Tell me what you think - some of the pieces don't thrill me much but it's nice to get feedback about what others like. And advice on how they are displayed on this website is also greatly appreciated.
Thanks! Mary Close To My Heart Consultant
Thanks for the input Tina. This is a hobby that will never grow to selling in stores, etc... just mostly to friends and family and at local church craft shows. I am not looking to make a lot of money at it and just want to dabble for fun so I have not invested in more expensive parts just to sell at a price I am not sure I can get. I thought I would start small and see what interest I even generate from any of the pieces before I go too nuts! Although, I did buy a couple pricey lampwork beads and I am anxious to put something appealing together with those.
My first and foremost love and hobby is rubber stamping and scrapbooking - this is just for fun and maybe I can at least recoup my costs. But I do appreciate all the input - never know where things could go, I guess!
Mary Close To My Heart Consultant
I did (once again) update the webpage I set up.....set the prices I am comfortable with (this is what I will try at the craft shows this fall and judge what happens from there) and the descriptions are as complete as my little brain can handle. (Note to self: remember what the "parts" of each piece are actually called from now on! LOL).
Thanks for looking -
I like stringing beads but I LOVE rubber stamping!! Ask me to tell you all about Close To My Heart! Mary Close To My Heart Consultant
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@aol.compuppies (Dr. Sooz) :
]However -- if you do it at all, do it right. ]people are usually (if not always) ]more willing to pay for the pricier items of jewelry.
exactly.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
.....or worse, to be fixed.
"Dr. Sooz" wrote
Well I thought if I was shopping at a local bead store or the bead stores online that I was buying acceptable materials. If it is crap, why do they sell it? And I can't afford expensive "parts" so I try to buy quality without spending what I don't have. Should I question all the items I look at at the bead store? I think I have bought nice things and I know a lot of what I buy is the same thing they use in the jewelry classes and such at the store.
Also, just to play devil's advocate here for a minute, when I jewelry shop at craft fairs, etc... I never see lists of products with each jewelry piece shown and I don't even think to ask! I see what I like and what I can afford and I buy it. I am sure there are more discriminating buyers but I'm not one...at least yet. Mary Close To My Heart Consultant
If you can make 'em at that price, then sell 'em at that price! I have done craft shows for a long time (not with jewelry) and set prices I was comfortable with - enough to cover expenses and time and not too much that stuff just sat there and I have never felt that other crafter's resented my prices nor did I complain about theirs.
Example: I just recently went to a large local craft fair and there were a lot of jewelry people there and I was checking it out - prices and designs and all. And the prices varied greatly even though the pieces looked very similar! But I didn't buy from the cheapest because they didn't have the piece I liked best. I buy what is pleasing to my eye not because it has this kind of clasp or that kind of wire...... guess it's just me!
Mary Close To My Heart Consultant
Thanks for your input.
Mary Close To My Heart Consultant
Hey, Mary...another Mary here.
I was in your shoes. I couldn't believe that I could charge more for items. I didn't think that mine were worth that...boy, was I wrong.
These people here aren't trying to bring you down. FAR FROM IT!!!! They are trying to support you from under, to lift you up!
My suggestion...try to get away from the plate. I realize that it is hard. Don't buy from Michaels or from the craft stores. Try to invest in the sterling at least...it isn't *that* much more expensive than the plate.
If you email me (mary at meijhanadesigns dot com), I can tell you some online places to get items that you can afford. And believe you me. I can't afford to put out $100 at a time or more. So if you email me, I will give you some contacts, and we can try to find out what your budget is, what types of jewelry you make, and find out where the best prices are for you, k?
Then we can work on that "it's just a hobby" thing. :-) You may do it for "just church"...but whether you make and sell 5 a year, or 5,000, let's try to make them the best you can!!! :-)
Mary
Thanks for the info - I will be in touch for more info at some point. I looked through your website and I like your jewelry - very pretty. Thank you for being helpful -
Mary Close To My Heart Consultant
Me, too Mary. And again, it's not to bring you down, but to give air under your wings.
You are excited about this new venture...why are you not as excited at making it the best it can be?
Beleive it or not, bead stores sell "junk". They also sell fine items, so you need to learn the difference between the two. I don't think that you have done that yet.
Y'know those blue/bronze/gold beads that I mentioned that I had used? Take a look at the inside of them...many will have a white ring around the hole...indication of poor quality, mass produced beads. Nothing wrong with mass production, just make sure it's GOOD production.
As to your point about you don't ask what an item is made of ... doesn't matter. I ask. Others will ask. And if you can' t tell me authoritatively what materials you use, then you lose...at least my business. You are representing yourself as a knowledgeable professional, and you should be able to tell me how your products are made. These questions apply everywhere that you are selling your product and presenting yourself as an authority.
I know your name from several RS yahoogroups. You are a CTMH consultant...can you tell the difference between good and poor quality rubberstamps? If I ask you what makes CTMH a quality product (and I have my own opinion on whether or not it is, this is just for discussion) can you tell me?
What makes a good rubber stamp? What type of wood is used for your mountings? Does it makes a difference you know? Some companies use green rubber...why is that? Is it inferior? Superior? I even bought stamps that are green glitter rubber...what's with that? Why are they made like that?
Why are CTMH stamps so much more expensive than others (just an example question, i don't know if theyare)? Why are Magenta stamps viewed with such awe as to be considered collectible? Why is the mounting cushion so much thicker/thinner on some stamps?
Why are rubber stamps superior or inferior to polymer stamps?
Each of these questions can be reframed for your jewelry. When you can answer these in the context of your jewelry (and your rubber stamps) then I think you will be more prepared to sell. When you can articulate what makes your jewelry and what makes your jewelry different/special, then you'll be closer.
Since you are already established as a recorded tax paying company, that part of business is already taken care of, you just have to set up a similar tracking system for your jewelry.
And you be, trust me.
BTW...hi Mary!
-- Margie
authoritatively
Not to mention that is isn't legal to misrepresent a basemetal as a precious metal. Descriptions such as "gold clasp" and "silver wire" are misleading if they aren't truly gold and silver, but are just colored or plated to look that way. These are not trivial issues to annoy you with, but legal definitions which could get you into a whole lot of trouble if not properly considered.
Laura
I think this is a reasonable point of view, and that there is a market for things made with all levels of components.
My bias would be in favor of being well enough informed oneself to know the differences, and what kind of difference they actually make from the buyer's POV (hypo-allergenic, won't tarnish, more sturdily made, more break-resistent, etc.) and then not misrepresent what you are selling.
A gold-plated pewter clasp may be perfectly adequate for a particular piece prepared for a particular market. One that expects something other than an heirloom, at a less-than-heirloom price.
I have a bunch of silver-plated and gold-plated pewter Bali-style spacers from Blake Brothers. I like the look, and the price is very comfortable if I want to use a lot of them. I couldn't begin to afford that much 'real' Bali in either plain silver or vermeil. I use them without apology BUT I also 'bill' them (in both senses of the word) as plated pewter, not silver or vermeil. The same goes for doing wirework in copper instead of precious metal most of the time. It is a conscious choice, and means I can afford to do -more items-, and therefore become proficient faster, and feel more free to experiment, because I am less anxious about errors and waste.
Most buyers don't care what the components are. They see a metallic sparkle and don't question how it is arrived at. The try a clasp and find it easy or difficult to fasten.
Lots of buyers are looking for something that 'goes' with their wardrobe, or is in their favorite colors. They expect it to last as long as the outfit, perhaps, but not a lifetime.
The educated buyers of 'jewelry-as-art', (who will be far fewer in number) may pass up my work with pewter spacers -- as they are perfectly entitled to do -- and I will have offered them all the accurate information they need to decide No instead of Yes *using their own criteria of selection*.
I consider that being a responsible seller. And that is what I aim for. I am not always trying to appeal to a very upscale market, though I certainly hope to make -some- pieces that do.
I'll use the very best workmanship I am capable of in all the things I regard as saleable. Experiments that don't quite work stay in my drawer until I figure out how to make them work.
But I have *given away* work that came back to me for repairs because I didn't have adequate skills yet. I think that knowing I can do things that fail and disappoint the end-user is part of what makes me want to stay responsive to customer feedback, especially complaints, and to learn all I can from the mistakes, so they are fewer over time, and not repeated often ...
All this marketing stuff is based on judgement calls. I can't make other people's judgements for them, or tell them what they -must- do. This isn't a guild, and I am not a Master Jeweler. It isn't up to me.
I -can- share my experience, suggest resources, describe failures and
-why- they were failures, and just generally point out some of the pitfalls, as well as some of the ladders that are useful for climbing back out of those pits. Like how much better precious metal crimps work and hold than base-metal. One place where the difference makes a
-big- difference.
I wish new beaders who are beginning to offer their work beyond family and friends all the luck in the world. But I don't want to come across as making 'class distinctions', such as the sort that suggest that using a brass clasp instead of a gold-filled one makes you an inferior jewelry designer, or too cheap and cheesey to hang out with 'the pros', who are *real* jewelry designers.
I honestly don't think that is true. I think the thing with the brass components may be quite beautiful and very skillfully designed and executed. If it doesn't -claim- to be gold, then my sense of professional ethics is satisfied. And as a consumer, I will be well-informed about what I am getting and can make my own choice on the basis of my own standards of value-for-the-money.
Deirdre
I go along with this wholeheartedly. And understand that what each person can afford is dependent on lots of things that need to be taken into consideration as they decide where to start, and how to work their way onward from there...
Deirdre
I like this approach. It gives context to the *why* of being conscious of quality.
Deirdre
On Sun, 21 Sep 2003 0:03:47 -0400, Dr. Sooz wrote (in message ):
Dear Original Poster,
A few threads up in today's postings, one of our regular posters told us that she's teaching her very first beading class tomorrow, at a local craft store. Because she was hired by the craft store, she's required to use their items to teach with.
The craft store doesn't have the highest quality beads and findings on the market, but she's going to work with her students to let them know that there are other places and nicer beads "out there." In the meantime, she's going to show her students how to be informed consumers of the items available at that craft store and end up with a finished product that's worth the time put into it. (It can be done)
Say that you and I were making brownies to sell. The supermarket sells brownie mix, but they also sell butter, bitter chocolate, and all the other ingredients for killer homemade brownies. The time to make the brownies, either way, is about equal; but the two finished products are worlds apart. If I were going to buy some brownies from someone who called herself a professional baker, I'd feel seriously ripped off if I got "brownie mix" brownies. How about if I then went back to that baker and she said, "Well, I got the ingredients from the supermarket, how was I supposed to know that brownie mix didn't make the best brownies on the planet?"
The most important components in any of your pieces are your time and your creativity. When I make a piece and give it away (I don't sell things, but the concept is the same), I feel satisfied that the item is of the highest level of craftsmanship. Why would I think that using inferior ingredients would somehow result in a superior product? If I hold myself out to be an artist, in cooking or beadmaking, I have to deliver something that really is superior to what Ms. Average Crafter is able to make. That's impossible to do when using the cheapest ingredients possible.
Kathy N-V
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@aol.compuppies (Dr. Sooz) :
]Does your stuff fall apart three months later?
not that i'm aware of. but your post was a reply to my message, so i became confuzzled........
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@aol.compuppies (Dr. Sooz) :
]It was? (I wasn't talking about YOU!)
that's all i really wanted to know. thanks.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
Lots of really good points here, and here's my opinion. The market is jam packed full of people making jewelry out of mediocre components and selling it. To be successful in the handmade jewelry market these days, it's good to have jewelry that is high quality and unique. Have something that the average jewelry maker doesn't have - high quality. People selling at craft fairs and at flea markets tend to (not all, but most) have inexpensive, cookie cutter items that aren't selling these days because there is so much of it out there. Search the web (I used google.com) for handmade beaded jewelry and there are over 75,000 websites. That's a LOT. Standing out is really difficult. But to be successful and make money selling your handmade crafts, you *have* to stand out in some way. My advice is this:
Develop one particular skill and technique to the point that you can do it beautifully and quickly. Put your own style into it. Study your market - work hard at identifying your target group and find out what gets their attention in a positive way. If you're really serious, use the highest quality components you can, and charge a fair price for your hard work. It takes money to make money. You need to advertise, buy the right components and spend a good amount of time marketing. It's not easy. But if you love it, it's worth it.
-- Kandice Seeber Air & Earth Designs
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