Out of Africa

Out of Africa

4 strands at rest and not twisted together.

Not too long ago I created this multi strand necklace and have debated about exactly what to do with it. It is a beautiful piece created around a precious strand of African tribal beads. These beads had been purchased by someone I knew who had lived a few years in Angola, Africa and it was there that she came across these lovely, handmade beads.

Lucky her, she managed to obtain several strands from the village chieftain.

 

This particular village was primitive and did not have resources such as fancy, electric kilns, or even work tables upon which the bead artisans could craft their beads. Instead of a well equipped studio, these crafters either sat outside on the ground or they sat on the earthen floors of their huts while they worked creating their beads. Their kilns were crude brick ovens fueled by wood fires.

Making beads or a number of other handcrafted items provided an income for the villagers and afforded them a standard of living that provided them with life's basics;  food, clothing and shelter and perhaps not a whole lot more.

Holy - Moly there's a lot of 14 k gold filled saucers beads !

When my friend offered to sell me a strand or two of these marvelous beads, I jumped at the opportunity even though I had not the slightest idea just what I would do with them.  It was months later that I happen to mix them up with some lovely ivory colored freshwater pearls and some 14 k gold filled beads that I realized it was a winning combination.   So if one strand of this combination would be a winner, what would 4 strands be?  A  Jackpot !

Above photo shows the 4 strands twisted together.

 Since the African beads are a lovely rusty red, I decided what better to compliment them than rich, Red Jasper.  And so it was that I used red jasper to create links at the back of the necklace and fashioned an "S" hook clasp using a large Red Jasper bead and  gold filled wire.

Photo above shows the 6 and 8 mm Red Jasper beads and my handmade "S" clasp.

Okay, so what's the problem?  Well, I was more involved with creating a piece of art than something that would fit into my  usual line of jewelry and went out of my ball park on price points.  

The "Out of Africa" necklace contains:

·         2 strands freshwater ivory pearls 

·         1  1/2 strands  of those precious African beads

·         6 feet  of 49 strand, super flexible, beading cable 

·          2  gem grade, Red Jasper 6 mm beads

·          3  gem grade, Red Jasper 8mm beads

·         18  gauge 12 k gold filled wire

·         20 gauge 14 k gold filled wire

·         8 crimp tube beads in 14 k gold fill

·         8   jumprings in 14 k gold fill

And an incredible 162 ,  14 k gold filled 4.7 mm saucer beads. !!!   These beads cost a small fortune and if you look them up you'll find:

·         Fire Mt. Gems' best price (the 200+ level) is 62 cents apiece (.62 x 162 = $100.44 without the $5 S and H fees)

·         Artbead's best price  (for 40+ beads) is 72 cents each (72 x 162 = $121.50)

And so there is my problem.  With so much vested in materials I'm really hesitant to list it on etsy where many shoppers are looking for handcrafted bargains instead of handcrafted future heirlooms.  A part of me says; "Forget it, you'll be wasting your time and 20 cents".  However a big part of me says; "Hey, what the heck!  For 20 cents go ahead and list it, the worse that can happen is that nobody buys it".

I really like the way the choker looks with the clasp worn at the side of the neck.



I would love to hear any experience that you may have had listing something that you thought might frighten a customer away from it. . . or perhaps having something sell that you thought would never stand a chance. . .or how about those things you thought were fantastic but for some reason just never attracted the right person.   Or have you ever made something and then figured out the cost (like I did) and was floored by how much went into materials ?

 

I Really Need To Know . . .

Anyone who has made jewelry for the purpose of selling, probably knows just what I am talking about.

You fuss over an idea, fidgeting with components, tweaking things to get it just right and once it's done, it's lovely. . . or so you think. You put it out for the world to see and nobody bothers to take even a glance at it.

It doesn't matter if the piece is displayed in an online shop or loving arranged on a display in an arts and crafts show booth. There are some things that just catch people's eyes and other things that people just ignore. But why?

I'm sure many have asked that question before and I am not the first to have it rattle around in my own little skull.

 

Recently I fabricated these long, swinging dangles.

It would take several paragraphs explaining all my design decisions, so let me just say, the finished product may look easy-peasy,  but looks are deceptive. 

It required more effort and time than I ever imagined; from making the earring hooks by hand, to hand reaming the holes in the "swinging" magnesite beads, plus I used more 14 k gold filled components than I intended to. All you jewelry makers out there know how very cheap 14 k gold filled wire, findings and beads are - right?

 

 

Once finished, I thought they were perfect, so sassy looking and with incredibly smooth movement. Surely they would do exceptionally well on my etsy shop. Wrong !  

 

I've second guessed myself many times on this design. 

Maybe I should not have used the 14 k gold filled components, perhaps that made them too expensive? 

Maybe they are too long? 

Maybe they are too dangly? 

Maybe watermelon red is totally out of fashion? 

Maybe no one appreciates magnesite? 

Maybe gold is out of favor ?

 

After listing them in my etsy shop  I did tout them on facebook, promoted them on Craftori, I Support Handmade, Handmade Saturday,  Handmade's facebook page and even went into all of my teams to post  them as my latest listing.  According to Google stats, in the last 7 days there has not been one single, solitary view on these earrings, they sit there with a big fat zero, zilch, goose egg, 0, nada !!!  Not even one accidental, "Oops, I didn't mean to click on that !" view.  I cannot believe it!

 

I really haven't a clue as to what could be the reason and would be most grateful to hear your comments or feedback as to what I could do to perhaps generate a sale on these or a least some views. I realize my photo's are not spectacular and the pretty watermelon red, which is more pink than red, only shows up in photos that were taken outside under bright sunlight.  Inside, the beads photograph as just plain old red. I tried taking my mannequin outside to take photos on but - well that is another story for any post. :)