If this newsletter is difficult to read as an e-mail:

Read this issue online.

Welcome!

If the beginning of Spring (on the calendar, at least, if not in the weather!) has you wanting to rejuvenate your jewelry business, I've got lots of cool stuff lined up for you this week!

Here's just a taste of the inspiration you'll find in this issue:

• The final episode of Virginia Vivier's awesome tutorial on easy, affordable metal etching.


• Nifty tips and inspiration for metal stamping.


• Discussions on pricing jewelry too low, and dealing with copycats who scope out your jewelry booth.


• Polly Hendrickson's project for creating a vision board to help you reach your jewelry business goals.


• Lovely examples of using natural stone as a background for displaying / photographing your work.


• A peek into a jewelry booth at a Japanese craft fair.

Then in the Jewelry Gallery section below, you'll find inventive creations made with techniques ranging from bronze metalwork to papier mache.

In "Your Profitable Jewelry Business" I describe how I increased my sales, customer base, and word-of-mouth referrals - by making changes in my jewelry inventory.

And finally, I think you'll get a kick out of today's "Neat Jewelry Related Site" - it's actually a short video tutorial for a timely jewelry project!

So let's shake those Winter doldrums!

Come on in and rejuvenate your artistry and your handmade business.

~ Rena

If you like this newsletter, please forward it to your friends.

If you received this issue from a friend, please subscribe so you won't miss any upcoming issues.

In this Issue of
Jewelry Business Success News:

1. Quick Tip: Create Jewelry that Feeds People's Obsessions



2. New Jewelry Business Ideas and Techniques:
   - 4 new jewelry making ideas
   - 7 new jewelry business ideas
   - 4 new jewelry display / packaging ideas
   - 10 new highlights from the handmade jewelry gallery



3. Your Profitable Jewelry Business:
   Evolving My Jewelry Inventory for Shows



4. Neat Jewelry-Related Website:
   How to Make Earrings out of Marshmallow Peeps

Quick Tip:
Create Jewelry that
Feeds People's Obsessions

A few years ago, while volunteering at school with another mom (a lady named Gayle), I had an interesting conversation.

Gayle knew that I made jewelry, and she was crafty too. Her obsession at that time was scrapbooking.

As we finished up our volunteer work for the day, she told me she was really excited about traveling to attend a national scrapbooking event the following week.

Then she asked if I had (or could source) scrapbooking-related charms to make a special necklace for her.

She added, "You know, if you made and sold scrapbooking necklaces or bracelets with a little charm and a few beads on them, you could make a fortune at one of these scrapbooking events. The ladies who go to these conventions will buy anything related to scrapbooking!"

I did make the necklace Gayle requested and sold it to her (but I never got around to making and selling a line of jewelry for scrapbooking enthusiasts).

She was right, though.

If you have access to any special-interest group where the members are obsessed with their hobby / sport / activity / profession / topic / fandom, you have a good chance of selling a lot of jewelry that's themed specifically for them!

Sell Your Jewelry Like Crazy
at Shows, Fairs, and Festivals
This Year

Discover hundreds of things you can do to sell more of your handmade jewelry at shows, in my book Ultimate Guide to Your Profitable Jewelry Booth.

Get this 176-page, step-by-step resource before your next show.

Thanks for Spreading the Word!

If you find my jewelry websites helpful, please help spread the word about them.

Near the bottom of every page on my sites is a box that says "Share This Page", which makes it easy for you to link to that page or share it around the Web.

Thank you - every link helps! :o)

New Jewelry Business
Ideas and Techniques
from My Websites and Blog:

Jewelry Making Ideas:

1. Metal Stamps - Tips and Techniques
   See my tips for getting great results with metal stamps - and share your own stamping tips and tricks.



2. Letter Stamps - American Typewriter Font
   See the fun I've been having with these new metal alphabet stamps.



3. Lilac Honey Collaborative Necklace
   When two Lithuanian artists displayed their work in the same exhibition, they decided to collaborate on a creative new jewelry series. Here's one of the results.



4. Acid Etching Metal Jewelry, Part 4 - Etching Silver
   Don't miss this final installment of Virginia Vivier's awesome tutorial series showing easy, affordable ways to create wonderful etched jewelry.

Jewelry Business Ideas:

1. My New Ways of Selling Jewelry
   When Isabela needed to stay home to care for her children, she decided to put her jewelry and her line of glass pendants online.



2. Setting Your Jewelry Business Goals - Create a Vision Board!
   See Polly Hendrickson's wonderful jewelry business jump-starter - plus ideas for creating your own vision board.



3. New Opportunities for Selling Handmade Jewelry
   How Maria Hansford landed a great opportunity to show her jewelry in a prestigious venue - just by asking.



4. Pricing Handmade Jewelry Too Low
   Join this discussion on why jewelry artists price their work too low, and why you may want to raise your prices.



5. How to Handle Copycats in My Booth?
   Join this discussion on what to do when copycats ask for your supply sources and take photos in your booth.



6. A Journey and the Worthwhile Goal
   See how these three generous gals channel their creative talents into jewelry businesses that support a non-profit organization in their community. (Below the article, see how you can donate jewelry supplies to their efforts if you wish.)



7. Should I Have a Blog for My Jewelry Business?
   Share your comments for Lisa, who wonders whether she should have a blog as well as her jewelry website - and what she should blog about.

Jewelry Display and Packaging Ideas:

1. Jewelry Booth in a Japanese Craft Fair
   See photos of Mari's jewelry display at a craft fair that was held inside a Japanese department store.



2. Cool Slate
   With her sons in a construction business, Vicki Sugar has an inside line on pieces of slate - and a simply lovely way to use them.



3. The Rock!
   See Christina Miles's cool rock-store find that makes a great jewelry prop for photos and shows.



4. Star from Afar
   Jan uses this elegantly understated prop to set off her brooches and corsages beautifully.

Highlights from the Handmade Jewelry Gallery:

See many more wonderful new jewelry designs in the Handcrafted Jewelry Designers' Gallery! There are too many to list here - so these are just a few of the most unique new submissions:

1. "Lost" Pendant
   by Sheila Davis.



2. Groovy Copper Spiral Earrings
   by Tracy Smith.



3. "Craft On" Papier Mache Pendant
   by Cynthia Devening.



4. Altered State of Being Necklace
   by Tracy Carothers.



5. The Moon and Sun Double Ring
   by Mahitab Shamseldin.



6. Rockadelic Guitar Pendant
   by The Glass Chef.



7. Sea Treasure Locket
   by Luluka Nancy Jackson.



8. Artistic Bronze Cuff Bracelet
   by RS Wilson.



9. Lapis Cross Wrapped in Copper Wire
   by Abigail Lawrence.



10. A Brooch "Found at My Grandmother's"
    by Jurate Cesnaite.

Share Your Jewelry Content
and Get Great Exposure

I invite you to share your jewelry photos, tips, stories, tutorials, etc. - right here on my network of jewelry websites.

It's a friendly, creative atmosphere of ideas and networking.

You'll also receive links to your jewelry business, and gain exposure in the handmade jewelry community - and beyond.

Jewelry artists often tell me that the exposure they've received on my websites has brought them valuable new connections, opportunities, and traffic!

So come on in and take advantage of all these great opportunities for sharing:

Share Your Jewelry Content

(And of course, you always keep the copyright to all of your own content that you share on my network of jewelry websites.)

Sell Your Jewelry at Trunk Shows,
Private Showings,
and as Business Gifts

Learn how to sell your handmade jewelry to this HUGE untapped market, in my book Secrets of a Handcrafted Jewelry Shopping Service.

Get this 115-page, easy-to-read guide now, and make this your best jewelry selling year ever.

Your Profitable Jewelry Business:

Evolving My
Jewelry Inventory for Shows

by Rena Klingenberg

A couple of issues ago here I talked about How to Evolve: Make Your Jewelry Business Better and Better, using the strategy of doing more of what works, and dropping what doesn't.

Today I want to share an example of one way I've done that, and the difference it's made in my jewelry business:

When I first began making jewelry, the only technique I used was beading. I made and sold exclusively beaded creations for a couple of years.

But then when I first began making wire jewelry, I was surprised at how much faster my wire pendants sold, compared to my beaded necklaces.

(While I have a knack for wirework, I am NOT a particularly good designer of beaded necklaces.)

Anyway, after experiencing this sales trend at several shows, I stopped making beaded necklaces (except for custom orders), and clearance-priced my inventory of them.

And I started putting more time and effort into making wire pendants, expanding my pendant display area so it filled nearly half of my booth.

My booth traffic, sales, custom orders, and income all grew as my pendants practically flew out of my booth.

Then I worked toward evolving and refining my pendant inventory.

I recorded exactly what attracted people the most about these pendants, what they asked for, and which price points, colors, etc. made the most sales.

I kept track of the types of pendants that sold best, and focused on making more of those types.

I discovered that I had two popular wire pendant lines:

• About 30% of my wire pendant sales were from my line priced at $40 - $85, which used more wire and took more time to make.


• The remaining 70% of my wire pendant sales were from my line priced at $18 - $45, which used one small piece of wire and took very little time to make.

I discovered that for both lines, the fastest-selling pieces featured unusual, one-of-a-kind "odds and ends" for the cabochon / focal element - such as uncommon gemstones, coins, shells, tumbled glass, carved bones, game pieces, fossil shark teeth, found objects, etc. Turquoise stones are also fast sellers in these pendants.

The lower-priced line, my simple wire pendants, are one of the most popular jewelry lines I've ever made. They're a mostly unisex line that can be worn by nearly anyone, and they have a fairly high profit margin.

At many shows I've hardly been able to keep up with the demand for them - so guess what?

I began filling the majority of my pendant display area with a bigger selection of these simple wire pendants.

I also invested more effort into sourcing unusual focal elements for them, and making them in more colors, more sizes, etc.

In addition, with so much emphasis on pendants in my booth, I discovered that very profitable add-on items are leather cords and snake chains to put the pendants on.

As I've evolved my jewelry inventory this way - by doing more of what's working well and less of what isn't - my business has grown.

My sales, profits, customer base, and word-of-mouth referrals have all increased.

Fortunately, this strategy isn't rocket science. It's fairly easy-peasy! :o)

It's just the result of:

• keeping track of what people request and spend money on at my booth, and then creating more of it for them; and


• discontinuing the styles and lines that they aren't spending money on.

You can also see how Lisa Weber uses this strategy in her Jewelry Sales Analysis.

However, you may want to see Luann Udell's excellent advice on Why You Shouldn't Ditch Your Slowest Seller before you proceed.

I found that making what people already want to buy is a much more successful strategy than my original method of making a boothful of whatever I wanted - and then crossing my fingers that someone would buy it.

Neat Jewelry-Related Website

This week's neat site is actually a video for a cute jewelry project.

How to Make Earrings out of Marshmallow Peeps is a short video by the crafty gals at Polymer Clay Productions.

Watch and follow along as Ilysa and Kira demonstrate how to create your own "marshmallow peep" earrings from polymer clay, glitter, and yellow coloring.

Definitely a conversation piece - and a lot of fun! :o)

Sell Your Jewelry Online

Grow a solid base of online jewelry customers, using the step-by-step strategies you'll learn in my book Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way.

Get this 192-page, step-by-step resource now, and start growing your customer base.

Network and Get Noticed
in the
Home Based Jeweler's Showcase

The Home Based Jeweler's Showcase blog is a free opportunity to promote your jewelry business and find other jewelry artists to network with.

It's published by Rita Juhlin of Private Stock Jewelry.

To add your jewelry business to the Showcase - please email Rita Juhlin, at HomeBasedJewelers @ gmail.com .

SURVEY:
How Can I Make This Newsletter
Better for You?

If you haven't yet responded to my quick survey, I welcome your input!

Please take the survey here to give me your suggestions and feedback so I can make this newsletter a better resource for you.

I grant as many wishes as possible! :o)

Thanks so much.

My Jewelry Business Websites
and RSS Feeds

This newsletter highlights some of the latest jewelry business tips and techniques from my websites:

Home Jewelry Business Success Tips

Jewelry Display Ideas

Making Jewelry Now

Jewelry Business Blog

Each of these sites also has its own RSS feed. Look for the orange RSS symbol on the left-hand column of each of these sites to get the feed.

Thanks so much for joining me
for this issue of
"Jewelry Business Success News"!

~ May your jewelry journey be fun and prosperous ~

Contact Rena