[Jewelry making - Article 00439] - Re: [Orchid] The philosophy of choosing jury photos

[Kimberly Starbard]

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>     I must be missing something. Is the jewelry getting judged or the
>     photography? 

    Hi, you make some really, really good points, but I can only speak
    for myself. I think, after a while with this jury thing, I am just
    going through the motions and figuring that, if the jury likes me, I
    must be onto something. Sometimes, you just put your head down and
    "do" without really stopping to think "wait, what is my goal again?" 

    The show thing for me is important because I have talked to many
    local people who do shows and they have said that a lot of money can
    be made at a single show. I need to acquire capital to move forward.
    I figured, if I got into a couple of big shows, I could put my money
    in the bank and I would be that much closer to opening my own place.
    Admittedly, I thought the jury would have passed me into something by
    now :) Also, (though I am sometimes very outspoken on the forum) I am
    incredibly shy with the customer. A show is the ultimate challenge
    for me. I picked a show in Westchester County. This is a hot spot for
    the kind of customer that not everyone would want to deal with
    (sorry). They're intelligent. They make a lot of money. They want
    what they want and they want it now. I figure, if I can get through
    that show, I can do anything. It is for confidence. 

>     It just seems like there's a lot of beating around the bush to make
>     a sale via great photography, juries, etc....and now I'll really
>     upset some folks by saying that it smacks of the familiar theme of
>     the oh-so-chic gallery owners basically fleecing the artisans. 

    I don't think it is the fault of the galleries. I think a lot of us
    just don't know exactly what to do, so we look around and say "well,
    it looks like being in shows is what everybody else does....so that's
    probably what I should do. 

    Funny, funny story. I was up in Vermont last week for the annual
    Fair. We got to the entrance and needed a couple of tickets for my
    sons....we saw a long line and figured "that must be it". My brother
    went walking to find the entrance. He came back a couple minutes
    later with the tickets, laughing. It turns out, there was probably a
    guy kind of standing near where you buy tickets. Someone came along
    and thought he was "the line" so they stood behind him, and so on,
    and so on....until the line was 100 people long....but it didn't lead
    anywhere, the guy was just standing there, waiting for something
    else. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

>     Most "studio jewelers", especially the excellent ones (Noel's
>     incredible work comes to mind) don't need a gallery to relieve
>     them of half their hard-earned money. They need a marketing plan,
>     and well-constructed advertising to support it. 

    Noel's work is beautiful, I agree completely. I admit readily, I
    can't figure the marketing stuff out. It seems like everything is
    beyond my budget right now, but then we come back to the need for
    capital, and, hence, the willingness to apply to shows. I have come
    up with a new line of jewelry for the bride. Just out of curiosity, I
    looked at how much it would be to advertise in a magazine. I have a
    ways to go is all I can say. 

Kim Starbard
http://www.kimstarbarddesigns.com
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