NEW Items and Selling Tip

We have posted several new items today and thought you might like a preview of a few fabulous new pieces. These focals are great for quick necklaces that really show well at holiday fairs. Just add a partially beaded chain, a drop dangle or use as a simple pendant - these stampings shine all on their own!


We are using many of these pieces in our own jewelry for this fall's big fair - I like to have a good line of reasonably priced show stopping pieces between $28 and $38 mark. These pieces really draw the eye of the woman that is working and needs to spruce up an old outfit. In fact we use this as a big selling point we say something like:

"With money being so tight for all of us, instead of a new outfit that could be nearly $200, we take an old outfit and update it with a fabulous piece of new jewelry that draws attention for a fraction of the cost. It's quite a steal."

Brass Noir

It is here finally - after 6 months on the planning board and searching out the one plater in the US that could create this incredible finish we are introducing our exclusive Brass Noir.

This near black brass offers you an entire new way to create Vintage Inspired and Gothic Victorian designs. These pieces look as if they were unearthed from a Victorian jewelry chest - I've never seen anything like this finish.
I will be listing it up for you all week.

We have all sorts of pieces from filigree to focals and findings - fabulous chains and matching earring hooks and jump rings. I will be listing all week. WARNING - we have a limited stock. We did a sample run to test this finish and have less than 24 of most designs so it will be a first come first get's the goods week. More will be coming but it will be a few weeks and fairs are coming up quickly.

The jewelry here is some we have started creating for our own fall shows - no one else is going to have this - We wanted it specifically for this years fairs to stand above all the other jewelry booths with something truly unique. Feel free to duplicate any design here - we love to be your inspiration.

Design Winners

Hello we are back, after computer glitches and headaches - we are finally back to announce the fabulous winners of our design contest. All the entries were wonderful but these 3 took the cake (or rather a nice selection of beads and brass)


First prize: Morning Glory Necklace
Designed by Crystal Carrillo at Fineartreflections
Isn't it amazing - delicate and so pretty - she highlighted
many of our Woodland Brass pieces!

Second Place: My Beloved
Designed by Blanche at ShaSha Jewelry

Third Place: The Key to My Heart
Designed by Danni at nelliD
her shop is here

other fabulous entrants:
laboiteamonstres
dspdavey

Stay tuned this week for a new line of brass - Brass Noir!

Trends for Jewelry

Tracking the newest trends are not easy - as a designer, you need a few weeks to bring in supplies, create your designs and get them ready to sell - the latest fad could be over by then. So how are small designers ever supposed to keep up?

A few simple suggestions - add a few fashion blogs to your bookmarks and check on them regularly to see the larger leanings of the industry (not necessarily this weeks hottest item). You will begin to see color, shape, size and materials that tend to stand out. Also take special note of what not so popular celebrity figures are wearing - like news anchors and indie singers - they tend to be more in line with what the average Jane is wanting to wear.

A couple of blogs I ran across for fashion:
Fashionizing
Jewelry Trends '09
Fashion Jewelry

Keep in mind that not every woman wants to be a fashion model - most of us working women want to create a look for ourselves that will last more than one season. What this means to designers: keep in mind that a large portion of your designs should be geared to the everyday woman - this is your largest customer base (say 65%).


So when you are thinking about this fall's fairs and online sales think about keeping a ration that will help you promote volume sales - 65% everyday jewelry - 25% fashion trend jewelry (as close to up to the minute as you can get) - 10% elegant jewelry (evening out). Whether you work predominately with gemstones, glass beads, brass or hemp twists - you can tailor this formula to meet your customers needs, offering a nice variety in designs.

Holiday Show

Very good news - we have a booth in the Denver Holiday Gift and Craft show! Yeah-hip-hip-hurray! We are very excited and have started the vast planning process for doing such a large show several states away. I intend to devote a few blogs to the process - it is going to be a grueling 4 months.

Tonight it is schedule time - from purchases to completion dates for each style of necklace and earrings. I just got in a bunch of Twilight themed items as the premier is the weekend after the show - I am also considering bringing in a men's line for the fellas.

So much fun - I just love seeing things set out for the fairs - all in neat little piles with their bright unbent tags....

Also, I wanted to thank everyone who has gotten in their entries to the design contest - some fabulous pieces!!!! You still have about 2 weeks so send in your ideas so keep them coming.

Can't go wrong with Silver

Thought I would share a super quick pair of earrings with everyone that really pops in the display cases. These are made with silver plated components - nickle free, antiqued and sealed for a lifetime of fabulous wear.

Personally I love these earrings because I can wear them with my more casual suits for when I teach classes or I can wear the with my strappy black evening gown - my choice for Christmas events. Anyway - they are supper easy to put together - just take a crystal bead of your choice - 6mm and an eye pin - thread it on, make a loop and use it to conect the dangle to the earwire.

These should retail for you between $12 and $20 depending on what area you are in economy-wise when you do your fairs.

Quick tip for the week - go to Next Day Flyers and have some fabulous biz cards printed just to dangle your earings from - you can have a decorative front that is nuetral enough to highlight but not compete with the beauty of your earrings and then you can load the back with info about you and your website. Etsy has several very talented digital artists that make backgrounds for ATC's that work really well for this application.

Punch holes for the earrings and if you hang the cards at your shows you have 2 options - either attach a plastic peal and stick hanger (jewelry show supply shops sell these in 100 packs cheap) or you can punch a hole in the top to hang on a peg. You can also get cello sleves to slip them in, if you want to set them out in a basket (people love to pick things up and get a really good look at how fabulous they are!)

Featured

We were featured in the Etsy Wedding Blog with our Medieval Story Cameos from the Winter Rose Cameo Site Thank you Etsy for the feature - the other artist we were selected with have absolutely fabulous items!

Water slide decals came in this week, so I will be experimenting with them - they are a great way to get pictures onto odd shaped brass pieces - personalizing them. They are great for dominoes, bamboo tiles and other pieces as well - hopefully instructions for those will be up next week as well as a picture of the prizes for our Designer Challenge.