Beads and Baubles

Keeping Silver From Tarnishing

For many people, the show season goes from June to December, so for several months jewelry gets packed away and brought out only occasionally. During this time, and during the height of summer when humidity is a killer, keeping silver from tarnishing becomes a major concern.

The first really important thing about keeping your jewelry from tarnishing is to keep it clean. If you put it away tarnished, the layer of tarnish will continue to deepen when stored.

Many people will tell you that they keep their jewelry in ziplock bags. While that does reduce the humidity, it won't actually prevent tarnish and it can scratch your jewelry unless you use the specifically designed anti-tarnish zipper bags. Before putting the jewelry into the ziplock bag, wrap it in either anti-tarnish tissue or anti-tarnish cloth.

Although you can get anti-tarnish tissue from jewelry supply shops, I get mine from a place that makes it for use with silverware. Generally speaking, it's cheaper that way. Here's one such supplier: Kassoy. I also wrap my pieces in that tissue for sale and make sure to explain to my customers to keep the tissue for that reason.

The most popular brand of anti-tarnish cloth is Pacific Silvercloth. You can buy this in bag form, but it's far cheaper in a roll and if you have any sewing skills you can make your own bags and jewelry rolls. The bags made for jewelry can be very lovely and are great if you are giving the jewelry as a gift.

For extra protection against tarnish in the bags, you can use 3M anti-tarnish strips, which you can get from Rio Grande. The problem with these is that you don't have any way of knowing when they cease to be effective, and they are expensive for a product with that lack of indicator.

Another really good thing to use, especially if you store your silver in large cases like the jewelry cases, either in place of or in addition to the anti-tarnish strips, is Hydrosorbent Silica Gel.

Cabelas, my favorite sporting goods store for those fabulous fly-fishing boxes for storing beads, sells this in boxes suitable for protecting 3 cubic feet of space, which is just about perfect for the standard grey jewelry carrying cases. The stuff is lightweight (so you can just leave it in there even when you carry the cases around) and reusable. When it fills with moisture, you just stick it in the oven and dry it out.

Nowadays, they are also making a variety of jewelry boxes lined with silvercloth. These are good, but I would say that you should find a way to stick some silica gel into them, even if it's just the disposable packets like these: Adorama Silica Gel Packets. (Again, you'll notice I have listed a camera shop rather than a jewelry supply shop because I have found electronics supply places to be generally cheaper.)

For jewelry boxes lined with silvercloth, I have found the greatest variety -- oddly -- at QVC. Most of these are not practical for professional jewelry-makers, but this one has a nifty earring storage system that works for displaying as well as storing. Again, however, I would use dessicant inside instead of just relying on the built-in cloth.

So there you have it -- all the ways I know of to prevent your silver from tarnishing. I hope you find it useful!

Cleaning Your Silver

You know how it is; by mid-summer, every piece of silver jewelry you've made is beginning to look dingy if not downright black.  Humidity takes a harsh toll on silver, and keeping it from tarnishing--or cleaning it once it has tarnished--is part and parcel of making and selling silver jewelry.  (All the following refers to sterling or better; silver plate tarnishes faster, is harder to clean, and is generally not worth spending your money on.)

You can clean most silver with a variety of paste cleaners.  Naturally, there's the silver polish you buy in stores, but toothpaste can be effective, as can a paste made from baking soda and water.  The baking soda paste is also gentle enough for pearls and soft stones. 

Be warned, though -- make sure your baking soda is thoroughly dissolved -- any grit will scratch your silver!

But what about when you have to clean everything because you've done a show by the shore and the the salt water and humidity has turned it all black?  You cannot very well hand-polish each item with paste polishes.

The most obvious thing that comes to mind is the dip polish you can buy in just about any drugstore or supermarket.  This type of dip goes by a variety of names, but it always looks about the same -- a small jar with a basket inside it and a clear, stinky liquid.  This stuff is primarily ammonia.  It does an excellent job of cleaning silver, but it has two major drawbacks:

1. it will clean ALL the silver.  You won't have any nice oxidation left in the crevices or anything.  It's also not safe at all for dyed stones, porous stones, or pearls.
2. Rumor has it that items cleaned with dip cleaners will also re-tarnish faster, but I don't know that for certain. 

(Dip polish, however, is the best thing to do with vermeil -- a quick dip, run under warm water and pat dry.)

A second kind of dip polish is Jewel Brite.  Jewel Brite won't take the tarnish off your silver, but it will clean it and make it shiny, and it's safe enough for pearls.  So if things are just looking a bit dingy, give them a swish in Jewel Brite.

If you make jewelry, you probably own a tumbler, which can be used for cleaning silver.  Tumbling is quite simply the best way to clean most silver jewelry.  It is the only process (aside from paste made particularly for silver) that will not damage the silver in any way.  But tumbling also shines, or burnishes, silver.  So if you like the aged look of your Karen Hill Tribe silver, with its slightly matte finish, you don't want to tumble it!  Tumblers come in two varieties: rotary and vibratory.  Both take stainless steel shot, water, and a little blue Dawn dishwashing liquid or burnishing liquid.  The rotary tumblers are less expensive but take longer than the vibrating ones.  (There are a lot of other benefits to tumbling, but I am not going to go into them here!) 

Some people say you cannot tumble pearls, but I do so in my vibratory tumbler regularly.  It's possible that rotary tumblers, which have more movement in them, may not be safe for soft stones and pearls.

Tumblers can clean several items at a time, but they're still not exactly quick.  So what's next?

Well, if you take jewelry to a jewelry shop, they'll probably use a steam cleaner.  You can buy a steam cleaner yourself, but there are things you should know before you do.  Steam cleaning is fabulous at removing tarnish.  It will leave you the oxidized bits you want as long as you do it carefully, and it works fabulously to clean the little crevices around inset stones.  However, you cannot steam anything with glass, pearls, porous or dyed stones, or that has glue in it.  You also have to steam clean one item at a time.

The most popular home cleaning machine is the ultrasonic jewelry cleaner.  Everyone who's used this kind of machine tells me it does a good job cleaning silver, but again it cannot be used with pearls or soft stones. 

Then there's the ionic cleaner.  More specialized, the ionic cleaner tends to be more expensive and harder to find than the ultrasonic cleaner, but it is safe for pearls and soft stones.  I have heard a variety of opinions on this, and though I have ordered one myself it is on back-order til who knows when, so I cannot give it a try and let you know my results just yet.  Here are the things I have heard about ionic cleaners:

• "Silver takes about 15 seconds, gold 30-35 seconds. The ionic gets rid of grime/dirt and cleans the tarnish from the silver."


• "I also use an ionic cleaner for thin chains. The Ionic cleaner works well to remove tarnish, but I've found that my chains seem to tarnish much quicker."


• "sometimes the ionic cleaner blackens the wrapped wire or a few connected links of a chain.  The instructions do mention this but they also say the black is easily removed with any pickle solution. So I tried a homemade solution (vinegar & salt) & it was absolutely useless! I've had to scrub the affected areas with silver dip several times over as well as polish them for ages to remove the burnt areas."

UPDATE: I tried the ionic cleaner.  It did fine on some items, but I did have the nasty blackening reaction in several places, and the parts that turned black wouldn't clean up again with pickle, dip, or any other easy form of cleaning.  I finally got them clean by taking an electronic toothbrush and using it to scrub and scrub using toothpaste.  Then I threw out the ionic cleaner.  More trouble to clean up the black parts than to just lightly scrub the entire piece with the cheapo electric toothbrush and toothpaste.

Then, there's the aluminum foil method:  Line a pan with crumpled aluminum folk, then fill with hot water with washing soda in it.   This is the same as the "museum silver cleaning kit" you see advertised on TV.  This works well and is safe enough for pearls and soft stones.  You just don't want to clean anything that's been glued into place this way.  The tinfoil has to touch some part of each silver bead you want to clean, which is why crumpling it makes the process easier.  (Washing soda should be in the detergent aisle, but it's not so easy to find in many places.  If you cannot find it anywhere locally, Amazon has it.  I personally have not had huge success with this type of cleaning, but some people swear by it.

So that's it, that's what I know about cleaning silver.  If you know something else--because I am sure many of you have had a great deal of experience in this matter--please let me know so I can update this article!

Dunstable Artisan Show & Sale

The Dunstable Artisans 16th Annual Show of Art & Fine Crafts

Unique and original artwork from 24 local, juried artisans.

Co-sponsored show for local high school art students + prizes awarded.

$2 admission

Groton-Dunstable Middle School, 344 Main Street, Groton, MA 01450

for directions: www.dunstableartisans.org

The New Studio...An Adventure

It was a beautiful spring day when Carla Eaton and I went looking in Nashua at studio space. We first approached the building that housed Gallery One at the Mill House, which is another mill building that is perfect for artists. Not quite finding what we were seeking, we then went over to # 99 Factory St. Ext., which already had Warm Stone Studio and Out on a Limb, pottery studios, as well as other photography and ceramic studios. Little did we know that it was a decision that made rocks roll and the earth shake for us!

We found friendly people and space that would be available in the next few months. We felt that getting in with these folks was the way to go.

SO the wait and collecting started.

Carla and I proceeded to collect tools and supplies as well as furniture and other sundry things and promptly pack our garages full, so you could barely get in. We both had displaced husbands who waited patiently for THE MOVE.

Weeks turned into a month and so on and so on, until Carla, who visited the owner every day, wheedled her way into the best space we could have imagined!

This delay was caused by “THE CARPET GUYS.” They had a huge space on the second floor, which took up four new areas, and it was full of carpet remnants that didn’t seem to be going anywhere fast. So daily, THE CARPET GUYS were looked at to see what progress they made………..none again. We really wanted to get started working on our space, for a possible opening of September 1.

This was becoming unlikely, so Woman Power came into the picture and Carla started moving mountains. The carpet guys finally moved out and our “mountains of stuff” started moving in. Where was I in all this? In the background, getting out of Carla’s way.

The new studio, RIVER ART STUDIOS, came into being and will offer Lamp Working, Metal Smithing, Art Clay, Polymer Clay and other interesting classes.

It is a friendly, exciting place to be, even when we’re just fixing tables up. Our neighbor artists are so much fun and it is a great artistic family to belong to.

We welcome everyone to come down to check us out in our early-not-quite-finished stage on September 17th during the Nashua Art Walk.

We are located at # 99 Factory Street Extension, Nashua, NH, tel. 603-882-1199, see you there!

--Carol

My Store Experience - Chap't. 1

Greetings, all - I'm delighted to be joining you. I'll be sharing what I can sensibly assemble of my experience, updating at appropriate intervals. My purpose is to allow anyone who so wishes to learn from my experiences, and also to recieve feedback from readers.

About me - I'm a 24-year-old Rastafarian farmer/artisan hiding within the body of a wide-bodied 52-year-old white guy in Memphis, TN. I was interested in jewelry-making and metalwork 28 years ago, but family and other stuff intervened. When our daughters moved out 4 years ago, I resurrected the interest and began learning lost-wax casting, fabrication, about stones and beads, etc. I am currently in flight from the corporate world, having quit my high-paying job as a corporate sales dude in Feb.

I originally had no interest in retail, but an opportunity presented itself in May, in the guise of a small building for lease in a very favorable location. I am in Midtown, which is the  beautiful-old-home, artist/studentgroovy restaurant part of town. A little more specifically, I am at the heart of the Cooper-Young intersection, which is the hub of an area of 11 restaurants/bars, several liberal churches, and a half dozen galleries/boutiques. One of my observations was that the restaurants draw up to $100k of discretionary spending on a weekend night, but that all the other retailers closed up at normal hours - usually by 6:00 PM.

I adopted several strategies:
1) Try to be open when women are drinking within walking distance - which means 10 PM Thurs - Sat. (soon to be extended to midnight),
2) focus as much as possible on handmade products only - my inventory is my jewelry, handmade soaps and candles, fused/slumped glassware, rope sandals (small factory) and fair-trade artisanate products from developing nations.
3) Create an ambience such that just being in the store will provide a unique sensory experience. To that end, I built all the fixtures myself. First a three-color Jackson-Pollock-looking paint job on the floor.  Next were abstract shapes of natural-grain wood on the walls, to which shelves were affixed.  I covered the majority of the walls and all of the ceiling with panels of chambray fabric, interspersed with shapes of fabric that had been tie-dyed. Last was to wrap the overhead flourescent lights with colored shades that softened the light, assisted by small directed spotlights.

I qualify the demographic I'm looking for as follows:
1) The nature of the neighborhood qualifies most residents.
2) The restaurants in the neighborhood are diverse, from pub grub to Pacific Rim, to upscale tappas to sushi to NuevoMex - guest checks run up to $65 per diner. The majority of customers come from other areas in the city, who choose Cooper-Young as a dining destination area. By definition, anyone who drives from 15 miles away to eat sushi in Cooper-Young is my target demo.
3) Women age 25-50, college-educated, who have within the last two years purchased original contemporary art for their personal space are probably at the heart of my target market.

As for advertising and publicity - I started up right away with 1/6th page ads every other week in the local "alternative" paper. Starting this coming Monday, I'll be running 20 60-second spots weekly on the local Air America outlet, for a period of three weeks. Beginning in Oct., I'll be doing monthly 1/4 page ads in a local  magazine which focuses on professional and business women. The local mainstream paper has a website that gets 1.8 million hits per month. they are going to put up an online mall, with links throughout the site. For $39 a month, I can get a link on the front page. My website will be commerce-enabled within a few weeks. I'm hoping particularly to target tourists who are looking for what-to-do info, as my experience has been that I have almost a 100% sell-through with folks from out of town. There is a local late-night call-in radio show that covers New Age topics, primarily UFOs and paranormal experiences, whose website got 315,000 hits in August. For $50 monthly, I can get a skyscraper ad that will appear on one side of the screen on all pages on the site, again with a link to my website.

I'll continue to look for opportunities to broaden my product line. I've recently begun doing three-color enamel-over-copper pendants, and they are doing well. Lost wax casting will begin as soon as I have a good selection of molds. I've recently also started offering tie-dyed, handpainted denim shoulder bags, made from leftover fabric from the walls. I intend to resume painting soon, and have plans for some abstract/organic wall sculptures.

Results? -OK, the first thirty days I broke even. The second 30 days (which I'm halfway through) are on pace to do the same. Note that break-even means that I cover my expenses, I'm not taking any salary. Actually, as I continue to increase inventory, cash flow is negative, but an accrual-based P&L  that reflected growth in inventory valuation would probably support the break-even analysis.

The corner to turn will probably be Sep't. 17, when the 13th annual Cooper-Young festival happens. Projections are for at least 40,000 people in the area on that day. They rope off 6 city blocks, and there will be 300 vendors. That means I'll have a shot at face-toface exposure to at least 4,000. With a 10% sell-through rate, and an average sale of $20,  that makes for an $8,000 dollar day.

That, friends and neighbors, is my story to date. Please feel free to post any observations, comments, suggestions, or humorous remarks. I'll try to get back to you with an update before the end of the month. 

Yours in whimsy,

John the wonder dog

 

Show Report: Castleberry Fairs, Gloucester, MA

Venue:

Large park next to the ocean on the north shore of Massachusetts -- a popular spot for vacationing both for day-trippers and weekenders. This should be a good crowd, but it does mean that traffic getting up there is a complete bear. If you're going to do this show, go as early as you can on Friday to beat the crowds.

Weather:

This was a problem. Saturday was overcast and humid, not too hot, but the jewelry didn't really pop without the sun. The breeze off the ocean was nice, but it brought a salt-and-grime crust to almost everything. Sunday was brutally hot and humid. People didn't want to walk around. There were severe thunderstorm warnings for Sunday on the radio, so that may have kept some of the day-trippers at home.

Vendors:

Castleberry Fairs is a juried show, but the jurying is quite loose. There's quite a bit of buy-sell in just about every area, not just jewelry. To do well at their shows you have to have something that stands out as quite different from what everyone else is doing in the field and what can be found from importers.

I had several people who came into my booth and told me I was "a cut above" the rest of the jewelers there, and I heard from some of the other jewelry vendors that their sales were terrible. I was busy enough that I didn't really have time to look much, but I did get around to a few of the other jewelry booths.

One woman had lovely pieces, but they were clearly mass-produced. She was a really great designer, but if someone was looking for artisan jewelry, she wasn't it. There was a wirework guy, and he did very nice work, but he really only had three designs...everything was in those designs but with different stones. The other two booths I saw were a woman who basically strung Swarovski crystals and one who I am pretty sure was selling Indian-made jewelry.

Gloucester is a "festival" show. There's a rock wall for kids and a big food section along with a band stage. The Rotary club had a pancake breakfast the first day and a lobster bake the second day, which brought in a fair number of people. There were people walking dogs everywhere.

Sales:

I sold a couple of expensive pieces, but most of my sales were either in the $10 range or the $50 range. I think I could have done better if the weather wasn't so nasty and if I had more beads than jewelry. I also need to get some big posters of the beads to draw people to them and show that I make them myself.

In Sum:

I'd do this show again, and I would recommend it to others if they have a unique and artisan-crafted product.