite garnets to separate the crystals, added a nice toggle clasp and voila - these are ready for the fifth generation.

My friends' daughter bought this shell and sterling centerpiece as a pin in Mexico when she was a youngster for her grandmother. Now her grandmother has had the piece redone for her granddaughter as a necklace and earrings. I wire wrapped the pin and used natural rose quartz and pearls to make the necklace and it did come out beautifully.

The grandmother's family had a large ranch in California  and this stone and the one from the next picture came from mines on this ranch.  The jasper above was strung on an ugly black cord, and all I did was do a simple necklace of red poppy jasper beads that set the stone off perfectly. The stone is different on each side, but with this simple treatment, it can be worn either way.

This last piece of jasper, dictated that I had to use gold with it because of the colors in it and I then added brown lava stone and white pearls to make a great necklace.

Whatever I cut off, don't use, anything that is left over, is always returned to the client.

I really enjoy doing this and anyone interested in contacting me about doing this for them can contact me at my shop and I will get back to them ASAP.