[Mervione]

Look what I made! Made of copper, garnet, glass and swarowski. I´m so proud! What do you think? I got so delighted when I saw how nice I managed to wrap the pin. Attached a photo of that bracelet I made a couple of days back too, with added amethyst and glass beads. Was funny to notice how much better I have learned to wrap the pins just in one day.

[Casey.R]

Those are pretty You've inspired me to try now.
Oh and happy late b-day!

[The Pearl Outlet]

Those look great! Have you considered submitting any items (which include pearls) for inclusion in the Pearl-Guide section of the Designers' Market that we're setting up?

Here's the link to the thread for it: http://pearl-guide.com/forum/showthr...signers+market

[Mervione]

Do you seriously think those are good enough? Just seems too good to be true that I´m that good already...

[jerin]

Originally Posted by Mervione

Do you seriously think those are good enough? Just seems too good to be true that I´m that good already...

YOU ARE!
Love that bracelet!

[Hanaleimom]

Mervione,

I love your work, especially the wrapping. It is beautiful! I just tried wrapping a few FW pearls for earrings a few days ago and they don't look anything like yours.

You've done a very nice job indeed on the bracelet too.

[Caitlin]

Not only are you picking up the skills quickly, you have a good sense of design too. If you are this good already, just think how good you'll be in a year--a professional, probably!

Be carefaul abouthose gaps in the rings; things will drop of them when you least expect it.

I can't remember where, there is a thread where another member names the store for jump rings that really stay closed very high quality jump rings. Maybe in was on a thread that mention maille work (work made from jump rings, mostly) search for "maille" to find the threads

[GemGeek]

Originally Posted by Caitlin

Not only are you picking up the skills quickly, you have a good sense of design too. If you are this good already, just think how good you'll be in a year--a professional, probably!

Be carefaul abouthose gaps in the rings; things will drop of them when you least expect it.

I can't remember where, there is a thread where another member names the store for jump rings that really stay closed very high quality jump rings. Maybe in was on a thread that mention maille work (work made from jump rings, mostly) search for "maille" to find the threads

I can recommend the Snapeez jumprings from www.viamurano.com. They are the same people that make the Twisted Tornadao crimp. All the rings have the perfect thickness in relation to their size. Here is a video of how to work jumprings so they don't have a gap http://www.viamurano.com/Descriptions/snapeez-video.htm

Follow the technique in the video and they will be nice and tight. If you want an airy, but durable look, it's best to purchase chain that already has the look you want, but is soldered closed.

Durability matters most when you are selling your work. If I am unsure about something I've done, I let my friends at work "test drive" it for me. Unfortunately, sometimes the prettiest things are the ones that don't hold up because the wire wraps are from thinner wire or the parts or beads are too delicate.

You are a natural at making jewelry. You are only going to get better - how fun is that?!!!

[Mervione]

Thanks everyone for the very nice replies! I´m not wearing the bracelet at all because of the rings, but I´m planning to make another in silver and then I´ll use a finished chain or make sure I´m able to close the rings properly.

I have always been drawn to jewellry making, but not tried until now. I would like to work with it in the future, and it´s very nice to know that people here think I´m good enough (With some practice!). I have been looking into professional goldsmith educations and I might go for it after college (I finish next year.). But until then I´ll stick to beading.

If I practice much and get good enough for selling and feel comfortable that what I make is nice enough then I´d like to sell on eBay or similar pages. I´m just wondering how you´re supposed to price what you make? I don´t want any overpricing. Is it a good idea to use what the material costed and then a set % of that sum? Or the material costs and a set cost for the amount of time you have spent on making it?

Thanks.

[robinmce]

Hi Mervione
Beautiful designs and excellent wire wrapping!
Robin

[pearlkrazy]

Ohhh I love love love the earrings :-) Great choice of colors!

[Mervione]

Thanks, I think the red-ish colours went nicely with the copper. Maybe rose gold would do the trick too?

I`d very much like help with the question of pricing.

[pattye]

Oh, yeah,

That's a tough one! You do have some $$ invested in tools and maybe some magazines for beaders, besides the actual items in the earrings.

If you use top quality findings, sterling rather than plated, etc, you will no doubt have at least $6-8 in a simple pair of earrings. Plus a nice quality freshwater pearl! I don't count my time, because sometimes it takes me a LONG time! Are you going to put them on a card or in a box? I bought cardstock and a small hole punch like scrapbookers use and made my own cards for earrings. Think up a name for your little business!

What do gals like you pay for a birthday gift for each other? $25-30? That is a good price range to be in. I don't have lots of different prices, so it pretty much averages out. When I first started, a whole year ago, I gave a necklace to my best friends to try out. But I decided I would not give discounts, and give 20% of each sale to charity. It has been fun and rewarding, too!


If there are craft shows in your area, go and observe. Check out the websites on ebay of the designers who post here.

Just a few thoughts---

Pattye
so many pearls, so little time

[Mervione]

I think those suggestions are good. I ordered some sterling silver findings from FireMontain a few days ago, and they should be here soon. I just need some nice pearls now... Any suggestions about where to good nice quality freshwater pearls? I´ve been thinking about Pearllunar on eBay but I´m not sure since I´d like to be able to say what grade the pearls are on a scale from A to AAA and they use AAAA too. I know that you can just say that a low quality pearl i AAA but I think that´s not honest and would like to use the grading systems that the good vendors that post here (PearlParadise, PurePearls etc.) use, and I have no experience of grading at all so that means that I wouldn´t be able to tell anything about the quality of the pearls in the description of the jewelry. Unless I take the pearlgrading course that GIA offers of course. (Planning but need to save up first.) I find it important to let the buyer know everything about quality and what materials used in the jewelry you make, so that´s why I hesitate to buy pearls from eBay sellers, I can´t grade pearls.

Sorry if that didn´t make any sense at all, but I hope it did.

[Caitlin]

Pearllunar, although great on good saturated colors is essentially a commercial grade pearl- they flunk the A AA AAA test because they are quite eggy-shaped. (don't believe when they say "very round" They just mean rounder than most of their pearls, they are still eggs). Several people on this forum use commercial grade pearls in work they sell and there is nothing wrong with that. Except for my small but growing personal collection, I stick to commercial grade pearls too. My daughter sells them at her work for very affordable prices.

It will be hard to find really good pearls at eBay or most online bead/pearl sellers. If that is the quality you must have, I'd suggest you get them unstrung from someone like Jeremy, maybe Kevin, Amanda (or Ashley), Terry.... I think we have members who sell top quality pearls in France and maybe Germany, though it has been so long since they posted I can't remember the names......You won't find top quality pearls for those prices anywhere but from Pearl Guide members.