[Jewelry making - Article 00110] - Re: [Orchid] Truth or dare survey

[Alan Goldin]

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    Well those responses weren't as depressing as I'd feared. I make $0
    from jewelry so far and I work on it every Sunday for 8 hours. Not
    much, but I have a full-time job and 2 kids, one in college. I've
    been working on my stuff for well over a decade (being mostly
    self-taught, there were alot of experimental failures) but only
    recently did I seriously begin to try to find a "home" for my
    creations. I HATE selling. I live in New Jersey but work in New York
    City so on my lunch breaks, I would walk around town and show my
    samples to jewelry boutiques. I actually met alot of nice people,
    without too much attitude. But no takers. Everyone "admires" my
    work; no one wants to pay for it. I finally placed some pieces in a
    gallery in my hometown in Jersey. They stayed there for several
    months but nothing sold and they just asked me to remove it all. They
    said it was admired alot, but a ring that "almost" sold wasn't quite
    the right size and earrings that almost sold were a bit too heavy.
    Yada yada. I work in graphic design so I put together my own brochure
    and have sent it out to galleries all across the country. I don't
    expect much from that. I can't really afford to have professional
    photos taken and pay entry fees for contests and juried exhibitions,
    and I've noticed (since subscribing to Lapidary Journal) that there
    seems to be a trend, an agenda, a theme to those pieces that win
    these contests, and my work is much more minimal. (Seems you need to
    make your designs very "busy," mix alot of metals and materials, use
    every technique taught in school--granulation, reticulation,
    etc.--and be sure to stick on a few diamonds!) Sorry if I sound
    bitter. I want to make jewelry that a woman would want to wear, not a
    "piece" that wears the woman and jumps out at you and hits you over
    the head. Ah well, I have no idea where to go next, but I'll keep on
    making the stuff. Because I'm compelled to. Want to see it (flatbed
    scans, not photos)? Go to
    http://mywebpages.comcast.net/agoldin/Jewelry.html 


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