New! Liver of Sulfur Patina Gel:

This new form of Liver of Sulfur from Cool Tools is my best find yet! If you patina your silver or other metals with LOS, likely you've run into the problem of the dry lump LOS going bad. It works great when you first get it but it has a shelf life-degrading when exposed to air. I just got my new LOS patina gel and am off to give it a try.

Here is what the maker Cool Tools says about their new product:
"Cool Tools Patina Gel is liver of sulfur in a stabilized gel form. Not only is it the most convenient, easiest way to use liver of sulfur, but amazingly it does not degrade in light and air the way the lump form does. Dry liver of sulfur is very unstable and goes dead in a few hours if left uncovered or exposed to light. Liver of sulfur in liquid form is even more unstable. Cool Tools Patina Gel is stable, so even if the lid has been left off, it will remain fresh."

Also, check out their video on how to patina your metal included at the bottom of the page for ordering this product.

Summer is in full swing and so is the busy selling season. I haven't posted as regularly as I'd like, but came across this information on Google base, that I just had to share. Google Base is the database that Google uses for its “shopping” search. By following the tutorial kindly created by Kathryn Maloney on her Great Panes Blog you can create a RSS feed of your products onto Google. As we all know, the more that your products are visible, the more traffic will be driven to your site. If you get the Etsy newsletter, you probably saw the link to this information which was provided by Katheryn Maloney. If not, I'd recommend you not just bookmark this but click on the free tutorial below and start expanding your Google Base.

What is Google Base? Click here to find out more and how to have your Etsy or other website products scheduled to automatically be uploaded onto Google

Google Base Tutorial

Another helpful resource for getting your products on Google base for fellow Etsians is:
Let's Ets - A tool for Etsy Sellers

If you've been making jewelry for awhile and are looking for ways to grow as a business owner and jewelry designer, I'll outline some tips that I've learned that may be of benefit to you. First of all, it is important to realize that success does not just happen, it is the result of lots of hard work, planning, and creative thinking. So first thing I'd suggest is to come up with a business plan and do some brain-storming. Each jeweler has their own style- come up with something that reflects who you are, something unique, that can be a reflection of what you want to get across to the customer. Ask yourself these questions:
1. What is different about my product and how does it stand out from my competition?
2. How can I capitalize on those differences to make my product tell a story? A story about who I am, what my design style conveys, and the overall feel of my product line. For instance- Does your product have a whimsical theme, a nature inspired theme, a modern geometrical theme, a classical, contemporary, or organic theme? Do you use a lot of natural stones, silver, glass, pearls, etc... If you consistently have customers use the same words to describe your jewelry- that is the theme that is coming across.
3. Once you have come up with a thematic direction for your product- it is time to create branding.
I have a consistent dragonfly theme that I use in my business cards, earring cards, tags, website banner, and craft faire booth banner. I use a similar picture/logo on each which has my web address included (super important). I was able to put together the design of all of these with the help of an Etsy graphic artist: For Keeps . She did all of the design work for the business cards, earring cards, website banner, and booth vinyl banner, giving me a cohesive look. I then took the earring cards and had them printed at Vista Print (as business cards)- super cost effective. I had the business cards printed at Overnight Prints (they have a high end glossy uv coating which I love). I had Redhead Diva (another Etsy artist) print the stickers for my boxes. I printed the hang tags myself on my printer. The front of the hand tag also doubles as a logo/avatar. The website banner was easy to load onto my website and Etsy site. Lastly the vinyl banner was taken care of by For Keeps- she works with a company that does the printing and shipping of these. The vinyl banner is excellent quality- thick waterproof vinyl. It has heavy duty grommets, perfect for hanging. The tricky thing about something large like a vinyl banner is that it must be created in a scaled vector graphics format. You cannot take your website jpeg banner and send it off to be printed as a vinyl banner. It will not scale correctly and look horrible. A graphic that is created as a vectorized graphic (using Adobe Illustrator, etc..) could be printed on a business card or printed on the side of a bus and will look exactly the same. So, having said that, it is helpful to have someone create the graphic and send it off in the format that will work.
Once your created your branding, you'll find that you are much more memorable in the customers mind. Imagine you are a customer and have walked around a big craft fair looking at booths or browsed through a website, like Etsy, looking at jewelry. The more you see a business's name, the more your will remember that business. That is why a catchy business name, web presence, and branding are so important. Stay tuned for more about picking the right business name and creating a web presence in future Jewelry Business Tips installments.

I thought it would be fun to post some pics of my workspace. This is me at my soldering station and work bench. I split my work between the garage, where I do my soldering, hammering, and other loud, toxic, or flammable tasks and my office.

If you have some pics of your work area, please post. I found some great pictures of various artists work benches on the Ganoskin Jewelers Bench Exchange. It is fun to take a peek at where other people create.

Wow, I haven't posted on my blog for quite awhile. I've been a major blog slacker. However, I have been busy getting ready for the first day of the Eugene Saturday Market which happened last Saturday. It was a picture perfect day. Wonderful weather and a steady stream of customers. I'll try to remember to take some pics next week. If your able, stop by the market this Saturday from 10-5 and say "Hi", (I'm in booth 21). There are some great new vendors, lots of yummy food, and tons of fresh produce at the Farmer's Market across the street. Hope to see you there!

March Product Spotlight:

Proxxon Bench Vise

I just got this vise yesterday in the mail and can't say enough good things about it. This is a quality German made, vise. It is the best vise ever! Well, I guess I have to admit that this is my first small bench vise. Up to now, I've been using the huge beat up one that my husband has on his workbench (which works great for holding the ring mandrel and hammering stuff). However, this one is so perfect for small things like setting stones in bezels. I love the fact that it can be clamped to your bench or screwed in for more permanent placement. It also swivels, so if you are setting a stone in a bezel, you can swivel the vise and don't need to keep taking your ring out to move it around. The removable rubber jaws are wonderful also. You don't want to do a bunch of work and have your silver marred by your vise. I found this vise at Rio Grande for only $37.99 (Item number 205083).

Biggest and best tax tip summed up in one word: Quickbooks.
Up to now, I have been fighting using Quickbooks. Accounting is not my favorite thing to do and I tend to be a major procrastinator when it comes to any book-keeping chores. And that is definitely how I see it - a chore. I'd much rather be making jewelry or any other of a myriad of activities. I'm sure many jewelry designers are just like me.
So for 2009 my new years resolution was to use Quickbooks. I initially had some problems setting it up. I would suggest having your accountant of other tax savvy person do your initial chart of accounts setup and run you through how to enter in your expenses, etc.. It can get a bit confusing.....In addition to my business checking account, two savings accounts, paypal account, I have a business credit card. Each of these accounts needs to be created and reconciled monthly. I am happy to say that I reconciled my accounts this weekend and am completely caught up. That is a wonderful feeling and I know that I won't have to go through the huge time consuming task that was before me last week- preparing my 2008 (pre-quickbooks) taxes for my accountant.
So last week I had to gather all of my expenses which was a 8" folder chalk full of receipts.
I spent two full days going through this humongous folder of my expenses, organizing and categorizing everything to prepare it for the "hand over". Then I had to organize and categorize all of my income sources. This is so much work every year and not very fun. I am so glad that next year, I can just send my accountant my Quickbooks file. I also have loved being able to print all kinds of reports to find out how my money is being spent. It is really eye-opening knowing exactly where you stand at any moment in both your income and expenses. If you don't already use Quickbooks, I would highly recommend it.