shanmonster | Shiny Shiny

Ok, so I didn't get the ring finished today, but I did get a lot done on it. I would have been able to complete it, but my assessments took longer than I expected. I had to do about an hour's worth of paperwork afterwards, which included pricing each and every piece of jewellery I made, with both wholesale and retail prices. Even when I amputated hours from the time spent to make each piece in an assumption that I will become more efficient with my time, the prices are still prohibitive. My necklace is the priciest piece of all. Assuming there were no fuck-ups, like those dadblasted hinges, the necklace would retail for $710 CDN. Yikes.

When I perfect my techniques, I'll be selling really high-end stuff. If I don't charge this much money, I won't be making a decent living. It takes a long time to put together the kind of jewellery I'm making. But the jewellery from places like Thailand has spoiled people. Sure, I could sell my necklace for $75, like a comparable Thai piece. I couldn't live on that money, though, or even recoup my costs. Materials and labour are much cheaper over there. The quality of the jewellery is also much lower. I've seen some very pretty silver jewellery from Thailand and India. However, as soon as it's looked at closely, the problems are obvious. Solder joins are messy. Stone-settings are sometimes more the result of glue than effective bezels. And the polishing jobs are cursory. But what do you expect for what's practically slave labour?

I'd like to sell headpieces at upcoming workshops, but I'm afraid the market will not bear my pricing. Nevertheless, I'll make a few and see what happens. And I'll post pictures online. These are the sort of pieces I wouldn't shy away from making on special orders. I could work with Nugold, copper, or silver (or any combination thereof), and the beads could be of pretty much any gemstone anyone wants. The piece will be priced accordingly, of course. Rubies will cost a lot more than hematite, for example, and silver more than copper.

The ring I'm making is going to be really pretty. I was right about the abalone shell working with cuttle-cast silver. It's a terrific match. And the stark design of the ring emphasizes the complexities of the silver texture and the abalone whorls.

My assessments went well. I was dinged on the things I knew I would be (like those ghastly hinges), and very good suggestions were made about how I could improve similar pieces in the future. There were no unpleasant surprises. In fact, both Brigitte and Trudy really like my jewellery line, and think it works extremely well together. They said I've taken simple designs and made them bold and dramatic in very creative ways. Coming from these excellent metal smiths, this is wonderful praise.

And look, I just found this glamourous picture of me working away at my bench, one cold, cold day this winter....