All Things Metal Clay
An Expert Guide to Making & Selling Jewelry

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I’ve written here before about the perils of photographing jewelry on models, so when I saw these great examples, I wanted to show them to you.

Nili Barrett makes these precious hats, and has found even more precious children to model them. Cute kids and professional photographers make these product shots a real Wow.

Check out her Etsy shop here: http://www.pdxbeanies.com

Tags: models, Photography

Peanut butter and Jellyfish by sappymoosetree.com

On Metal Clay Gallery list a bit ago, there was this discussion about “what is indie crafts?” that started because someone was turned down for a show because her work was “fine crafts” and not indie enough.

I was surprised how many people had never heard of indie crafts.

In response, I posted this tome, thought I’d share here:

Actually the Indie craft movement thing is pretty big and I think we would be remiss if we dismissed it out of hand.

What is it? Near as I can figure, it’s a resurgence of crafts among 20somethings, sort of a ’70s back to the land thing, only this time the “land” is maybe vermiculture in your apartment, growing tomatoes on your balcony, and making your own stuff.

Not every Indie crafter is about making craft as an art form — for some it’s about making as much as they can of their own stuff that they use. Partly it’s an eco-thing — reducing the amount that they buy from commercial sources — so this aesthetic includes thrifting and remaking clothing.

I have a friend who buys as much as possible either 2nd hand or from Etsy.

The ’70s crafts movement was the 2nd wave (the first being the Arts and Crafts Movement), I see what’s happening now as a 3rd wave, and I think it’s a very good thing. We do need customers, don’t we? We need people to learn our Craft.

The 2nd wave was pottery, metalsmithing, fiber arts, wearable art. Now the Indie crafters are expanding the boundaries a bit — is a hand silk screened Tshirt an art form? Sometimes.

Not all young indie crafters are completely without standards, to say that all of them are is an insult to the young people who embrace Craft with a capital C and who strive to master their material.

And not all indie crafters are making stuff with skulls and such. It’s a diverse group, just as we are.

So, what is Indie craft? To see some, check out Craft zine (the publishers of the now defunct Craft mag.), Crafty Pod, IndiePublic.

It’s bigger than just young people who don’t want to buy soulless corporate stuff.

Something is happening, culturally. There’s a massive increase in the technology in our lives. Someone wrote about it in an article, sorry I can’t remember where I read it — the idea is High Tech, High Touch. We’re so immersed in technology — chained to your Blackberry anyone? — that we need as humans to do some things that are not technology based. Some you know, IRL (In Real Life) things.

Making your own stuff feels good, makes you feel human and capable.

The other half of the technology bit is –

the technology we use to make our crafts/art/stuff of everyday life that we want to be handmade instead of mass produced.

Right now, without leaving home, I can design my own fabric on the computer, have it shipped to me, and then make my own purse out of it. Is it less handmade because I didn’t hand silk screen the fabric myself?

There’s CAD/CAM. Is it still crafts if I design it on the computer and email the file somewhere and the product is shipped to me, did I still make it?

There are laser welders — if I laser weld a seem is that less handmade than if I soldered it?

Did anyone notice that the American Craft Museum changed their name to the American Design Something Museum? (Art and Design?)

There’s a change afoot about what matters — the making or the designing — and to a lot of people, the designing is the thing. Whether the item is produced in small amounts or large amounts is a separate choice.

Not everyone cares if it’s handmade.

I think that some people will always care.

Some of us just have to make stuff, and it’s important to us that it’s well made. Technique matters. Achieving mastery of our chosen field and material matters.

What do you think?
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Update: after pondering this more, I realized that I’d written as if every Indie Crafter is a 20something, when actually, some of the biggest names in Indie Crafts are Gen Xers.

Want to read more about Indie Crafts? The book, Handmade Nation: The Rise of DIY, Art, Craft, and Design is a great introduction, with artist profiles and essays.

Visit SappyMooseTree.com to see more great plushies and other cool products.

Bird Link Bracelet by Vickie Hallmark

Image and Jewelry are (c) 2009 Vickie Hallmark All Rights Reserved

See more BronzClay by Vickie, and others, at the Flickr BronzClay Pool. Join and you can post your work too!

Tags: BronzClay, bronze clay, Flickr pool, metal clay, Vickie Hallmark

Coming to the Chicago area for the Metal Clay World Convention this July?

Here’s a post I wrote waaaaay back in 2007, with some ideas of what to see and do, on a jewelry theme:

http://creativetexturetools.com/news/2007/09/22/jewelry-tourism-chicago

What would you like to see while you’re here? I can write a new post on visiting Chicago, and I’d love to know what kinds of things you’re interested in. The offbeat? Unusual? Path less travelled? Where to eat? Please post a comment!

Thanks!

Photo credit: Joe Pena

I wasn’t really aware of the Pandora line until the recent discussion about it on Orchid. If you’d like to make beads that work with them, this line of fine silver bead cores from Metal Clay Findings will make sizing much easier.

Here’s what the company says:

The bead core’s diameter is sized perfectly to fit the popular Pandora™, Chamilia™, Biagi™ and Trollbeads™ type bead charm bracelets.

See the bead cores here: Metal Clay Findings

And check out their own interchangeable bead earring, here: Metal Clay Findings.

I was talking today with a metalsmith friend (in person, no less!), who asked me, ”

Okay, why would I need a blog?”

She has a perfectly lovely website, why add more work to an already overworked chief-cook-and-bottlewasher?

I explained that if she had a blog, every time she published a new blog post, the blog would notify lots of other websites, “hey, this blog has been updated, check out the new stuff!”

And some of those other websites would be blog directory sites such as Blog Catalog, Technorati (and more), where people go when they’re looking for blogs to read.

This brings you new viewers and possibly new customers.

Even more than that, a blog, for an artist/jeweler/craftsperson, gives people a way to get to know you, trust you, see that you’re a real person. It gives you a way to tell your story.

And if you’re selling online, how do you give people that “art show” experience of meeting the artist? I was at a home show of enamel work by another friend, Karen Seymour-Ells, who does gorgeous work, by the way. I was listening as she explained her process on a certain series of pieces to a customer.

I already liked those pieces, but listening to her explain it, got excited! I wanted the pieces even more! And I know how to enamel!

Transmit some of that excitement through your blog.

So, that’s why you would want a blog!

Now, the next question I’ve been getting a lot lately is,

“Sheesh, what’s with all this facebook/twitter/social media stuff I keep hearing about, do I really have to do all that?”

Here’s the short answer:

If you’re not interested, and you don’t have time, sure, don’t do it. But you might want to at least grab your own name here and there (as a user ID on the various services). And everyone should be on LinkedIn, which doesn’t take a lot of time.

Other than that, my suggestion to those just getting started is: pick one (social media) site at a time, get a feel for it, go slow, read up the dos and don’ts of it.

And… here’s a piece of advice from the recent WordCamp Chicago: the blog should be the center of your social media universe. Go ahead and participate on other sites, but bring that content back to your blog.

What does that mean? Well it could mean something as simple as having one of those twitter doo-hikies on your blog where people can see your twitter stream right on your blog. (If that doesn’t make any sense, don’t worry about it, start with the blog and add from there as your time and interest dictate.)

Questions?

© by Dr. David Weiman. All rights reserved.

You’ve heard that old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.” I guess the person who said that was never in business, where the opposite seems true: What you don’t know can hurt you.

A case in point — the other day I was walking through the parking lot of one of those small suburban shopping centers. You know the type … there’s usually an independent pharmacy there, a shoe repair shop (does anyone take their shoes to be repaired anymore?) a pizza place and a barber.
As I walked toward the stores, I overheard two women talking as they were getting into their cars to leave.

“I’ll never eat at Angelo’s again!” the first one said, referring to the pizza place.

“Why not?” asked her friend.

“This kid had a dog in there, and the dog was eating food that had been left on one of the tables, and I told someone behind the counter and they didn’t wipe off the table!” “That’s disgusting!” the friend said, “I’m not going in there either!”
They say that when someone has a bad experience with a business, they tell many times more people than when they have a good experience. One of the reasons is psychological: Bad experiences usually make more of an impact on customers than good experiences. And one way of processing bad experiences – particularly when the business doesn’t seem to care – is telling friends.

Unfortunately, every time someone re-tells the story, it reinforces the bad experience as well as spreading it around to more and more people.
One slip up involving just one customer, like not responding when she complained about a dog eating off a table in a pizza place, could eventually be told to dozens and dozens of people who weren’t there, but who are impacted by the story and decide to stop eating there.
Although in this case, the woman wasn’t reluctant to tell someone about the dog, no one appeared to be listening. Many people won’t even speak up when they’re bothered by something.

That’s because business owners often appear not to care, seem rushed, or aren’t even around to see the event occur. That means that a lot of valuable information about your company could be out there on the street spreading to current and prospective customers, and you don’t even know it!
Here are some things you can do to make sure that you’re open to good news as well as bad in your handcrafted jewelry business:

First, make sure that listening to customers carefully is a value that both you and your staff prize very much.

Second, respond to customer complaints as quickly as possible, and confirm that they are satisfied with the results.

Finally, be very direct with customers that you want to know about what is not going well with their experience with you, as well as is.
When you’re the first one who knows that something went wrong, it may still hurt, but not as much as it will if you find out from everyone else.

About the Author: Dr. David Weiman, “the Jewelry Marketing Doctor,” is a psychologist and internationally-known expert on marketing and selling handmade artisan jewelry. He is also the marketing director for Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist, Step by Step Beads, and Step by Step Wire Jewelry. His new book, 101 More Jewelry Selling Techniques from the pages of Jewelry Selling Insights — along with many other books and tools for selling handcrafted jewelry — at http://www.MarketingJewelry.com where you can also sign up for his free “Jewelry Seller” e-newsletter.

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All Things Metal Clay is proud to be an affiliate partner with JewelryMarketing.com!

Hmm.

I’m a jewelry-historical-time-and-techniques-gourmand. I love them all. I love the engraved armor at the Art Institute of Chicago, ancient south American gold work, modern art jewelry, Taxco silver, hand raised silver, Georg Jensen silver.

Anything that was made by hand, with skill, I’m interested in looking at it.

Influence? I don’t know. All of it I guess. I’ve spent the last 18 or so years reading, looking at, absorbing jewelry influences. Anymore, I’m not sure where influence comes from. Now I try to look less at other’s work and more at my own inspiration for work, what I look at and think about, what I want to say something about.

And, since right now I’m into making larger, showier, statement pieces that are “about” something — I guess my main influence would be other contemporary jewelers who make narrative pieces.

More blog carnival participants:

Angela Baduel Crispin

Tonya Davidson

Lorrene Davis

Tod Pardon

Lora Hart

Tamra Gentry