Thursday Spotlight on DeDe Sorensen

Last night was a great show with DeDe Sorenson. DeDe creates fine art in a variety of styles. You can find her work at: http://dedesorensen.googlepages.com/ andhttp://dedesorensen.byhand.me When you check out her google pages you'll see that she sells on a variety of sites!

In fact, one of the things we talked about last night was how she manages all of the different sites she has her stuff on. I was quite impressed because this is something I struggle with! She told us that every morning she checks her blogs and social sites. Then, she has a schedule for when she updates her selling sites. A different place every day, that way there's always new things going up, but she's not overwhelmed on any particular day.

As well as her incredible art work, DeDe loves to write. She has several different blogs, but her main one is: http://paintnpen.blogspot.com/ She also writes for The Art Network, doing two columns monthly, and the next magazine will be coming out at the end of May.  The Art Network is an international magazine, and I think you'll find some wonderful advice in her columns!

Speaking  of DeDe's great advice, she's going to be starting up her own show on BHR! I'm really excited about it! It is going to be called Outside the Frame and will begin on the 29th at 1PM EST. Many artists struggle with the business side of things, because it's never really taught in art schools. It can be a vicious world out there! So DeDe is going to share her years of experience with us. The first week she'll be talking about Gallery shows. I'm really excited to learn more about them! I definitely have plenty to learn.

So Many Pretties!

I have so many new things right now! It's like Christmas in April :) I know, I know, not your normal time for Christmas, but it all came at once therefore it feels like Christmas!

The first thing I got was a present from my brother in Nepal. This was supposed to be our Christmas box, but it got here just in time for April! Got to love transporting things from third world countries. Mom and I got similar shawls (mine's a little more purple) and we're pretty sure that they are cashmire! So incredibly soft. Mom and I both wore our shawls for Easter. With the peasants blouse I wore underneath it my dear hubby told me I should be out milking the yaks or something...

The next thing I got was PACKED box that's been awhile in the making! I was contacted awhile ago by Bird of KittyHawke to see if I wanted to do a trade. I loved the idea! So we started negotiating and I'm in LOVE with what I got! She even gave me presents in the box :)  Here's what I got :)

A bag full of glass stones.

Some funky fiber beads.

A box of totally random beds (a bunch of them wooden).

4 Cabochons - which I'm really excited about!

I've got lots of ideas and I've been wanting to learn to use them in beadweaving.

Funky Peace Charms.

14 strands of beads! (I've already used some).

A special pendant - just for me :D

And as if THAT wasn't enough...I won a bloggy contest from Mama's Little Monkey's, and the package came in the mail yesterday! I didn't get a shot of my own of the crayons I got for my neice, because I was out running errands I took them over as a present right away!

She also included several soap bars that I gave to Becca - because it was her birthday was on Easter! Becca is my nieces mom - an adopted sister :P

The below is some bath salts that are just for me!

I tried them out last night and they smell heavenly :)

Insane!!!

Sane/Insane

Ok, seriously? I only need the Insane button right now... This week is turning out totally crazy! I promised myself I re-price my woven items this week (getting close to being able to do that), I found out Friday that I have a second shop I'm going to be selling consignment in and told her I'd have the stuff in this week, and then yesterday I found out that I'm doing my first craft fair of the season on Saturday!

Can you say running around like a chicken with my head cut off? 

Today was spent running and getting display supplies. I knew I needed to buy some tables and dsiplay things, but I thought I had a few more weeks! Plus I had some "real life" errands to run. My brother went with me since hubby had our car, and the two of us drove around for 5 hours! I kid you not! We literally made 15 different stops. Yes, it was sheer insanity.

Tonight I have one more trip to make (unbelievable no?) and my evil twin is coming over to go with me. I need some more feltboard and fabric for displays, so we're going to go pick that up, and then I'll put her to work assembling while I work on pricing or one of the other million things I need to do before the week is done. 

Don't worry, I'll get you more info about my consignment deal when it's set up! Then I'll have pictures :) 

Oh! I also got some awesome eye-candy in the mail yesterday and I'm going to try and take photos and show off tomorrow :) I'll be taking photos of other things anyway so it should work... *crosses fingers*

Weekly Special and the Artisans Challenge!

Have you heard of the Artisan's Challenge? I love it! Each week artists get to go head to head in 12 different categories. It's a great chance for exposure and a plain ole a TON of fun! Then, the winners of those 12 challenges, get to be in a weekly contest, and the winner of THAT contest is advertising on BlockHead Radio! Woot! And what's so special this week? I'm IN the challenge! Woohoo! Please go vote for my piece - Swiftly Changing Waters. The picture is listed below, fortunately/unfortunately it's already sold, but if your interested in doing a custom order (in these colors or others) let me know! jedimarri@gmail.com

Now it's time for my weekly special! This week I chose to feature one of my spiral earrings. I love making these earrings! I have a couple pairs in my personal collection, and these are some of the most popular earrings when I go out to fairs in markets! 

I thought these would be a great pair of earrings for this week beause the weather is warming up, and we all love the sun that's coming with the summer! They make me smile because they are so cheery, I hope they make you smile too :)

The Details: Normally these earrings end up being $7 after shipping has been added in, today, with your 20% off - you can get them for just $6, which includes shipping to anywhere in the world! Earrings are approximately 1 1/2 inches long, so they do dangle, but their not overly large. I hope you enjoy them! 

Thursdays Spotlight on Kamila's Dolls

First, just let me say, I know it's not Thursday! Sorry, I usually try to get this post out the day after the show and life got in the way this week. When I had such a great artist too! 

Thursday night we met Kamila. Kamila is an art dolls artist and you can find her work and all her links at www.woodedwoods.com. She told us that her husband is very supportive of her art, and he not only does all the web-site building, he also helps her take the stories that form in her head and put them down on paper to publish with the dolls! That sounds like a wonderful partnership. 

Now Kamila's art dolls are not what you might typically imagine when you think of an art 

doll. Through away all your previous concepts, these are NOT your mother's dolls! Which is probably why I love them so much. 

Kamila has an eye for the strange and the creepy. One of her inspirations (and it shows!) is Tim Burton. We were all telling her on Thursday that we look forward to the day when we can say "I know her before she went to work on Tim Burton's movies!" Her works so incredible that I can see that as a real possibility. 

When asked about her prior art experience Kamila told us that she's always loved to draw, and that's still an important component in her work today. She often sketches out a piece before she begins work. One thing that amazed me was that she had never really worked with polymer clay before she began making dolls! That floored me considering how detailed her work is. I also enjoyed hearing about how she searches in thrift stores for the right fabrics and components to complete her work. 

Kamila works full time as well as devoting time to her art work. This means she often works late into the night when the inspiration strikes her because there is simply no other time to do it! Lately production has been slowed a bit because she's pregnant (congratulations!) but she does have one piece up on eBayright now that you can purchase.

I hope you can join us for next weeks interview Thursday night at 9pm EST - it will be a lot of fun!

~Ruthie~

http://roseworksjewelry.byhand.me

Seeking New Growth

One thing that every good business should seek is growth. This is the last of my goals for the new quarter we're in, and at the moment, it's the least clearly defined of them all! Probably because there are so many different facets I can address with growing my business. 

Growth can look like a lot of different things. For one, I want to grow in my talent as an artist. This is something I'm constantly working towards and rather undefinable in that sense. Especially because some times I'm completely surprised by my own growth! Take the earrings I pictured to the left. These are just one example of my spiral earrings, and I came upon the design totally by accident when I was playing around with wire one day. Yet, in the process, I discovered my most popular earring style yet! So a portion of my growth is simply always dreaming and trying new things. 

My main focus right now, artistically, has been to grow as a bead weaver. I also want to grow as a wire-worker, but lately that interest seems to be taking a back seat to bead weaving. I'm challenging myself to learn new weaving techniques. Top of my list right now are a pattern called "Hojas" that I have the artists permission to recreate. In fact, the first is sitting on my desk next to me partially done! I also want to learn to work with cabochon's in bead weaving. I have a few ideas for that and hopefully you'll see that soon. 

Aside from artistic growth, the most important way my business can grow is financially. Which basically means, new sales. There are a number of things I'm working on for this. First, I started a newsletter awhile ago, and then it fell by the wayside because my migraines we're making it too hard to write intelligently. I intend to start up my monthly newsletter again, if you don't remember receiving it in the past, and want to be on the list, send me an e-mail at jedimarri@gmail.com so I can make sure you are on the list!

Another step I'm taking is to increase my visibility as an artist in the "real" world. To that end I have already set up my first consignment deal with a brick and mortar shop. Last I checked there were no sales there yet, but they just moved locations, so maybe the new location will mean new customers and some sales! I'm currently pursing a second consignment deal that my Mother-in-law helped me find, and I plan on pursuing at least one more at some point.

I'm also beginning to research and apply for fairs and markets to participate in. My improving health makes this possible again, and I'm really excited about it! So far I've put out a few feelers, and I hope to know a lot more soon :) I'll let you guys know as I know!

The last way I'm working to grow my business is my growing my on-line presence. There are a lot of different things involved with that, and I plan on blogging about some of them individually in the upcoming week or two. As always, it's an adventure! I've learned a lot in the last year (I've almost been open a year!) and I know I have a lot more to learn. 

So here's to a growth filled second-quarter!!! I hope that you have a growth filled and profitable second-quarter as well. Come join me in my adventure to make myself a better artist and business woman. I'd love to hear about your stories and struggles, because that's what the artisan community is for, sharing, caring, and helping each other. :) 

Hard Decisions

Some times, as a business woman, you have to make decisions that are hard. For me, one of the hardest decisions is deciding how to price my items! That's been one of my biggest struggles since I started Rose Works Jewelry, and I have a feeling it will continue to be a process I struggle with. 

Fortunately, over the last year, I've come to a place where I'm fairly confident in the pricing of most of my pieces.  Most of my earrings and wire work are at prices that I'm comfortable with and that I think pretty accurately reflect my time invested and the materials used. What I have always struggled with, and continue to struggle with, is the price of my woven work.

When I first started out selling my bead weaving I priced it pretty low. A large part of that was a lack of confidence in my own work. It was also, though, a lack of knowledge of what else was out there, and what other people charged for similar work.  

Over time I have raised my prices some, but I've known from what I've read and what others have told me that my prices were still too low.  Let me give you an example. The piece pictured below, Amelia, is currently listed for $25. Now the cost fator going into is pretty small, seed beads are cheap, so that doesn't affect the end price too much. But how long do you think it took me to make? Any guesses? 

I don't know precisely, because I didn't track it, but a brick stitch piece like that usually takes me around 6 hours. And I'm only charging $25...that means that if I don't even count the cost of the beads I'm only making a little over $4/hr for my labor! This is not a sweat-shop and I think most would agree that my time is worth more than that.

Because of this, I'm going to be raising prices on my woven pieces. I'm still doing research and figuring things out, so it'll probably be a week before you see the changes, but if you've had your eye on any of my woven work, now is the time to buy it! 

I'll admit that I'm really nervous about making this change. In this economy it's scary to be raising my prices, but I don't want to undercut my fellow beadweavers. I also think it's time that I actually earn a little bit more of what my time is worth. 

There are a lot of resources out there that talk about pricing your work, but here's just two that I've recently looked at. Bead Nerd and Home Based Jewelry Business.

I want to say a big thanks to Smadar, she's not only an incredible bead weaver, she's also been kind enough to spend some time lately giving me advice on the pricing issue and other questions I've had about the beading world. Be sure to go check out her shop! The picture below is just one of her awesome pieces :)