LOL But Not About the Cost of Sterling Silver

Lately I've been busy trying to create and put items into my etsy shop, AlmostPrecious.  I'm reverting back to selling my handcrafted jewelry after having sold supplies for a couple of years.

Some times I can spend days or even weeks designing and fabricating a piece, other times it can go very quickly.  My latest piece was a simple leather choker but I invested a lot of revenue into Sterling Silver beads and findings.  A tiny sterling silver swivel clasp ended up costing me $6 and believe me it is a small clasp. 

When I calculated what I had invested in parts alone I was shocked to see it was over $20 , I would have liked to have listed it for that amount - unfortunately that would be impossible as I would actually end up losing money. :(

The only up side is that I adore the piece.  It is one of those things that makes me smile (just like my little Frog Prince makes me smile). 

Last year I tried to sell another creation of mine.  

The lovely rose quartz heart and heavy sterling silver pendant cost me a good chunk of money when I first purchased it.  Now with today's sterling prices it would cost at least $40 all by itself without a necklace. 

 

 

Since it is an Awareness necklace I realize it is directed at a specific buyer - someone who wishes to gift a special friend or relative and let them know how much they admire their courage and strength and determination to battle and survive Breast Cancer. 

 I hope that maybe this October (which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month) that perhaps someone will see it and think; "What a lovely gift to give my - sister - friend- mother- wife."  Or perhaps a wonderful soul who battled the "Big C" herself, will wish to own it to let everyone know that the battle of Breast Cancer is far from over.  Someday there may be a cure but today all we can do is support cancer research and "Hope for a Cure".

No Views - Low Views - Relevancy - What's Up With Etsy ?

Above ... from the side you can see how thick and substantial the sterling bail and Awareness Ribbon is. It came from a high end jewelers' supply source and is no cheap pendant.

Etsy has been a strange bag of beans lately.  Views are way down and it is hard to believe that a big site such as Etsy can't generate a healthy flow of traffic for it's many shops.  A few days ago I listed a lovely pendant and after several days it has had only 5 views.  I don't know exactly how Etsy defines it's new "relevancy" system but it does not seem to be working, at least not for a vast majority of Etsians myself included.

Since October is breast cancer awareness month I made up a very special necklace using a beautiful, genuine rose quartz and sterling silver pendant. 

Above ... pretty in pink.

With so much sterling in the necklace, from the heavy sterling pendant, to sterling silver clasp, crimp beads, crimp bead covers, and even jumprings there was a small fortune invested in supplies.

I decided the heart pendant would look lovely on a jet black necklace but instead of going with a simple cord I strung 3 strands of 11/0 Delica jet black, hex cut seed beads and attached them via sterling crimps (and 49 strand 14 weight AccuFlex beading cable). All in all what I'm saying is I tried so hard to make this a truly special piece for a very special cause and I feel so defeated when I see that it has sat there completely invisible to the public.

Photo below ... the back of necklace with solid sterling silver heart clasp.  This clasp is solid, not hollow or concave on one side, it is flanked on both sides by my handcrafted links featuring Czech firepolished faceted beads ... in pale pink of course.

Above ... I forgot about the translucency of the rose quartz and should not have laid the pendant across the jet black seed bead strands as it tends to show through this translucent stone.

I realize that there are a ton of jewelry makers out there and that Etsy has more than it's share of them on their website but still the Internet has a huge audience, millions of people world-wide.  So only 5 views in several days ? What's going on with that ?

HOPE FOR A CURE

Rose Quartz Heart Pendant with Sterling Silver awareness ribbon bail.

This morning I listed a new item in my supply shop on Etsy. Being that October is not that far away and happens to be Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought there'd be many shops featuring a few Hope For A Cure items in their inventories. I went into the Etsy promotions forums and proudly posted a thread encouraging others to post their own Breast Cancer Awareness items. Pink ribbons, hearts anything!

Now I'm not sure if no one really had absolutely nothing or if everyone was so eager to participate in all the many BNR's on the promo forum that they could not take a moment to check out what they might have had in their own shop that would qualify.  All I do know is that October is just around the corner and people should be focusing on a very important calendar event, a reminder to all women ... as we all share this common fear and if we haven't battled this enemy personally we all know someone who has.  Breast Cancer has left no life untouched by its indiscriminate hand ... any color, any race almost any age. 

Maybe I just expect too much and find this subject close to my heart as I've lost a couple of close friends to this disease and have had several other friends who've had to go through mastectomies and chemo.   All that's left to say is I pray and HOPE FOR A CURE.