One of my closest friends has a birthday next month...So i've made her a necklace...Birthstone for June is pearl so i used some freshwater pearls and fire opal swarovski crystals...I love the fire opal crystal the colours are gorgeous, yellows, oranges and reds all mixed together on same crystal so it does look like fire :o) The background is material i have bought for using for displaying on...I thought it was really pretty and appropraite with the silver glittery bits on it...I still have some tweaks to make to it...Well i have to file down some bits but that won't make any difference to the finished effect hence the pics above...Think it would make a pretty bridal necklace myself...It took me ages to make (approx 3-4 hours) and well after having a look around some places you already know my conclusion is that prices i was considering are way too cheap...So am not sure but possibly around £60 - £70 maybe??? Am flipping useless at pricing things...When i make this one for other people i will use slightly thicker sterling silver wire...My left thumb is a wee bit sore with it getting poked by the wire i used on this one LOL...Oh well they my fingers and hands used to get burnt and scraped and pricked with holes all the time when i was at art school many moons ago so no change really...I phoned up the number on the invite and have accepted the invitation...The degree show is actually open to the public that day anyway so if am feeling a bit scaredy cat then i'll just have a wander round the show and not bother going to the lawn in the quad for the afternoon soiree of champagne LOLOL...I've emailed and had a reply from someone recommended to me who makes his own glass lampwork beads...When he has more in stock am now on his mailing list so am definitely going to buy some from him...Of course each bead is unique so that will add something else to the jewellery i do and you can charge for that LOL...Rule of thumb from all those many moons ago since i went to art school was that the person we sold on to marked up by 100% then whoever they sold on to marked up by same again...So say in a shop depending on how many middle men there were the item could cost 200% more than the jeweller who made it got for it...So selling for yourself you could add that on yourself...Which i think is possibly a bit cheeky but then again if people are willing to pay then why not...Besides people pay for swarovski because of the name even though they are not always that expensive as such to buy...I have found a site that sells wholesale packs at around the same price as the factory shop itself...That's IF i got my calculations converting euros to sterling right for the factory shop prices LOL...So to save the flipping hassle of converting i'd rather just buy from the place where the prices are in sterling...That place also has an ebay shop and they do auction some of the factory packs as well as buy now...Thing is having watched a couple of the auctions the bidders ended up paying either same or more than the buy now price...So what's the point in hassle of keeping an eye on the auction i ask myself...I've also made a necklace, bracelet and earrings set the same as the set i made for the Wobbly miss Moo but in the sapphire crystals instead of aquamarine for G's taxi escort...Apart from 1 term he has been with the same taxi escort for the whole 6 years he has been in the base...Also she was one of the playground supervisors at his 2nd mainstream primary school...So he's known her for nearly 8 years...She is going to miss him something chronic...I wanted to give her something special as a present this time hence the jewellery set...I do hope she likes it
Toodle pip tc xx
4 comments:
Iam sure G's taxi escort lady will be delighted with her jewelry,I most certainly would ,My Daughter Sharon has a lovely collection of Swarovski,some really delightful peices ..take care ..love Jan xx
The jewellery you make is very pretty. Pricing is difficult, if you charge too much people will not be able to buy, too little and you make no profit. Best thing is to work out how much you want to charge for the actual work i.e. how much per hour, then do a reasonable mark-up on the materials you have to buy. It would be better to sell a lot of jewellery at a lower price than end up only have a couple of orders. The main thing is that you make a profit but, as I said, if you mark up too high I think attracting customers will be difficult. In the end it is your decision.
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Caff I just love the jewellery you have shown us today ~ It must take a lot of patience to make something so delicate ~ I think G's escort will be thrilled with them ~ Ally x
It's lovely Caff :) not knowing anything about making jewellry, I don't suppose a thimble helps with the poking or micro pore tape?
You'll have a lovely and interesting time at the do :) Rache
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