Handmade Jewelry - Behind the Scenes

Now that you've purchased all those gemstone beads, tools and other accoutrements, perfected your technique and created several masterpieces (Did I mention that jewelry making is quite addictive? And also quite expensive?), what are you going to do with all that jewelry? You can wear it. You can give it away. Maybe some co-workers would even be interested in buying a few pieces?

My husband encouraged me to sell some of the jewelry pieces I made. My first entrepreneurial attempt was on eBay. I bought a digital camera. To take pictures of jewelry you need a fairly good camera with a macro setting. I started to take pictures. They were awful. So I took more. Worse. I don't know why there are not whole libraries of books dedicated to taking pictures of jewelry. Picture taking has become somewhat of an evolving process for me, kind of an endless quest.

Finally I got some pictures that resembled the jewelry subjects. I opened an eBay store. The next thing I knew I had run up a huge tab with eBay and sold nothing. That process lasted 3 months and I was flat broke. Finally I changed the name of my company and inserted the word "Sundance" in the name and just listed a few items. Then I started to sell some pieces. Success at last!

At about that time a new art gallery store was opening on the Plaza (town square) in Sonoma, where I live. I went to the store with my box of creations and the store owners were actually interested in selling it. And sell it did. Unfortunately the arrangement was that the artist took the risk for things that were damaged or stolen in the store, and stolen it was. Even a bracelet with 4 silver bells on it went ding-a-linging out the door. But jewelry was selling! In the end I became fed up with my jewelry being stolen and took it out of the store.

The way it works when you sell your jewelry in a store, the store owner either buys it outright or they sell it on commission. When you sell on commission the store usually marks your jewelry up 100%. So you spend $25.00 on materials for a necklace, spend the better part of an afternoon designing and making the necklace (actually, sometimes it can take days), spend more time taking pictures and keeping records of what went to the store, set your price at $50.00, and the store sells it for $100.00. When your piece sells for $100.00 you've put in about 4 hours of work to make $25.00. Most people who make jewelry don't get rich. Some do very well, but you have a business model different from mine!

What it really is all about, at least for me, is the need to create and the love of gemstones! Never, ever take my advice about marketing or how to make money! I haven't attempted to sell jewelry at craft shows or street fairs, although I have been to many. There was one in Sonoma, "Salute to the Arts", every year that was always, without fail, on the hottest weekend of the year and totally crowded. I wouldn't let little things like unbearable heat and packed crowds keep me from going to a fair. I loved it. Of course I especially loved the jewelry, but I have to say that it looked like a stressful, exhausting and expensive way to make money. A lot of people sell this way. Unfortunately several things happened involving the City of Sonoma and the raceway down the road. What had been a fair in the town square packed with people became somewhat deserted. The fair became unprofitable for everyone and was discontinued after being an annual event for many years.

I had long decided that I wanted my own web site. I thought it would be easy - how hard could it be? My husband, a computer wizard, knew better, and kept putting me off. Finally he caved to my endless pleading. I should have listened, or at least been realistic. Making a web site is a lot of work. Keeping it going is even more work. Being listed on the first three pages of Google is, well, if you can pull that off, you're either lucky or a genius. There are a lot of rules. This is the internet, after all. The format has to be exact with names and descriptions, not too long and not too short and relevance is a word you hear over and over. It takes a lot of research and work to make a website that can even be found among the many millions on the internet. Once your website is built you need links to and from other web sites. Books could be written about links, and have been. There was a time in my life when I was spending 10 hours a day on links for months on end.

Every good website needs a blog. You really don't "need" it, but it is a good way to let customers know who you are, and for them to give you input. So you write and rewrite and post pictures. With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, social networking became a must. Then you tweet your little heart out and make " friends" and get "likes" and write and rewrite and post pictures on Facebook. Then along came Pinterest and Google+ and Instagram. The point of all of this is to get to know people and, more importantly, for them to get to know you. Everyone would rather do business with someone they feel they know and trust. Every social media site is different, involves different rules and different strategies. 

The point is to reach as many people as you can, to get your work out there. And connecting with people is always interesting and fun. In the end you become not only a jewelry designer, but a computer geek to boot. I have to point out that I am not an expert on social media either. Hardly. Or on getting my web site on the first page of Google. I've been there. For a day. Now and then. Mostly then.

I'm sure I could ramble on and on about making jewelry, gemstones, marketing and other aspects of jewelry making, but I don't want to put you to sleep. I hope this gives you a sense of what to expect and of what goes into the jewelry you're buying. After all, it's an adventure! I am open to any comments or suggestions, or anything you'd like to add. 

I have to add, because I'm a social animal, my favorite part of the job is the people I meet, mostly via email, some on the phone. I love everyone's stories and humor. Many of my customers have become friends. That is truly the icing on the cake.