Well unless you plan on a) keeping them for yourself, or b) giving them to friends and family from the goodness of your heart, you probably would like to sell them, right? Let me tell you, there is nothing like selling your jewelry to someone who loves and appreciates the time and energy you put into something that you made yourself!

Making the jewelry is the easy part, getting it seen and sold is another issue altogether. Hopefully the following will help you not only get your jewelry some much needed exposure, but turn your much loved hobby into a bonafide business!

SOCIAL NETWORKING

CREDIT

Sure we use outlets like Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace to keep up with friends and family, but you can also use these social networking tools to make a name for yourself and your brand. Take Facebook for instance…you can set up a “fan page” for your jewelry designs. Add photos, descriptions, and your prices, shipping, and ordering policies, and how you wish to receive payment. While overnight success is probably not realistic, having a fanpage on facebook will get your jewelry and your name out there. Visit other jewelry artisans pages and become a fan of their pages, adding in your message that you would like for them to fan you back. 10 times out of ten they will be happy to do so. What’s really cool about this process is that every time you post a link on your fanpage, it shows up on their home pages, getting your jewelry seen by their friends, and their friends and so on and so forth! Another cool thing about Facebook, is that your posts can be connected to your Twitter account, Etsy, or Artfire stores, which we will touch upon next. Remember with Facebook it’s all about promotion, so the more work you put into it, the more you will get out of it.

ETSY, ZIBBET, ARTFIRE, ETC…

Having a storefront to showcase your jewelry is an absolute must for online selling. Sites like Etsy and Artfire offer you a venue to reach millions of consumers of handmade products. You are allowed to list your products, and accept orders via Paypal. You may also indicate on your storefront that you will accept alternate methods of payment. The basic membership for Artfire is free, but it may be a great idea to upgrade in order to get a ” kiosk” which you can also connect to Facebook. Etsy in my opinion has it’s pros and cons. The good thing is that it has it’s own stream of traffic so your jewelry is more likely to be seen, however it is very saturated with jewelry artisans, so be sure that your jewelry stands out from the rest. Definitely look at what other artisans are selling, and how much they are charging. Etsy does use Paypal, but a credit card is required in order to become a seller.

VENDOR BOOTHS
This is a great way to connect with people and potentially turn them into customers. Of course you will need the proper licenses and permits, but having a vendor booth at say a weekly farmers market, or even in an area that draws a magnitude of tourists is ideal if you live in a major metropolitan area. Craft fairs, flea markets, and art shows are also ideal. I know someone who goes to her local hospital every week and sells her jewelry and turns a nice profit every time. Remember to have plenty of business cards on hand, and give them out regardless if people buy or not. You never know when someone may contact you to purchase something!

JEWELRY PARTIES
Jewelry parties are alot like Tupperware parties, but instead of plastic sandwich containers and thermos’, your selling jewelry. This is a great way to sell your jewelry because everyone you are inviting knows why they are coming, to buy jewlery! It’s important to have a varied selection at hand. Give out invites that showcase photos of your work to get people interested. Offer guest the opportunity to earn free jewelry if they bring a friend or two…or three! I would definitely have jewelery for every price range. Offer jewelry that is inexpensive and easy to make such as memory wire bracelets, and rings and offer two for the price of one. Definitely serve refreshments, but keep it limited to drinks and finger foods. People will be handling your jewelry, and you don’t want it smudged by dirty fingers!

Be sure to have plenty of mirrors on hand as your guests will no doubt want to try on the jewelry to see what it will look like. If at all possible, it’s always a good idea to have a means to accept credit cards. People are inclined to spend more money when they are swiping their Visa or Mastercard. Offer free gift-wrapping or better yet, package each purchase in an attractive little bag with tissue, just in case the purchase is intended as a gift. If you have any other ideas I would be open to hearing them and posting them! Good Luck!

Simple and stunning.  Two sterling silver curved tube beads, Swarovski cubes, and squaredells make this simple bracelet interesting!

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More cubes and squaredells…

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AUTUMN CHUNKY NECKLACE   $20.00 USD

Mystery stones with brick, moss, and brown inclusion are complimented by the Red Aventurine and Cognac faceted Czech crystal beads.  Finished with a .925 sterling silver clasp.

FUSION BRACELET                  $10.00 USD

Monochromatic bracelet made of Zebra Jasper beads, Silver crystal pearls, and black crystal beads with a .925 sterling silver clasp.  Wear it alone, or stack it !

TIED UP  UNISEX NECKLACE     $15.00 USD

Simple and versatile!  Natural Agate beads are knotted with genuine black leather cord and finished with .925 sterling silver cord ends for easy fastening.  A great gift for a woman or man, girl or boy, or those with metal sensitivities!

COTTON CANDY EARRINGS      $30.00

Picture Jasper Earrings adorned with a free-from design of .925 sterling silver dangle from a crystal drop of Firepolished Czech glass and authentic Swarovski crystals.  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

VIOLET DREAMS EARRINGS    $25.00 USD

Stunning Muscovite pillow beads adorned with .925 sterling silver wire wrap dangle from a trio of Fluorite and authentic Swarovski crystal beads.  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

BLACK ICE EARRINGS     $20.00 USD

Jet faceted Czech crystal beads, authentic crystal Swarovski crystals, and Rock Crystal Quartz melon beads are absolutely stunning.  Pair them with the FUSION bracelet!  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

BLUE TEARDROPS EARRINGS   $25.00 USD

Ice Blue faceted glass rondelle beads are the perfect compliment to the authentic Carribbean Blue Swarovski beads that balance on the .925 sterling silver wire.  These earrings are definitely a showpiece and are best showcased with short hair, or hair that is drawn away from the face.  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

THE LOVE BEAD    $20.00 USD

Hand-rolled lavender polymer clay bead adorned with purple whimsical clay designs, coupled with purple authentic Swarovski crystal beads, and a sweet faceted purple cubic zircon teardrop bead dangling from below.  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

MARDI GRAS EARRINGS    $20.00 USD

Fun and flirty earrings!  Amethyst nuggets are slightly irregular giving a truly unique appearance to these earrings!  Nuggets are topped with a variety of beads including pearl, cubic zircon, bloodstone, and Czech crystal!  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

SAN ANSELMO EARRINGS     $25.00 USD

I spent some time in San Anselmo, which is beautiful!  The rolling hills of Marin County are the inspiration for these beautiful and unique earrings.  Jasper pillow beads with inclusions of forest green, chocolate, and jet are adorned with a free-form design of .925 sterling silver wire.  They are suspended from a crystal drop comprised of authentic Swarovski crystals, and Czech crystal beads in varying shades of green and brown.  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

SIMPLY BLUE NECKLACE     $20.00 USD

Sodalite beads make a big impression, especially when combined with electric blue freshwater pearls, glossy black agate beads, and linked with .925 sterling silver chain and clasp.  Either with a pair of denim trousers, or a cute L.B.D., they look stunning and classy.

EARTH CHUNKY NECKLACE     $20.00 USD

Hand-rolled polymer clay beads in shades of blue, light green, and forest green with a touch of silver sparkle  represent land and water.  I’ve hand sanded, buffed, and dipped them to a matte shiny finish, and linked them with Carribbean Blue authentic Swarovski crystals, and Czech faceted crystal beads, and .925 sterling silver chain.  This necklace has no clasp.

FLOWER POT  NECKLACE     $45.00 USD

Definitely the star of my collection!  I took this huge faceted Peony cubic zircon teardrop pendant and covered it with Czech crystals in various shades of pink and green.  Suspended form a crystal drop made of authentic Swarovski crystals, and Czech crystals to make it appear to be a beautiful blossoming flower.  It’s like a touch of Spring all year round!  All hardware is .925 sterling silver.

EGYPT CHUNKY NECKLACE     $20.00 USD

The mystery stone strikes again, this time  coupled with antiqued copper links.  This necklace is a bold statement and has no clasp, just slip it over your head and go!  All hardware is pure antiqued copper, but can be cleaned with a soft cloth and warm soapy water to return it to it’s original shine!

LE’ TIGRE   PENDANT     $10.00 USD

Take a walk on the wild side with this polymer clay tiger striped pendant.  This is a custom order, and can be done with your choice of Tiger (pictured) Zebra, Lepoard, or Giraffe prints. Please allow up to two weeks for delivery!  Comes with a genuine black leather cord finished with .925 sterling silver cord ends for easy fastening.

GODDESS PENDANT     $10.00 USD

This particular goddess is not for sale, however I can make you your own goddess with, or without the baby bump!  Makes a great gift for someone who is expecting!  This is a custom order, and will take up to two weeks for delivery. Please specify color.  Goddess comes with  a genuine leather cord finished with .902 sterling silver cord ends for easy fastening.

OPERA EARRINGS     $25.00   or get the set for $50.00 USD

Be the center of attention in these dramatic earrings.  Jet and Olivine Czech crystals team up with .925 sterling silver chain and jump-rings.  These are also part of a set.

OPERA NECKLACE    $30.00 USD           GET THE SET FOR                                                                                                              $50.00

The drama continues with this georgeous choker-style necklace of Jet and Olivine Czech crystal, .925 sterling silver chain and jump-rings.

Don’t call me a quitter, I just had to back away from it before I lost my mind  Well, I decided to take it up again, and you know what they say, practice makes perfect.    Anyway, I just wanted to share with you what others are doing with their precious little Myuki’s and Delica’s.   It is simply amazing what  you can do with a vial of 11/0 seed beads, beading thread, and needle.

the magic of seed beads and a gemstone cabachon

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Amazingly enough, I finally got my website designed (after 38 revisions) and live! I cannot tell you how many nights I spent sitting at my computer with my coffeemaker at my side, toiling over the infinite colors schemes, text sizes, and placement of the perfect pictures of my handmade jewelry.

Now comes the hard part, generating traffic to my site, because after all, what good is having a website full of fun, beautiful jewelry if nobody can see it? So here we go! Of course I painstakingly chose all the right keywords, submitted my site to all of the search engines, and even stooped as low as to try to sneak my url into a couple of blog comments! I’ve included a “link” page where I am displaying banners of other sites I find interesting, then it hit me!

I was messing around on Youtube, looking for some video instructions on how to make my own sterling silver headpins, ( i run through a pack of 100 like they never existed!) when it struck me like one of those anvils in the Looney Tunes cartoons; why can’t I make my very own commerical to post on youtube!

Life Insurance?

So I made some slides using the free photo editing program Paint.net. This is an alternative to Adobe Photoshop which is SO NOT in my budget!
I typed out my script on the slides and inserted some graphics I found at www.victorian-vignettes.blogspot.com. I absolutely love the images she has, all of them from her vast collection of vintage postcards etc…
I chose the ones I wanted to use, manipulated them in Paint and copied them to Windows Movie Maker. I added some music I found in the public domain, and programmed the way I wanted the slides to transition, and Voila! An internet commerical for Youtube was born. You can view it here.

It was super easy, and alot of fun!

"Mardi Gras" earrings use amethyst nuggest, and briolettes available now at www.kldezines.com

When I go to the bead shop to buy gemstones, I am often lured to the purple stones. Maybe they speak to the queen in me, as purple is the color of royalty.

Amethyst gemstones come in colors ranging from lavender with cream inclusions, to a deep translucent purple most often found in the cabachons of rings, and earrings. A majority of the Amthysts used in jewelry making today have been heat treated to achieve that majestic purple color.

Amethyst starts off as a druzy, which is a crystalline that is found growing on the surface of other rocks.

amethyst in the rough

an amethyst encrusted rock (druzy)

According to Greek mythology, Dionysis ( the god of intoxication) was enraged by a comment made by a mortal. Dionysis vowed to wreak his revenge on the next mortal who crossed his path, and made two tigers to carry out his vengenance.

Amethyst was a maiden who was on her way to pay homage to the goddess Diana, who knew of Dionysis’ plan, and turned Amethyst into a statue of solid crytsalline to protect her from an attack. Upon the site of the beautiful girl turned into stone, Dionysis wept tears of red wine, which stained the crystal statue, turning it a brilliant, deep purple color.

amethyst which had been heat treated, cut, and polished

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I must admit, because I didn’t have a clue as to what I was doing, I think it turned out pretty cool.  My first site, was a little too masculine for a jewelry site…

My first published attempt. when i found out that people weren't staying on the site, I decided to give it a whole new look.

So I changed everything around, lightened up my color scheme and VOILA!   www.kldezines.com is now up, running and fully functional!

The new banner, hopefully this will help my stats!

For beautiful jewelry handcrafted by me…remember

www.kldezines.com!

I would squish  it through my fingers and make whatever came to mind. Me being the silly girl that i was, would divide it into small pieces, roll it, and shape it to cover my fingernails! I remember getting yelled at when I used my mom’s fingernail polish to paint them!
Anyhow, once discovered jewelry making I rediscovered my love of sculpting with clay!

Polymer clay is not clay. However, it is a Polymer Polyvinyl Chloride which is moldable. This is an amazing medium as you can sculpt the clay into any shape you like, bake it in the oven according to the instructions, and you have a hot little peice of art!

 I began making small beads with polymer clay with a bead roller. This is a great little contraption used to make uniform beads in three shapes; round, bicone, and oval. Once I became comfortable enough, I began hand-rolling my beads.

Polymer Clay comes  in a variety of colors, including metallics. I think the best value is the multi packs which you can get at any Walmart ranging from $9.00- to $30.00. Of course, the more blocks of clay contained in the package, the more it costs. I love to take two to three colors and perform what is known as “marbling”. I also buy a block of the plain white clay, as you can make your beads, then paint the finished product, or mix it with the other colors.

When I first started to research making jewelry with Polymer Clay, I wasn’t sure which brand to use. There are many, but I think the most popular are Kato, Sculpey, Primo, and Femo.
Most crafters like Premo,Kato, and Fimo because they are not as soft as Sculpey, but I like working with Scupey III, which is a bit firmer than the original Sculpey.

When I make a set of chunky beads, I like using Sculpey Light. It is very lightweight, and won’t add weight to the beads, which you can then hand paint with an acrylic based paint.

Here are a couple of examples of the amazing things I have done with my Polymer Clay….

my first attempt at handrolling my own beads, this is the "marbling" technique

These beads are an example of “marbling”. I mixed powder blue Sculpey III with silver metallic, and dark green. I combined pieces of all three and mixed them until they were intergrated. Be very careful when doing this, unless you want the colors completely mixed to make one other color. I then used unmarked latex gloves to roll the beads into a large oval pillow. I then pierced the beads through the middle very gently as not to disturb their shape with a metal skewer, and suspended them on a bead backing rack which I bought at Michael’s craft store. After about fifteen minutes at 215 degrees, the beads were placed in ice water to set their shape. Be careful, the clay and metal are very hot. (I would also recommend using a dedicated toaster oven for baking the clay, and anyting else you use that comes in contact with Polymer Clay should not come in contact with food!)

After the beads wer cooled, I used my  Dremel Pro to sand and buff the beads. Sanding and buffing give them a smooth surface, but be careful because if you sand them too much you will wear grooves in them. You could also use sandpaper, but that takes too long!

After the beads are sanded and buffed, I place them on wooden skewers, dip the beads in a floor wax with acrylic, and stick the skewer in a block of styrofoam to dry. If the weather is good, and there’s no rain in the forecast, I will let them sit outside. If they get wet at this point, they will develop an opaque film on their surface. I usually dip mine a minimum of ten times, which can take an entire day, but the end result is absolutely stunning.

My "Goddess" pendant

I also made this out of red SculpeyIII. ”Goddess” is basically modeled after myself when I was pregnant.   It took about a week to get the proportions just the way I wanted,  and countless dippings in the floor wax.  I used all purpose sand paper to sand in between and under the breasts, and between the legs.  This particular pendant is pierced across the top where the shoulders are, and I attached a piece of 20 gauge silver wire, wrapped loops on both ends and attached it to a length of silver chain to wear as a necklace.

This is my absolute favorite pendant to make.  This is one of those instances where I used the regular white Sclupey to make the base of the pendant.  I then rolled out the brownish-orange color and laid it over the base, carving it on the back of the pendant which is white.  I then rolled out a thin sheet of black clay, and used an xacto knife to cut out the stripes, which I then placed on the orange surface.  I also attached a loop on the top to make a bail, and baked it on a stone tile in the oven.  Here is the finished product.

Tiger Pendant made with SculpeyIII

As you can see, when working with clay, you are only limited by your own imagination.  Happy sculpting!!!!