It's All Coming Together

So today I picked up a very large package from the post office. Recently I ordered from an awesome etsy seller, a whole selection of display items for my jewellery. The order was delivered in about 2 weeks!


It was like Christmas morning when I unwrapped it - almost as much fun as a new gemstone order. I got eight plastic trays, eight dark purple velvet inserts, two long bracelet bars and 100 dark purple jewellery boxes. Everything was even nicer than I had anticipated, especially the velvet inserts. Because my colour scheme is dark purple, I just couldn't resist them.

I just had to lay out some of my pieces to see how they looked . . .



So now I have almost everything I need for my first open house. The iron earring display stand is on it's way, my business cards are designed and will be on order soon, my price tags have arrived and my packaging is complete.


Now on to the guest list!

My etsy shop is (almost) open!

I'm very excited. The other day I received the graphics from Lynda, of ExquisiteExpressions (http://www.exquisiteexpressions.etsy.com/), for my Etsy shop. She surpassed my expectations, and I would therefore recommend her to anyone starting or revamping their shop. I sent her some product photos and some notes on what kind of style and tone I wanted, and she nailed it. The day that I uploaded my banner and avatar to my etsy shop finally made the whole venture seem real. Never mind that I don't have any items listed yet (small detail). Check out my banner:

She captured the elegant, feminine and classy look that I wanted and maintained a custom look by using my earrings. The business card is just as lovely and I can't wait to get them printed:

The other shop that I have (sort of) opened is called MyFirstJewellery and focusses on birthstone and heirloom jewellery for girls. For these graphics I sent her a few photos of my daughter Lauren, taken a couple of years ago. She was spinning around in her fancy dress before we left for a family wedding. I thought these pictures would evoke the spirit of this shop perfectly. Here's what she did with the banner:

And the business card:

Wow. What talent. Paying for graphics was some of the best money I ever spent. After all, I know what I am good at, and it is not graphic design. I see sellers in the etsy forums all the time, asking why they have no sales, what can they do to improve their shops, and when I look, their shops have banners that are obviously made themselves or cut-and-paste banners with no originality. Now, I'm not saying that a banner will make or break your shop, but it IS the first thing that customers see. Why would you not pay the $20, $30 or $40 to have an expert make it right? I'm so glad I did.

Safe for Kids?

So for the last while I have been making cute little necklaces and bracelets for little girls as well as grown-up ones. My plan was to market these on etsy as well, under the name Jigglers (an inside joke between my daughter and I). So here I am, buying up silver-plated chain and charms, really cute lockets, some swarovski crystal and handmade lampwork beads, thinking I have a plan in place. Then I realized that children's items need to be tested for safety. Duh. Didn't know that part! From the etsy forums, which I have a new addiction to, I learned that any item marketed to children and sold to the U.S. must only use tested materials and/or be tested by a lab. Well, I bought these materials from other etsy sellers, who may or may not have intended them for children, so there is no way that they have completed this testing. And for me to send each and every necklace and bracelet to an independent lab for testing is a bit out of my budget, especially when I look to make about $10 profit, if any. (This was going to be more a labour of love than a money-maker for me).

Now, don't get me wrong. I am all for safe products for our children, and would not want to potentially harm anyone. I just see my dream of a cute, colourful little girls' etsy shop sort of blowing away in the wind.

So . . . on to Plan B. Now I am going to shift to sterling jewellery for little girls. No silver plate, no glass beads, no enamel, no Swarovski (which does contain lead). On to "my first jewellery", with only solid sterling and real stones, birthstone jewellery and sterling charm bracelets. (Sterling silver is exempt from this testing and deemed to be safe). Stay tuned for my first designs . . .

As for now, help me say goodbye to my old favourites that *sniff* will never be sold:

Picture-Taking - The Ups and Downs

Let me just say that I am no photographer. I never wanted to BE a photographer. However, when you plan to sell your wares online, excellent pictures are not just nice, they are imperative. My jewellery is going to be mixed in with thousands of other pieces on etsy (why did I have to pick the most saturated category?) and they need to stand out. So often I spend more time behind the camera than I do making jewellery.

I have seen a lot of improvement though, which keeps me motivated. (Look at my early blog posts if you don't believe me!) As soon as I got a light box, hauled out the tripod and the remote, and got to work, my photos started to look so much better. However, it was the addition of a crummy little worklight from Scott's garage that made the most difference. Now I can move it around the jewellery, taking shots at different angles, to see what makes the gems truly sparkle. I hope he knows he's not getting that worklight back.

So above are four shots I took the other day. I'm not sure which I will use; etsy allows five pictures for each listing, but one will be of my packaging, so I have four to choose from. I also will allocate one photo to show the earrings hanging, and one taken directly overhead. That's the other thing I spend an inordinate amount of time doing: sorting, deleting, editing and cropping.

I have a newfound respect for photographers. It is a LOT of work (at least for me), and truly and art form in itself. Now, back to the camera!

Fast-forward 7 Months!

I can't believe it's been seven months since I started this blog. When I first wrote, we were looking forward to Christmas - now summer is here and school is (gulp!) almost finished. Of course, having the G8 Summit here right now is forcing a lot of kids, my daughter included, to take a mini-holiday. We watched President Obama fly over us this morning in Marine One - very cool.

So while a lot of time has passed, my dedication (okay, addiction) to making jewellery has not ended. If anything, it has become even stronger. Every spare penny - and let's face it - there are very few pennies these days - is spent on gemstones and findings, and every spare moment is spent in my craft room. If I'm lucky, Lauren will be here with me, drawing and colouring and playing on the computer. If I'm not lucky, she is whining, "Momeeeee! Play with meeeee! from another room. Ah, the joys of working from home.

So my latest creations featured here are Swiss Blue Topaz and Moonstone earrings, and Rhodolite Garnet and Iolite earrings, both in gold vermeil. Because I only wear sterling and white gold, I never thought I would make yellow gold jewellery. But I learned quite quickly that some stones just look so much better with yellow gold: garnet, pink topaz, blue topaz, peridot, citrine - the list goes on. So I do some of each, and will offer to make the same style in the other metal, should my customer request this.

Right now (in fact, at any given moment), my work table is full of half-finished pieces. These pieces are waiting for a clasp, or a link, or a stone, or else they are just lingering there, waiting for me to make a decision. The funny thing about any project, I think, is that sometimes you can put something aside that's not working, only to come back to it a few weeks later and know exactly what to do! It's like your brain needed time to hash it out while you were sleeping.

I wonder if I'll write again before another seven months have passed . . .

I wonder, is there any way that I could just make jewellery all day and someone else can photograph it, do my accounting and filing and generally take care of everything else to do with my business? I guess that's called a partner. I find it a lot easier to spend hours on the development and creation of my pieces, but when it comes time for everything else, it feels like that dreaded "w" word - "work". Until now, it's felt a lot like "play"!

However, when I do get a decent photograph that accurately represents my piece, it is exciting. I know how important photographs are to selling online, so I refuse to post any jewellery until my photos are up to snuff. I already see an improvement over my first few sessions, but then I compared the recent ones to etsy sellers like PoleStar and realized I have a LONG way to go! I'm determined, though, so given enough time, I'm sure I'll get there!

As for the rest of the boring business details, I'm taking that slow. I had hoped to have my etsy shop up before Christmas, but I can see that's not going to happen. I don't even have my velvet bags yet, so I can't take a proper picture of my packaging. All in good time, I guess!

On a brighter note, I made a really pretty red coral necklace last night. I always figure a piece is a success when I feel a distinct desire to keep it for myself! I also started a couple of lariats, but am waiting for my headpins before I can finish. Must remember: don't run out of headpins! I did make a couple of bracelets that I'm happy with though. One is two different shades of blue pearls that I have had since Orangeville, and the other using the beautiful peridots I got from Bamiyan.

New Design

Yesterday I worked on a new design for my upcoming etsy business. Up until now I have only been working with gemstones. But I found some beautiful swarovski pearls in a powder almond colour and just had to buy them. Then I found a rhinestone pendant, also by swarovski, and the design just came together. Originally it was going to be a choker, but the asymmetrical design lent itself better to a slightly longer necklace. Now, I know there are hundreds, probably thousands of jewellery pieces being sold on etsy using swarovski pearls, but now I know why. They have a great weight to them, a beautiful luster, and are a real pleasure to work with. I find that this almond colour goes equally well both with sterling and gold-filled wire, which makes the colour very accommodating. Now I am on to making some matching earrings!