Today my aunt had a "Tea Party with Jewelry Boutique". About 15 friends & family showed up. I made $304! Almost as much as I made at the 2 day craft fair!
And the people gave me lots of good comments about what they would like.A couple of things really stood out. One big one was that people want matching sets of things, earrings, necklace, and bracelet. I had had matching earrings with necklaces but a lot of them sold separately and I didn't notice and replace. So...have to pay attention to that. This was consistent with what the lady at the gallery wanted (about the only consistent thing; both here and at the craft fair, people didn't seem concerned about materials and didn't seem at all knowledgeable about materials in general and were much more concerned about the prices, while the lady at the gallery wants only really high quality materials).
Several people also found things to be too heavy. Which I thought was a bit odd because my stuff is very light. So I think I'll cautiously chalk that one up to personal taste.
My attempt to make bracelets of all different sizes didn't work well enough; of course people wanted the bracelet THEY want in their own size! So, more bracelets (I was kind of behind on those anyhow because the lady at the gallery took a bunch). Rose quartz and hematite remain popular.
People there, at the fair, and at the gallery continue to amaze me by their total lack of interest in the fact that the Bali silver comes form Bali, is hand-made and not cast, etc etc. Oh, well.
People seemed to like the party format, and several said that they thought an adult make-your-own-jewelry party would be a good idea. Unfortunately, no one seemed interested in signing up for either kind of party themselves, so I still am left with a question of how to advertise or get something like that rolling.
I am posting this stuff not just for congratulations :), but hoping it would be a good tip for others. No one in the party acted put upon at all, and there was no reason they should; we had this announced on the invitation. And most of the women seemed to come with a list of people they wanted to buy gifts for. This would probably be a good "November" idea.
thanks
marisa2