Warren Feld Jewelry

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Join my community of jewelry designers on my Patreon hub
From Warren and Land of Odds

Use March’s Discount Code For Extra 25% Off @Land of Odds:
MARCH25
www.landofodds.com

March 1, 2025

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Hi everyone,

Some Updates and Things Happening.
(Please share this newsletter)

In this Issue:
1. Juried Art Services — You Should Be Registered Here!
2. To Keep People On Your Website, Follow These Tips
3. Extraordinary price increases on gold seed beads! +85%!
4. Film and photograph your design process, suggested once every hour!
5. Humanae — A pantone map of skin tones
6. Tips for balancing portfolios for retail and gallery shops vs. online sales
7. Is it jewelry or sculpture?
8. 3 Austrian crystal bead and rhinestone colors have been discontinued
Some articles you may have missed
Featured

1. JURIED ART SERVICES — You Should Be Registered Here

https://juriedartservices.net/

Juried Art Services is a comprehensive online application and jurying system for art shows, galleries, and museums. We provide a seamless and efficient platform for managing your art show, gallery, or museum. We have been in business for over 20 years and have worked with some of the largest art shows in the world.

Here is a central place to create a “portfolio” for yourself, and find out about and submit applications to various art and craft shows. Each show has its own special requirements and fees, and this site structures each application accordingly.

VIDEO LINK
Creating an application has never been easier. With Juried Art Services, you have tons of creative options for uploading and editing your artworks. Get started with this quick tutorial video on how to create your first application.

VIDEO LINK

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2. To keep people on your website, I suggest you follow these tips:

When your website gets ranked by search engines, one of the key things they measure is how long visitors who have clicked over to your site remain on your site. The longer you keep them there, the higher your rank.

To keep people on your website, improve readability & contrast:

• Avoid light-colored text on light backgrounds — it reduces readability.
• Use a background effect or contrast to make text stand out.
• Increase font size for key text to ensure easy reading.
• Keep design consistent — spacing and formatting should be uniform.
• Prioritize clear, high-contrast text for a polished and professional look.

By enhancing contrast and legibility, visitors will have a better browsing experience.

Simplify your website’s navigation to improve user experience.

• Shorten menu titles — use single words like “Teaching” instead of “Workshops & Classes.”
• Group similar pages — place sales and classes together for logical flow.
• Move secondary pages (About, Contact) to the right side of the menu.
• Reduce menu clutter — only include essential categories to avoid overwhelming visitors.
• Keep navigation intuitive so users can find what they need quickly.

A cleaner menu layout makes browsing effortless and keeps visitors engaged.

Showing visuals of your work/classes can help you sell more.

Show images of students making jewelry in workshops or displaying their finished pieces. Feature completed commissions to help potential clients imagine their own.

Capture behind-the-scenes moments of your creative process, from sketch to final piece. Include action shots of yourself making jewelry to add a personal and engaging touch.

Make the experience feel real so visitors can clearly see what they’ll gain.

By integrating more visuals, your site will feel more immersive and persuasive.

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3. Price increases, some extraordinary (+85%) on Miyuki seed beads

First, expect at least 6% increase in prices on all Miyuki seed and delica beads.

Second, can be a 85% increase on beads with gold plating or with colors that use gold to make the colors

From the US distributor:
:Over the last year and a bit, Miyuki has charged a surcharge on beads which contain gold. This means not just gold-plated beads, but any bead which has gold in the glass-making process. Gold is extra expensive right now, and the additional fee is to cover the materials cost for making those beads. The surcharge is currently hovering about 85% and has been in that vicinity for about a year.
 
Until now we have dragged our feet on re-ordering these items because the cost is almost doubled, but we’ve decided to simply re-price them because the cost doesn’t seem to be going down. If it does go down, we’ll redo our prices on these beads and you’ll be the first to know!
 
Here is the long list of items that are affected:”
 
Delica Beads (all sizes)

DB12, DB22, DB22L, DB23, DB24, DB25, DB27, DB31, DB31L, DB33, DB34, DB103, DB105, DB115, DB116, DB230, DB312, DB322, DB324, DB331, DB334, DB371, DB373, DB376, DB378, DB380, DB501, DB505, DB506, DB507, DB508, DB1051, DB2521, DB2522, DB2523, DB2524 and DB2525

Other Seed Beads (all sizes and shapes)

191, 191L, 191F, 193, 193F, 195, 196, 199, 301, 302, 303, 307, 309, 310, 311, 312, 313, 313SF, 314, 315, 316, 318, 421, 457, 457B, 457L, 457L-F, 459, 460, 461, 461L, 462, 462L, 465, 466, 467, 468, 469, 512, 588, 590, 594, 597, 599, 600, 601, 952, 953, 954, 955, 982, 1865, 1880, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, 1895, 1897, 1898, 1899, 1958, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1981, 1983,1984,1985, 1986, 2005, 2005L, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2027, 2030, 2031, 2032, 2033, 2034, 2035, 2037, 2038, 2040, 2061, 2062, 2064, 2065, 2067, 2068, 2069, 2292, 2301, 2303, 2304, 2312, 2318, 2331, 2333, 2336, 2441, 2444, 2449, 2470, 2591, 2592, 2593, 2597, 4693, 4695, 4696, 4697, 4698, 4700 and 4705

https://landofodds.com/miyuki/

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4. Film and photograph your design process, I suggest once every hour!

Always have your cell phone handy.

Anticipate the kinds of image and video materials you might need for any marketing you will do once you have completed your project. It is important to recognize up front that “sharing your process” is one of the strongest marketing messages you can develop.

Do you forget to film/photograph your process often? Set an alarm.

I recommend filming yourself working once an hour (for about 5 seconds). If you get very into your work/forget, set an alarm or timer when you start.

You can decide whether you set just one, or several (if you plan on working for a while). For example: if you’ll be painting from 5 pm to 8 pm, set alarms at:

• 6:00 pm
• 7:00 pm
• 8:00 pm

This way you can fully focus on your work and still get the footage you need.

Store your images and videos in a place you can easily find them again after you finish your project.

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5. I found this extraordinary project called Humanae which is photographically documenting skin tones and relating each to pantone colors

Visit here.

Humanæ is a photographic work in progress by artist Angélica Dass, an unusually direct reflection on the color of the skin, attempting to document humanity’s true colors rather than the untrue labels “white”, “red”, “black” and “yellow” associated with race. It’s a project in constant evolution seeking to demonstrate that what defines the human being is its inescapably uniqueness and, therefore, its diversity. The background for each portrait is tinted with a color tone identical to a sample of 11 x 11 pixels taken from the nose of the subject and matched with the industrial pallet Pantone®, which, in its neutrality, calls into question the contradictions and stereotypes related to the race issue.

More than just faces and colors in the project there are almost 4,000 volunteers, with portraits made in 20 different countries and 36 different cities around the world, thanks to the support of cultural institutions, political subjects, governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations. The direct and personal dialogue with the public and the absolute spontaneity of participation are fundamental values of the project and connote it with a strong vein of activism. 

Currently more than 4000 images exist in the project. They have been taken in 36 cities, in 20 different countries: Arteixo, Madrid, Barcelona, Getxo, Bilbao and Valencia (Spain), Paris (France), Bergen (Norway), Winterthur, Chiasso (Switzerland), Groningen, The Hague (Netherlands), Dublin (Ireland), London (UK), Tyumen (Russia), Gibellina and Vita (Italy), Vancouver, Montreal (Canada), New York, San Francisco, Gambier, Pittsburgh and Chicago (USA), Quito (Ecuador), Valparaíso (Chile), Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Córdoba (Argentina), New Delhi (India), Daegu (South Korea) Wenzhou and Shanghai (China), Ciudad de México, Oaxaca (Mexico) and Addis Abeba (Ethiopia).

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6. Tips for balancing portfolios for retail and gallery shops vs. online sales

To balance your website for store/gallery vs. online sales…

• Use a digital portfolio to showcase your work professionally — galleries especially expect a polished presentation.
• If adding an online store, ensure pricing matches what stores/galleries display to avoid conflicts.
• Communicate openly with stores/galleries — let them know you prioritize selling through them and will refer clients back.
• Focus on store/gallery relationships first — building online sales takes time, so establish a strong presence before investing heavily in ecommerce.
• If you enable an online shop, manage it carefully and address concerns with transparency to maintain good store/gallery partnerships
• You should correctly assume that potential clients will, after seeing your physical store/gallery representation, then go online to check you and your jewelry out as well

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7. Is It Jewelry or Sculpture?

Read the full article here

The question of whether jewelry is sculpture has been debated for over a century. The key distinction often comes down to context. An unknown sculptor attempting to position their jewelry as sculpture faces a challenge. Likewise, an unknown jeweler claiming to be a sculptor must overcome substantial hurdles.

However, when an artist deliberately blurs these lines, the results can be extraordinary. Many Patina Gallery exhibitions began as And & Both ideas — concepts that walked the lines of nuance and risked failure but ultimately thrived. Ivy Ross has built her career on this delicate balance. She consistently reminded me that the story must always support the idea.

Most people know my thinking: Jewelry is only art as it is worn. It is not sculpture.

But what do you think? I’d like to know.

Read the full article here
And & Both: Is It Jewelry or Sculpture?
by Ivan Barnett

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8. 3 Austrian crystal bead and rhinestone colors have been discontinued

Swarovski has shared some unforeseen news regarding three colors in their crystal line:

• Smoked Amber
• Light Amber
• Golden Topaz

Due to technical difficulties, they can no longer be produced and have been discontinued.

While Swarovski no longer distributes directly to the general public, they are the manufacturing source of distributors that handle their products. The distributor I use is call Star Bright.

And don’t forget to use this 25% discount code
throughout March at Land of Odds!!
Use March’s Discount Code
For Extra 25% Off @Land of Odds:
MARCH25
www.landofodds.com

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SOME POSTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:

AN ADVERTISING PRIMER FOR JEWELRY DESIGNERS: How To Work Within Different Advertising Channels

SELLING YOUR JEWELRY: How To Define Your Competitive Advantages

MARKETING / PROMOTION / POSITIONING: Enhancing The Designer’s Influence and Persuasion

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WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com)
Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs
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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!
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Where you can buy:
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Take advantage of our video tutorials, mini-lessons, projects and our coaching services:

Read articles about jewelry design and about the business of craft:
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Kits by Warren Feld

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Thanks for being here. I look forward to sharing more resources, tips,
sources of inspiration and insights with you.

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