My Own Design

I've realized recently that when I say my wife and I make jewelry, that's not entirely true. I pretend to make jewelry. She makes jewelry. I photograph and post what she's made, do the online marketing and generally do the research on what we need to know to make our fledgling business work.

I've decided to turn that around. How can I truely support her in her dream if I don't take part in it? I'm not sure that's possible. And, I like it. It's a very creative outlet, and I've always been artistic. So, I vowed (is that too strong of a word?) that I would start making my own designs. I found that, it's not as easy as it looks.

The problems is, it's easy to put together a pair of earrings. Anyone with a general will to do it can. But, to put together some stunning earrings, is another thing entirely. Tonight, as we sat down to start making jewelry, and I shocked her by picking up the bead tray to find a combination I liked, I realized I had no idea what I wanted to do. I picked up beads, rearranged beads, dropped beads and a lot of other actions, before I found a design that I liked and I felt was original enough.

Unfortunately, once I started putting them together, I realized gravity was not helping my design. I scrapped them and came up with something else. My very own design... I'll get some photos posted in the next couple of days.

Edit: I finally was able to get some pictures taken of it and I posted one to the right.

Branching Out

So, Karla did some other crafty type stuff while in Mexico and we decided, she didn't need to keep it all. She did some cool stuff to some handmade palm leave bags. I'm getting pictures taken of them and listing them on our site, one by one. They're a really good deal, and very sturdy. And, they look really cool! Go check'em out! I've posted a picture of the first one here. Just click on it to go to the Etsy listing!

D

Memorial Day Special

It's a promotion! Any purchases that are made from our online store (see links to the right of the page) will recieve a 10% discount!! Use the Etsy server date. This is any purchases from 12:01am to 12:00PM on Monday, May 28th. Have fun!

Higher Traffic

So, I have a counter on this page to tell me how many hits we get every day. We also earn advertising points through it. Anyway...

So, I was shocked today when I got my emailed statistics. We usually have anywhere from 0 to 15 hits a day. I about fell out of my chair when I opened the email. One Hundred and One hits today! That is absolutely amazing! I had no idea what I could have done to cause that jump in traffic. No advertising or promoting I had done previously had ever caused such a traffic load. I was exstatic! Still am, as a matter of fact. It wasn't until I looked at some other mail in my mailbox, that was an updated list of Jewelry Weblogs from About Jewelry Making author Tammy Powley. She had listed us there! I think that's the first real public exposure we've ever had. Thank you so much Tammy. Thank all of the great people on the Jewelry Making Forum and the great community you are! If you are NOT familiar with this (and there still might be a few visitors trickling in from other places) I urge you to check it out.

Here is a link to the list of Jewelry Weblogs that she posted. Please, go forth, check the other ones out. And, once again, leave us a note to let us know you came!

God bless.

Burnin' Down the House

We recently invested in some tools to start working with metal, specifically, silversmithing. I've been spending what free time I have in the garage, trying to get my technique down for soldering silver. It's really not that hard, it just take precision that I haven't trained into my hands yet. But, I'm excited! Now I can make the chains and nifty things that have been running through my head for so long!

On a different note, I've also started working harder at improving the photos I take of our products. I think that I've improved a lot! There is still plenty I can do to improve and I'm working at it.

All you people who end up here, give us a shout! I'd love to hear who you are and where you come from and how you found us! We love you guys!

One of a Kind: Take Two

We just had an interesting experience last night. We had another in home jewelry showing and got quite a bit of business. It was very nice, to be there with all those people and talk to them and they were quite kind with their purchases, as well.

However, when we got home afterwards and Karla checked Etsy, we'd had a sale, one of the very things that someone had set aside as a reservation. Luckily, I was able to call the customer and explain that someone had bought that same article, and would she mind terribly if we sent it to the paying customer? She was very understanding and agreed and we made a deal for her next purchase. It's a good deal for her and for us, as it guarantees that she'll be a future customer. And it's good that we got to actually sell the item that had been listed on Etsy.

As I explained to Karla last night, this is one of those dangers of having only OOAK pieces. If we can't make duplicates, how will we handle this situation in the future? I think the solution we worked out today will work in the future.

Problem solved!

Home Jewelry Party

Karla and I just got back from our very first Home Jewelry Party! It was very much a success. Only 4 people came, but they came to buy, so it turned out really well. If they happen to be reading this (does anyone read this?) I would like to send a huge hello and thank you!

If you weren't there, but would like to schedule a Home Jewelry Party, just send an email to kelleyaccents@gmail.com. Of course, you'll need to be in the Kansas City area. If you're too far away from here, you can always follow the Etsy link to the right and see some of our choice items!

I was a little nervous at first about how it would turn out. We were there for a couple hours and came out with a little bit more money in our pockets when we came out. Success is such a good feeling. We have another scheduled for tomorrow night. Yeah!

Wire Weave

All hail the mighty wire weave! I learned how to do the basics today. I made a bracelet out of silver colored wire. It looks COOL! I'm definitely going to have to dedicate more time to doing this. It's great, looks great, feels great. And, I can finally wear metal jewelry. Most of the stuff we make is more geared towards the female. This can be very masculine and looks wonderful. I'll have to take a picture to get it posted. I can tell you where my energy is going to be going for the next little bit!

Edit: I just got a picture posted on the Etsy site. I posted it again here so you can see it. Cool, huh!

D

One of a Kind

A couple days ago, I was in Michael's browsing for some inspiration, when I started chatting with another woman there. I found out that she was a semi-successful jewelry artist who had just returned from a show in Louisianna where she had pulled in $8k. Cool, but that's neither here, nor there.

We got to talking about materials and techniques and, I don't remember how, but we got into a big discussion about whether it's good to make copies of previous designs, or if one should always make only one of each item. Now, I'm all for making copies. She was quite adamant that each piece should be original, and the only one of it's kind.

I like originality. I like making something that no one else has thought of. But, with jewelry being such an old art, and there being so many people on this planet... can I really come up with a design that no one has thought of yet?

So... I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I make what I like and if someone wants another piece that I've already made, well, why not?

Three New "Stuffs"!

Woohoo! We got a few new things up on Etsy! Finally. It seems like it takes forever to get them from idea to storefront. But, it's done. We've got plenty more, I just don't have the energy to take any more pictures tonight. We both had a stressful day at our "real" jobs.

I do want to point out some nifty little earrings we've put up. They are a cool little item that Karla and I came up with; kind of a novelty item. I call them, the Love Potion Earrings! Check them out on the right, and then swing on by Etsy to see them listed!

It's May

Goodness, we're already welcoming another month here. (Did you notice? I started this post with "Goodness" instead of "Wow"...)

Karla is still organizing all the cool stuff she brought back. I think we're going to take some pictures tonight to list the new items she got. I've been experimenting with epoxy resin and have some pieces curing in the garage as we speak! Or rather... as I type this. I'm excited to see how they turn out. I'm planning on turning them into pendants using Sculpey.

So, that's all the news I can think of. There may be more of interest and I'm sure it will make it's way up here. So, TTFN!