Recently I had the honor of being interviewed by jewelry artist and creativity coach Sally Evans for her audio series, Inspiring Artists and Creative Entrepreneurs.

For the interview, we spent about an hour on the phone, and Sally recorded our conversation.

Because she’s a creativity coach, Sally has a positive, encouraging approach to everything she does.  I don’t think you can interact with her without coming away feeling inspired!

Her questions really made me analyze the things I do in my two businesses (my handcrafted jewelry business and my online publishing business).

In the interview I share a lot of details about how I got started, how I overcome obstacles, how I market my work - and how I blend business and “real life” together into a creative living.

Sally has just made our conversation available in your choice of an audio download or an audio CD.

You can purchase them on her Inspiring Artists and Creative Entrepreneurs page.

(Also on that page is Sally’s audio interview with Barbara Winter, a wonderfully warm and inspiring creative lady who was one of my major influences when I first started creating my own life.)

For a weekly dose of Sally Evans’ positive, creative tips you can subscribe to her free ezine, Embracing Creativity.

{ 3 comments }

Many thanks to Dita Basu of Bead-Z-Mommys-Business for sharing this tip:

We are all aware of the issue of lead in the jewelry making field and the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CSPIA).

Recently I came across some information that I wanted to share with my fellow jewelry making friends:

In a catalog by Fire Mountain I found that there is now a kit that can test for lead on any surface - including metal, ceramic, paint and other jewelry making components.  See how it works.

This kit seems fairly inexpensive considering the cost of a lab test which can be over $100.

I have not used it. Just wanted to share what I came across.

—————

Note from Rena:

Thanks so much for sharing this, Dita!

I have not used this lead testing kit either, and I don’t know whether it will fit in with the CSPIA requirements.

It might also have value for jewelry artists if (for your own knowledge and peace of mind) you want to check your jewelry supplies for lead content.  For example, you might want find out if any of your pewter components contain lead - which was often the case until recently.

For more information on the issues of lead in jewelry, see the Rings & Things forum discussion on how the lead-in-jewelry law affects jewelry makers.

{ 3 comments }

In today’s issue of my Jewelry Business Success News ezine, I discuss the growing trend of relying on the clocks that are built into our cell phones and other electronic devices instead of wearing wristwatches.

You can read my article about it in my newsletter - A Timely Tip - Are Wristwatches Becoming Obsolete?

What are your thoughts or experiences regarding this trend?

Are wristwatches becoming obsolete as our electronic gadgets become a bigger part of our lives?

Please share your comments below.

{ 25 comments }

You may be familiar with Rita Juhlin of Private Stock Jewelry because of all the great tips and responses she shares on my Home Jewelry Business Success Tips site.

When Rita talks, it’s a good idea to listen.

She’s a self-made success story - and her advice is always practical and useful.

Rita recently wrote in to share two excellent resources for any jewelry artist with a blog, website, or other form of online jewelry business.

She says:

—————

I’ve been reading and participating at “Home Based Jewelry Business Success Tips” for some time now.

My kudos to Rena for all her own success and longevity on this website. If I owned a hat I’d take it off for you!

I ran across a couple things that I think many of the readers might find helpful.

The first one is a free directory.

Links are always important for getting the search engines to find you; I’ve started a Home Based Jewelers Directory at http://homebasedjewelers.gotop100.com and I hope everyone will take advantage of it - and you may want to start your own directory too!

Rena, I hope you will be the first to list, your website is important to home jewelers.

I thought it would be great fun to have everybody’s link in one place.

I listed myself to see how it would work and make sure there wasn’t any funny business going on and it works great.

The rank will change every 30 days; no fair clicking on your own link!

The other thing I found was a widget for blogs called LinkWithin. It’s a great little gizmo that searches your blog and brings up three links under your post which relate to that post.

In other words, if I post an Onyx pendant, there could be three pictures (thumbnails) under the post relating to Onyx.

It’s really cool. I’d like to find the program for my website, but it works great for my unorthodox blog.

The widget is free and exceptionally easy to install and use.  You can find it at http://www.linkwithin.com .

—————

Note from Rena:

I’ve added my Jewelry Business Blog to Rita’s Home Based Jewelers Directory - and I hope you’ll head right on over there to add your jewelry blog / website too!

Also, I’ve installed the LinkWithin widget here on this blog; you can see how it works by looking at the bottom of this post, where it says “You might like these stories”. You should see three links leading to other posts that exist within this blog.

LinkWithin was easy to set up, and I love the way it brings up additional content for my readers to check out at the end of each post.

Thanks so much to Rita of Private Stock Jewelry for sharing these two great resources for our online jewelry businesses.

You rock, Rita!  :)

{ 6 comments }

A jewelry artist named Joan shares her lovely tips for naming handcrafted jewelry pieces.  She says:

Finding names for each jewelry creation can be a daunting task. I choose names in several ways:

1) I may honor a friend by naming a piece of jewelry after her. Note:  an unexpected by-product of this idea has even resulted in sales to the very people whose names I have used!

2) Sometimes I name a collection of similar pieces of jewelry with a friend’s name, and then each piece in that collection gets a number - ex:  Lydia Collection: Lydia #1,  Lydia #2, etc.

3) I will also derive names from the components of a jewelry item.  Ex:  If I make a bracelet that contains shells, pearls, beach glass, etc. I might name the piece “By the Sea”, or something related to the bracelet’s content.

4) Sometimes I choose a name that expresses how I feel about a piece of jewelry.  Ex:  I made a necklace that I thought was fabulous, so that’s what I named it:  ”Fabulous!”

5) I also use a Thesaurus, either the one on my computer or a book, and I will glance through it searching for words that best describe what I have just made. When I find the word I like, that becomes my jewelry item’s name.

I do not like to assign just numbers to my jewelry pieces, because I feel it’s too impersonal.

I make jewelry from my soul, and my soul is filled with wonderful images, words, and feelings.

That’s what I like the viewer or the purchaser of my pieces to see and understand!

{ 14 comments }

I often receive emails from people asking where they can get formal training or a degree in jewelry-making.

I just came across a cool resource from Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America (MJSA) that easily answers that question:

Jewelry-Related Programs and Degrees Finder.

It provides information about jewelry-related programs and degrees available through colleges throughout the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.

So if you’d like to take a couple of courses or work on a degree, this resource provides contact info for schools with all kinds of jewelry-related programs.

{ 0 comments }

It all started a couple of weeks ago, when Dee Gordon sent me her inspiring article Jewelry Designs that Change Lives to publish on my Home Jewelry Business Success Tips site.

I discovered how Dee’s jewelry business enables other people’s dreams to come true, and I wanted to be part of her efforts.

So I purchased one of her lovely Giving Necklaces, which help fund micro-loans to entrepreneurs in underdeveloped countries.

Today I had an exciting email from Dee, updating me on what’s happening with the proceeds from my new necklace - you can read about it in Dee’s blog post about Ana from Peru.

It’s so neat to be a part of good stuff like this!  Many thanks to Dee for providing this opportunity to help a fellow entrepreneur like Ana.

How can you join in this lovely flow of abundance?  Here are three suggestions:

• Help spread the word by blogging, tweeting or linking to Kiva.org or to Dee’s blog post about Ana; or
• Commit a portion of your time (or jewelry business proceeds) to a cause / activity that makes a positive difference somewhere in the world; or
• Purchase one of Dee’s Giving Necklaces (which, by the way, would make a very nice gift for someone special), to help another entrepreneur in a developing country.

{ 4 comments }

As artists, we all go through spells of losing our spark.

Since I first started my jewelry business, I’ve had at least 6 major spells of completely losing motivation to make and sell jewelry.

Most of it has been due to burnout - I tend to take on too much, burn the candle at both ends, and wind up overwhelmed, exhausted, and needing to get far away from it for a while.

I know many jewelry artists who spend most of January recovering from the hectic Fall and holiday jewelry-selling season and custom orders.

Another very common cause of losing motivation is when roadblocks (real or perceived) seem to be keeping us from getting where we want to be in our creative business.

Jewelry artist Lynn White has just begun the Artist Motivation Blog, a lovely haven of support, encouragement, and inspiration.

It’s brand new, and Lynn invites all of us to become regular visitors and join in the discussions there.

I’ll let Lynn tell you more about it:

The Artist Motivation Blog

by Lynn White

The inspiration for the Artist Motivation Blog came about from discussions started in January on Rena’s Home Jewelry Business Success Tips about What’s Stopping Your Jewelry Business?

In the post Made a List - Here It Is several thoughtful comments were shared.

One of my favorites was a comment from Lisa in the UK.

She proclaimed that what we perceive as negatives could also be positives.

This inspired me to share motivational information with other artists on a blog.

So much creativity is contained inside each of us just ready to emerge.

Let’s let that happen!

We can create many beautiful things if we don’t let our personal obstacles stand in our way.

I would like this to be an interactive blog, with people commenting on how the day’s post has impacted their art in a positive way.

Enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm.

Shared life experiences can help someone else going through the same issues.

Sometimes all we need is a pat on the back from someone else.

This Artist Motivation Blog is about YOU.

Please join me in making it a success.

{ 7 comments }

To assure customers that the jewelry his Wholesale Gem Shop offers is ethically made in a non-sweatshop environment, Aaron Rome created a video of his products being made.

Aaron says,

“I made this video because I feel strongly that everyone should know where their products come from and how they are made.”

He adds, “it also addresses the important issue of fair trade and exploitation in the jewelry industry.”

I think it’s an excellent idea for all jewelry businesses to create an educational piece - such as a video, a slideshow, or a photo series - showing customers how your jewelry is made, and who makes it.

It’s really eye-opening for customers to see the effort and skill that goes into your work, and it can be a good way to address some of the frequently asked questions about your products and your business.

Here’s the video Aaron created:

{ 5 comments }