Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Selling Handmade Jewelry: March Madness


March is always pretty quiet in the retail industry and this year is no exception. I haven't made as many jewelry sales, mainly because Christmas and Valentine's Day are over and we still have some time before Mother's Day. It's still been busy, though! This is the proverbial calm before the storm.

I'm still working on my Morrocan-inspired enamel and wire wrapped bib necklace. We didn't have class this week, but I just got a new shipment of light blue square crystals, which I'm going to hang between the square tiles and the long, skinny pieces. They'l break up the pattern on the enamel pieces and add some extra "zing" to the necklace. This piece is taking me forever to finish, but I'm done with the squares and am about a third of the way through with the skinny blanks. So I'm getting there!

I haven't worked on any other new jewelry designs because I've been putting so much energy into this necklace, but I am gearing up for spring, which is the start of the craft fair season. I didn't do so well with fairs last year and would like to have a more active season. So far, I'm planning to do a charity fair with my friend Christopher, who works for a United Cerebral Palsy school. I'd also like to sell at some fairs in Manhattan. The registration fees are a little higher, but it'll be worth it if I sell more pieces.

Meantime, I'm working on my writing. Yeah, I feel like two different people sometimes, but I love to write and I love making jewelry! I'm finishing up a memoir writing class and signed on for a class on writing children's books. I'm also editing my second novel and plan to send it to some agents. I haven't forgotten about my jewelry book -- I still need to do that, too.

This has been a long, cold, hard winter in NY and I'm glad it's over. Just one more day until spring! Please check out my wire wrapped and enamel jewelry at Naomi's Designs and MayaGirl Creations. And check out my novel REVENGE OF A BAND GEEK GONE BAD, just $1.99 on Amazon.

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