About those 2 wholesale orders last week ...

I may have mentioned that I had 2 wholesale orders last week.  The funny part is that both stores are located on 4th Avenue in downtown Anchorage -- just 1 block away from each other.  How do I feel about that?  About having 2 stores so close to one another carrying my merchandise?  I feel fine about it.  Wanna know why?  I'll tell you anyway.

One store (Grizzly's Gifts) is kitschy and geared primarily towards the tourist traffic.  What do they order from me, you ask?  They are only interested in my ivory and sterling silver jewelry and order from my wholesale catalog.  This photo is a sampling of what I offer there:

The fossilized mammoth ivory is elegant and neutral and sells well in these types of stores.  Grizzly's has a selection of ivory jewelry from artists all over the state.  I'm glad to be represented there.  And they pay in a timely manner -- always a big plus!

The second store is Cabin Fever.  I've known the owner, Jana, for many years.  She's a terrific supporter of local artists.  She buys only my one-of-a-kind pieces, much like what you find in my etsy shop.  It really moves in her shop because she displays it well and is a master marketer.  Oh, and she pays in a timely manner as well.  Gotta love that.

These 2 retail stores are different and they sell completely different product lines of mine.  Most customers wouldn't even realize that those 2 product lines are produced by the same artist.  And that's fine with me.  I admit that I'm not in this business to "make a statement" with my art.  I'm here because I need to make a living and I truly enjoy what I do.  But I'm no purist.  Most of the time, business objectives trump artistic freedom. 

That's just the way it is ... for me.  Please tell me how you feel about this.

New Wholesale Accounts ... Redux

Yes, it is unusual to get any wholesale orders 2 weeks before Christmas, but that's exactly what happened to Orion Designs! Both of these orders took me by surprise and I must admit that I was NOT too anxious about filling large orders at this time of year. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

Grizzly's Gifts in downtown Anchorage caters mostly to summer tourists, so I am at a loss to explain their fairly large order of ivory and silver jewelry from my original Orion Designs website. They chose some necklaces and matching earrings. Hopefully this will lead to some follow-on business when the actual tourist season begins.

This photo is from my website, but my print catalog has a much more extensive selection of ivory jewelry. The ivory is all ancient and fossilized mammoth ivory that I purchase from a very reputable dealer. No animals were destroyed to obtain this ivory.



The other order was from Bell's Nursery and Gifts in south Anchorage. It is a beautiful place, especially in the summer. Their gift shop is extensive and full of kitchen gear, china, crystal, home decor and some jewelry. Apparently they do a great amount of business during the holiday season with a large selection of Christmas trees, wreaths and poinsettias. The day I was there, the gift shop was buzzing with activity. The buyer made some selections from my existing inventory, which was embarrassingly low. I certainly wasn't expecting the call from Bell's when it came, otherwise I would have built some new inventory.

When I asked how she found me, she said she had purchased a pair of my earrings in a gallery in Anchorage and she loved them. All of my earring cards have my contact information on the back. Good thing, huh?

These two orders made me just that much happier this season!

Public Art in Anchorage

In Alaska, all public projects such as schools, convention centers, police and fire stations, courthouses, and many more, are required to have 1% of the budget dedicated to art. I don't really know much about the program, but a few friends of mine have bid on and won such projects. This art can be seen all over the state, but I'm most familiar with the projects local to the Anchorage area.

This photo is one of my favorite outdoor pieces of art in Anchorage. It looks like gigantic fishing poles with gigantic reels. At the end of each one is a beautiful hanging basket full of flowers. I'm proud that my state holds the arts in such high regard.



And yes, I felt a little like a tourist when I stopped to take of picture of this!

New Wholesale Account

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by the manager of Meg Allen Salon in Anchorage with a wholesale inquiry. She had seen my work on etsy and wanted to carry some of my jewelry. Rebecca and I met and she liked the items I brought. Voila, a new account was born. They also have a nice blog.

The salon was warm and inviting. The front "room" had some lovely comfy chairs and sofas. The tables were adorned with fresh chocolates and there were handcrafted items available for purchase attractively displayed throughout.

If you find yourself in South Anchorage, stop in and have a look around.

A Word About Wholesale

As an artisan who makes her living with her craft, I long ago decided to include the selling of my work at wholesale as part of my business plan.

In order to offer my jewelry at wholesale I have to ensure that it is priced in such a way as to still be profitable for me. For some of my products, the decision to wholesale was easy. All of my earrings that are priced (retail) anywhere between $15 and $32 are available for wholesale. My higher priced earrings are not. My interchangeable earrings are not. For those 2 product lines, I would rather sell them myself at what I consider reasonable prices, than to raise them for the sole purpose of being able to sell them wholesale.

If you are considering wholesale and have any questions about the details of my pricing formulas, please contact me.

Now a few words about one of my wholesale accounts. There are not many independently owned clothing stores in Anchorage, but there are a few very nice ones. Portfolio and Classic Woman are two stores owned by the same woman and they are back-to-back in a busy area of midtown. I early 2006, I made an appointment with the owner to show her some of my jewelry. I brought in 22 necklaces and 24 pairs of earrings for her to see. She purchased all of them on the spot. For the remainder of that year, I was kept busy with lots of orders for her stores. That year, she purchased over 150 necklaces and countless pairs of earrings. We've been doing business ever since ... at a continuing high volume.

I make a point of visiting the stores frequently to get a feel for the colors that are popular and plan my next order accordingly. Jo (the owner) and her staff have a knack for displaying my jewelry with the perfect outfit. Many customers purchase the entire outfit, accessories included. Jo can sell my jewelry in color combinations that I could never sell at a craft show -- I don't have the outfit to display it with! It may seem obvious, but it's really marketing genius on Jo's part.

I was delivering an order yesterday and took this photo. It was a beautifully sunny day, so there's lots of glare and reflection in the photo, but take a look at her "tag line" under the store name. I love it.


If you can't read it, here's what it says: "an artful collection of fresh clothing for fun people"

Busy, busy days ...

I've been creating lots and lots of jewelry in preparation for tourist season. I certainly hope they show up this summer! I've heard that cruise ship bookings are down by 100,000, which I think is about 25%. That's some sobering news. In reality, I think that very little of my business is tourist driven, but other than Christmas time, the locals seem to shop the most during the summer too.

Yesterday, we went to Anchorage to run some errands. While in town, we stopped in at Artic Rose Gallery, where I consign quite a bit of jewelry. We also stopped at Signatures, a lovely clothing boutique, where I started consigning select pieces of jewelry last fall at the owner's request. She's a sweetheart with an amazing sense of style. I needed to see what was still in my inventory at these two stores to help me figure out what additional jewelry to bring them. There was quite a bit of jewelry that had been sold (yay!) so I have my work cut out for me. I also need to put together a package for the Fireweed Gallery in Homer and Dragonfly Gallery in Soldotna.

This photo shows my last batch of completed earrings and some other metal pieces not yet incorporated into finished jewelry. Several more days of this and I might be able to start delivering those consignment packages.


This type of work makes me happy.

Metal Working Classes

This past weekend I was in class all day Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday I attended a soldering class with Iris Sandkuhler, who is a guest teacher at my local bead store, The Alaska Bead Company.
I made these 2 pendants. I know, they're not very beautiful, but I've learned the basic techniques of soldering sterling silver and gold filled elements to a sterling silver base.




The class on Sunday was much more to my liking. I learned how to fuse fine silver and make a chain bracelet. This is a technique that I really think I will continue to do. My mind is full of ideas for variations on this basic chain composition.





Our instructor, Iris Sandkuhler, lives in San Francisco. She has a website where she offers distance education. Later this year, she will be offering online classes through Lisa Niven-Kelly's Beaducation.

Alaska Bead Society Show

This past weekend was the annual show of beads and beaded wonders from the Alaska Bead Society. The show was held once again at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art. The turnout was excellent on both Saturday and Sunday. Our community offers such great support for our organization -- it's amazing. It was nice to see so many return customers and meet plenty of new ones.

Being surrounded by 45 of one's best competitors/friends can be a challenge, but somehow we all manage to sell some jewelry. It always amazes me to see the wide variety of styles our group has to offer.