The first version of these that I made sold in less than an hour I think off Etsy. I adore these colours I think the lavenders are gorgeous. Anyway this is version 2 with opaque and transparent lavender and will be availble to buy off my website tonight along with a few other goodies.
What have you been up to this weekend? I have had a very productive time. I discovered Tony has a grinder and I managed to persuade him to buy the spindle to adapt one end to a polisher and OMG what a difference to my silver! I am rearranging my workspace a bit so that has taken up some time today.
This week is half term for the 2 girls so I am not sure how much beading time I will get but I definitely need to make some jewellery as I have a party Friday and the designs for the Ingoldsby Gallery need to be finished my Friday as well.
Have a lovely week guys and don't forget new beadies on my website tonight
TTFN xx
Showing posts with label galleries. Show all posts
Showing posts with label galleries. Show all posts
Sunday, 25 October 2009
Wednesday, 21 October 2009
Feeling bleurgh...
I think a dreaded cold may be on it's way!!! I am feeling a bit under the weather and I have the hugest blister on my lip. A leetle run down I fink.....
Anyway I am having a quiet indoors day today, bit of housework to do and I am waiting for a package to arrive. So time to get you all up to speed on my life.
I have some lovely photos of the Big Bead show to show you
This first one is me and Keiara behine our stand before the show opened. I look completely gormless he he. Aren't those stands fab? Keiara's husband made them and they were absolutely perfect I can tell you
This second one is a shot of one of the times our stand looked quite busy.
Keaira and I had a fab day and I have booked again for next year I will give you more details once dates are set etc! I am going to hopefully do more shows tho again watch this space and I will let you know!
Other news: I took one of my jewellery ideas down to the Ingoldsby Gallery in Margate on Sunday to show them as they have asked me to put together a range of jewellery that will be exclusive to them. It went down well so I am now busy making these pieces to have on show for the beginning of November. I am also doing a 3 day Christmas Market in Margate Old Town in December which I am quite excited about.
Savannah's primary school is having a Christmas fair on 28th November and I am having a fingerprint stand there so I busy getting the pre order letters ready to send out to all the mum's and dad's and I am hopeful that this will be well received. I am also donating a prize to the school prize draw but I am not quite sure what that will be yet!
All in all things are looking very good, I just hope this darned cold does not develop.
Anyway must dash, ooh one quick reminder I loaded up loads of new beads onto my website and my Etsy shop last night so please take a look!
TTFN xx
Anyway I am having a quiet indoors day today, bit of housework to do and I am waiting for a package to arrive. So time to get you all up to speed on my life.
I have some lovely photos of the Big Bead show to show you
This first one is me and Keiara behine our stand before the show opened. I look completely gormless he he. Aren't those stands fab? Keiara's husband made them and they were absolutely perfect I can tell you
This second one is a shot of one of the times our stand looked quite busy.Keaira and I had a fab day and I have booked again for next year I will give you more details once dates are set etc! I am going to hopefully do more shows tho again watch this space and I will let you know!
Other news: I took one of my jewellery ideas down to the Ingoldsby Gallery in Margate on Sunday to show them as they have asked me to put together a range of jewellery that will be exclusive to them. It went down well so I am now busy making these pieces to have on show for the beginning of November. I am also doing a 3 day Christmas Market in Margate Old Town in December which I am quite excited about.
Savannah's primary school is having a Christmas fair on 28th November and I am having a fingerprint stand there so I busy getting the pre order letters ready to send out to all the mum's and dad's and I am hopeful that this will be well received. I am also donating a prize to the school prize draw but I am not quite sure what that will be yet!
All in all things are looking very good, I just hope this darned cold does not develop.
Anyway must dash, ooh one quick reminder I loaded up loads of new beads onto my website and my Etsy shop last night so please take a look!
TTFN xx
Thursday, 25 June 2009
Value what you do!
I have had a very good day and learned a lot. I have travelled to the "Creative Quarter" in Folkestone, Kent to see if any of the galleries there would be interested in displaying and selling my jewellery. I tried 2 galleries with fair success in them both but 2 very different experiences.
The first gallery I went into was interested in selling my jewellery but did not want my "higher" end priced items as he simply did not think that any of it would sell. But he does want me to go back with some earrings and necklaces and will sell them on a sale or return basis.
The second gallery I went to was awesome. The owner was just a complete gentleman he invited me to sit down and we had a very long and detailed chat. He complimented me on my professional manner and on my presentation which boosted my confidence I can tell you. He also really liked the piece I was wearing. He was very honest with me and said that until recently he had not even considered lampworking and beads as potentially part of his gallery feeling that jewellery makers do not actually make their jewellery they simply assemble selected components into designs that they create, not really handmade. Now I guess there is a whole debate to be had there into the semantics of what is handmade but I am going to avoid that topic for tonight. What did come out very clearly from our chat was that he felt very strongly that I was undervaluing my work and was not pricing my work appropriately at all. I admit a level of naivety into the pricing thing and he opened my eyes to many factors that I had not considered and has made me massively question how I price my work. This comes on the back of a bit of a wrist slapping from a very good friend who has also told me off for not pricing my work appropriately.
So.........the pricing debate! There are a fair few places on the internet that you can look to get information about how to price your work; here, here, here and here They certainly give you food for thought!
I have 2 ways of pricing my work. Firstly my bead sets and focal beads. These I charge an hourly rate e.g. £20 so if a set of beads takes me 30 minutes to make they cost £10 to sell to you. This covers my price of the glass, the gas, the electricity, labour etc etc. I tweak price depending on the glass I use so if I use the silvered glasses or Rubino the price goes up a little to allow for the fact that these glasses are more expensive.
Jewellery is a bit more tricky and after much consideration I generally cost out the price of my materials and then multiply by 2 or 2.5. I see what that comes out at and if I am comfortable with that price that is what I charge if not I tweak! Not very scientific I know!!!!!
I under charge because I don't want to seem too pompous and up myself like "who the hell does she think she is selling constume jewellery at that kind of price I can buy cheaper in Argos" so I price to be competative with the big chain stores. I tell myself I don't want to make a huge profit just enough to feed my glass habit, thus I undercut people who are trying to make themselves a living. I would hate to have pieces of jewellery languishing in my shop for ever so I price to sell!. I get terribly embarrased when I say "Oh that piece costs £45" I would rather say " Oh 25 quid ok" BUT this may make it seem as though I am undervaluing my work and if I do that then it is like someone says in one of the links above
"It's tempting to believe that the lower the price, the quicker it will sell. However, sometimes super low prices may make customers suspicious. Why so low? Is there something wrong with it? Also, if someone really wants an item (as long as the price isn't outrageous), they will pay what you ask."
Both galleries have asked me to return with some pieces of jewellery to display and hopefully sell. The second gallery has asked me to reconsider my pricing and price them more reasonably as if I continue to sell at my current prices then I will effectively be competing with him and he would no longer be interested in doing business with me. His parting words were that I should value my work. If I value my work then others will as well and as long as my work is considerately priced I will find a market.
I have learned lots today and I am still taking it in and considering what he discussed with me but I can learn as has this lovely gentleman who now has an appreciation for what we do in lampworking (I have to admit to not being able to take credit for this, he met a lampwork artist at a glass fair earlier this year and she opened his eyes to what we do so thank you to the mystery lady who laid the groundwork).
Value what you do and others will value it also
TTFNxx
The first gallery I went into was interested in selling my jewellery but did not want my "higher" end priced items as he simply did not think that any of it would sell. But he does want me to go back with some earrings and necklaces and will sell them on a sale or return basis.
The second gallery I went to was awesome. The owner was just a complete gentleman he invited me to sit down and we had a very long and detailed chat. He complimented me on my professional manner and on my presentation which boosted my confidence I can tell you. He also really liked the piece I was wearing. He was very honest with me and said that until recently he had not even considered lampworking and beads as potentially part of his gallery feeling that jewellery makers do not actually make their jewellery they simply assemble selected components into designs that they create, not really handmade. Now I guess there is a whole debate to be had there into the semantics of what is handmade but I am going to avoid that topic for tonight. What did come out very clearly from our chat was that he felt very strongly that I was undervaluing my work and was not pricing my work appropriately at all. I admit a level of naivety into the pricing thing and he opened my eyes to many factors that I had not considered and has made me massively question how I price my work. This comes on the back of a bit of a wrist slapping from a very good friend who has also told me off for not pricing my work appropriately.
So.........the pricing debate! There are a fair few places on the internet that you can look to get information about how to price your work; here, here, here and here They certainly give you food for thought!
I have 2 ways of pricing my work. Firstly my bead sets and focal beads. These I charge an hourly rate e.g. £20 so if a set of beads takes me 30 minutes to make they cost £10 to sell to you. This covers my price of the glass, the gas, the electricity, labour etc etc. I tweak price depending on the glass I use so if I use the silvered glasses or Rubino the price goes up a little to allow for the fact that these glasses are more expensive.
Jewellery is a bit more tricky and after much consideration I generally cost out the price of my materials and then multiply by 2 or 2.5. I see what that comes out at and if I am comfortable with that price that is what I charge if not I tweak! Not very scientific I know!!!!!
I under charge because I don't want to seem too pompous and up myself like "who the hell does she think she is selling constume jewellery at that kind of price I can buy cheaper in Argos" so I price to be competative with the big chain stores. I tell myself I don't want to make a huge profit just enough to feed my glass habit, thus I undercut people who are trying to make themselves a living. I would hate to have pieces of jewellery languishing in my shop for ever so I price to sell!. I get terribly embarrased when I say "Oh that piece costs £45" I would rather say " Oh 25 quid ok" BUT this may make it seem as though I am undervaluing my work and if I do that then it is like someone says in one of the links above
"It's tempting to believe that the lower the price, the quicker it will sell. However, sometimes super low prices may make customers suspicious. Why so low? Is there something wrong with it? Also, if someone really wants an item (as long as the price isn't outrageous), they will pay what you ask."
Both galleries have asked me to return with some pieces of jewellery to display and hopefully sell. The second gallery has asked me to reconsider my pricing and price them more reasonably as if I continue to sell at my current prices then I will effectively be competing with him and he would no longer be interested in doing business with me. His parting words were that I should value my work. If I value my work then others will as well and as long as my work is considerately priced I will find a market.
I have learned lots today and I am still taking it in and considering what he discussed with me but I can learn as has this lovely gentleman who now has an appreciation for what we do in lampworking (I have to admit to not being able to take credit for this, he met a lampwork artist at a glass fair earlier this year and she opened his eyes to what we do so thank you to the mystery lady who laid the groundwork).
Value what you do and others will value it also
TTFNxx
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