Shiny things anyone?

[riazendira]

So, having committed to selling at a local craft event in November, I've decided I also need to ramp up and diversify my inventory of stuff to sell. Which means 1) I need MORE stuff, and 2) I need stuff that sells at both a lower and higher price point because at current, all my inventory has to sell for about $25-$40 if I want to get any money at

Comments

[kaylashay]

Nice! If I wore longer earrings, I'd go for the blue wave ones. But I stick to short ones and am low on funds at the moment. :(

[riazendira]

out of curiosity- what length earring do you prefer? Because the blue waves are probably the shortest there...should I be finding ways to make even shorter ones? I don't think those are much over an inch for the bead part anyway. I know that I do have a tendency to default long with earrings because I personally have a long neck. Any opinions you have on this would be greatly welcomed since I need the input to make stuff with the best chance of selling in Nov.

[cold_shuga]

i LOVE the first and second pair to BITS. i have a friend who sells vintage clothing online but also at niche markets. She funded a trip to Vegas on it. considering that we both live in australia i think that is quite an achievement. so it can be done. i think your right and it is time V costs to make sure you are covered. perhaps you should consider taking commisions then you don't have excess stock. maybe?

[riazendira]

I've done the commission thing before... it doesn't really work for me. I seem to get the vaguely obsessive people who basically want to dictate EXACTLY what they want their commission to be, and then I have absolutely no fun making the thing and it all becomes pointless to me, because I only make this stuff because I enjoy making it, and incidentally it makes money, ya know? I appreciate the suggestion though. And now I feel like I should be funding a trip to Vegas, because that sounds like way more fun than paying medical bills :-D

[cold_shuga]

i can TOTALLY understand why you wouldn't want o do commisions now! I would hate it. I do some paper craft and usually make cards etc for giving to others....but then someone asked me to make them a set of xmas cards. it turned out to be a chore because i had to make like twenty ALL THE SAME. I don't DO all the same...that is what "hand made" means....they will look different. and hand made. i kept hearing "i like what you do...but can you do it different?"

*aaarrrgggghhhh*

calm now. see it all came back to me. forget i ever mentioned it *grin*

and me friend...i can't believe that many people wanted old, used clothes (yes...i know they are "vintage" and "designer" but dude...other people wore them *cringe*)

[riazendira]

Hrm.... well a lot of the vintage designer stuff simply can't be rivaled these days because people just don't put the same amount of time and effort into clothing without spending thousands upon thousands of dollars on it. I mean the wedding dress I made my friend? That would have cost her about 15K if she'd bought it couture. The material cost was a tiny fraction of that, but all the labor we put in would have cost her the arm and leg if she'd gotten it from a designer.

So I can see how people who like the look of vintage are willing to spend that, since you can't get it anywhere else. But... I'm totally with you on the other people wore it thing. If I don't know the other people, it's a little odd to wear their clothing. Borrowing a significant other's shirt, not the same as wearing someone's dead aunt's prom dress... ya know? And here we hit upon the reason I learned to sew! I can make my OWN fabulous, unique, totally extravagant clothing :-D

[ferneberga]

Love the last and ante-penultimate. Like kaylashay81 I tend to go for shorter ones, mainly because I don't have long neck. I love all lengths but have to think practical and opt for those that are not too long.
I think it would be nice if you could make them in 2 lengths, i.e. long and short. Don't know how practical that is. A lot of the long ones you have I think would be more appropriate for evening or special event wear than say perhaps daytime.
This is the kind of length another friend of mine makes for her fashion jewellery collection

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=104423976308453&set=a.104417426309108.9467.100002225530959&type=3&theater

These are not really my style, but the length is. As you can see they're short but not ultra so. Can see the pair of you will ruin me eventually - lol

[riazendira]

Your friend's work is really interesting, thanks for the link. :-D

Most earrings can't come in two lengths and retain their composition, sadly. There isn't that much variety in beads. I just can't quite understand people saying these earrings aren't short enough though... some of them are under an inch long. Am I supposed to be making REALLY short earrings? I suspect this is an issue with the fact that I like my earrings to be 3 inches if they're there at all, and have since I got my ears pierced back in high school. :-D

[ferneberga]

Perhaps we need your friend to pose with the earrings like she did the other time, that way we could see the real length better, because I was thinking later maybe it's the photograph that makes them look longer than they actually are.

Just measured the 3" from where my ears are pierced and that almost reaches my shoulder literally - lol But then I'm only 5' 1 1/2" tall so it's logical.

Hadn't thought about the composition factor, and looking back at the pairs I really liked I can see they would lose their beauty - damn!!!

Mind you that hasn't put me off. Still deciding on a pair of those earrings. I love earrings, bracelets and rings

[riazendira]

I firmly believe in everyone wearing what suits them best :-D I have about 5 or so inches between my ear and my neck, so 3 inches of earring doesn't even fill the space. But on you, that would look overwhelming, so it makes sense you'd go for the smaller ones. Perhaps I should do some smaller, but still more complexly elegant ones just for people like you. I do make a lot of earrings that people, upon seeing them, have described them as "shoulder sitters" - a term I'd never heard before, but it does sort of sum up the really long ones. So yes... some of my earrings are deliberately REALLY long. They are meant to go to or beyond your shoulder. But you can has the shorter ones for your style of fabulous :-D

[riazendira]

The 7th and 8th pictures, or the 7th and 8th earrings? Because pictures 7 and 8 are the same, one's just a better photo of the way the blue sparkles, so I included them both.

Yeah, I clearly have to get more input on what people consider "long" versus "short" though, if the comments to this post are anything to go by. Sigh. It's always a learning experience :-D

[riazendira]

Yeah, I can do ruler, or at least measuring tape, I have a few of those around. I thought the grid backdrop would at least give people relative perspective, since each pair of earrings is set on the exact same grid, but I guess that doesn't really help if I don't give the dimensions of the grid, :-p Silly me. I will fix this.

[tinlizzie82]

Oooh! VERY SHINY!!!

[riazendira]

:-D I <3 shiny things.