Heart Necklace Handmade Lampwork Glass Heart Necklace Copper Bronze Green Beaded

I really struggled with what to do with this particular heart bead.  I finally chose to pair it with faceted copper metallic beads and softer, pale green serpentine beads.  Here is the result!  I was qite happy with the way it turned out.  The metallic copper beads pic up the metallic look of the heart bead and serpentine softens it just enough. To see more about this necklace just click on the picture.

Huge Moving SALE!

I am closing my main Etsy shop and moving all of my wire wrapped and beaded jewelry to my Artfire shop. Quite frankly the constant cycle of renewal is just not worth it anymore. I will simply be letting my items expire as they come up for renewal. In the meantime I am offereing 25% OFF and FREE SHIPPING on the entire shop. This is a great deal for you lol! and will make it easier for me as I hope to have less items to move over!

Go HERE for the sale!

New Venues

I know in a previous post I mentioned that I was going to expand the venues that I was selling on. I have done this, sort of a grand experiment lol and have decided to give each venue until after Christmas, through the four month period most of these venues give you for listing times. Sooo say til the end of February. I have just recently signed up with four new venues, 1000Markets, Shop Handmade Handmade Fuzion and Artfire. So far I am very very happy with 1000Markets, the site looks awesome, it's juried (ya I know but I really like it, it is very profressional looking and the concept is completely awesome) and the admins are fabulous. Plus they already offer most of what that other site seems to think is not important, like stats, being able to move your items around and put them in any order you want. And there is no listing fee, they don't plan on making there money from listing AND they are going to be doing advertising for the site, as in for buyers. Also lots of other stuff that I won't mention now.
I like Shop Handmade simply because it is very proactive as far as the environment goes. Not hard to list on once you get used to the interface either. And its free to list. I may keep this one simply because its free to list and free to sell, plus I can donate a quarter for each item I sell and help save the rainforest. Doesn't get better than that.
I was pretty excited about Handmade Fuzion at first, the site is very clean looking and it has some good stats also. However the listing fee is .15 (which I really don't have a problem with) but if you want to get any hits at all you have to also pay .50 for front page exposure. So now its .65 to list instead of .15 or no one looks are your items. That is a bit steep for me and could rapidly become a fairly large bill. If I don't get some sales from this venue fairly regularly by February it will most likely be taken down.
Artfire is free to list and free to sell but I am not sure how buyers find your products. I am currently paying $7 a month for the upgraded shop which does have awesome stats. I was told that this would also give me additional exposure. We will see how it goes.
I am not closing my etsy shop, I have invested way too much time in it at this point but I will not be listing new items as often as I am being completely buried. I am adding all of my new product to my 1000Markets shop at this point and will most likely spend a good bit of my energy on that. More to come on how that site works later. I have several more that I am aslo using that are also under review but I won't go into that now.

Sale Reminder

Just a quick reminder to anyone thinking of purchasing for the holidays. I am having a 10% off sale until December first in my etsy shop silverriverjewelry.etsy.com. If you mention my blog in the notes to sellers I will include free shipping.

I am also having a $1.00 off any stitch marker set in my silverriverstitches.etsy.com shop. If you know any knitters this is an excellant, affordable gift. Everything in this shop is $10 or less already so with the $1.00 off nothing is more than $9.


Happy Holidays and have fun shopping!

I Was Featured!

WooHoo! One of my items in my Silver River Metal shop was featured on Friago's blog in her top 7 at 7 pics! How cool is that! Thanks Friago! Here is the link to the post if you want to check it out.

http://blog.friago.com/post/My-what-pretty-jewelry-you-have.aspx

Do you Twitter?

So apparently this is the new thing to do online nowadays. I finally broke down and checked it out after hearing about it for several weeks. I was surprised really at how much fun it is! It's amazing to me how tiny little snippets of peoples lives (140 characters at a time) can be so darn interesting lol! So I decided to give it a try. I can post as little or as often as I want. I am going to try and not make it completely a marketing tool and just try to blend it with life in general. Go check it out and let me know if you like it or not! My twitter address is http://twitter.com/SilverRiverJ

Both of my names are too long to fit entirely and silver river was already taken. Oh well

Don't forget I am currently offering 10% off in my SILVERRIVERJEWELRY.ETSY.COM store and if you mention my blog in the notes to seller I will also ship your items free, worldwide.

Also recieve $1.00 off any set of stitch markers in my SILVERRIVERSTITCHES.ETSY.COM store. Sorry no free shipping on these.

New Shop

So I have opened a new shop on etsy named Silver River Metal (silverrivermetal.etsy.com). I struggled with this a little bit since I already have two shops on etsy, silverriverjewelry.etsy.com and silverriverstitches.etsy.com. I am expanding my skills in the metal smithing area and truth be told I love it! It meshes better with my addiction to lapidary (rocks) than the wire wrapping does and broadens my horizans by leaps and bounds. The lapidary addiction comes from taking and ugly rock out of the ground and turning it into something gorgeous and wearable. It's like a treasure hunt and you never know what you are going to get when you open that rock up, slab it, trim, grind it and polish it. Plus I find the whole process very relaxing. Weird I know lol! The metal work just compliments the stone work. I don't have to stress about finding the perfect setting, I can make my own. (I haven't achieved perfection yet lol, in fact I am perfecting melting bezels into small balls of silver more than I am anything but it is improving.) Plus I really like playing with fire, at least this way I am using that for a useful purpose! While I am not giving up the wire wrapping and beading, I will be shifting my purpose more toward the metal work at this point. As you can see there is a big difference in the two styles. Should be interesting to see where it will go.

Christmas in July Sale

Just a head's up for everyone there are a group of people on etsy that will be doing a Christmas in July sale. Starting July 20th to July 31st everyone on the list will be doing some kind of a special for the sale. I will include the link to the forum post that has everyone that will be participating. You can also type in Christmas in July in the tags and that will also pull up everyone who is participating. I have about 15 items tagged at the moment but everything in my store will be 10% off for those dates. Make sure that you mention Christmas in July in the comments to seller section to get your discount. The shipping price is not included in the discount. Happy shopping everyone and I hope you all get a good head start on your Christmas shopping.

Here is the link
http://www.etsy.com/forums_thread.php?thread_id=5653719

The Things That People Say Part 2

So I am back with more interesting things that people say to vendors at craft fairs/shows. It is always amazing to me that people do not understand the time and effort it takes to make things. Not just the amount of time physically spent making items but the time we spend online and in person hunting down reputable, affordable dealers for supplies, and the amount of time that we spend perfecting what we do. I also know from personal experience and know this to be true of many other artists as well, we never stop learning new things, and trying to perfect the techniques that we already know. For most of us it is never good enough and this drives us to continue pushing our personal envelope. This is one of the reasons that many of us are unwilling to divulge the source of our materials and many of the techniques that we use just for the asking. We want you to learn by doing just like we did. It tends to make you a better artist than if someone just hands you all of the information. Most of us are more than willing to point you in the right direction to get you started but please, don't expect us to give up all of our secrets we worked so hard to acquire.

Examples

A friend said to me (chatting online): "Maybe you can show me how to make jewelry. I will never have to buy jewelry again!"

My comeback: Logged off.
LOL

I had one of these too!
But then I got really evasive, saying that I buy my wire from the States (via internet), thinking that she might understand my subtleness.. and then she asked me if I could buy the wire for her!

wow, I should think about this a bit more but I did have someone grab my button machine and ask me how it works without asking to touch it. Never touch an artists tools without asking! Don't touch musical instruments, tools that seem like they could be in a tool box like pliers or those fancy artists pens, just don't do it.

Also, every couple of months I get an e-mail from some local person I don't even know who wants to borrow my button machine. They tell me that they want to make buttons and not have to pay my prices!? I usually answers by saying "My button machine is my tool of my trade. I don't think you would ask a random carpenter you didn't know if you could borrow their table saw."

Customer: "where do you get all your supplies?"

Me: *thinking to myself "that is the rudest question to EVER ask a designer"....i said to her w/flat-pan grin "...i get all of it from planet earth." ~ which is a true statement.

"Will you teach me to do that?" (Subtext: "...because I don't want to pay you for something you can teach me for free to make myself...")

"I wonder where she got her supplies"

It's usually "How did you make those?"
To which I usually answer "One at a time."
(One young man of about 13 replied to that, in his best Robert DiNero "So, you ain't gonna tell me?")

I had one guy ask me if I had gold items so he could melt them down. Then he asked me where I got all my stuff.

Ummm... :/

Most often overheard at my booth: a all too common scene:

Nice Lady: "Oh my daughter makes jewelry"

Me: "Yes, I think about 20% of the population does it for a hobby or proffession, it is the sewing of yesterday"

Nice Lady: "My daughter needs to come over here! (calls on cell- "OH daughter- come check this stuff out! You should totally come make this designs and charge so much more!" While looking directly at me)

Me: Is she coming over?

Nice LAdy: Yes, she is, she was just over by the handmade candies

Me: Oh, good, I love to talk with other bead lovers..

Nice lady's daughter : OMG! I love this! Mom, I should totally copy and sell for more! You are so right!!! Hey- you- bead artist, where do you get your beads so I can buy them? I like totally want to make this myself

ME: I have them custom cut and made just for me. Takes 9 months and thousands of dollars (Truth)

Nice LAdy; OH! Daughter! I am so sad for you! You can make so much more money than her if you could do that!

Me: Why dont I give you my bead suppliers name and contact info

Nice Lady 's daughter: That is like so totally unfair! That would take forever!I hate you! I want your beads now! You make it really difficult for others to earn a living at this business!!!

ME: Well, I spent 5 years working for others while doing my jewelry line so I would not spend a dime on credit for supplies and very slowly built up my purchasing abilities. This has taken 11 years for me to get here. No easy road for me.

Nice Lady's daughter: Mom, buy me that necklace so I can resell for 3 times that amount

Me: happy to sell that to you..

Nice ladys daughter: Why dont you just sell me the necklace for what the beads cost you, I think you should because I am a beader too and buy from Fire Mt.

Me: ( It takes me to hear this before I think: WTF????) I am so sorry, but I need to sell at what it is priced at. My babys need food you know!

Nice Lady: Why dont I make it up to you by buying you that nice handbag you want

Nice ladys daughter: Pout....

I love art and craft fairs. I was at the Christmas craft fair last year. There were 2 ladies stop by my booth. They examined everything inside and out the say: "Would you show me how to make this. I don't want to buy, I can make it if you'll show me how" Wow, I said: "Why would I want to do that? How much do you want to pay for the lesson?"
They left without saying a word.

"Where do you get your stuff from? I was thinking of doing the same thing, but I don't know where to get the stuff" !


As you can see most artists and crafters find this type of thing rude and belittling. We really don't mind giving tips about techniques and supplies if you are a serious crafter but don't expect us to give away the farm just so you don't have to pay for something you think you can make yourself.

Usually, if the person is serious about starting a "craft" and making jewelry I might point that person in the right direction. After all, if they go online they will find the information regardless. I don't really have time to teach. I barely have time to create! And if I was to teach anyone I would definitely charge for my time and supplies.

I have had people ask me oh how do you make that? Basically just to see what information they can get out of me... I laugh and tell them "I can't." or "Sure I can tell you, but I charge $30 an hour for my time." Short, plain, simple, straight to the point.

I still do not understand why people think it is just a hobby. Yes I do have a full time job, but I also work on my jewelry practically full time as well. The fact that we sell our work online, on craft shows/fairs, makes it more than just a hobby, but some people take that for granted.

brynnalex
LoellaMedina
nanouke
brainscan
pattymara
sexygeekwithattitude
TheSilkRoad
GivingGrace
Asianexpressions

Check this out,!

This is really cool. (for me anyway lol). Susan, who does Friday Findings over at Posh Mama, used my textured copper earrings in last Friday's article. I also did the give away for that week. That was pretty exciting in and of itself but when I checked out my updates from Posh Mama, Susan's article has been published in Reuters. Woohoo! I am just so excited. I have been working my you know what off trying to promote everywhere I can think off. More exposure is always good lol! So anyhow here is the article she wrote. Check out the other cool copper items she also featured. The earrings for the give away are at the bottom. Sorry but the winner has already been chosen.
Thanks Susan!

Friday Findings: Cool Copper Jewelry

POSTED: Friday, May 23, 2008

FROM BLOG: Posh Mama Online Magazine and Social Network - Posh Mama Online Magazine and Social Network is a positive community exclusively for women who share information on a variety of topics.

The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com.

Copper is one of the few naturally occurring metals, which means its often found in minerals. In addition to its wonderfully rich, reddish color, the malleability of Copper makes it a favorite material of jewelry designers. I've found some really cool examples of copper jewelry over the last few weeks, am I'm excited to be showcasing these fabulous finds with you today on this week's edition of Friday Findings. Copper Sand Ring from Adobe Sol Designs

For an earthy twist, we'll start today's showcase with a piece from one of my personal favorite rockstars of wire wrap…check out this amazing oxidized copper ring made with 16 gauge copper wire and topped off with a totally gorgeous 9mm lampwork barrel bead by Tiffany McCoy. Created by Adobe Sol Designs in Corrales, NM. Dogwood Pendant from Silent Goddess

Every bit as fresh as the blooms on its namesake plant is this beautiful hand fabricated copper blossom pendant. It measures 1 1/8 inches width and hangs gracefully from an 18" silver-tone chain that closes with a double hook copper clasp. The pendants are made-to-order and entirely hand fabricated by Silent Goddess in Port Orchard, WA. Textured Copper Earrings from Silver River Jewelry

Bright copper cut from bright copper sheet metal, these fabulous copper dangles have been sanded smooth and lightly hammered to provide a rich texture. Carefully hand formed ear wires are also made of copper wire. They are 2 3/4 inches long and are designed by Silver River Jewelry in Akron, OH. A World Away Pendant from Mineralogy

Both exotic and abstract, this distinctive pendant has been fabricated from sterling silver and copper sheet metal. It's been hand cut, shaped, textured and soldered to form this beautiful pendant with a distinctly exotic flair. The pendant is 2" in length and 1 1/8" wide. Designed by Mineralogy in Piedmont Triad, NC. Copper Blade Hoop Earrings from Disco Medusa

Bold made-to-order hammered Copper earrings with a dark and rich heat-treated patina create a deliciously mottled rusty finish with hints of dark red, copper, and pink. They glow when the light hits them just right! Sterling Silver earwires. Designed by Disco Medusa in Portland, OR. That's all we have time for this week! As a side note, I'll be on vacation for a few weeks...so, Friday Findings won't be back until Friday, June 13. But before you go, be sure to congratulate last week's Posh Mama giveaway winner… Pink Lemonade Liz. She will be receiving the Sapphire Swarovski Crystal Necklace and Earring set shown in last week's post from Linda Davis Designs in Los Gatos, CA. Be on the lookout Liz, I'll be emailing you for your shipping address. Enter our Weekly Giveaway: One lucky winner will receive this pair of beautiful royal blue earrings from this week's featured artist, Silver River Jewelry. To enter the contest, leave a comment or compliment about your favorite item(s) from today's post. The winner will be selected using random.org and announced on Monday, May 26.

Written by Susan Nelson of Capitola Girl Jewelry, where Every Girl Has a Story (and so should her jewelry!). Featured Weekly on Posh Mama Online Magazine.

Beading Challenge 2 "The Results"

Okay I am done waiting for everyone to get me their pictures to post this. Those of you who participated and got your earrings done on time THANK YOU! and I am sorry it took so long to post this. Here is a picture of the beads everyone had to work with that DesignedbyLucinda sent out.


AmityD










TexasTesla









tassiewashie









pipsjewellery








reddhynnes









Once again it just goes to prove that it IS possible to have similar looking designs with no prior knowledge of someone else's designs.

I am normally a very even tempered person but I do have to say how terribly disappointed I am in the remaining people who agreed to participate and then did not. DesignedbyLucinda went to a lot of trouble and expense to send those beads out to the participants. Saying you just didn't like the beads or you didn't like the way your design turned out and then choosing not to do the challenge is extremely unprofessional. The exception to this statement is SantiamDesigns who was too ill to participate. I don't know if we will continue to do this or not.

10 % Off Everyday

So I have promoted the heck out of lots of artists mostly on etsy, a couple not. So today I am going to do a very short promotion on me. I have added a lot of new stuff to my shop (I am up to 256 items as of today and have at least 15 more to list. In my shop announcement you will see a small line that says 10% off multiple purchases. I don't have it in big bold letters or anything (not really my style but maybe I should think about changing that lol). This has always been there but I don't know how many people actually READ the shop announcement. So I am just letting everyone know that if you buy more than one thing in my shop you will receive 10% off the total order (not including the shipping).

I will hopefully soon be getting together with another etsy artist to work on a logo/branding thing which will include the logo, business cards, earring cards, and things like that soon. I am also currently working with another etsy artist on a press release to be sent out to some magazines and online places. It should be an interesting experience and hopefully will bring an increase in business. I am also going to be doing a local farmers market from July to Sept. It is located in our downtown area and I am looking forward to sales there. I am working on putting together a display (its been a while since I did the craft fair circuit lol) and once I have it together I will post a couple of pictures and you can let me know what you think.