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My blog has been accused of being a spam site. That has never been my use of it. Other than a direct response to one of my user’s comments or questions, I have never sent an email from this blog. Neither have I given, shared nor sold a ussers information.
Today I found 77 comments on my blog, all identified as spam. Most of them with medical, pharmological information. Some of the comments were about the medical content on this blog. I have never given out anything like that. This blog has been about jewelry making and some personal stuff.
I have no idea how these hackers got in and stole user information nor how they are using my emailing address. If it continues I will have to shut this blog down and reopen it on another site.
If you find that you are not listed as a user when you signed up to be one, I apologize. My spammer program identified you as spam and my review of your comments were inconclusive, i.e. I could not be sure you weren’t.
JoAnne
It is already June. At least it will be tomorrow. My granddaughter graduated. I will find out on Thursday, June 3rd, how well my shop did in May. I am pretty sure that it will be the best sales month ever. I won’t know until Thursday because the shop is only open Thursday thru Sunday. We are open from 10 to 5 except on Sunday when it is from Noon to 4. The shop is also my studio and I am there Thursday thru Saturday.
Well, I think I mentioned in May’s post that I had spent about $100 on 30 pounds of jewelry. It has already paid for itself with the sale of only 5 pieces. The rest will be pure gravy. All the saleable pieces, repairable pieces, and parts that are left will be profit.
Part of 30 lbs. Bulk Vintage Jewelry
6 petals with rhinestone center Leaf with Rhinestones
Vintage Cameo Acorn Brooch with pearls
Enameled Flower
The above pictures show some of the beautiful pieces that I was able to clean and repair. I used vintage pearls and vintage rhinestones to replace the missing stones. I was able to rehabilitate about 30 pieces, including earrings, brooches, necklaces and bracelets. And I still have a bag of goodies to work on.
What fun. And I have already started designing vintage style jewelry using some vintage parts and some modern parts.
My last post was about having found my niche. So here is what I have done so far.
I bought 30 pounds of used, vintage, mismatched and broken jewelry. Granted it was in several smaller lots, but it totaled up to just short of $100 dollars.
I sorted through all of it. Separated wearable pieces and matched earrings (a total of one very full 1 gallon freezer bag) and repairable pieces (a second 1 gallon freezer bag) from the mismatched, broken, parts only pieces (one UPS medium sized flat rate box full). I may add pictures soon.
I repaired the best of the older vintage pieces, replacing missing rhinestones and missing pearls. One of the brooches sold immediately. A half dozen more like that and the whole 30 pounds will be paid for.
Yesterday I cleaned all the jewelry that can be safely cleaned in the sonic bath. I still have the pearls and more delicate pieces to clean. All of the wearable earrings are now on cards. I have all my clip earrings on white cards and my pierced earrings on black cards. This makes it easier for my customers to explore – although I do explain that I will convert one style to the other without cost. With all of the earrings I have sold or repaired, I have only found 3 pair that I could not convert.
I have use the small clear return address labels to put on the price tags or cards for each piece of jewelry.
- A rehabilitation piece — this means it has been repaired and may have replacement parts
- A repurposed piece — this means that I used a vintage piece as the foundation for a new design, i.e. a necklace with too many missing pieces is now a bracelet.
- An original design
- A vintage inspired piece — this means it is my design, but is based on my interpretation of a vintage design
I am going to create a special section in my Jewelry by La Belle Harmonie Gallery for these rehabilitated, repurposed, and redesigned pieces.
JoAnne
You would think that having been beading for almost 10 years and having a shop for almost 3 years, I would have found my niche before now. But, no, I hadn’t. I had flirted with it. I even opened a new site for it. But I never said, “This is it! This is the type of jewelry I will concentrate on. I like doing it. My customers like what I do. This is my niche.”
I started repairing vintage jewelry when I opened my shop. Living in an historic area, I was surrounded by people who had vintage and even antique jewelry they needed repaired. I enjoy seeing people able to wear a cherished piece of jewelry or wearing a piece I have designed for them from the old beads they bring me. These repairs are now almost 30% of my business.
I made some purchases of bulk lots of estate jewelry and rehabilitated some of the pieces while using others for parts to make my own designs. I continue to do this, even as I design and make new pieces from new parts.
I began numbering my work with a code for the date I created it. The original idea was to deconstruct pieces that had not sold in the 12 months since they were made and make something new. The beginning of 2010 found me exploring the results of my id number assignments. What I discovered was that the pieces I made from vintage parts, the pieces I created from vintage parts, and the vintage inspired pieces were selling faster than anything else I made. WOW!
Word of mouth had people bragging about the pieces they bought that I had made from old parts. In fact, some were beginning to ask to see those pieces first. Talk about a niche bopping you over the head.
So I will begin to slowly move into this niche. First by changing my designs to emphasise a vintage look. Second, by purchasing more vintage parts. Third by tagging my vintage rehabilitations and my vintage look designs with a distinctive hang tag-price tag. Forth by letting my second site http://www.jewelery-by-la-belle-harmonie.com take over the majority of my time. I will maintain my http://www.dlcreations-al.com but with most emphasis on LBH and gradually merge them.
I am excited by this new turn in my designs. I have been searching the net for ideas and already have quite a few. The inspiration of the designs I have found will lead to my own designs, but with a vintage flair. What fun! I can hardly wait to get started
Happy Easter
Well my wheelchair broke down last week and they still haven’t come to fix it. A real bummer, because my manual chair is old and too small for my big butt. It also has no place to put things while using my hands to propel the chair. I have a scooter, but it is an outdoor chair, meant for going fishing, to Walmart, to the flea market etc. While it is usable in the house it is hard to maneuver without crashing into things. And it is definitely a no-no for my shop in the antique mall. Talk about a bull in a china shop.
Next week is the beginning of a special shopping week, and I expect high traffic, I may have to go in with my manual chair, uncomfortable or not.
jewelry-by-la-belle-harmonie.com is beginning to get straightened out. I only wish my mind was quicker so I didn’t have such a steep learning curve for html. Any way, I have been straightening out the pages and at least have a few pieces up for sale along with my jewelry articles.
I got very little designed this week, but did add several pieces to inventory last week. My new business cards came in. Naturally, I goofed them. They look great. and they cover everything—-except—I forgot to put my URL on them. So now, do I get a rubber stamp with the web site address and stamp the back of the cards, or do I print the info on clear address labels and stick them to the back? Neither is very professional, but which is the least unprofessional? Hmmmm!
Have a good Easter and enjoy the spring weather.
JoAnne
My new site requires quite a bit of work yet, but I have a good number of pages up. I would be appreciative of any comments – critiques – etc. Since I want the site to please my visitors I really need the input. I will be including some of the articles on La Belle Harmonie into this site. For now see How La Belle Harmonie Began.
Please note the Badge on the right. It should link right to the site.
Thanks for your help.
JoAnne
I am pleased to see that you have liked my blog well enough to sign on as a user. Please feel free to add your comments and to include ideas and requests for content. I am always looking for ne
I have edited my links, narrowing the number of catagories, then adding 2 – My Articles and My Web Sites.
My Articles – links to articles that I have written for other blogs or sites.
My Sites – These are my other web sites, including the beginnings of my new site using Site Build It – Jewelry by La Belle Harmonie.
I hope that the content in Jewelry by La Belle Harmonie is interesting for all of you as well as to those looking for jewelry.
I know, I know. I promised to be more regular in keeping up this blog. Sorry. I am in the middle of a major overhaul of my store site. I am starting from scratch with Site Build It. It is a different way of building a site and store. I am being told to go slow and do it right. And I am trying.
After about 2 years with nothing to show for my efforts at online selling, I thought it was time to try a new tack. It is labor intensive only in so far as my mind does not work as fast as it used to, so it takes me longer to have the light bulb light up.
Anyway the new site will be different and hopefully more successful.
Mean while, back at the brick and mortar store, business continues to improve. Increased sales, increased repair work, an increase in repeat customers.
The shop is only open 3 1/2 days a week and I am there 3 of the days. Beginning this Thursday 12/17, we will be open daily until the 23rd. I am not sure I can keep up with those hours, but I plan to try.
All of which means that this blog has had to take a back seat.
I hope to tie it into my new site as soon as I have it up and running. dlcreations-al.com will not be disappearing, but will link directly to the new site jewelry-by-la-belle-harmonie.com
Costume jewelry, or fashion jewelry, a term preferred by Coco Chanel, is everyday jewelry. Typically, it is jewelry that makes a fashion statement. Made of materials generally less expensive than high-end fine jewelry, fashion jewelry uses high quality simulated stones, semi-precious stones, glass, crystals, fresh water pearls, shells, rhinestones, silver and gold plated metals, pewter, copper, even aluminum. It may also include some sterling silver and some gold filled components. Vintage fashion jewelry has a hint of prestige, a timelessness that makes it a consistent favorite. Handcrafted jewelry pieces are usually one of a kind, making a fashion statement which is truly unique.
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