 Join my community of jewelry designers on myPatreon hub From Warren and Land of OddsUse January’s Discount Code For Extra 25% Off @Land of Odds: JANUARY25 www.landofodds.comJanuary 1, 2025Hi everyone, Some Updates and Things Happening. (Please share this newsletter) In this Issue: 1. Trailblazers in the art jewelry scene 2. About mixing materials 3. Drilling pearls 4. Conquering the creative marketplace 5. David Szauder digital reels 6. Getting a letter of recommendation 7. Latest question from our members – please share your comments 8. Types of places which showcase jewelry for sale Some articles you may have missed Featured 1. What It Takes, Art Jewelry Forum Panel Discussion at NYCJW24 Art jeweler, educator, and AJF board member Emily Cobb moderates a panel that spotlights trailblazers in the art jewelry scene who have shaken things up with inventive collaborations and/or daring ventures. The panelists are Funlola Coker, Melanie Georgacopoulos, Roxanne Simone, and Mallory Weston. See the 1-hour video here.  2. I have some strong opinions about Mixing Materials. Here’s a synopsis of some of my ideas. MATERIALS / MIXED MATERIALS It is difficult to mix materials. The brain/eye interaction with various materials are often different, and this is unsettling for the brain. Painful. When this happens, the piece may get interpreted as unsatisfactory, not appealing, even ugly. Example: Mixing gemstone and glass With most gemstones, the light travels from eye to surface of the material, and continues below the surface, before bouncing back to the eye. With most glass, the light travels from eye to surface of material, then bounces back. It does not penetrate the surface. When mixing gemstone and glass, if the brain/material interaction requires a shift in physical perception, then this is often painful for the brain. If using gemstones, where the light penetrates below surface before bouncing back, then I’d choose a translucent glass bead where this physical perceptual activity mirrors that of the gemstone. Let’s continue and take the example of an Opal bead. With opals, the light penetrates below surface, interacts with movement (fire), then bounces back to eye. If adding glass, I’d add silver lined translucent glass beads to mirror this effect. Light penetrates below surface, silver is a mirroring/shimmering effect which creates some of that movement below the surface. If I had added silver lined transparent glass bead, the light would hit the surface and bounce back, with the silver lining creating a mirroring effect primarily reflecting back the color of the glass, but this would not duplicate the shimmering effect had the glass been translucent. Now say I added an opaque black bead between each opal bead. The bead would have to be very small in proportion to the opal bead. I call this framing. If small enough, this would kick in the GESTALT cognitive behavior of the brain. It sees a ‘gap’, not a black glass bead, and fills in the space as if something similar to the opal bead were there. The Gestalt overrides the perceptual effects. However, if the black glass bead takes up too much volume relative to the opal bead, then the brain has to deal with the perceptual anomaly of light bouncing back and forth in different ways, which is painful for the brain. The Gestalt effect would not kick in. Aesthetic Materials: Sensations and Symbolism Materials have sensory and symbolic powers which extend beyond the materials themselves. Obviously, this can be very subjective. It might have psychological roots, sociological roots and/or cultural roots. Things may feel warm, cold, soft, rough, oily, weighty. Things may represent romance, power, membership, religiosity, status. Vanderbilt University’s colors are gold and black, so using those colors in the Nashville, TN area might evoke a different emotional response than when used elsewhere. And here’s that very-difficult-to-design-with University of Tennessee orange, again, in the Nashville area will evoke a very different response than elsewhere. Materials like amber and bone and crystal are things people like to touch, not just look at. The sensation extends beyond the visual grammar. The surface of a material has many characteristics which the jewelry designer leverages within the finished piece. Light might reflect off this surface, such as with opaque glass or shiny metal. Light might be brought into and below the surface before reflected back, such as with many gemstones and opalescent glass. Light might refract through the piece at different angles, even creating a prism effect. The surface might be a solid color. It might be a mix of colors. It might be matte. It may have inclusions or markings. It may have fired on coloration effects. There may be tonal differences. There may be pattern or textural differences. It may have movement. It may have depth. Best combine the materialistic qualities with the non-materialistic qualities of the project Every material has two over-arching qualities. The obvious is its physical properties and physicality. Let’s call this materialistic. It is something that is measurable. In the realm of the mystic, it is ordinary or profane. But the material also has qualities that extend beyond this. They can be sensory. They can be symbolic. They can be psychological. They can be contextual. Let’s call this non-materialistic. It is something that is non-measurable. In the realm of the mystic, it is extraordinary and sacred. Both properties must be considered when designing a piece of jewelry. They have equal importance, when selecting, placing and arranging materials and design elements within a piece. Example: Take a Chakra bracelet strung on cable wire with a clasp. The beads used are gemstones. Each gemstone has spiritual and healing properties. Each gemstone has a coloration, and each different coloration, too, is associated with certain spiritual and healing properties. Moreover, every individual has their own unique needs for which set of gemstones and which assortment of colorations are best and most appropriate. This can get even more complicated in that each situation and context may have its own requirements. The person may end up needing several Chakra bracelets for different occasions. The designer could have used glass or acrylic beads, instead, which have less non-materialistic value, and might be less durable over time. The designer could have strung the beads on elastic string without using a clasp, again, less non-materialistic value and durability. When mixing materials, it is best to let one material predominate. Some followup readings: MIXING MATERIALS / MIXING TECHNIQUES JEWELRY MAKING MATERIALS 3. A NOTE ABOUT DRILLING PEARL HOLES TO MAKE THEM LARGERPearls typically have very small holes. Because of how they are often drilled, the hole on one side is slightly larger than the hole on the other. The holes are small because it is too easy to chip and crack the nacre around the holes, when drilling them.You can, however, make the holes a little larger. You could first try to use a hand-held or battery-operated bead reamer to make the holes in your pearls larger. You want your drill bits to be diamond coated. Sometimes this might work, but more often, you need something more powerful.More likely you will want to use a dremel, with carbide steel drill bits.Usually, your drill bits need to be between .5mm (1/50”) and .7mm (3/50”), with .5mm the most common.With some natural pearls, however, you may need drill bits to be between .3mm (1/100”) and .45mm (1.6/100”).For a large hole, you would want drill bits to be between 1.0mm and 2.0mm.I keep a set of carbide drill bills between .4mm and 1.2mm.You want to work slowly but steadily.Wear safety goggles. Pearl dust can adversely affect your eyesight.Until the 1970s, pearl holes were typically drilled by hand. Pearl companies from Japan would often have boys in India drill holes in pearls. They would hire and train boys who were 9 years old. By the time the boys were 14, many had lost their eyesight. Thankfully, with the advent of mechanized ways to drill pearls, this practice no longer continues today.  PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way Kindle or Ebook or Print 4. I have advised so many students and clients about taking their jewelry making to the creative marketplace and becoming a successful entrepreneur. In this book, CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE, I summarized all my advice.  548pp, many images and diagrams Kindle or Ebook or Print HOW DREAMS ARE MADE BETWEEN THE FICKLENESS OF BUSINESS AND THE PURSUIT OF JEWELRY DESIGN This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid. Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map. Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including • Getting Started: Naming business, identifying resources, protecting intellectual property • Financial Management: basic accounting, break even analysis, understanding risk-reward-return on investment, inventory management • Product Development: identifying target market, specifying product attributes, developing jewelry line, production, distribution, pricing, launching • Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing • Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch • Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency • Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1. AN INTRODUCTION: CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE 2. THREADING THE BUSINESS NEEDLE 3. Where Can I Sell My Jewelry? 4. Can I Make Money? 5. Why Designers Fail in Business 6. DISCIPLINARY LITERACY IN THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE 7. GETTING STARTED IN BUSINESS 8. Write A Business Audit Memorandum To Self 9. Your Getting Started Story 10. Naming Your Business 11. Protecting Your Business Name and Other Intellectual Property 12. Tag Line, Descriptions, Naming Jewelry, Story, Elevator Pitch 13. What Do I Need To Become Official? 14. What Form of Business? 15. Retail, Wholesale, Consignment 16. Your Business Model 17. Custom Work 18. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT AND RETURN ON INVESTMENT 19. Understanding Risk and Reward 20. Tracking Costs and Revenues With Bookkeeping and General Accounting 21. Other Record Keeping 22. Fixed and Variable Costs, Budgeting, Break Even Analysis 23. Managing Inventory 24. Efficiency, Effectiveness, Component Design Systems 25. Employees and Independent Contractors 26. Banking, Insurance, Credit Card Processing 27. Getting Terms 28. Getting Paid 29. Developing a Growth Mindset 30. Crowd Funding 31. PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT 32. Product Goals 33. Product Target Market / Market Niche 34. Product Design Management and Design Coherency 35. Build A Distinctive Line Of Jewelry 36. Product Production 37. Product Distribution 38. Product Marketing, Promotion and Positioning 39. Product Pricing 40. Product Launch 41. Product Feedback and Evaluation 42. MARKETING / PROMOTION / POSITIONING 43. Finding Your Target Market 44. Competitor Analysis 45. Fashion and Consumption 46. Influence and Persuasion 47. Marketing Strategies 48. Social Media Marketing 49. Collaborating With Influencers 50. Increasing Credibility and Legitimacy 51. Building Your BRAND 52. Self Promotion and Raising Your Visibility 53. Writing A Press Release and Preparing For Reporters 54. SELLING 55. How Will You Link Up Your Product To Your Buyer? 56. Knowing Your Competitive Advantages 57. Training and Educating The Customer 58. Selling At Art And Craft Shows 59. Selling Online 60. Selling In Local Shops, Boutiques and Department Stores 61. Consignment 62. Selling In Galleries 63. Selling At Home Shows 64. Selling At Trunk Shows 65. Selling At Jewelry Making Parties 66. Selling Through Mail Order Catalogs 67. Selling On TV Shopping Sites and Streamed Web 68. Selling Through A Mobile Truck Business 69. Advertising 70. Cold Calling And Making The Pitch 71. Working with Sales Reps, Agencies, and Show Rooms 72. Selling At Trade Shows 73. Teaching Classes and Selling Patterns and Kits 74. Other Selling Venues 75. About Contracts and Agreements 76. Overcoming Setbacks and Fears of Rejection 77. Relying On Other People To Sell Your Jewelry 78. Saying Goodbye To Your Jewelry 79. Merchandising and Display 80. DesignerConnect – Interview With Tony Perrin 81. RESLILIENCY 82. PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES 83. Artist Statement 84. Portfolio and Look Book 85. Biographical Sketch and Profile 86. Resume or Curriculum Vitae 87. Certificate of Authenticity 88. FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions 89. Self Care About Warren Feld, Jewelry Designer Thank You and Request For Reviews Other Articles and Tutorials Kindle or Ebook or Print 5. Although this has nothing to do with jewelry per se, this guy’s (David Szauder) digital reels on instagram are so phenomenal, I wanted to share them with you. https://www.instagram.com/davidszauder/ https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDXLVPzIWXK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== https://www.instagram.com/reel/DC4RZuNoeup/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==   6. There will be occasions where you might need a letter of recommendation.  There will be occasions where you might need a letter of recommendation. You might be applying for a grant or some other source of funding. You might be trying to get your pieces into a gallery or high-end boutique. You might be submitting a piece to a juried competition. You might be searching for a partnership or collaboration or guidance. You might request this letter from a mentor, a colleague, someone familiar with your work, or a gallery or boutique owner. You want that person, in the context of that letter, to refer to your competitive advantage. That is how you differentiate yourself from other jewelry designers. It suggests that taking a risk on showing/selling your works is worthwhile. Some examples of describing your competitive advantages:innovative, originality, differentiationsells well, clear and predictable client baseexperimenting with new materials, techniques or technologiesresponsible, always timely, communicates well with client during processopen and willing to learn, adaptable, flexibleContinue reading this article on our Jewelry Designers’ Hub. 7. In our jewelry designers’ hub, I post questions students and customers have related to jewelry design, either the techniques, the materials, or the business. Here’s one of the latest. Please share your responses on the hub. I’m a new mom, but I keep having this problem, even before the birth of my child, about how to balance everything. I’m making jewelry, taking care of my family, trying to get some me-time — what advice does anyone have about how to balance things without compromising any of them?  8. I am often asked where you can showcase your jewelry for sale. There’s the obvious: Boutiques. Then the less obvious: Beauty parlor (usually the law prevents jewelry sales, except in a separate lobby waiting area) Nail salon (usually the law prevents jewelry sales, except in a separate lobby waiting area) Spa, massage shop, tattoo shop Hotel lobby gift shop Museum, art center gift shop Farmer’s markets Art and craft shows Holiday markets Antique stores Libraries Flea markets Art galleries Where it becomes worth your while, you want to showcase your jewelry in places your typical “client” would go to, but not where it is stressful, like a doctor’s office. At the least, you want to maximize your exposure. Ask the business owner to host a reception where their customers could meet you. This is a win-win. The business gets to build better relationships with their clients, and you get exposure. Assess how secure your pieces will be, and whether you can live with whatever security there might be.Be sure to post statements about your inspiration and creative process with each piece of art. Have business cards there. Be sure there are obvious ways a person can find you outside of this business. Be sure it is obvious how someone can purchase any of your pieces.Set a time limit for showcasing at this business. 1-3 months is a good framework. If there is a lot of interest in your work, you can repeat with another exhibit. Check in on the display regularly to make sure your haven’t run out of promotional materials, like your business cards, and that things are still displayed well.Determine what percent of sales will go to the business and what percent to you. Best arrangements: 60-40, 50-50, 40-60. When the arrangement is outside this range, this is a yellow flag indicating that your exposure (and sales) probably is not worth the risk of your time, resources and energy. Please Share Your Thoughts and Experiences And don’t forget to use this 25% discount code throughout January at Land of Odds!! Use January’s Discount Code For Extra 25% Off @Land of Odds: JANUARY25 www.landofodds.com SOME POSTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED: FLUENCY IN DESIGN: The Journey Begins FLUENCY IN DESIGN: How To Speak, Think, Work As A Jewelry Designer FLUENCY IN DESIGN: I Am A Jewelry Designer FLUENCY IN DESIGN: The Bead StoreThe Jewelry Designer’s Orientation To Choosing and Using ClaspsThe Musings of a Jewelry Designer: DESIRE |
| WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on my Patreon hub Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. One free downloadable Mini-Lesson of your choice for all new members! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Follow me on social media: facebook, instagramshop.warrenfeldjewelry.com Where you can buy: Seed Beads and Delicas, Kits, Books, Finished Jewelry school.warrenfeldjewelry.com Take advantage of our video tutorials, mini-lessons, projects and our coaching services: Read articles about jewelry design and about the business of craft: Articles on Medium.com Books (in kindle, ebook or print formats) by Warren Feld, purchase from Amazon.com or BarnesAndNoble.com: Kits by Warren Feld Ask about my COACHING services Arrange a GROUP ACTIVITY Add your email address to my Warren Feld Jewelry emailing list here.  Thanks for being here. I look forward to sharing more resources, tips, sources of inspiration and insights with you.Join A Community Of Jewelry Designers On MyPatreon Hub   |
Archive for December 26th, 2024
THE JEWELERS’ PALETTE, 1/1/2025
Posted by learntobead on December 26, 2024
Posted in Stitch 'n Bitch | Tagged: accessories, beauty, fashion, jewelry, Style | Leave a Comment »
