Goals | Lyn Foley Lampwork Beads and Jewelry

Wholesale – Or Not?

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Jun 242008

Our recent three day show in Dallas was very successful – even in the 100 degree plus heat! Our two fans at least kept the dense air circulating – and our cooler full of ice water kept us hydrated. WHEW!

Set up is awkward for us, since because of P.D. Jim can’t carry anything and walk at the same time – that means I do most of the lifting and hauling of gear. We get weird looks as Jim steps aside, and I put on my gloves, my back brace, and wearing my work-out clothes, lug the tent poles around, and man-handle all the cases and bits of displays into position.

But even with difficult set-up and tear down, heat, bugs – or in other instances, rain, mud, wind and cold, we love doing shows. It’s great to see old customers again ( I love my fans!) and great to meet new admirers. Traveling to shows takes me out of my tiny Round Top comfort zone and throws me into a different big city zone. Seeing who buys what (- or seeing what doesn’t sell), is always informative and interesting. And I get big boosts to my ego, especially when I win a Jury Award, like I did in Dallas. (Thank you, jurors). I come home exhausted from the physical labor and all the talking and interaction, but energized, full of new ideas and sparks to my creativity. So what’s the problem?

None, really, except that it is getting more difficult for me to do this every month with Jim’s limited help – and it is also getting much more expensive – hotel rooms, meals out, gas prices, show booth fees – all are adding up to take their toll along with the physical wear and tear on my poor back aching 63 year old body.

At just about every show, three or four customers who own shops or galleries ask "Do you do wholesale?" And therein lies the dilemma I am facing. Should I or shouldn’t I?

So far, I don’t really wholesale. I do furnish my jewelry to two galleries, The Gallery at Round Top, and Design|Works in Galveston. Both of these carry my work on consignment – they pay me after something sells. I keep my prices the same, and therefore, since the gallery takes a percentage, I end up with less income for what they sell, but don’t have to incur the expense of all of the above – or the expense of bodily wear and tear. Its a trade-off.

But in true wholesale, I would make a "line", take orders off of that line of jewelry, go home, make the beads and jewelry, and then be paid in full on delivery. Two companies that promote artists to galleries, with either wholesale web sites, or wholesale shows, or both, have approached me to be a vendor/participant. I’m looking at how I would do this. What part of what I make would be in my "Line" ? And what about pricing? Can I make enough at 50% off my retail prices – or do I need to raise my retail prices so that I can earn enough at wholesale? Will I have to give up doing retail shows – or just cut back on how many I do? And what about the fact that I mostly make everything as"One of a kind" – will I want to make the same or similar earrings or necklaces over and over? I’m tossing all these questions around as I fill my orders from the Dallas show, and make new beads and jewelry for the upcoming Rockport Art Festival. I’ll figure out an answer by August, when I have a one month show break. Meanwhile, a recent necklace I happily made for a new customer.

Thank you , Stephanie.

growth and prosperity

Goals, Jewelry, Lampworking 1 Response »

Feb 222008

Starting a business is the easy part – keeping it alive, growing, and prospering is an ongoing, constant challenge. Making a living as an artist is much more involved than people I’ve talked to realize. Customers often say something like this to me: "Oh, you’re so lucky – you get to play every day, be creative, and you don’t have to go to work!" – Huuh? Not exactly. It’s true, I am lucky, and I do get to play every day at creating something that I love – but, and this is a big but, I do "go to work".

Here’s what I’ve done today, and this is my usual routine:

Jim and I got up at 6:30, and Jim put on the coffee. We did 30 minutes of stretching, sit up type exercises, then we put on our outdoor gear, and walked for two miles. On the out to walk I took yesterdays beads out of the kiln, and put them, still on their mandrels, into a bowl of water to soak off the bead release. I then turned on the kiln so it would heat up to 950 degrees by 10 AM. Back home after our walk, we drank our first cup of coffee, made and ate breakfast. By 9 o’clock I took my second cup of coffee (decaf now, so I don’t get the jitters when I’m making beads) and sat down in the office at the computer. I checked e-mails, looked at etsy to see if I sold anything (nope), uploaded some photos I took of some new silver jewelry Jim made for the Round Top Gallery, and priced that jewelry. I cleaned yesterdays beads, planned what I wanted to make today (Teal hollows and bright yellow spacers), and went out to my lampworking studio in the garage. In spite of having to dip a lot of mandrels, I was at the torch by 9:45, raring to go.

It’s now 2 PM – we just finished lunch, and I’ve turned off my torch for the day (I made beads from 9:45 til about 1:30). After I finish writing this blog I’ll go over the mail, prepare an application for a December show, and then make at least one necklace (the beads for that are sitting on my bead board.) Several pairs of earrings are also sitting, waiting to be photographed. I’m also planning to upload some new pieces to etsy, and hoping to get the "Show Schedule" portion of my web site updated.

Jim, as the other half of this jewelry adventure, worked at his bench making jewelry until around 11:30 when he went out to do the business errands. He mailed a package, drove to the bank with a deposit, and delivered his new jewelry over to the gallery. Now he’s continuing work on an earring, necklace and bracelet set, and an elaborate neckpiece with one of my floral beads in the center.

We’ll quit our official workday around 5 PM, then probably have a hot tub, drinks, dinner, and relax for the evening.

It is fun, I do get to be creative – and I can work in my pajamas if I want. But still and all, after I make it, I need to sell it. And there comes the REAL challenge: Promotion. How do I do it? Mainly, I sell my creations at 12-14 juried art shows throughout Texas, New Mexico and Louisiana. So part of all that afternoon photography and computer work involves uploading digital photos to Zapplication or Juried Art Services, researching what shows are out there, and when the deadlines are. I use Art Fair Source Book to help me find shows – it’s worth every penny I pay. I recently used their sample jury process to have my slides critiqued. I learned a lot from that process, and feel my slides are better now (and I got into a really great show soon after using my new set of slides).

Each year I make an advertising postcard made – with photos of my jewelry on the front, and a little blurb on the back about my work. In the blurb I leave a blank space so I can insert "You can view my entire line at this show: ——. Then, about 3 weeks before the show, I mail the postcard out to everyone in that area that has signed up for my snail mail mailing list. I also send out an e-mail postcard to the e-mail list.

I’m a juried member of Texas Originals – a group of artists that represent Texas. They create group advertising, and send us leads every month. I mail my advertising postcard to those leads, and I participate in studio tours, shows, and whatever the TXO group dreams up.

Jim and I like to know where our charitable contributions are going, so we donate works of our art to fund raisers that benefit our community – the local library, a local women’s league, and other organizations that we know make a difference. I don’t expect anything in return for our contributions, but I do feel it keeps my name "out there" – and when a piece of my jewelry is auctioned off, it usually raises much more money for the organization than I could comfortably give in actual dollars, so its a "win-win" situation for us all.

Sometimes I take out ads in publications (newspapers, magazines) that will be advertising the art show that I’m in. I placed an ad recently in American Style Magazine (I didn’t get any results that I know of).

What else? Ah, how could I forget – the Internet, the portion of promotion I find the most challenging. I’ve got a web site,(I used to use Paypal on it, now I’ve switched everything over to etsy). I’ve started this blog. I’ve joined Indiepublic. I’ve signed up for web rings. And honest, I’m trying to keep up with posting, and visiting sites, and making comments, and so far, after just about two months of all this, I’m hooked on some sites I found in the process, and drooling over all the beads other people are making that I didn’t know until recently were out there, and I’m reading about the angst of other lampworkers, and other artists, and I’m checking back daily, and wondering how this persons doing, and that persons doing, and hey, wait a minute, where did my day go? EEK!!!

So here are some pieces I’ve made lately. And if you read this, let me know – I’m really not sure if the blog is working!

writing it down – or the list is working!

Goals, Jewelry, Lampworking No Responses »

Feb 112008

I’ve believed in writing down my goals for a long time – ever since I was 8 years old and my father (bless his soul) taught me how to create a business plan. If I could write down what I wanted to buy, he’d give me the money (mostly).

Anyway, I wrote down my goals for 2008, and lo and behold, a lot items on my list have or are already happening. Yahoo!

We did go to Marfa, and what an inspiration that was – all the way from the drive through the west Texas landscape, to seeing the art of Donald Judd, and others. Even the motel room (Thunderbird Hotel) was fun and staying in the minimalist room shifted my perspective. And the Texas sky, the sky – oh, I love the big sky like I love the sea and the ocean. It made me long for both. But never mind, I came home, and got onto the house project, and now, good grief, we have a builder, and are even getting a better house than we had imagined just a few days before our weekend mini-vacation. Signed a contract, and everything. We’ll be building a"barndominium" as Texan’s call a big metal building, with a house inside. We’ve created a sculpture you’ll walk through to enter the front door – it’ll stretch up 20 feet and outline our own piece of the big sky. Out studio, under the same roof, will have its own separate entrance. Oh, we are excited at last!! And scheduled to start building in about a month, for real.

Meanwhile, I’ve made lots of beads, played scrabble with my sister, soaked daily in the repaired hot tub, enjoyed quiet times with Jim, told several people I love them, and completed or continued to make progress toward other items on my goals list. Have been accepted to a new show that I really wanted to get into. Have been good to myself most every day (including getting my teeth cleaned today – is that good or bad?)

Writing it down does work – looks like it from here.

New on etsy (click photo for link):