handmade spirit

I've got spirit yes I do- I've got spirit how 'bout you?   I'm not really a cheerleader, but I need one, and I think a lot of handmade artisans need one too.   I hear tell of the economy getting better- but I personally am not seeing this, in my line of work.   Is handmade the last to feel the boom- or is it just me?  I have had a series of disappointing shows and it's holiday season, so it's worrisome.  I worry that people are not buying handmade, or that handmade artisans are undercutting themselves in order to sell anything at all- which in turn does not help us stay in business.

This past weekend a bunch of great artisans stood outside in the cold with impending rain, and tried to sell their handmade goods.  Handmade artisans bonding together to try to boost each other up.  Much needed cheerleaders! Several I met through Etsy, and an Etsy team called CCCOE.  (I think that is etsy's version of cheerleaders, and honestly it does help make you feel better when you can see that things are happening to everyone, not just you alone)

 A few of my favorites from the show:

eri sugimoto

pinkcandy studio

luna + reese

Well- as my friend said, I made it through the day and I'm here to see another one, and make more jewelry.    This week is thanksgiving and believe it or not there is another show next sunday,  www.patchworkshow.com in santa ana.   I look forward to this being a better show personally so that I can purchase some handmade items myself!

handmade jewelry every day-  myfriendroze

handmade heartache... or the story of never knowing what to do

I swear I should call this blog the trials and tribulations of being a sole proprietor, and not knowing what you are doing.   Or, how artists (handmade artisans) starting out get taken advantage of.    Yesterday I didn't blog because I had a big order.   Sounds great right?  Sometimes not.   Last year, a catalog company picked out a pair of my earrings to sell.   When a catalog company wants to sell your jewelry (remember this is all handmade) you have to give them a volume discount.  This started out being ok,  because the orders were relatively small (50 pieces) but they ordered more than once so the volume discount seemed manageable.  Then they started ordering 75 to 100 pair a month.   Hurray!  my earrings are popular!  (I thought)  Then I started getting sad.   Silver prices started to soar and the other part of being in a catalog is that you are under contract to keep your prices the same for the duration of that catalog season.    They placed a last order for this catalog season of 150 pair.   Silver is now so high that I can't even afford to pick up the supplies let alone make this order.  (did I mention this catalog doesn't pay you for 30 days after receiving the order?)    I sent them an email saying that if they wanted to keep these in the next catalog I would have to raise the price.   They wrote back that they were having a lot of returns and that they would no longer be carrying these earrings.   This seems strange to me when they have ordered over 1200 pair of earrings.   They wouldn't keep ordering if they were being returned so much- right?   This is a big loss of income for me (not if they won't agree to a higher price- but still).   I sent them an email saying I would try to work on whatever kink they were having that was making the earrings be returned since they seemed to be selling so well.  We'll see how that turns out.    Anyway back to the new order.   I go to pick up the 300 earrings (150 pair) in their raw state to start work on them and it's ungodly expensive.   I get them home and 70 of them are broken already and have to be redone.   70!  that's a lot.    So I return those 70 and get to work on the next 230...   While I am working on them 100 more snap and I have to solder them back together...  I spent what should have taken me a few hours 10 hours so far on these earrings and still have to make the 35 more pair!  Already based upon the price I'm not even able to pay myself any labor on these earrings.... it's 8:45 in the morning and I am still working on the broken pairs that are here- is it too early to start drinking wine?

sterling silver spiral hoop

have I mentioned how much I now hate these earrings?    

you can see the rest of my jewelry here-  myfriendroze

Handcrafted Holiday Shows

I'm not really inspired today, I apologize in advance for a potentially boring blog.  I have to make jewelry for upcoming shows but I'm tired and worried all at the same time.  There are so many shows upcoming I wonder how well attended any of them will be.  I also wonder if going to shows is popular at all anymore, plus has the economy turned around enough for people to be shopping for handcrafted items?  If there are so many,  how does a potential customer choose which show they are going to?  How do artisans decide which show to vend at?  For me it's trial and error, and sadly lately it seems to be mostly error.  I didn't have the luxury of walking through all sorts of shows to decide whether or not I would do them the next year, I just had to try and see.   For some I tried more than once, and then either continued or gave up.   I did look on the websites of every show (if they had them) to see what vendors had done them before, to see if it was something I would like to go to.   I do tend to try to sell at shows that are considered more "indie" and I really try to be at shows where the vendors are all handmade.   It's hard to compete with all $5 made in china items when I handcraft each item.   So with that said I'm hoping I made some good decisions for this holiday season.
My next show coming up is called Patchwork show.  (actually they now have two)  I really was (happily) surprised at how good this show was last year, and can only hope for another great year.   www.patchworkshow.com   This show is Nov 21st in Long Beach and Nov 28th in Santa Ana.  It's a smaller show but I think the quality of the work is great.   I'm excited to see some of my friends like:

amanda k lockrow jewelry

Blue Platypus 

Roscata Jewelry

for a complete list of my upcoming shows http://www.myfriendroze.com/events.html

handmade jewelry every day -  myfriendroze

handmade jewelry return policies?

Last week I was contacted through my website from someone who bought my handmade earrings from a store in Olympia, Wa.    One of the earrings had broken and she was wondering what I could do to help.   I was surprised that she didn't to attempt return to the store that she bought the earring from...   I told her I would be happy to fix her earring for a small fee ($7- which included shipping back to her) or suggested she try going to the store perhaps they had a good return policy and I would then deal with the store.  These earrings had to have been bought long ago (though she said she has not had them "that long")  as I haven't shipped this kind of earring to that store in over a year.   Her response was this "I appreciate your reply, though it is somewhat unsatisfactory. I had hoped for a replacement or a free fix (I would have to pay shipping) Furthermore, I figured you would want to see the problem to alleviate future misfortunes.  The store is in Olympia and I am on the Peninsula...Lets keep the dialogue open?"  
I am incredibly annoyed that this woman assumes that my time and supplies are worth absolutely nothing.  But I cannot think of a polite way to respond to her and haven't as of yet.   She did not purchase from me, so why is she trying to return to me?  I don't want to upset a potential customer or potential other customers whom she will speak to but as I mentioned I am (well ok, let's escalate) infuriated.   I can only assume the store already refused the return.
Let's face it, things break sometimes, no matter the quality, but there has to be some sort of cap on timing, not to mention a charge to fix.   I am not Nordstrom, Kohls or some department store (who also may not accept such a thing back when not purchased from them), I am a handmade jewelry company. I am already struggling- why is this ok?  
I do accept returns when purchased from me (whether you are a store or a single customer), and also exchange things.  I have exchanged a necklace that the person didn't like the way it looked when they got home- for a ring.  They were perfectly happy.  I stand behind my work but somehow this just doesn't seem fair.  Does it to you?  These are the earrings:

sterling silver handmade square hoops

handmade jewelry every day- www.myfriendroze.com

hold the pickles hold the lettuce...

...special orders won't upset us- ok maybe they do.   Remember that Burger King jingle? "Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders won't upset us, all we ask is that you let us serve it your way. Have it your way....Have it your way."  I'm probably aging myself, but we used to sing our own version of that on the way to camp. "Hold the pickles hold the lettuce shut up lady you upset us"...(that was ours).   I'm rambling but what I'm actually whining about right now is what to do about people who want custom orders.  As a lot of my  handmade jewelry has a ton of options, or are basically custom as it is (you can choose the color mosaic, or the color ceramic, or the size bubblewrap, or the chain) i have opened myself up to a constant stream of custom order requests.   I really don't mind mostly- but what I do mind is that I am not sure people are willing to pay what an order made just for them is worth.   Part of the reason for a price increase is that I cannot make a single piece as fast as I can make a piece already in my production line.  Many times when people "design" their own piece it's a large stretch from what I normally do, and I know upfront that they won't like it, but how do you tell them that?  I think a  custom, handmade, order most often should not be returnable, but in this day and age- everyone wants the option to return.  I continue to wonder what the policy on custom should be.   Here are a few custom pieces I just made:

handmade sterling mosaic ring with inset amethyst

three mosaic necklace

handmade jewelry every day- myfriendroze

handmade jewelry- art or craft

The other day I was reading someone's blog who asked what is the difference between art and craft? This question hits very close to home for me, as I dated a man who considered what I do craft and not art, and therefore not worthy of any sort of admiration or time spent. I guess however that I find that even I, who went to art school, considers some of the things I do craft. I also think I might share some sense of snobbery when it comes to this BECAUSE I went to art school (and not for jewelry). But I do wonder where the line can be drawn or even if it should. There are people who add the word "art" to jewelry in order to distinguish themselves. But I wonder if they are distinguishing themselves from craft or as handmade from mass made items.

Below are a few examples of handmade jewelry that may blur the line:

meghan patrice riley

MaRía GoTi

Lynette Andreasen

the story of myfriendroze

A lot of people ask how I named my company, I guess because it sounds like I really didn't actually name it... But I did, and here is the story.  
Once upon a time, in another life, the life of Rose Braunstein the promotion person who worked at Jive Records-, I (Roze) was feeling frustrated and not creative.   So I decided to start making jewelry again, on the side in all my spare time (ha).   I spent a lot of time (sadly) with the Backstreet Boys.  Taking them to radio for interviews, and making sure they did their meet and greets and silly things like that.   One of them, asked me about my sterling silver vine rings.   He said he really liked them and could he have one.   I said SURE- that was exciting for me.  Soon thereafter, he lost it, and was sad about it and asked for another one, which I gave him happily.  However, a week or so later he lost that one too... He asked me for another one to which I said "dude, you're going to have to buy them like everybody else" (I mean he does have a lot of money- right?) he looked me straight in the eye and said "don't you want my publicity for free?"  I looked right back at him and said "You're right!  I absolutely want your publicity for free!!! What is my last name????"  He stared at me blankly for quite a bit until I said "great- so what kind of publicity am I getting?   "my friend roze made it?"  The more I thought about it the more I realized, all my friends who bought or had gotten my jewelry for gifts were saying "myfriendroze made it"   I thought it was perfect, because now ANYONE who has my handmade jewelry can say "myfriendroze made it".  

handmade sterling silver and 14k gold vine ring with garnet

handmade sterling and 14k gold vine ring 

Hamsa

Channukah is so unbelievably early this year...  it's closer to Thanksgiving than to Christmas!  On that note I figure that I should start making some holiday gifts even earlier.   Yes, I even make judaica!   It's not normally on my website because I don't specialize in it, but I am kind of obsessed with hamsas.   I collect them as long as they are handmade.  I have 45 ceramic hamsas hanging in my studio, and I even have one tattooed on me.     Do you think I should bring out some Judaica to the early craft shows?   

handmade sterling hamsa with carnelian set in a mosaic