Wings of a Fairy - Part 2

Here are the photos I promised yesterday of the new jewelry fantasy category "Wings of a Fairy". I may come up with a better name, but that is the one I'm sticking with for now. I haven't posted any of these items for sale yet, but will soon as these are prototypes of the designs. I'm still trying to perfect the bangle bracelet...bottom right corner as I don't have the clasp just right yet. The rings are all good to go as well as the pendants. Most of the designs will feature the glass leaves in a variety of colors as well as crystals and pearls. As I mentioned before, I will try to keep the cost of this line down. The rings will retail for $10 as well as the pendants. The necklace will be $20 and the bracelet will be $20. Pretty easy pricing and probably a good price point for most anyone or for those needing a little gift.

The second category of jewelry I mentioned will be a healing, power, energy, chakra line....haven't come up with a name for it yet, but have already created a few pieces for it including rings and pendants. It will be less fuss and more minimalistic. The pendants could be worn by either a man or woman (my step son agrees and indicates he would wear them). Most of the items will be made of copper, brass and a few in sterling. Some will feature gemstones and some will be plain wire sculptures. Here are a few of the pendants.

So you can see I have been busy this week making an designing new items. A few of the Fairy line and Power Energy line will be put out at one of the local shops for consignment this week to see how the public likes them and their price point. Please let me a comment if you would like to offer suggestions or other ideas. Thanks and have a great weekend.

What to do Now?

I've started implementing the ideas that have been floating around in my head for months. I have added two categories on my web site, one is Jewelry for Charities and the other is Chakra Jewelry.

My husband and I decided that we needed to start giving more to charities and I thought what a better way than to give a percent of my profit of sold jewelry items. I'm letting the buyer decide what charity the funds should go to and leaving it open as long as they are a 501(c)3 non-profit. Obviously I'm not doing this for all my jewelry, just those that I have labeled for charity. If you are curious, check out my web site.

My other idea was to create a line of Chakra inspired jewelry. All the jewelry in this category is made with gemstones. I have added the healing qualities of those gems and the Chakra that they support. I'm hoping to attract customers interested in the metaphysical properties of gemstones. I came up with another idea today to combine genuine copper with gemstones as copper has it's own healing qualities that people have been aware of for years. Look for some of those pieces early next year.

One of the other things I have been working on is getting my Etsy shop generated with hits so that I may get some buys off of it. I've read in several places that they way to generate sales is to have a lot of items for folks to choose from and to post something everyday. The fees for Etsy is relatively inexpensive, so if it brings sales, then I will give it a try. I'll let you know if it works next month.

Since this is the holiday season, I have three shows here in the next month and a half to get ready for along with updating the stock in the salon where I have commission items. I may do an open house after the holidays to catch folks with Christmas money to spend as I don't have time before. And if that isn't enough to do, I'm entering a juried competition for a local non profit show that is due mid December for a March showing.

Just recanting all this is making me stressed. I think the vacation that I have scheduled for Christmas time I will move up to get all this stuff completed. Sometimes the job does get in the way of the things we really want to be doing.

Thanks for reading and hopefully understanding. Dana :-0

A New Adventure

I decided that it was time for some drastic measures in my web site set up....okay, maybe not so much the set up but what I offer for sale and how I go about marketing it. My design style will never change unless I get a special request from a client to make something specific. So, what am I talking about. Well, I have started to get more involved with Energy and not the kind you get from caffine, but energy in the form of gemstones their healing capabilities. I've started designing and creating a line of Chakra jewelry...okay I have a few pieces made already, but I kind of figure that a lot of the stuff I have in my current inventory actually will work also. I just need to do more research on their benefits and clear the stones of any negative energy.

How do you clear stones of negative energy you ask? Well, there are several books out there that will be happy to tell you to put them under running water for several minutes, place them in a pan of salt (who would do this?), but I'm going to use Reiki to cleanse and energize the stones or jewelry pieces. I took a Reiki Level 1 class a couple of weekends ago and feel that this is a much safer method and one less damaging to the stones/jewelry themselves. It should also provide a more beneficial energy source.

Things to look for in September is a new link on my web site for Chakra Jewelry and a document under the Learning Center that describes the Chakra's and stones that are beneficial to use to boost your Chakra's.

My next show is in Castle Rock, WA so I'll start working on my labels and cards to hand out to folks that come by. I've been demonstating at the Castle Rock show for the past 3 years and some years I sell a lot and others not much at all, but since it doesn't cost my husband and I for the table space (we are supposed to be demonstrating) our expense is just the gas down there and back.

Obviously, I would love to hear from you about your thoughts on this and the benefits you might find in wearing a piece of natural jewelry that has potential healing benefits.

As always, be healthy, be happy, be beading......Dana