New Jewelry Dishes

I came across some ceramic jewelry dishes on Pinterest a little while ago which inspired me to create these new pieces.  I loved the idea of having holes around the edge for hanging earrings.  There were a few challenges in creating these but I was determined to figure it out.

We've had several people ask us how we got the lace doilies to stick.  There are no doilies attached to these but only the impression made from them and then antiqued in paint.  I am happy to say that no doilies were harmed in the process and we can use them over and over again!

These dishes took quite a few hours to make plus several bakings.  The most difficult part is joining the 2 sections and finding the right forms so they maintain their shape each time they are baked.  These dishes are about 8 inches in diameter.  You can hang 21 pairs of earrings on the charcoal dish and 24 pair on the purple one. 

These pieces are now available at the Shuswap Artisan Market in Sorrento.

Displaying our Larger Size Snaps and Other Items

We are always asked how we display our work for selling in stores or for shows.  Many are surprised when we tell them we make all our own cards and print them on our computer.  We find this method the best as we can make them in any size or shape and as many or few at a time.  Now we create even more complicated ones that are cut out with our Silhouette Cameo machine.

But you don't need a fancy machine to make your own cards and this is our latest method used for selling and displaying our interchangeable art snaps.  These ideas not only work for snaps but can also be applied to other pieces such as brooches, earrings and even buttons!

You can see a previous post here where we showed how we display our snaps using the display cards that are available in our online store in the DIY Snap Supply section.

These cards work really well for the regular size snaps and when selling them in groups of three or in pairs but what to do about those irregular shape or larger size ones?  We have found several ways we like to keep them organized in our studio and displaying in shows.  A simple way of organizing is using jewelry trays with dividers.  You can fit quite a few snaps in a tray and additional trays can be stacked.  This looks really nice when putting them out at a show and doesn't take a lot of time with packing and unpacking.

But since we started selling our decorative snaps to several stores, we had to come up with another way to not only display, but also for merchandising.

For this purpose, we designed some simple cards just by using the Word program on our pc computer and then printing out on a heavy card stock.  The simplest way for this is to create a "Table" with squares in the size you want.  Here I fit 8 to a sheet and made them longer so they can fold in half with the fold at the top.

After cutting them out, they are folded in half.  We punch a hole at the top for hanging (optional).  We then punch a hole in the center for inserting the snap.  This hole has to be the right size or the snap will fall out if it is too large.  After a lot of searching, we finally found a hole punch in the correct size (3/16") to fit the snap.

Punch the hole through both thicknesses so the snap is more secure on the card when hanging.

Another cool thing is how the card can turn into a mini stand for display as well!

Here are some extra large snaps we made on larger size cards.  We made them the same way, but with only 4 cards to a page.  They show off nicely when standing up.

You will notice that our cards are very simple and plain looking and for a good reason.  We feel the card is only a background or support for the art piece which is what we really want to show off.  A busy pattern on a card can be very distracting and not show your pieces off very well.

You can also store or display your carded items in trays (or drawer dividers shown here) which is also quick and easy for packing and putting out at shows.

And if you aren't into making your own cards and want something already made, we have some new cards available in our online store in the DIY Snap Supplies section.  These cards are a soft plastic with a plush velvet background and a center hole ready to hang.  Snap jewelry is printed in silver on the front of the card and you can always add a sticker with your name on the very bottom or on the back.  The cards are 1-1/2" wide and the larger snaps on the cards shown below are 1-1/8" and fit quite nicely on them.

If you are still considering adding a snap to some of your clay designs to make them interchangeable, our half price offer is still on for a few more days and ends on Friday, June 30th.  Receive both Part 1 and Part 2 of my Snap Decisions tutorial for only $10!  Plus receive your own personal coupon code (no expiry date) to use later for 20% off your snap supply order!

Creating your pieces in a snap are so much fun and versatile!  Just think of all the possibilities you can do with them!

New Ring Display

A couple of years ago we made some displays from polymer clay to show off our bracelets at shows.  We found these worked really well for us and you can see them here.  This year we decided we could use a ring display and so made one using the same technique as the one for the bracelets but instead mounted all the cones on a solid base.

We have several styles of rings that all have a snap base for interchanging the decorative snap buttons.  It worked really well and allowed the shoppers to choose their preferred ring style and then select the various snaps for interchanging.

Paper cones we covered to create the ring stands

Tips on Selling and Displaying Your Art Bead "Snaps"

I thought I would share how we displayed and organized our "snaps" in our latest art show to give you some ideas.  Christmas shows are just around the corner and I know some of you are already thinking about that so I hope this will make it a bit easier for you.  We had quite a range of items to sell and so it took a bit more organizing.  For instance we had bracelets that took one "snap" and other bracelets that took 2, 3 or even 5.

For the single snap designs we found they sit very nicely into ordinary pegboard.  Dave cut pieces to fit into our various jewelry trays and we painted them with black chalk paint.  A while ago I came across this beautiful silverware cutlery case made from cherry wood for only $5.  It was empty inside and had a nice spacious drawer in the bottom half.  I instantly knew what I was going to do with it. Dave cut a piece of pegboard to fit in the top and I upholstered some black fabric for the lid to hang our pendants.  We use the drawer for more display and holding our "over-stock".  When we do a show, everything opens up for display and then packs away again nicely.

For items that took multiple snaps such as necklaces, bracelets or even cuff links (shown below) we organized and displayed them differently.  During a show, the customers do not have a lot of time to coordinate their snaps for their jewelry pieces so to make it easier for them, we organized the snaps in groupings onto trays.  We found these plastic cards and cut some of them down to hold the coordinating snaps in groups of 2's or 3's.  We have more of these cards on order and will have some for sale soon on our website in case anyone is interested. They are available in black or white.

We found these racks (in the kitchen gadget area at the dollar store) that worked really well for arranging the snaps but they could also be placed in trays or directly on the table shown above.

We also had a bin full of our "Jewelry Pick & Nail Savers" handy and sold them to customers who needed one but were also a bonus gift with a minimum purchase.  These are really handy for removing the "snaps" from the snap findings and preventing your nice nail manicure from getting ruined.  These are for sale in our online store and I show how to cover these with the clay in part 1 of my "Snap Decisions" tutorial.

Another thing we discovered is that these jewelry picks also work on helping to release those "Pandora" style bracelet clasps.  One customer told us she was tired of chipping her thumb nail when opening the clasp.  She not only bought one for herself but more as gifts for those who also had the Pandora bracelets

And my last tip is how we provided little shopping bins for our customers to use.  These came in so handy and made it easier to manage all the items they were choosing.  When you get several people shopping at once, these are almost necessary.  They are cute little bins we picked up at the dollar store that take up very little space when stacked and not in use.  They were also easy for the customers to hold on to and nice and deep to prevent spilling out if tipped.

So I hope this inspires you with ideas on preparing for those coming shows.  We really had fun with it and are looking forward to the two other shows we will be doing this year.

If you are working with polymer clay and looking for a new idea to sell at craft shows, the interchangeable snap pieces is an exciting new concept.  My tutorial is available in 2 parts and for a limited time only, (until end of September) you can purchase the two together at a reduced price. You can purchase it as an instant download in our Etsy shop or if you are from Europe and would like to avoid paying the extra 15% VAT tax, it is also available in our Artfire Studio and we will e-mail it directly to you.

We have a wide arrangement of "snap" supplies for sale in our new online store which you will find here.  And for those of you looking for the "snap" supplies to use for your craft (polymer clay or other) we have the basic DIY findings for sale as singles or in bulk at a reduced cost.

I am happy to announce that Shades of Clay now also has some of the "snap" bases and findings for sale on their site making it more convenient to add to your order from there.  You will find them all listed here  (or click on their photo below).  We have been working together on this to find the most suitable and best products for you.  We do not benefit in anyway from Shades of Clay but are just very happy customers and they are our main supplier where we get our clay products from.

Make-over for our Bracelet Display Stands

A few months ago I shared with you a tutorial on how to make some simple bracelet display stands out of cardstock which worked very nicely for our jewelry display at the Art Walk.  They worked really well for us so I decided to make more solid ones from polymer clay, using the original "cones" as a form for shaping and baking.  (Tip:  Use a release of some sort such as cornstarch to prevent the clay from sticking to the cardstock.)

We also decided they would be multifunctional if we could display some matching earrings.  Since all our ear wires and art beads are interchangeable, we only needed to display the beads by making a special holder with some heavy gauge wire and adding an alligator clip to hold a label or card.

These are now ready for our next show this Saturday at the Westwold Community Hall.

Show Displays and Set-up Tips

Christmas season is coming and I know many of you, like us, are preparing for the shows and markets.  We do not do very many shows thru the year but the ones we do, we take extra care and planning for just the right set-up.  Each show we end up investing in a few more necessary props to give just the right look.  I thought I would share with you a few tips to give your booth a little something extra that will reward you with extra sales.

The first thing we do is work out a lay-out of our set-up.  We just use the word program on our PC computer, drawing shapes in the measurements of the tables, grids and other display props we use.  We can then move them around to fit in the space size we will have in each show we are in.  This is the drawing we did up for the Art Walk last weekend with photos of our space to compare.

Notice the mannequins and battery powered lighting

Colorful scarf jewelry

Notice our store bought and handmade papier mache mannequins on the grid as well as the large life-size mannequins in the front and back of the booth.  We have tried various ways to sell our necklaces but this is the best way we have found.  You must give each necklace it's own space.  Do not cram them close together.  Also note, the bracelet cones, we sold more bracelets than ever before using this display prop.

You never know the availability of electricity so we always carry battery powered lights, as in this past show.  We consider this tip to be so important as any jewelry does not sell without proper lighting.

We usually put up more signage than we were allowed to this time.  We create our own on our computer with large photos of our work and have them printed out at Staples, who we have found to be very professional as well as economical.  You can have them mounted on foam core or do it yourself for less.  These large posters pay for themselves as they not only attract customers but good photography will sell your work better than a 10 minute spiel.

Notice how we put the most colorful feature of our booth (the Scarf Jewelry) at the front and center.  It attracted people into our booth as they walked by.

Lastly, Square Register helped so much with sales because it was quick and efficient.  It is also a unique gimmick that customers found fascinating.  Believe it or not, we made two additional sales just so the customer could see us swipe their card again!

The credit card swiper that works on your phone or tablet is free and there are no contracts or monthly fees.  You only pay a low fee per transaction.

The cool thing with Square Register is that you can set up a "library" of your items and even load photographs with prices on your computer so you do not have to enter everything manually when you are selling.  We also not only used it for credit card charges but for cash transactions and keeping track of our inventory so we know exactly what we sold at the end of the day.  We could also text or e-mail a receipt to the customer if they wished.

In fact, we found this to be such a great asset that for our next show, we are purchasing another square register for our tablet and get an additional person to help with the "cash register" for quicker sales.

I hope these tips were helpful and just want you to know that we weren't paid in anyway for promotion of any of the companies or products I mentioned but just sharing with you as happy customers.

Follow Up on the Lake Country Art Walk and Our New Bracelet Display Stands

We had the most wonderful time at the Lake Country Art Walk last weekend.  It was our first time in this great art show and the experience was wonderful.  It was a little overwhelming at times with so many people but everyone was so patient and extremely kind and pleasant.  With all the crowds we were very fortunate to have our sister-in-law, Pat Good give us a hand and our good friend, (I wish I got a picture as she looked so gorgeous in her artsy dress) Denyse Pyke, help out as well.  We would have been totally exhausted and perhaps not survived the two days as well without them --- thank-you!

Pat and Dave taking a break...

My voice was getting hoarse by the second day from talking so much with demoing the clay and explaining how we create our pieces as polymer clay is a new art form for many that were there.

Just a follow up on my last blog post where I showed how we made our new bracelet display stands. Not only did the bracelets show off nicely and we could arrange them in different spots.  They must have worked well for us as we sold more bracelets than in any other past show.

Here are a few snapshots of our set-up.

bracelet display stands on table and above on grid.

Easy to Make Bracelet Display Stands

We are finally done adding all the finishing touches to our work and ready for our set-up at the Lake Country Art Walk today.  We are excited to be in this great art show that takes place each year in the Okanagan (Winfield - Lake Country) part of British Columbia.

One of the things we have been working on is our new memory wire bracelets.  They are like a bangle but the memory wire makes them more "expandable" so they can fit most wrist sizes comfortably and are easier to put on and take off.  They have a special clasp making it adjustable and simple to use.

We wanted some nice stands to show off these new pieces and saw some cone type ones but we would have to order them from the U.S, and they would not arrive in time for the show so we decided to improvise and make our own.

We simply picked up a sheet of poster board from the dollar store.  You could also use some fancy cardstock if you wish but we wanted a basic matte black to show off the bracelets and to match our show displays.  I used a lid from a tin that was 6-1/2" in diameter (17 cm) to trace a bunch of circles on the board and I managed to get 12 out of one sheet.

Cut the circles out plus one other circle from some plain paper to use as a template.  To find the center of the circle, fold the paper template in fourths and then make a cut on one of the folds in to the center.

Fold up one of the quarters of your template and lay it on top of your circle.  Using a ruler, mark and then cut along that line.

Note:  I found to make a "tighter" (narrower/taller) cone, I had to cut about 1/2" past the center mark.

Now roll your circle up to form a cone and then fasten it with glue and you are done.

So now our new bracelets are ready to show off.  Have a great weekend.