Scribblegoat Press Release: Jewelry Still Best Gift, Say Designers

I wrote the following press release for one of my Etsy copywriting clients.  Please notify me in a comment if reposting or quoting.  The link to my client's shop is at the bottom of the short release, after the jump.  -Chelsea
 

Jewelry Still Best Gift, Say Designers

21 June 2011 – The classics still work best when you want to please and flatter.  For women and girls of any age, the traditional gift of jewelry is still a top choice for special occasions.

Mother’s Day, graduations, children’s birthdays – all of these are occasions when something that sparkles or shines is usually welcome, according to designer and online shopkeeper Linda Ann Stewart.

I dream in black and burgundy

My customer's wedding was at the end of February, so time to show off the jewelry I made for her party!

Her earrings, wire-wrapped 14k gold fill with a hand-brushed finish.  I'd never actually done a brushed finish, so I allowed myself an hour or two to devote to learning the technique on inexpensive wire, and purchased a nice fine wire brush and file set.  I soon discovered that: (a.) it's really easy, and (b.) five minutes and a sanding block works better and looks better.  We live and learn.



I'm contemplating making up a tutorial for those.  Look for it at the beginning of April!

The bracelets were three-strand Bordeaux Swarovski pearl and black onyx with pewter toggle clasps and silver-plated charms made of crystal pearls with bead caps.
Lessons learned here:
(a.) Get the wrist measurements before ordering the supplies -- I think this customer may have gone handmade partly because she couldn't find anything ready-made to fit her very small bridesmaids.  I have a bunch of extra pearls.  But this is okay because I also learned:
(b.) Allow "wiggle room" in your pricing for stuff to sell out two minutes before you place your order.  That is not the originally planned clasp.  And I had to get the 6mm pearls much more expensively from Beadaholique when Fire Mountain Gems sold out of them since they were having a sale.
The clasp: an adventure.  I highly recommend this shop and this one for supplies; neither of them were selling multiples of the clasp, but they were both very prompt in telling me so!

I couldn't resist doing "vintage" styled shots of the jewelry.  This is the "winter" version, styled with browned leaves of flowering kale -- I desaturated, soft-focused and upped the dynamic color range for a sense of time and nostalgia:



And here's the "warmer" version, half-sepia-filtered, graduated-tinted, and soft-focused after styled with a litter of the deadheads from my apricot violas, for a sense of nostalgia, the warm blush of the beautiful and impermanent:


Pruning makes for great props. Also, I definitely want to do some more sanding of metal for the nice matte finish. 

The total of the jewelry was five bracelets and a pair of earrings: all in all, a good-sized commission, though if I hadn't been custom-sizing each one and thus redesigning a little, I'd have naturally gone stark raving mad on bracelet four.  But as it was, getting the same design with varying wrist sizes was an interesting challenge.  Much fun!

Custom order hinge plate necklace

The first version:


And the second:


The only major change is that the embellished clay bead from version one was replaced with the cool mustardy button in version two. It lies better and I think the one pop of bright yellow-gold balances nicely with the two more mellow brushed golds on the other side. I'm especially happy with how subtly the metal tones of the findings (new) and the chains (one new, one vintage) complement one another. It's also really long, which is different for me -- 28 inches and adjustable down. So it's now off to Australia. Great fun!

Style forecast brought to you by excitement-induced insomnia

Every so often, I try to do myself a little style forecast based solely on Pantone colors, ModCloth, and wedding dresses chosen by my customers.

My conclusion for the night: There's this interesting little thing going on in the fashion world where there's two personas, if you will. Vintage-inspired seems to be the thing, which means florals, highly visible jewelry, and a lot of interesting different flare silhouettes -- but there's a faintly goth, faintly femme-fatale thing which is operating alongside this sweet, upbeat, innocent ingenue thing. How many times, in one sentence, can Chelsea use the word thing? Patterns are preferred either representative or monochrome (i.e., colorful when it's flowers or feathers, subtle and muted when it's more abstract). Lots of flared skirts and defined waistlines, elegant detailing that's overstated but not over-the-top, and the 70s are starting to edge back into visibility, but mostly in the sweet prairie-girl ingenue looks.

This seems to me to be part of the reason gold is finally coming back so strong. It works for both personae.

Ideally, you're supposed to think six months ahead of the now for design and two months ahead for marketing; being me, I generally make fall stuff in the fall, snap it and store it for a year -- my computer is set (by means of ReminderFox) to remind me two months before the autumn equinox, two months before Valentine's, two months before Christmas, et cetera so I don't forget to start listing things on Etsy. However, I'm making a conscious effort to pull in the Pantone colors in a timely fashion -- spring and summer for this year are supposed to be a lot of primaries and fruit shades, lightening up and shading toward desert dusties next fall. So this is me making a mental note to include shades like "Taxi Cab," "Macaw" and "Satsuma" in my next few pieces (full list here).

I've done a bunch of polymer clay pieces lately, partly because I really haven't touched the beads, apart from my custom order (ooh, I need to post the final version ...) since M left ... and partly because the polymer clay mushroom charms I've made lately don't fit well in my bead boxes for packing but fit just fine in my jewelry stash trays once made into earrings!

We did Christmas with M's parents today, and ate prime rib with wasabi and banoffee pie; I got 62 vintage buttons in shades of black and brown from M's mum which I am currently sorting. I need to do a couple of new-materials photo posts over the next few days (iiif I can find my camera); apart from the buttons, I've gotten some great deals on Moroccan imports lately and a big bag of old women's wristwatches to dismantle. This may be delayed. We've been so busy trying to pack the last twelve years of my life into a PT Cruiser that I've completely burned through my post buffer.

So anyway. Merry Christmas, Internets, and a happy Yule, and may the longest night have left you with a bright morning.

If I were a rich man ...

... I would use a lot more of the following.

1.  Cloisonne.  I love cloisonne.  I've recently discovered that this is a passion I share with my maternal grandfather.

Available here.

2.  Ruby.  I've discovered how much I adore this stone.  It can be purply or deep true blood red or pink and has the whole range of opacity.

Available here.

3.  24k gold.  I love to use copper and brass in my jewelry, but I'd love to occasionally use real gold just because it's so hard to find in unique handcrafted pieces, being much more common in traditional fine-jewelry designs.

Available here.

4.  Vintage buttons.  They're so beautiful ... and often so pricey.


Available here.

This, of course, is the nice thing about custom orders; I know the initial outlay for such fine materials will pay off.  Which is so nice.  *sighs wistfully*

Contemplating ethnic identity ... plus a pic

Actually, in the opposite order.  Here's the pic: first version of a necklace based on the Castellan Necklace for a custom order.  Vintage hinge plate, new and vintage brass chain, vintage buttons and an embellished clay bead.

 
Purty!  But rather weird.  I normally don't go that asymmetrical, largely because M doesn't like it.  I'm actually going to switch out the bead for a button that pulls the nice brassy yellow over to that side of the necklace.  Great customer, by the way; when I asked if she wanted any specific colors she said brownish metallics with possibly some rust, mustard or maybe green.  That is an awesome way to commission a piece.  Tells me exactly what sort of corroded metal tone is being asked for, there are just SO many shades of it, but here I knew what she had in mind ...  Hooray!  I can't get a photo that shows how cool that jeweled button above the hinge is: it's got this lovely smoky silver depth ...

Now for the contemplation.  Last week I got confirmation of something I've suspected for a long time: I have Native American ancestry.  Specifically, I'm part Dakota Sioux.

See, I learned in one of my archaeology classes that one of the ways to identify what cline (which is a little like race but more biologically based and less socially monolithic) human remains represent is to check the shape of the incisor teeth.  Shovel-shaped incisors indicate either Native American or Asian ancestry.  By the simple expedient of shoving my fingers in my family's mouths, I discovered that my brother Andrew and I, like our father, have the shovel incisors, while Mom doesn't.

I knew my great-great-grandfather, Clifford, was the captain of a Chinese tea clipper and a Civil War blockade runner, so either option was a possibiliy.  Last week I finally got a chance to check my grandparents' teeth and, as it turns out, my paternal grandfather's grandmother was related to one of the followers of Sitting Bull.

Now this is cool.

Conveniently enough, it's also Native American month over at Multiculturalism for Steampunk, which is probably part of what got me thinking more deeply about it.

You see, it's also a little startling because I've never thought of myself as having any Native American blood -- and also because I've read Boas and Sapir and Whorf and to ascribe excessive significance to an ethnicity goes against everything I've been taught for four years at university.

Further ponderings after the jump.

More Steampunk Apologetics

Apparently the blogosphere has decided in the last two weeks that it's tired of steampunk.

Okay.  I can respect that, especially in the "throw a gear on it and it's trendy" atmosphere of late.  But people think they need to justify it.  Some say it's overdone, some say everything steampunk needs to do something or it's not, and others say it's elitist and over-focused on pith-helmeted Brits and their teacups.

That last -- yes.  Yes it is.  And I have two links on the subject.

Link the First.  Once something becomes stereotyped it is time to parody it.  I've taken to watching this guy daily.  It makes my life happier.  Ladies, gentlemen, people of uncertain and indetectable gender: Professor Elemental.

Link the Second.  Once something becomes stereotyped it is time to freshen it up.  Ladies, gentlemen, children in undistinguished frocks: Multiculturalism for Steampunk.

Link the Third.  Yes, I know I said two.  Anyway, there's a great post on Tea with the Squash God about it.  As usual, Ursula Vernon says it better than me.

Link the Fourth.  Yes, I know I said three.  Have an Etsy Treasury of multicultural steampunk with not a pith helmet in sight: I'll Show You the World Beyond the Park.

On a similar note, I made the front page again (it really is the obsessive treasury-making that's doing it) and this piece got wonderfully, squee-inducingly ridiculous amounts of attention:

Sold!

I like how it's rusty/industrial but still feminine with the stylized florals.  I'm currently working on a similar one for a custom order.  It's got an old hinge plate in.  I'll post photos when done, but this will probably be a couple weeks since my grandparents are visiting which, due to seniority-based room-shuffling, puts my brother sleeping in the craft room which serves as my studio.  Whoops!

So yeah.  Steampunk: I still think it's cool, and still has a lot of growth potential as a genre once it crests the novelty wave.

Ahahahaha!  I just saw this.  Link the Fifth.  The Beautiful Necessity has a post about Steampunk Pre-Raphaelites.  Unlike the author, I think the Steampunk PRB would be awesome in that awesomely unmatching-pairs awesome way.

Doing the custom order dance again

I'm pretty sure I've talked about both of these orders before. But now they're done. Which is exciting.

Here's the full wedding-party set that started with my teeny teeny pink cameos.



See, what happened was, after I made the little ones the customer asked if I could do a slightly larger grey one, and then I made a big one as well to match the original I was matching the others to. The grey had to be hand-painted, because I ordered it from a new source and said new source was apparently unclear on the difference between white and dark ivory. Which was interesting, doing the small delicate paint work, since that was right after it became suddenly and painfully obvious that my wisdom teeth had to come out and I was drugged to the gills. But off they go.

When I was "posing" the photo I was actually thinking heavily of Rossetti's The Beloved. I'm not sure it comes through. Hmmm.

And here are the diamonds.



It's really ... immensely flattering to be trusted with precious stones. And they're so incredible to work with, diamonds. No worries about wrapping too tight, no bloody fingerprints (bloody in the swearing sense, not the exsanguination sense). Gorgeous flash. And the planes of the uncut stones are just made for wire.

Other than these, I've been listing on eBay. And listing. And listing. And listing.

Oh, and now that I think about it, I really oughta link to Jewelry Findings Online. I got all the cameo settings from them. Don't be fooled by their catalogue, their products are great and high-quality, and they're very speedy. I've used them for a bunch of designs.

The tiniest thing I've ever made

One of two tiny cameos I set into silver-plated necklaces for a pair of bridesmaids. They're only 8x6, about half the size of a dime. Very delicate!

I'm also working on a diamond necklace for another customer, though she's in no hurry so it will be completed after we return from SC (leaving Tuesday to house-hunt!) I'll be wrapping the diamonds in fine-gauge sterling silver wire and connecting them with S-curves. It should be quite lovely.

WOE

You know what the never tell you about cabochons?

Today, they are measured in millimeters. Vintage cabochon settings? They're measured in inches.

Which leads to quite. A lot. Of trial-and-error. In which you can't actually snap in the cab because it will never, ever come out again, so you have get as close as you can, cross your fingers, hold your breath and hope.

Just a note to jewelry buyers

This is something I really should specify to custom-order customers, and really it's my own damn fault for never saying it, because by the volume of Etsy Alchemy requests, this is not something a lot of people know.

But here's the number-one way to seriously annoy a jewelry artist: Ask for "something similar to this photo," when you're really expecting an exact match.

We don't do that. Not if we're honest, anyway. That is not what an independent artisan jewelry designer is for.

I really have no problem creating jewelry inspired by something else, and I ought to start specifying that that isn't the same as exact mimic of someone else's work.


Available here and coming soon.

I'm not really angry with the customer in particular, because again, I should have specified. This isn't something people know. But I can't help but be a little annoyed, because for this order, I was provided photos, I got as close as I could, I made multiple versions of the one pair emphasizing different aspects of the original, I didn't bitch about the fact that I haven't been paid yet ... and now the customer isn't buying the second pair because it's "not quite what she was looking for" and is reasonably okay with the first but wishes it was closer to the photo.

Excuse me?

So I've now worked for free, after saying as I always do that I wanted half up front, and been told that my interpretation wasn't wanted -- just exactitude. I've turned down lucrative bids because I have integrity and will not imitate someone else's work exactly. It annoys me even more to finish the bid and then be told that exactitude was wanted.

It's not the customer's fault. She didn't know. What's making me significantly crabby is that people in general don't. My artistic integrity feels small and angry.

Busy, busy me!

A busy day! I've finally given up trying to get a garden to grow against a wall with northern exposure, and am trying to nurture some early herbs into existence in little pots atop a nearby brick wall. I'm going to get some actually fertile seeds later -- those little grow kits they sell at JoAnn? give up, they don't work -- but for the moment, I have two bare pots that are noticeably failing to be oregano or chives, and I dug up a marigold that grew when last summer's tomato companions went to seed to fill two others, and the third has a wilting sweet alyssum. I'll probably move the marigolds into vegetable pots when/if I get vegetable and fruit plants going ... they actually do work to discourage pests, specifically tomato worms.

And now I have two pairs of earrings to make, one with acrylic beads and silk tassels, and one with a chain fringe, for a custom order.

Then I will re-engage with the massive project of putting together a first run for the bridal store I'm consigning to. I was planning on shooting for March 21, but the shop owner has just finally informed me that not only is the shop not actually open yet ... she's got a Grand Opening planned for the 27th and needs to set up by the 15th. ... if you have this kind of a deadline, doesn't it seem like that's something you tell the people creating your products?

But ... whatever, it's a first-consignment experience, I'll know what to look for next time.

Random List of the Week

1.) It's raining, but not yet pouring. Apart from wiping rain off my glasses, this is an awesome thing.

2.) I discovered there are electrical outlets on the balcony in the building where M teaches her last class. Since I necessarily have time to kill during that period, this now means I can sit outside and watch the rain while I update the shop and talk to any friends who happen to be online.

3.) A particular student in one of my classes threw a fit because she decided that a neighboring student's laptop's fingerprint ID check was recording secret films of her. She stormed out. After a long silence, someone else in the class suggested we pass the hat to buy the "perpetrator" a nice present.

4.) I have a D'Anjou pear and an Aero bar. Both are tasty.

5.) My high school friend A, who is deployed on the front lines in Afghanistan, emailed to let everyone know he's alive and celebrate his weekly shower.

6.) M has health insurance again. We found out last week, though she's had it since October. Without revealing details, we've needed it. Now, the university never bothered to tell us she had it or submit her paperwork, but that's a whole nother story.

7.) I have discovered this awesome webcomic called Something Positive. I've been reading through the archives all week. It's a very intelligent, dry work -- think Peanuts with late-twenties characters who drink a lot to fuel their biting verbal wit. It has touching moments, and a tendency to batter the emotions every three months or so, but it's worth it, and hilarious. The story so far will be pretty clear from the cast page.

8.) My Bio 40 professor's favorite phrase: "Patience at once!"

9.) I'm almost done with my custom-order forms for a consignment line.

10.) And I have one more commission to finish up tonight, which makes me break even nicely for the month. I think this may be the first time.

ETA: Oh, and I almost forgot!

11.) There's a rock album based on Tolkien's Silmarillion. It's by Blind Guardian and it's called "Nightfall in Middle-Earth." It's not bad. Not groundbreaking, not Metallica, but not bad. I really like the voices they cast as Sauron and Morgoth, and the singer who does Maeglin's part is pretty good too. I've been listening to it pretty much nonstop.

Some thoughts for the ... morning? Noontide?

* I would really like to know what I'm doing right with Alchemy bids.

Seriously. I've had tons of interest and two commissions in the same number of weeks. What gives? What changed?

* Wire wrapping is AWESOME.

I've always loved heavily wire-wrapped pieces -- the ones that have that woodlandy, chaotic beauty with wire wrapping in on itself in layers and layers -- and yesterday, with some brass ring bases I got on clearance and leftover silver and brown copper wire, I think I got the hang of it. I'm wearing one of the rings right now (a piece of what I think is agate and fluted antique brass rounds, with a spiral of goldtone and wrapping in silvertone wire, on a wide antique brass ring base) and it gives me a little flutter of joy every time I look at my left hand. I also did a pendant with Czech pressed glass blossoms and leaves over a leftover square glass bead, and it has a WONDERFUL fairy-garden look. I feel like an artist.

* Condescending people suck.

I understand the need to distinguish between art and assembly, but this leads to a certain ... attitude in the Etsy forums. Technically under the Etsy rules putting a purchased pendant on a purchased chain qualifies the result to be sold as "handmade." And I understand that putting beads on a wire doesn't sound any more "handmade" to someone who hand-solders recycled metal, or some such. But statements like "Even the beader does SOME design work" make my hackles rise. Quilters select fabrics to go together in a pattern, I select beads and components to go together in a pattern, if you look at my pieces you can see I'm not just putting stuff together randomly or putting the same bead on the wire thirty times, don't dishonor my art form. *sigh*

* The average high school graduate has no understanding of tone.

I judge this by my own students. They're bright, bright kids, and they think they know it until I ask them to identify it, and then we both suddenly realize the kid has no clue what I'm trying to point out.

* I saw an EXcellent play last week.

"Doin' Time in the HomoNoMo Halfway House: How I Survived the Ex-Gay Movement," by Peterson Toscano, is a phenomenal show. I share an office at work with the performer, Vincent Cervantes, and he's as kind, funny and wise in person as onstage. Also, he's got enough acting talent to make you both laugh out loud and get a lump in the throat within the same three-minute section of the show. Anyone who has acted knows how hard it is to make a mood whiplash like that effective. If you have a chance to see this, run-don't-walk to get tickets. It's both roaringly funny and touchingly meaningful.

* I have GOT to be more careful about cutting chain.

I have a charm bracelet I may have to remake tonight because I misjudged and clipped it too short by one. Freaking. Link. It's a fun charm bracelet, though; 60's music flower-power themed with some I *heart* NY stuff. So not as bad as it could be.

New Special Offer through November 15

This week, I've got a very special offer in mind.

Nothing makes a better gift than something you've had custom-made. From now until November 15, get free shipping on any custom order from TangoPig Jewelry Creations. I take custom orders through either email or Etsy!



A previous custom order is shown above -- what ideas do you have that you'd love to see translated into real life?

Just mention this post when ordering to get the free shipping!

And remember, anything you order from RhumbaSquid can be combined shipping with your TangoPig order!


This offer occurred to me because I actually have a custom order going at the moment; I'm doing a sterling silver charm bracelet for a seven-year-old girl. On that note, 1.) since when is "sterling silver plated" an acceptable metal-content description? and 2.) where have all the "princess" word charms gone? Seems they were everywhere a little while ago, and now I can only find one style. No time to special-order one, either, because the bracelet needs to be done this week.

Two other bids seem to have gotten interest, too -- a great Alchemy week, all in all.