What to do with Extra Jewelry Creations

I have been creating jewelry for several years now and have been very fortunate to sell allot of it in both retail stores, on consignment, in my web shop and on my own...however, today, trying to get reorganized after an extended illness, I found allot of pieces that I'm not sure what I want to do with.

Some of these are pieces that I made several years ago and for one reason or another, they didn't sell.   They are not something that I would create today, but I still like them.  Then there are the pieces that I made because of a store owners' suggestion, and they either didn't take it on consignment or they took it and it didn't sell, so it is now back home with me.  Then there are the pieces that I created for this summer season, that I effectively missed, because of illness...they won't sell now, but they might sell next summer.

I have one shop that I deal with that loves my work but it is slightly pricey for her shop, so occassionally, I do take pieces to her that have "failed" elsewhere and I drastically reduce the price, so that I barely recover my expenses...but covering expenses works, sometimes.  There is a woman's shelter nearby that I have donated allot of jewelry to, and I have two schools that have auctions that I donate to twice a year, so I usually have a bag going to them that I work on whenever the right piece turns up.  Unfortunately, I am very prolific, and I make allot of jewelry, when the economy was better, that was okay...it doesn't work today. I don't want a huge inventory, it is too expensive! !  My next project is to go through the inventory that I do have and do some judicious dismemberment.  I have some great stones in pieces that haven't sold, and maybe if they were redone in a newer, more current setting, I could sell them.  The only thing is that I feel like I am tearing apart my children when I attempt to take those pieces apart.

Do any of you have an answer to my problem?  Do you sell every piece that you make, and if you don't what do you do with it?

Optimizing your Blogs

I posted a blog about a week ago and proceeded to announce it in the usual places that one announces these things....especially for someone who is an admitted technotard.  I put it on both my face book pages and I  went to the forums on Artfire where I have my online shop and I posted it there.  Along with some nice comments, I got a response from a computer guru, Jim  Juris , who is on Artfire also, and he told me that I needed to optimize my blog titles so that they would be picked up in Google searches.  So I have just finished changing the titles of a number of my blogs - and I like my original titles much better than the optimized ones...but I must admit that optimizing them makes sense.

I love writing blogs - they're fun - it's fun to transfer my pre-retirement knowledge (professional practice management) to a new venue, making jewelry and the business involved in selling your jewelry.  I love sharing pictures of what I am currently doing and also, what I am currently thinking...which is sometimes scary to see in black and white...but still fun to share.  It makes sense to try to get more people looking at all this....but it's just like putting my jewelry in my shop...I'd love to have some cute name instead of  something that google is going to look at.  So much of what we do is predicated by the rules of the web and I truly wish it were otherwise....but, it isn't.

As I have said many times, I am truly a technotard - I survive in this new technical world but not without allot of blood, sweat, and tears.  I honestly thought that by putting good labels or tags on my blogs that Google would pick them up, but that is rarely the case. I am always amazed that almost 4000 people have read my blogs - but almost 70,000 people have looked at my shop on Artfire in almost the same amount of time...and I have tried very hard to optimize the titles of my jewelry, but not my blogs.  So I definitely feel that old Jim is probably on to something that we all should be aware of.. It's a cold cruel economy and world out there and any little edge that we can get to get more people looking at what we are selling is better than good...it may just be fantastic.

Those are my thoughts for today and I hope that they help...til next time

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