Wire Wrap Agate with Matching Necklace

This one is my favorite among the four. I like the natural color and a tinged of golden color to the wire wrap necklace.

Wire Wrap Swarovski Crystal and Pearl Necklace

This one will be a perfect gift for valentine day. But I guess those romantic at heart doesn't mind wearing this everyday. After all some people say, "everyday is a valentine day for me".

Weekend Wire Wrap Necklace Projects

These are my weekend wire wrap necklace projects. These are similar to the Green Themed Necklace in my previous posts. Only now there are four other colors - red, yellow/light brown and purple (didn't manage to take photo of the blue one). My favorite is the yellow/light brown one. This one will be paired with an agate pendant. Here is the completed blue themed necklace.

Planning for Weekend Wire Jewelry Projects

Tomorrow is another weekend and I have been thinking of spending my time making wire jewelry, lots of them - *wishful thinking*. Ever since Rachel and the gang left to their respective homes more than a month ago, I have not been very productive with my jewelry projects. There are always things in the house that need to be done. Hopefully with my beads and stones now sorted out, I will be able to make more. We will see tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
Have a nice weekend!

Iza Malczyk - Jeweler

It is not important if you do not know how to pronounce her name as when you see her work of art, you will say WOW! She made very intricate and awesome wire wrap jewelry pieces. Wish I have just a bit of her talent. Wouldn't you? Here is her site - izamalczyk.com Wonder if she has attended any wire jewelry class or she self learned.

Make Money from Your Handcrafted Jewelry

Someone left me a comment in one of my earlier entry and wish me luck on my online jewelry business. My first reaction was to smile to myself. Smile because I wish I have an online jewelry business with customers from all over the world. The smile wouldn’t go away (imagination run wild!) as people are talking about my designs, how beautiful they are and the non-stop orders I receive, blah! blah! blah!.....back to reality Mei!

OK! First of all I haven’t got an online jewelry business….yet!...been saying this ‘yet’ word for a while now. Even if I have, I will have to quit my full time job to make time to create more pretties and to keep up with orders – just assuming I will get a lot of them! ;o). I really envy people who can start an online business just after a year or less after they started making jewelry and can concentrate full time on it. As for me, I still can’t do that as I still need my regular monthly cheque to survive the ever increasing cost of living in Kuching City. Wire jewelry is still a hobby for me, my addiction. Selling jewelry online will be the next logical step, but the question is when. As it is, I do sell my wire jewelry offline when there are requests. At the moment most of the requests come from co-workers and friends and their friends. Not forgetting family and neighbors :o).

There are several ways to make money from your handcrafted jewelry besides selling online. You don’t even have to put up a store or boutique to sell your jewelry. Setting up store or boutique would involve a lot of money which most of us don’t have enough. Here are some great venues where you can start up.

Handicraft Fairs / Flea Markets
I have participated once but it was at a flea market. I was not very successful then as visitors were looking for second hand stuff rather than unique handcrafted wire jewelry. For spending 4 hours under the sun, I only managed to collect $85. Not bad?

Handicraft fairs are a more suitable venue such as the one I visited last weekend - see my three earlier entries. This is where people of the same interest gather to show their pieces. If lucky, you could make lots of friends as well as contacts such as bead suppliers and other contacts for your future handcrafted jewelry business.

Your Home – Handcrafted Jewelry Parties at Home
This is the best place to start as you have everything within reach at home and this is where you feel more relax and comfortable. You may invite a small group of friends and their friends for a morning snack, afternoon tea or even dinner. Get everything ready – i.e. mirror and your jewelry displayed properly (and little kids away from the show area to avoid disaster!). As the food is serve, you can show your guests your creations. Encourage them to touch and try them on. Tell them stories behind each pieces as this may get them more interested. Be ready with pen and paper in case someone has their own design in mind and would like it custom made.

Once you have enough exposure, you may organize this home parties in a regular basis i.e weekly or fortnightly. You may advertise your home parties by word of mouth, leaflets or business cards distribution.

I have not hosted any home party yet but I will if I have enough wire jewelry pieces to display. In addition, you may also organize short classes on jewelry making for those interested. I have several requests for this but just haven’t got the time.

Online Jewelry Web Shop
Can’t escape this one! Ultimately, one day one must look into online jewelry web shop. Internet has made the world smaller and lots of people are selling their products online. Compared to the two above where the market is local, online shop will market your jewelry to a wider audience, in fact worldwide without you having to leave home or sit under the hot sun.

There are few ways to sell online: 1 is to set up your own website and sell your jewelry directly from your website; 2 is to sell your jewelry in online auction sites such as eBay; 3 is to join online shops that specialize on jewelry or accessories.

Finally, if you love and very passionate about what you are doing, selling is not the most important thing but will be an added bonus. So, create because you love creating beautiful handcrafted jewelry. I am very sure the selling will come eventually when people notice and realize the uniqueness of your creations.