September 2005
Beady Related Thoughts
Once a jewelry piece leaves me... it belongs to
the new owner... I have no say so if someone does or does not cannibalize my
work.
But here's how a recent conversation on the
subject went...
My DH is a movie reviewer... and toys with the
idea of writing screenplays. Being the uber poor folk
that we are, we often get a wee bit green toward those who've had things a bit
easier in life (when it comes to our areas of expertise)... so we're watching
Highlander last night and DH (who's currently going through a depression, so
cut him some slack) is lamenting about this "kid" who wrote the first
Highlander movie... and now, gets residuals for EVERYTHING
"Highlander" (the tv shows, subsequent
movies, any character mentions and or representations, etc).
But then the conversation turned 'cause I asked
DH if the same guy had also authored the movie we were watching (which was
Highlander: The Final Somethingorother). And he said
no... and he said something to the effect of, "It
must be frustrating to creating this world and these characters and then have
no say-so in what others do to it... how they may or may not change people,
plot-lines, etc.
And I joked to DH about, "Yeah, I'm sure
you'd fret about it, all the way to the bank."
And he's like, "Actually, I would. It would
bother me and frustrate me, no matter what amount of money I were
receiving. How would you feel if someone paid a ton for one of your designer
pieces only to tear it apart and use the beads for something else?"
Egads... he went straight for
the kill... suddenly I understood.
Make sense?
Non-Beady Related Thoughts
Turns out Blackie didn't miscarry that last
pregnancy... she's in our and the neighbor's backyards with her two little
black fuzzballs (about 2 months old now) running
around... all three feral as can be. She still comes to the front door, though,
and meows to be fed. We wonder when she'll stop weaning the kittens and bring
them around for hard food... if ever.
The hockey season starts in two weeks, so this
coming weekend will be my last free weekend.
I had horrid, stressful, "sci-fi/horror" dreams last night... totally bizarre...
TOTALLY!
Friday afternoon, September 30, 2005
So… I started to write an entry last night, got interrupted, and then left it
at home when I came to work today (yes, I'm shattering the delusions that I'm a
full-time artist… let it be known to all that I have a full-time day job and am
trying to raise two happy children, rather on my own, as well as having this
jewelry business thing)… now, where was I? Oh yeah, so I guess I'm starting my
entry over, which is the ultimate irony when you hear what my muse for today
is. ARGH!
Beady-Related:
This past week, I haven't been able to hit the
couch (my work space) until after
So when I make a more elaborate pair of
earrings, it generally takes not just my pricier beads but often a lot more
time (mostly wire-wrapping). So let's say I finish one earring in 45 minutes.
Then I look at it and go, "Yeah, that was a lot of fun… but I don't want
to do it AGAIN… I want to move on and design something else!" Sigh…
You see, I'm the say way in other areas of my
life too. I try to pretend it's not a personality flaw, but I'm betting it is.
I just loathe treading over familiar ground. Egads!
When I go on walks, it
Maybe I make one-of-a-kind designs, not so much
to be unique and have customers realize they have something special that no one
else can ever possibly have… but because I just can't stand doing something
I've already done!
How ignoble.
So anyway, back to this solo earring yelling at
me to make its mate… hm… oh, and another thing. If
you have to have two matching items, then you get to do the tedious stuff… like
measure and count and try to emulate an already finished thing. Ick ick ick!
That's so terribly uncreative.
And so, here we go again with me sacrificing
business sense for creative sense. I know more people want jewelry unlike what
I make… that following my creative bliss means appealing to a much smaller crowd…
but apparently that's more important to me than making a fortune (or even being
able to pay the bills). And I'm not upset about any of these decisions. I love
what I do creatively. I am perfectly okay catering to a tiny portion of the
jewelry-wearing public. ?
Oh, the end of that story was that I made a
couple of pair of asymmetrical earrings last night. I'm sure I'll update the blog eventually on their success or demise, but for now…
I'm okay with it.
So that was my first epiphany… figuring out why I
hated creating elaborate (symmetrical) earrings… it's because I hate repeating
anything… going over ANY familiar ground. That's also why I don't do more of
one of any design (necklace, bracelet, whatever).
Epiphany #2 was probably spurred on by a few days
with no bold. What "no bold" means is no bids on my eBay auctions…
which tends to send me into a panic… which tends to make me to crazy,
destructive things (like 99-cent auctions… aaaaahhh!!!).
But this time I tried to THINK instead of just giving in to my panic.
I don't have all my eggs in one basket, but I do
have 99% of them there… in the eBay basket.
Gosh darn it, eBay is just so easy! I love being
able make things at my leisure in my own home, list when I want, NOT have to
look anyone in the eyes to tell them the price of my pieces, and ship in a
relatively simple manner (not to mention someone else does the advertising
Problem? eBay
isn't good enough for me anymore… I don't know if it's good enough for ANY
jewelry designer/maker anymore. It's just a tough, tough market, and selling on
eBay compounds that toughness.
Why?
Here are the reasons I can think of: There are a
lot more people selling on eBay now than before, so instead of it being a
seller's market, it has become a buyer's market (supply and demand). We
("we" hereby being the individual self-representing
artist/jewelry-maker) are competing with a lot of cheaply- or inexpertly-made
(imported or not) items. It's massively difficult to educate your customer when
you've probably got three seconds' time of their attention… at best! People
have come to expect "a great deal" on eBay; so if you aren't selling
at thrift store (or at least wholesale) prices, you'd better be someone who's
got a sterling and well-known reputation (or a fabulous customer base already
in place).
So what am I going to do differently?
As much as I hate doing
it…
I've got to get out there… into the world. Ugh!
I have to make a business plan to get into at
least SOME art shows each year, to solicit galleries and boutiques, and to do
home parties or other such things. Oh yeah, and boost up the volume on my
website… I tend to neglect the poor thing.
So those were my beady epiphanies for today.
From the time I had them to the time I finish writing about them, they probably
evolved or got eaten away and look like other things… but it's Friday, it's
after noon, I just spent two weeks going ballistic with work and I've got
another week or two ahead of me in a similar fashion… so losing my train of
thought is most likely par for the course.