Hi all,
after living in the boonies for over three years, and becoming the
queen of living off a couple hundred bucks a month, a minor miracle
has happened.
I got a call from an LA fashion accesory deginer for the rich and
famous and I’m doing her jewelry production now. these are all very
simple pieces, individually made by hand and I’m getting paid well
enough for them. I also now have a couple of dedicated apprentices
working with me in the shop.
so, I’m happy! 
what I’m not sure about is, what else to do. I don’t think we could
handle another big customer like that, but we do have some down time
in the shop, enough to make an extra couple of hundred pieces a
month. I could easily come up with a line of my own, but don’t really
want to compete with my customer, and I don’t have the resources or
the sales rep(s) to pull it off well, besides that, I live several
hundred miles away from the next major city. OTOH I’m not sure,
there’s really a demand for hand manufactured small scale production
done in the US, wouldn’t know how to find other customers for that
etc.
so, what do I do with my down time? (I have, for the moment given up
on one of a kind art pieces. everybody goggles and fondles and oohs
and ahhs, but that doesn’t fix my roof or build a fence around my
yard.)
also, I have a ton of my original pieces, that I’m not sure what
to do about, other than to take them to whatever fairs I can get to
and have an excruciating sale… they’re great pieces in many ways.
I’m just trying to get the old stock out and make new stock that’s
easier to categorize, simpler to make, less materials and less
expensive retailing.
I don’t know, I’m rambling. I guess, my problem is…I’ve never
before done jewelry from a business perspective. yes, I’ve been
making and selling jewelry for years, but it was always about making
the things I really liked and perfecting technique (10 years of
classical music training seem to make one very technique oriented in
all aspects of life). now I have to change my perspective to running
a productionshop for somebody elses designs and keeping enough work
in the shop to make it worth it for my helpers as well. And while I
personally despise selling, it grates a bit on my ego, that the work
coming out of my shop is being sold under another name…
maybe I should just stick to doing this customers productionwork for
a few years, learn as much as I can about the fashion aspect of
business and enjoy downtime when it happens, instead of fretting
about it.
Sparrow