In these times of recession, over $4 a gallon gas and rising grocery prices, a jewelry crafter's best friends are quite literally her best friends. Without my loyal friends, I would have made no sales at all in June. They not only encourage my crafting, they buy from me - insisting I take payment even though I feel strange doing so.
AM fell in love with a necklace Maria Bello wore in The Jane Austen Book Club and wanted me to make a similar one for her. After scanning through the DVD to find the scene, I sketched out a rough idea and she and I brainstormed to come up with an affordable facsimile. Although sterling silver would have been lovely, the cost was a little higher than either of us wanted so we decided just to go with silver-tone metal for right now. The end result, while not exactly like the one in the movie, was pretty good. Most importantly, AM likes it and she wears it often. This was a case where I refused any money because: a) It was made with bits and pieces I already had in my stash and, b) It is a prototype. I guess you could call AM my jewelry guinea pig :D
LT wears eyeglass chains all the time and is actually the reason I launched Bead-D-Eyes. She not only requests certain colors and styles, she buys from my Etsy shop regularly. I had never realized how many people, ladies especially, wear these chains. Living at the beach provides a year-round market for them to keep sunglasses handy. In the winter, I sell quite a few to our "snowbird" residents.
My sister-in-law has also been quite an active cheerleader for my work by purchasing several pieces and wearing them to work. She asked for a stack of business cards to hand out and it has really been a boost for me.
In the Etsy fora I have seen many posts from artists/crafters who literally sell their work off their necks to folks they meet in line at the store. Although this hasn't happened to me, I can see where wearing your work when you go out could be a valuable advertising tool. For me, however, my friends (and family) will remain my favorite cheerleaders.
AM fell in love with a necklace Maria Bello wore in The Jane Austen Book Club and wanted me to make a similar one for her. After scanning through the DVD to find the scene, I sketched out a rough idea and she and I brainstormed to come up with an affordable facsimile. Although sterling silver would have been lovely, the cost was a little higher than either of us wanted so we decided just to go with silver-tone metal for right now. The end result, while not exactly like the one in the movie, was pretty good. Most importantly, AM likes it and she wears it often. This was a case where I refused any money because: a) It was made with bits and pieces I already had in my stash and, b) It is a prototype. I guess you could call AM my jewelry guinea pig :D
LT wears eyeglass chains all the time and is actually the reason I launched Bead-D-Eyes. She not only requests certain colors and styles, she buys from my Etsy shop regularly. I had never realized how many people, ladies especially, wear these chains. Living at the beach provides a year-round market for them to keep sunglasses handy. In the winter, I sell quite a few to our "snowbird" residents.
My sister-in-law has also been quite an active cheerleader for my work by purchasing several pieces and wearing them to work. She asked for a stack of business cards to hand out and it has really been a boost for me.
In the Etsy fora I have seen many posts from artists/crafters who literally sell their work off their necks to folks they meet in line at the store. Although this hasn't happened to me, I can see where wearing your work when you go out could be a valuable advertising tool. For me, however, my friends (and family) will remain my favorite cheerleaders.
2 comments:
What a beautiful necklace. You have very lucky friends!
Thank you zo-be! I'm the lucky one - my friends are the best.
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