ha ha ha hah ha!!! Focus, yeah right. Have you met me?
So at the end of last year, I had a whole business plan for this year. Buy a kiln, start some race jewelry, a bridal line, a bunch of other things, make a million bucks by year end, quit my job. Then somewhere I lost focus. Then I freaked out over that. And now... I'm ok. So, I still have a lot to learn when it comes to jewelry, and right now it's just too much pressure to bring money into the equation. I'm spending roughly $200 a month on supplies, and I'm making whatever I'm making. I signed up for a craft show in April that I think shoud go fairly well, and a festival in August. I'm averaging 1 sale a month on etsy, a few through family and friends, and basically 0 through the store. But it's all good.
I got some copper clay and I'm using that practice my metal clay techniques, though honestly, copper is a lot harder to work with than the silver. It doesn't get as hard when it dries and it often breaks all apart, which has never happened with silver clay. I got another small package of silver pmc to work with so I need to decide what to do with that. I'd like to try a bangle, though that will probably use the whole package and probably price it out of the range of what most people think it's worth. But it may be worth it just to try. One day soon, I KNOW the price of silver is going to go down from the ridiculousness of the last year or so.
I've also been making rings like crazy. They're still a little tricky, but I know practice makes perfect.
I'm dying to try some polymer clay. I use to play with this in high school and never even considered it since I started making jewelry, but I've seen some things recently that make me realize you can do some REALLY cool things with it. Colorful things. You can make beads and stuff and so much more.
And then there's glass. I really wanted to take a glass fusing workshop this spring, but in the end I decided not to. I can already improve a lot with the wire work stuff I'm doing, plus the PMC, and I need to get GOOD at something first, before I move into everything. but that's just my personality. Jack of all trades, master of none. The fun for me is in the learning.
But I do still want to do some bridal stuff, and some birthstone stuff. I made a gorgeous (if I do say so myself) aquamarine pendant tonight. And some race stuff...Those race expos before a race are nuts. If you can get the right product, you could make a killing. I bought 2 shirts at the half marathon I just ran from a company specialzing in these funny sayings like "This is my race pace." and stuff like that (runner humor) and I stood in line for 10 minutes to spend me $54. There's a market for it.
But, alas, I have other goals too and I need to focus on my writing. In the end, it's a writer's life for me with jewelry as a hobby, though perhaps a profitable one. I'm so glad I bought the kiln...no regrets at all. Next, I want an acetyline torch.
