Jewelry work , in its varied aspects , has been my income source
since age 14 . Our current retail store [emphasis on custom/original
design] is supporting entirley our family of 4 [ plus boxer dog and
ferret ] and supplies the entire income of two of our employees [
both working with me at the bench] and helping support our other 3
employees .
The store I co-founded prior to this one [1990-2000] is an ongoing
endevour and has supported over 20 people . The first store I was
associated with [ 1972 ] has expanded into two locations and employs
a dozen or more bench people .
By the way is there any one else on this forum from Madison Wis .?
Who may have studied with Evelyn Bauman at West High or with
Vierthaler or Fred Fenster at the UW ? Burnies rockshop ? Peter R
and Cindy E are two … any one else?
My spouse and I recently opened a gallery, we are able to pay the
rent with the proceeds from the jewelry I make. BUT, let me say,
the rent is less than what many make per week as a salary working in
other industries (less than $15.00/hour)
I’ve been dabbling in silversmithing since I was in high-school
(graduated 1975). I’m mostly self taught with the exception of an
adult ed class when I was 16 and the tips I’ve picked up along the
way talking with jewelers and fellow silversmiths and of course from
this list. Back in my early days I sold my work at flea markets and
art fairs and even on the street corner. Turquoise and silver was hot
back then as it’s been the last year or so. I then apprenticed and
worked as a carpenter but ended that career with an on the job
accident (fell 3 stories) which landed me in the computer business.
Most of the time my spartan set of jewelry tools from the 70’s
gathered dust until a few years ago I had to pack up my woodworking
shop which was my passion. I became majorly depressed when Christmas
came around and I was unable to make Christmas gifts for the family
as I usually did. I found my box of jewelry tools and with a little
rust removal and a few trips to a local lapidary and jewelry supply
store I was back in business for Christmas. Now I sell almost all my
work wholesale and have some excellent clients (one of which I met
through this list - Thank you!).
It’s still a part-time occupation for me but I do run it as a
business with all the proper licenses. It’s hard for me to put a
percentage on the income but I can say it does pay for some of the
extras in my family’s life like a traveling hockey league for my son
the sporto and musical instruments for my talented daughter and
hopefully a special family vacation this year.
My hope is to grow the business slowly so that it will allow me to
retire early from the computer biz unless the computer biz decides to
retire me earlier (damned economy). The best piece of business
advice I’ve gotten from this list, “Too many customers will drive you
out of business as fast as too few.” I’m hoping to add another
client or two this year.
Of course I devour all the technical tips from this list too…
I was very fortunate in my silversmith career. I started creating
silver jewelry 1973. I was an engineer at the time so my jewelry
was only a hobby. The profit I made was reinvested in tools and art
work. I did very well financially with the jewelry but not well
enough to support my family. In 1984, as an engineer, I was placed
between a rock and hard places. I was working at a nuclear power
plant and was asked to investigate possible safety problems. I
found problems but management did not want to here about them. I
raised enough hell and finally got the problems fixed but in the
process I placed myself in a no win situation as an engineer with
the plant.
By this time my house and the kids college was paid for so I took a
big gamble and followed my dream and became a full time silversmith.
I supported my wife and my self until I retired on social security.
My silversmithing business is now mostly a hobby. Sales are just
enough to give me a reason to create my art work. I can still
create and not fill my closets with my art work. Had I not had the
income of an engineer I might have started my jewelry career earlier
but a good salary is very difficult to leave for a dream that might
end in failure. I have found that artists in all fields have a
tremendous desire to create. If the are lucky they will find
outlets for their work. If the outlets are good enough they will
follow their dream full time. Good Luck Lee
Hi, Dave, I am desolated to hear you are having to toss it in! Your
story makes a pretty compelling case, so I can’t try to talk you out
of it, but I hope you won’t burn your bridges, but merely go back to
“hobby” status for now. And I hope you’ll stay with us on Orchid–
I, for one, consider you a friend. But, hey! You’re not dead, just
broke! It really looks to me as though things may be picking up a
little. Oddly enough, what gallery owners tell me is that it is only
high-end stuff that sells. I guess, with Dubya at the helm, that
shouldn’t be a surprise. (Sorry, non-Americans-- I mean George
“Dubya” Bush) The rich are doing great, it’s only the rest of us who
are getting plowed under. This last year, I applied to 9 shows, and
got into 2. Then I won top honors at those two shows. Go figure.
Anyway, thanks for sharing, and I hope it works out for the best.
Please keep us posted how you’re doing. --Noel
Noel: metalworking for me makes about 10% - 15% of my income–that
includes teaching sessions with a wide spread of ages, and just a
couple of shows a year
our area (Kitchener-Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) seems to be flooded
with people selling imported chains by the foot and glossy costume
jewellery–an unfortunate stereotype (but a stereotype it is) and is
why I have tended not to rely on shows to sell my work: i’ve sold
more pieces by simple word-of-mouth, and always carrying around a
pocket full of cards
so, realistically, although there are a number of artists of various
media that have conquered the hill of sustainability, there are many
many more that have not. my dream is eventually to be able to be a
full-time artist…knowing full well as well that i’ll never get
there if i give up
I’m an official “stay-at-home mom” now in part. I have exactly 12
hours of paid childcare a week in which to run my business, I lose
several hrs, a week of this to household stuff…so I figure I work
about 20% of a full time job, this excludes the summertime weekends
when I do perhaps 8 shows or so and . I used to be full time and do a
full show schedule.
Right now I earn about 20% of what my husband does…which figured
hourly is almost what my husband makes in his “real” job. Of course,
I don’t get the health/401K type benefits but I do get an extremely
flexible schedule which improves our family life. Although I almost
hate to admit it, I had a good year this year. I did lose most of
those $300 - $700 sales that really made it fun to be an artist
though. I am now spending way more time than I want to on the $35 -
$90 pieces, but I won’t be complaining. I know a lot of artists that
are working some pretty low skill jobs to get insurance and a
guarenteed income these days.
basically 100%, but… most of that is from repair work, not
creating. My first year in this location, about 95% was repairs, the
rest split between wholesale of my own products and special orders.
This past year, about 80% repairs, so things are heading in the right
direction. Our only non-jewelry related income is my wife’s stint as
an instructor at the local ski resort for the very short season here,
but that really doesn’t make a sizeable impact. I would also note
that being 100% dependent on an industry that is so effected by the
whims of the economy can be more than a little scary from time to
time. We have made our living this way for most of the past 16
years, and I have been doing this for over 25. Hope this helps,
feel free to ask more questions. I’ll answer as best I can so long
as it doesn’t get too personal. Jim
I am a lurker learning jewelry making as a hobby. I have sold a few
strings of beads and a couple of pendants but so far the total I’ve
gotten less than $500. I take classes, but usually turn out to be
the class klutz. I do it because I love how I feel when I try to
design something, and when I contemplate the materials one can use
(like beautiful stones or beads).
Dian Deevey
PS I have always enjoyed knowing artists. Most of them keep their
eyes and their minds open.
Interesting idea Noel, how about you? Are you going to tell?
I was afraid someone would ask me. For me, it continues to be a
struggle. I was a professional potter for 20-odd years (and, believe
me, some of them were plenty odd). I contributed probably 30-40%
early in my marriage (25 years ago), when niether of us earned
anything to speak of. Then I had four kids, and many other
life-interrupting events and processes. I have been jeweling for
about 10 years now, but my earnings come mostly from teaching. It is
very difficult for me to be in the studio reliably enough to produce
reliable quantities of work, and, as my past posts have indicated, I
haven’t totally found my market yet. So I’m contributing only maybe
15-18% of our needs now, with two kids in college (plus one
independent, mostly, and one still at home). I am beginning to see a
clearer way ahead, at age 51, and hope to do much more work in the
studio this year. On the other hand, my husband, a freelance
writer/consultant, seems to be picking up income at last, so I don’t
expect to be raising my percentage, even as I raise my income, I
hope. --Noel
I started teaching myself to make jewelry in 1975 and quit my day
job in 1978. In 1979 I moved from Boston to Hawaii, went broke and
had to go back to the day job off and on until 1989. I’ve been
making a living full time with jewelry since then.
I convinced my wife to quit her day job in 1995 to be my unpaid
slave.
We opened a store in 1999 that has done well for us. The store gross
is over two times the wholesale jewelry gross but I think we still
get over half of our net from my wholesale business.
We now have four employees, provide health insurance, pay our taxes
on time and own our own house just like real people.
Along the way we’ve worked harder than we ever could have imagined,
learned more extraneous stuff than we ever wanted to and met lots of
great people and had tons of fun. It looks like it will continue on
that way unless the cash flow roller coaster gives us a heart
attack.
I’m typing this at 5:00 a.m. getting ready to go to the airport for
the trip to Tucson, talking about tons of fun.
Well those responses weren’t as depressing as I’d feared. I make $0
from jewelry so far and I work on it every Sunday for 8 hours. Not
much, but I have a full-time job and 2 kids, one in college. I’ve
been working on my stuff for well over a decade (being mostly
self-taught, there were alot of experimental failures) but only
recently did I seriously begin to try to find a “home” for my
creations. I HATE selling. I live in New Jersey but work in New York
City so on my lunch breaks, I would walk around town and show my
samples to jewelry boutiques. I actually met alot of nice people,
without too much attitude. But no takers. Everyone “admires” my
work; no one wants to pay for it. I finally placed some pieces in a
gallery in my hometown in Jersey. They stayed there for several
months but nothing sold and they just asked me to remove it all. They
said it was admired alot, but a ring that “almost” sold wasn’t quite
the right size and earrings that almost sold were a bit too heavy.
Yada yada. I work in graphic design so I put together my own brochure
and have sent it out to galleries all across the country. I don’t
expect much from that. I can’t really afford to have professional
photos taken and pay entry fees for contests and juried exhibitions,
and I’ve noticed (since subscribing to Lapidary Journal) that there
seems to be a trend, an agenda, a theme to those pieces that win
these contests, and my work is much more minimal. (Seems you need to
make your designs very “busy,” mix alot of metals and materials, use
every technique taught in school–granulation, reticulation,
etc.–and be sure to stick on a few diamonds!) Sorry if I sound
bitter. I want to make jewelry that a woman would want to wear, not a
“piece” that wears the woman and jumps out at you and hits you over
the head. Ah well, I have no idea where to go next, but I’ll keep on
making the stuff. Because I’m compelled to. Want to see it (flatbed
scans, not photos)? Go to http://mywebpages.comcast.net/agoldin/Jewelry.html
I have been trying to sell jewelry, mostly at retail shows, for the
past 3 years. I had a part-time job (non-art related) up until last
year so this will be the first year I can devote myself to it
entirely. So far my income contribution has been 0% and I guess I
could not have picked a worse time to try and jump into business.
My work is predominately one of a kind, using various karats of
gold, sterling and/or combinations thereof which right off the bat
means expensive raw materials.
In a panick I decided to hire a marketer and have met with her for
the last month. She is making my head spin - telling me to see
myself as part of the Fashion Industry and to pay more attention to
the trends - leather, medallions with words on the back, heavy
chains, to look at the fashion magazines, Vogue, 17. It is such
awful stuff and so far afield of what I want to do. Her point is
make the trendy stuff now, get some money under your belt and then
you can do more of what you like. I am very resistant, probably to
my own detriment.
Another problem the disparity between the work juries want to see
and the work that can get you into better shows is not the work that
is selling at those shows. The low end stuff that would never get
you into a show is what is selling and I feel like I have to have 2
sets of work, one for jurors and one for customers.
In short I am very frustrated, disappointed and keep hearing this
over and over again. I don’t have time to read all the marketing
books and attend seminars, I work non-stop all the time and still
can’t get it going. But I ask myself, everytime I get a copy of
Lapidary Journal, or Metalsmith or Ornament, filled with wonderful,
creative pieces that can’t possibly sell cheap - Are those people
selling their work? And if so to whom? And how in the hell are
they doing it??
In spite of the economy, I continue to do well in my 8 yr business,
mostly of fused glass jewelry with dichroic pieces as well. I try
to focus on a variety of priced items, do the high end shows only in
good locations; location, location, location. The less expensive
items sell well of course but the so do the high ends. I’ve also
branched out into teaching classes which are truly fun 'n the
students then purchase supplies from me, ie: kilns, dichroic glass &
findings.
It takes just as much energy to do a low end show as a high end
show. When I set up I place my lower end, trendy pieces on the
aisle to draw people in. My dichroic bugs sell well so they’re
placed where adults 'n children stop to admire them.
I’m always looking on TV, the mall etc. to see what’s trendy 'n then
do my own version.
I hope this has been of some help to you. Please feel free to
contact me off line if you wish & please don’t get discouraged if
you really love what your doing…
I also am struggling to find a way to make a living as a metalsmith
and lapidary. I have been a metalsmith for several years, and a
lapidary for longer than that, but generally, my sales have just
provided the means to buy more silver, more tools, more rock. A
couple of months ago, I made a go of making jewelry full time. My
plan was to market over the internet, and until I could get the
website up, just make jewelry and build an inventory. I do
one-of-a-kind stuff, so I am lucky at this point to pop out 2
finished pieces per 8 hour day.
Anyway, there have been some hitches, the digital camera which I
ordered so I could build my website has been backordered for over a
month, and in the interim I have taken a temporary clerical
position. I remain undaunted, however. The folks I know who make a
living selling what they make with their own two hands are making a
living, not a killing, and they did not get their over night, nor
even necessarily in the first several years. I will keep trying to
find a way to make a living as an independent lapidary and
metalsmith, and I hope the rest of you who are struggling do not
give up your dreams.
Perhaps those of us who are independent lapidaries and/or
metalsmiths and who are struggling to find the way should get in
contact off-list and begin networking locally? As an old blues lyric
went, “if you can’t make money, make friends.” Those of you in the
Phoenix, AZ area can consider this an invitation .
I have been reading your posts holding back whether or not I should
tell my story- but I figured we all learn from each other here so
here we go.
I lived my entire life in New York. I always had a good knack for
being able to find great jobs even if my education or background was
not all there in the beginning - if something interests me I do not
take no for anwser- maybe its my rebellious side but “no you can’t do
this” has always been a challenge for me and I thrive on a challenge.
Shortly before 9/11 I opened a store while still working freelance
pretty much fulltime. I had interns and a business partner to help me
so it worked out. After the events of 9/11 I could no longer find
freelance work. For the first time in my life I hit a real dead end.
Couldn’t even find a waitressing job. I thought about moving to
California where it may have been easier but I felt too vunerable to
leave my hometown. Just the thought would make me burst into tears.
How could I leave family and friends and venture off on my own
especially when things all seemed uncertain?
I needed to figure out a way to make money. I did several huge
wholesale shows and the results were disappointing. Money was running
out. My credit cards maxed. Now what. I know you can sell anything if
you get out there and find your audience thats what I decided to do.
I built a website and read dozens of books on how to market and sell
successfully on line- I joined every organization I could find that
would help me to network and sell my collection (no not all jewelry
organizations) I started researching how to put together some kind
of press kit where people who I sent it to blindly would actually
read it and seized every opporunity I could find to sell myself. As
a result (and this took almost a year) I started getting press- now
my sales have doubled from last year and the most surprising I
actually sell a decent amount of work on the internet.
Its not enough to be a brillant designer- I know so many
silversmiths and model makers that put me to shame but they are not
earning any money. You need to do your research, honestly figure out
your market and agressively market yourself (and i am not talking
about buying ad space- you got to get your butt out there and
motiviate people to buy your line) I know I sound like an
informercial or something- but most designers are so afraid of trying
to sell themselves they give up and hide. You can’t hide if you
have bills to pay. I am not making what I was making pre 9/11- but
things are getting better each month (thank god!)… I want to tell
you all if you believe enough you can do it. You just need to build
a job plan and stick with it.
DeDe Sullivan
dedemetal jewelry www.dedemetal.com
PR 101 for Designers
Grace-- Now you see why I started the survey-- I agree with what you
say completely, especially the disconnect between what jurors want
to see and what sells (or gets you…me…prizes). I want to comment
that I think your adviser is wrong-- though, consider the source–
I’m not one of those actually making money. I’d think that, once you
make money, and possibly a reputation, selling trendy
jump-on-the-wagon jewelry, it could be very hard to be taken
seriously doing one-of-a-kind, serious jewelry. Plus, the market is
different, so the earlier contacts might not benefit you. It is
almost always necessary to take saleability into account-- one needs
"pot-boilers" that will allow you to make the work you love, whether
you can sell it at a profit or not. To “support your habit”, as I
think of it. But selling pieces need not mean selling out. I
encourage you to continue to resist making things that repell you.
It’s about your soul, as well as your bank account. That’s why my
husband and I barely make ends meet, but at least we put our (lack
of) money where our mouth is. If you just need to make money, become
a plumber. Good luck! --Noel
I want to thank all of you who have responded so far to my survey
question. I am finding all these vignettes from people’s lives
fascinating. I hope you other Orchiders are enjoying them too. It is
very generous to allow us a peek into your private worlds. I was
expecting numbers, and instead I am getting wonderful little
stories, and I hope I can do something worthy with the collection.
Don’t stop now! Keep up the good work!
Dede: When you write “… but most designers are so afraid of
trying to sell themselves they give up and hide. You can’t hide if
you have bills to pay.” I think you are on target. I know too many
people who have succeeded where others have failed and 90% of the
time it was because they had their backs against the wall and it was
succeed or starve. I know hardly a successful person out there who
has not worked their buns off getting where they are. Congrats to
you, you are on the right track. Keep going!
Truly, fear is a greater determinant of our success than our talent,
desire, or dreams. The motto “If you think you can, or you think
you can’t… you are right” is where it starts, but the race it
determined by our courage and inner strength…
.