From the creator of Anorel Arts

Thursday, November 25, 2010

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Finally got all of my photos from the festivals loaded onto my computer. Enjoy.

Hatch Market 2010, part of Doctober Days in Griffin, GA





And then Berry College Arts and Crafts Festival in Rome, GA on a really really really cold day! Had to take down the tent halfway through the day to get some sun, and Jess and I clung to each other on several occasions to keep warm.




Anywho, that's all for now. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans, and Happy Non-Holiday to those of you who live elsewhere. Have some turkey and pretend.

Gemstones Galore

     No wonderful quote this time. Also no giant rant. You can exhale now. Haven't posted for a bit, so I just figured I'd give you all an update.

     I recently received an order of gemstone materials, so I'm really excited to be working with such beautiful, high-quality items. I bought carnelian, sponge coral, yellow jade, new jade, peridot, garnet, freshwater pearls, opalite, and white quartz, so I've got plenty to keep me inspired. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to work lately because I just started a new job and my mother has been having a rough time since her knee surgery last week, so I've been less focused on my artwork than I would like to be. Still, I'm working on a new collection called "Gardens of Stone" that will feature a bunch of floral gemstone jewelry so keep an eye out for that to pop up on the site in the near future.

     Still working on some commissioned stuff, including a polymer clay elephant tusk (long story) and three portraits (about to add a fourth one onto that). After making all the preparations to start drawing the actual portraits (enhancing photos, gridding, taking out my drawing pad, etc) I realized that I have somehow lost all of my drawing materials. So far I've managed to find only one of my woodless graphite pencils, and it doesn't really help me much since it's the 2B and most of the work is done with the 4B and 6B pencils. Bah humbug. Thank God I don't have a deadline, or I'd be sunk. I'll be cleaning my room out since we have company visiting this weekend, so hopefully my stuff will turn up under some pile of jewelry magazines or clothing. If not, I'll have to go out and buy some more supplies. Yippee. More money spending.

     Anyway, aside from that there isn't much to report. I don't think I'll be able to get myself into any craft festivals before the holidays, which is extremely disappointing since I imagine this is the best time to be selling. I haven't sold anything since November 6th, so I'm getting pretty discouraged at the moment. I am, however, making up some brochures for jewelry parties. I think that might be a fun, profitable way for me to get my name out there and acquire some clients. So, if anyone in my neck of the woods (no more than a 75 mile drive from Pike County, Georgia) is interested in hosting a party where I bring my jewelry to your house so you and your friends can shop in comfort, let me know. Hosting a party gets you a discount. Woot.

     That's all for now, folks. I'll try to add pretty pictures next time I post. In the meantime, send positive, creative energy my way... and if you really love me, throw in a little cyber traffic. I need a little holiday cheer, preferably the green kind. Don't make me dress like Tiny Tim for sympathy. I'll do it.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

The Expected Pricing Rant

"If the artist doesn't value his or her own work, it's a certainty no one else will." ~ Janet Toney

     I warned you it was coming, and here it is. The dreaded pricing rant. Hopefully this post will be appreciated by both my fellow artists and my potential customers. Even if it isn't appreciated, it's something worth thinking about and understanding.

     While there are some people who are completely understanding of the pricing of my jewelry and view it as entirely reasonable, there are several others who insist on telling me that my jewelry is too expensive and even a few who think that I'm underselling myself. I'm getting pretty tired of it, but I imagine it's a problem I'm just going to have to get used to. Nevertheless, I figure it can't hurt to explain things to the few people who read this blog, and hopefully the number of complainers will go down a little.

     It seems to me that there are two ways of pricing things (other than asking your friends to randomly pick a number). These two methods are rather simple to understand at the core, though of course when you add on trying to keep your prices competitive in any given market it's tricky and a whole other story. Anyway, the first method is determined by how much money it would take to get you to part with something. This typically applies to people who make art as a hobby. Since they create a work of art for fun or self-expression, when selling said piece these people typically price their work based on sentimental value and maybe the cost of materials so they can go on to create something else. Note that these people are usually too young to care about making a living, have a separate and stable job, or starve to death. The second pricing method is one that should be familiar to everyone who has ever had a job. It doesn't typically rely on the sentimental value of the item being priced, but rather the time spent and the cost of the materials that went into the item.  That second one is me. That's how I price my work. Now let me explain.

     When I finish a piece of jewelry and open up my little spreadsheet to add a price to my records, time and materials are pretty much the only factors I'm considering. I try to pay myself $10 an hour. That's reasonable right? I mean, I personally think all the work I put into that hour is worth more than $10, but I'm fresh out of college and can't be picky. Anyway, I estimate how much time I put into the piece, and I get a starting number for that. Then I look at the materials that went into it. Most of my materials are fairly inexpensive, but if a necklace is made of real turquoise, that's going to cost more than a necklace that's made of glass. So the material factor for glass, clay, or acrylic beads is going to be relatively small while the material factor for stones, pearls, and metals will be a little higher. Once I've got the number for the time spent and the number for the cost of materials, I add those together and BOOM! you have a price tag! Simple, right?

Here's an example for you. Let's look at "Waikiki Star" since I can tell you quite a bit about those materials. For those of you who like pretty pictures, here you go:


     Ok, so there it is. Let's talk about materials first. See those shiny bluish-black beads? Those are freshwater pearls. More expensive than your average bead. And that pendant there? The center of it is paua shell which is also a little pricier than other materials like glass or wood. I picked up both the pearls and the paua shell while I was staying at Waikiki, so they were a little cheaper than they otherwise might have been back here in rural Georgia. The rest of the beads are glass and some unremarkable metal, so altogether, let's say that the price of the materials was about $10. Easy enough. Now take a closer look at the pendant. I already told you that the center is paua shell, but see that black stuff around the shell diamond? That's polymer clay. Nifty stuff. The paua shell was a really thin slice (another piece I bought actually broke before I could put it on any jewelry), so I backed it with polymer clay to make it sturdier and more substantial. That little black piece of polymer clay took me a little over an hour to condition, roll out, cut to the exact dimensions needed, shape to fit the back of the paua shell, smooth, and bake in the oven. After that I had to take a little more time to glaze the clay to give it that pretty, glossy shine, and then I had to glue on the paua shell in the center using a special adhesive designed for polymer clay. So let's say almost two hours for the pendant alone. For those of you counting, $10 for supplies and $20 for two hours working on the pendant gives us $30 so far. Now for the actual necklace. If I'm lucky, planning out the necklace takes me about half an hour. Stringing is typically quick enough if there's only one strand like in this necklace, so that only took me another half an hour, maybe a little more. So with that hour of work, we tack another $10 to our price, and we finally have a $40 necklace. Ta da!

     So, for those of you who think $40 is too much to pay for a necklace, I would agree with you if it was some mass-produced string of beads cranked out by a machine in China within ten minutes. However, if a necklace is one-of-a-kind and crafted by hand out of quality materials over the course of three hours, $40 is a VERY reasonable price to pay.

      And for those of you who think I'm underselling myself because of the fact that my work IS one-of-a-kind art and I'm worth more than $10 an hour, God bless you, but I don't know many rich people and I need stuff to sell. Still, it makes me feel good to know that some people out there value my time and effort as much as I do. Thanks, guys.

     This concludes the pricing rant. Thank you and good night.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

An Update for the Daily Prophet

     Now that Hatch Market and Berry's Arts and Crafts Festival are over, I'm focusing on updating the site a bit. I know that many people seemed interested in purchasing my creations online in time for the holidays, so I'm working hard to get the majority of my stock online and shopping cart ready. The hardest part of getting pieces ready for online purchase lies in naming them. It takes a long time for me to find names suitable for both the individual pieces and the collections they belong to, so I'm rather proud to reveal that the name of my latest collection is Diagon Alley. Yes, the jewelry in this particular collection will be named after places, people, and objects from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels. Since Rowling's work has been an incredibly strong influence in nearly every aspect of my life, I think it's only fitting to name some of my work in honor of her brilliant creations.


     So, that's really all for now. Working on a commissioned project, updating the site, and looking for more festivals to participate in before Christmas. If anyone has suggestions for events I could be a part of, please e-mail me and let me know.