Hi Carol!
Tucson is a madhouse! You should hear all the locals complain about
the traffic and long waits in favorite restaurants. I’m glad I live
out of town, to be sure (had a looooonnnng day at the shows
yesterday, and only shopped THREE of my favorite stone and rough
suppliers).
Anyway, re: your question - I make jewelry from jaspers, agates,
etc., and more unusual stones, and I also cut my own. BUT for most of
my jewelry I buy from people like Gerry Galarneau and Sweetwater and
some smaller cutters or even directly from mines.
While I can’t answer HOW you price, I can tell you that as a buyer
and someone who can cut, I look for really well-cut stones that have
the right bezel-friendly sides, and at a price that make it worth my
while. All the above folks fill that niche. Gerry, darn him, cuts so
perfectly, with amazing flawless finishes at pricing that is so
reasonable that I spend most of my funds on his stuff - I can’t come
CLOSE to cutting as well.
But to cut and sell like that, you need to have pretty high volume,
and you need help prepping for sales and selling at shows - Martie
helps Gerry a ton. It’s this great two-person operation that works
like crazy…
If you are smaller volume, then you need to have higher prices, and
that will preclude people like me from buying your stones if they are
common jaspers, agates, etc. However, if they are unusual stones
(like what I get from Sweetwater) then I’ll pay more because I can
sell them for more.
Does this help?
Let us know when you “go public”! I’m always looking for possible
new stuff!
Roseann