Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Small update and an Epiphany.



Another day of training. A better day of training. I re-organized and put out new jewelry today. learned all about layouts which come from Target. Kinda interesting because it is someone's job to create these layouts so that they look fresh and new and make you want to buy, buy, buy! I also had the chance to look at the jewelry that Target sells. (My epiphany!) It's makes it really hard for a true crafts person to sell there work. earrings for $5 and bracelets for $6. Cheap materials makes an inexpensive product my problem is that this transcends into my life. People look at my prices of $180 for a pendent verses what they see everyday and though they really like what I have to offer they can't seem to find the reason to spend so much money. This is typically from the ages of 18-30. I have a dear friend and we did a small show together to sell our work. There were hundreds of people but everyone wanted something for nothing! She had made some sterling silver pins and was selling them for $25. I thought that was already extreemly low for all the time she had put into them. A girl came to our booth and asked how much they were and we said "25". the girl said "ok I'll take this one." when we asked for the 25 dollars she said "oh I thought it was 25 cents. Sorry" and put it down. It's frustrating out there and after working in Target for only a few days I can see why they want it cheap, cheap, cheap! Target is "targeting" this age group with there jewelry. I just wish people could understand how much blood, sweat, rashes, and tears is put into it all. One day... one day... All I want to say is that I would really like young people to wear my jewelry too. But it looks like the only people that appreciate it are more seasoned. I going to say a little vow here "I will not cheapen my beautiful bobbles to please those who do not understand. I will create beautiful works of art to become treasures for a life time." with that said I sign off!

1 comment:

Stevie said...

I'm hoping these hard time will teach the American public to invest more in the cottage industry. Buying cheep crap from China is what has distroyed this country. Buying hand made and suporting the craft world will hopefully have a come back. I have made it a habbit when buying to check all "Made in" stickers and tags. It might cost more, but I buy all my tees from American Apparrrel...believe it or not all their clothes are made here in the USA. We need to start suporting our own country again.