[Jewelry making - Article 00693] - Re: [Orchid] Wholesaling one-offs

[Richard Hart]

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    So I feel compelled to ask, if you make one of a kind pieces, and
    can support yourself by selling wholesale or retail, seems that you
    have a business, and if you are not supporting yourself by selling
    your work, is that not a hobby? 

    I have had to make whatever I had to make, one of a kind, or
    production, called it art or craft, called it wholesale or retail,
    called myself goldsmith or silversmith or whatever I had to call
    myself, to be able to cut, saw, file, weld, fuse, solder, drill,
    cast, fabricate, ect. 

    Working in gold and silver, transforming metal into objects,
    containing stones, or not, that have significance, to me, or someone
    else, whether logical or rational, or not, has been my passion for
    34 years. 

    A bumpy road at times, a passion that consumed thousands of dollars
    before I ever made any money. 

    I have met incredible people through the years, jewelers, metal
    workers, stone cutters, gem dealers, tool and equipment dealers, and
    customers who have supported me regardless of how reticent they were
    to part with time, money, or knowledge. I took many workshops with
    many amazing metal artists for whom I will ever be grateful. 

    I was as persistent and obnoxious as I needed to be to get what I
    needed, being as polite as I knew how to be be, grateful for the
    people who shared easily, and hurt by those that did not have the
    time, or felt threatened and would not share, not aware that I did
    not have the skill or knowledge to do what they had done, even if
    they told me explicitly how they had done something. 

    The bottom line is I was always looking for what was being presented
    to me, as an opportunity to learn and grow, even if I tried doing
    something I did not like doing, or something I failed at, it was a
    step toward success. If just to recognize what not to do again. 

    So raise a glass and toast, to the cuts and burns, the flasks that
    flew through the air, gold and diamonds lost, the shirt that got
    chewed by rolling mill gears, the things that got set on fire on my
    bench while soldering that was not my intention, stones that got
    broken during "setting", repair jewelry that fell apart while being
    repair.

Richard Hart

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