3/22/09
 This
has been a sloggy week. We have done fiddly things like
crazy to get ready for the shows. Yesterday I did sand
bags for tent weights and I did more canvas bags. Moving
the show in canvas bags is a huge help, but making them has been
a royal pain. It protects everything very well and we have
it organized.
We have some short set-up time shows coming up and I am
trying to think of how to have the pieces already on the
displays for shows. Putting them in some sort of box would
help a lot.
We have 27 days before the next show, so we have a chance to
make some jewelry now. We have a new tube wringer and some
new chemicals - time to play with the fire.
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3/15/09
Today is spent doing printing and working on the website.
We made some price tags by printing on 1/2" x 1 5/8" labels.
We used the paper cutter and got 4 tags from each label, so we
can get 10,000 printed price tags for $9.95, so that is a great
deal. We had tried several methods and some were
unprofessional and others we looked at would be too expensive.
The website works but needs lots of help - photos, meta
tags, more articles, alternate text on the photos -- it is just
an ongoing work isn't it?
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3/12/09
Lessons Learned at the show (we learn new lessons at
every show and mostly by mistakes)
-
We have a photo printer so we can give people a
photograph of the exact piece they are interested
in. It paid for itself the first show.
However - when you take a picture of a piece, put it
on a display rather than on the person (unless they
are a professional model). Your customer will
focus on ragged nails or knobby knuckles (like mine)
rather than the piece of jewelry, so may lose a sale
for you.
-
Don't give to much detail about your processes -
particularly the ones you develop yourself.
Now and then someone will try to pry information
and they may not use it themselves, but
they may pass it on. Particularly be aware of a person who
just asks too many specific questions and has all kinds of
reasons they can't buy the piece. Flattery is
their currency and your original idea is worth more
than a compliment. You can usually use humor
to keep from giving away too much information.
-
Make a little card with your show schedule to
hand people. You might be surprised how often
people will ask where you are showing next.
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3/9/09
 We had a great show at the Jerry Brown Arts
Festival. The people who ran the show were just
excellent. They served a meal while we were
setting up and they were by the booth several times a
day to see how things were going. I never saw such
a wonderful group to work with.
We sold a tremendous amount and have to hurry and
get to work.
This is one shot of our booth and the other is above.
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3/02/09
We got a heavy shelf for good storage. A friend has
loaned us an engraver, and I can't wait to see what we can do
with it. Have no idea just how to work it yet.
They
also loaned us a bench shear that cuts straight much better than
our other one. The other one is very unusual in that it
cuts curves.
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3/02/09
This is the bench where I spend most of my time. I
have really been working up a nice collection of hammers lately.
I have even been adding texture to the hammers I have with a
file and other nefarious means. It is a good way to take
out your frustrations with the other jewelry.
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3/02/09
We cleaned our shop so we could work on some bracelets for
the show season. Sure had a lot of stuff to put away, so
we added a shelf.
The hammers and shaping gear is to the front of the photo
and to the right and the soldering station is to the center back
of the photo.
It will probably never look like this again.
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