What I Did & Didn't Do This Weekend

You know how you lay plans for your day (or weekend, as the case may be) and have every intention of sticking to that plan? Come High Water or Unexpected Guests!!  Well... there comes a time (or three or a dozen) in every creative persons crafty life when they sit down in their studio and all intentions and plans go right out the window and they end up doing something entirely different.

This weekend was one of those times for me. I had every intent of getting to know my new Jewelers Saw (and probably several blades) over the holiday weekend (which, pause... Thank You, again, to all our Service members, past present and future. I truly, deeply appreciate all of you...) but, when I was sitting, doodling in my notebook a day or so before the weekend, an idea for a bracelet I'd been trying to figure out popped into my head. Along with a necklace. I doodled and played and, yes! the idea would definitely work! So, instead of sawing metal, I was clipping wire.

I started by practicing with my 18g steel wire (because, honestly, that's SO much less expensive than my copper wire!) in order to figure out length for each piece and the size of the loops I would need.  The rough wire practice actually worked, so I pulled out the copper in 12 & 14g and went to work. And here are the results of that work:


The bracelet... recycle sari ribbon, yellow crystal rondelles,
and 18g copper wire to hold the ribbon. It's bangle-style.

 

The "front" of the bangle. This was taken with my iPhone
and Instaframe would not let me put both fish in the picture.
Rest assured, the right side is a mirror image of the left. I
went with bangle instead of cuff or even a catch so that
the wire wouldn't catch on anything.  Curling the tales of
the fish was a epiphany I had while doodling and made it
easy to attach the fish to the bangle but not get in the way.

 

The necklace! OOOOHHH! I about giggled when this idea
doodled itself out. It has the look of an old-fashioned
fishing net (such as would have been used in Bible times)
and just make the necklace really work. 

 

Of course, if you follow my blog, you know I can't make
other jewelry without making earrings. I can always make
earrings and stop, but I can never make anything else and
not make earrings. Never have figured out why. Except that
I'm just weird that way ;)


As you can see from both the bracelet & necklace, curling the fish tails in makes attachment to anything else (or each other) relatively simple. I'm keeping this set but I can now make more. I also think the steel wire might look good as the necklace and may try that next.  I'm really liking this so the poor saw may just have to wait a little longer ;)

KNOW YOUR PRODUCT!



Moss Amethyst

 I read an article by the Silver Bear on the JETs blog called "Fakes, Frauds & Rip-Offs" about the various "gems" out there that are really just quartz with fancy names (well... he said "trash" but I still like most of the quartz available, they're gorgeous)  Still and all, Silver Bear had some great points to keep those of us who do use these stones, but don't know the difference between semi-precious and quartz, from being taken in by outrageous pricing (he's a gemologist... he knows things).
I think I'd add something to his dissertation, however: remember the names of the stones you sell!  We who use these stones in necklaces and bracelets need to be able to let our potential customers know what we've used in a design. Maybe we don't need to go into the detailed explanation Silver Bear did but we still need to let them know "Hey, this is quartz versus actual amethyst" or vice versa.  To that end, those of you we buy from need to be sure you correctly label the stones you sell.
As an example, there's a lady in my town who owns a bead and yarn store. It's like walking into Aladdin's Cave she has such wonderful things! BUT!  Some of her stones aren't labelled.  I asked about one I was interested in, it had a great color and pattern but no name label.  Chances are, according to Silver Bear's post, it was some form of quartz.  Regardless, her reply was "Oh, I don't know.  I buy stones I like and don't always get the name."  Uhm, sorry, but that's bad business in my book.  If I don't know what a stone is, I'm not buying it since I can't tell potential customers what they're getting (leaving it at "quartz" is lazy in my book, I'd want to know what kind of quartz before I bought from someone).  So, that day, she lost a potential sale on that particular stone.  She actually has lost a lot more in the sales department from me.  She really hikes the price of her wares and I think it's because she needs to read Silver Bear's article.  Not every stone with a fancy name and huge price tag is worth the money.
It's like buying a car, folks. Do your own research.  Don't buy just because you HAVE to have it (and might never find it again! gasp!) or it's pretty or unusual and the high price must indicate it's quality.  There are always variations on that particular stone out there.  Learn about the stone before you buy.  You'll save yourself, and any future customers, a bundle of money.  Not to mention that, if you have a savvy customer who researches before buying and they know that particular stone isn't worth the $50.00 price tag slapped on it...?  You lose out on 1) them wanting to buy anything else from you... if you overcharge for what they know is worth only $20.00 what else have you over priced? 2) you lose out on the money you paid for an over priced stone to begin with.  And, 3) you lose out on word-of-mouth.  It works for bad as well as good.  Do you want people to tell others "Oh, buy from so-and-so on Etsy (or wherever)! They have great products and great service!" or do you want them to say "Well, they have a great looking product but the prices for the items they sell? Yeah... well, it's up to you but I wouldn't pay that much for simple quartz." 
Educate yourself before the fact.  Don't lose customers because they knew what you didn't.