[Jewelry making - Article 01616] - Re: [Orchid] Comments from adults at shows

[Noel Yovovich]

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>     I can't have my jewelry priced at $150/hour and be next to someone
>     else charging $20 for a pair of earrings.[snip]- I am tired of
>     working for 50 cents an hour -- I just don't know how to make the
>     leap. 

    Grace, seriously, part of the difficulty is mindset. I haven't seen
    your work, as far as I recall, so these are general comments. 

    If your earrings are not clearly distinguishable from the $20 ones,
    then it IS difficult, but there are a surprising number of shoppers
    who won't look at $20 pieces, but will give serious consideration to
    $300 ones. 

    I was reading an art fair review in Artfair Sourcebook last night,
    and the commenter said, "I didn't sell any of my inexpensive pieces,
    but I sold all my $300-$600 ones and could have sold more if I'd had
    them." So these are people who are not interested in the $20 things. 

    One way to make the leap is to start incorporating bits of gold in
    the form of Kum Boo or applique-- I started with 22k/sterling
    bimetal (from Reactive Metals). Not terribly expensive, good color
    contrast, and you're soldering silver to silver. People will pay
    much more, in general, for a bit of gold, and anyway, it would help
    you, psychologically, to change your price structure. 

    I bought a foot of 22k bezel strip, and it cost $300. But look at it
    another way-- for $30 or $40, I can include a 22k bezel on a ring
    with a big stone of some kind, and it is suddenly worth $200 more in
    the customer's eye. A good investment by anyone's standards! 

    Diamonds are good that way, too. A tiny diamond that costs $35 can
    vault a piece into a new price category. 

    In any case, if *you* don't see the difference in value between your
    pieces and the $20 earrings, for sure your customers won't. 

    Some years ago, I heard or read (I wish I could remember where), "If
    my toes don't curl when I quote the price, I'm not charging enough."
    I try to live up to this. It's nerve wracking, having my toes
    curling all the time, but it has been working out pretty well for
    me. 

Noel
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