All My Eggs In One Basket . . . conclusion ...

As you've probably noticed I've broken up my story into 3 segments.  Having it all in one post would have been much too long and, understanding how valuable one's time is, I didn't want to make my blogging friends feel trapped reading a mile long post.

Anyway to continue onwards ...

 Photo of my beadwork lariat necklace.  Super long at 72" and embellished with  tassels of beadwork fuchsia flowers and leaves, this necklace sold in less than 3 weeks at the ArtCenter Manatee.

With reservations the ArtCenter Manatee agreed to give my beadwork jewelry a chance, so from September through November I was on trial.  I think they were surprised to find that my jewelry was actually selling and when the curator of the art center's Artisans' Market, printed out an invoice for all the items of mine that had sold during that time frame, she was pleasantly awed to see a grand total of  over $1,000. 

Needless to say there is no longer a question of whether or not they will be accepting my beadwork jewelry into their market. Of course the ArtCenter receives 40% of my sales but since they're the ones collecting the sales tax and paying the fees that credit card processing incurs and, most importantly, since they are a nonprofit organization, I have no qualms with their cut of the pie.

So in the end I still have all my eggs in one basket but I will continue to keep my eyes open for any new venues that may look promising.

Close-up of the beaded fuchsia flower tassles.

All My Eggs In One Basket - continued...

Know it's not a basket full of eggs but I was out of eggs  and my sea shells makes for a prettier picture.  :)

 

All my eggs in one basket . . . continuation ....

In years past I had belonged to a local art club and decided to rejoin this group, it had originally been open to all local artists and crafters, bar none.  However times had changed and the president of the club told me that they had passed a new bylaw stating that membership would be denied to anyone whose media represented an over saturated field as they were attempting to curtail "over representation" of any one media . . . namely "Jewelry Makers".  Of course this had been voted on unanimously by all the current jewelers in the club. 

Perhaps it was all of this constant rejection that put me down in the dumps and I lost interest in just about everything (including blogging).   I didn't want to go anywhere or do anything and found myself moping around and feeling sorry for myself.

Finally a friend encouraged me to try the local art center, ArtCenter Manatee.   Hope had been renewed and I called to set up an appointed with the curator of the art center's Artisans Market.  At the beginning of our meeting, things didn't start off well.  First I was told that the art center had accepted beadwork jewelry in the past and it just did not sell.  That's when I began to beg.  Just give me a chance, my jewelry used to be a hot seller at all of the fairs and exhibitions and had been the top selling item at the last gallery that featured my work.  Reluctantly they agreed to give it a shot.  I would be on a probationary period and if nothing sold in those first 3 months then I would have to come in and pick up all of my products.

To be continued ......