Jewelry

I’ve been making jewelry since 1990. In fact I spent 7 years making and selling my jewelry, jewelry hangers, capes and art at Art & Wine Festivals in Northern California. My brother Tony made me a pair of earrings and I decided if he could do them, so could I!
My first earrings were Sculpy (clay baked in a conventional oven). I even gave Oprah a pair when I was on her show in 1991. I moved to silver and crystal, which I enjoyed more and eventually in 2016 to natural stones.
I enjoyed making the jewelry but I was never that crazy about selling it. I finally decided to sell directly to small boutiques and not only did much better financially, but found it took much less time. I managed to find privately owned stores who were willing to pay up front rather than most of the chain store policies that often required consignment. For many reasons, I wasn’t comfortable with consignment.
I often sold my jewelry right off of me! People would fall in love with what I was wearing and offered to buy it! I would usually say “You probably can’t afford it!” and with most, they would end up buying it because they say the value.
As an example, my Fireworks Crystal earrings were $75 and the set with the necklace, bracelet and earrings were $450. It took 20 hours to make and the materials were around $100.
It’s a challenge to put a price on something you’ve made when you really love it, so I rarely compromised my prices!