Merry Christmas!!

I'm now going on my Christmas break for just over a week, so thought I'd send you all a Christmas message.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I hope you all have a fun and relaxing time whatever you're doing.

Thank you to everyone who's the time to read my blog. I look forward to writing more in the new year.

Updates on the Christmas season

I hadn't realised how long it had been since I had last written anything. It just shows how busy it's been as it's been getting closer to Christmas. Since I last wrote I have been doing a mixture of making orders, restocking, selling online and preparing for craft fairs.

I was just expecting to have one craft fair after my jewellery party, but I ended up being at two. The one I was expecting was in Ilkley on Saturday 15th December, but the last minute one was a fundraising event for Christians Against Poverty (CAP).
The fundraising event was held at the CAP headquarters last week for all the staff to attend. I took along my jewellery and then gave a percentage of my takings to the charity. There was some interest and I sold two items. One possibility for the lack of sales is that my items were a reasonable amount more than the other stalls, so people hadn't prepared and brought enough money with them. People did take business cards though, so I did do a bit of advertising.

The craft fair in Ilkley was in a good location and was quite busy. The was a good flow of people throughout the day. There was also a lot of interest in my jewellery. However, unfortunately people's interest didn't turn into sales. I sold one pair of earrings, and a couple of cheaper stocking filler items. Again, people took business cards so I may get future sales out of it.

The craft fairs I have done this year don't seem to have been successful in terms of sales. It has varied at each craft fair how busy it's been and the type of people looking round, but I have never made much more than the cost of the table. I have felt rather disappointed with the results. I'm unsure if it's the type of fair, the style of jewellery, the price or the display. At most fairs I've had interest, so I don't think it can be the style or display, and I can't really go cheaper on the price, so maybe I'm attending the wrong fairs or shouldn't be attending fairs at all.

If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, feel free to contact me with them
Has you ever had a stall at a fair before and had similar results? What did you do? Have you done fairs that you've done well at?
Have you been to a craft fair before? What attracts you to certain stalls?

Busy week ending in a jewellery party

This week's been a busy week, with a mixture of Christmas shopping, stocking up and jewellery party preparation.

It started off with a day out in York. I went to do some Christmas shopping with my Mum. It turned out to be a very wet day and rained most of the day, which put a damper on things, quite literally! We bought a few presents and got a few ideas for various people, but didn't get quite as much as we'd hoped. I don't think we were quite in the mood for Christmassy things with all the rain. We did have a quick stop off at Betty's though, which is favourite place for a treat in my family. We bought a cake to share and I bought one for my husband.

I then spent the next few days doing a mixture of things. I helped out some friends with house sitting and baby sitting. I stocked up on a few items, like my blossom earrings (see photo), and created a few new items. I also made a ring to that someone had ordered.

I spent the rest of the time preparing for my jewellery party on Friday. This was fun and a bit stressful at the same time. I had fun choosing the Christmas music to play, decorating the house and making goody bags for those who attended (see photo). However, I did get a bit stressed making sure I'd got the house tidy, bought enough nibbles and making sure my displays were good. Then finally came the jewellery party! It was a fun time, relaxing with friends with good conversation, Christmas music, and mince pies and sweets to nibble. It was good to catch up, as well as make a few sales.


Are you looking for a party idea? Would you enjoy hosting a jewellery party? Silver Chestnut offers jewellery parties as a service*. When you host a jewellery party, you provide venue, guests, and nibbles. In return for your hosting skills you receive 10% of the takings**. Silver Chestnut provides the displays and handmade jewellery, and will be on hand on the night to answer any questions. If you are interested, please get in touch on the following details or add a comment below:

Phone: 07580633945
Email: jenny@silverchestnut.co.uk


*Currently, I am only able to definitely offer this service in or around Leeds. Other destinations may become possible, dependant on travel times and accommodation, so do not let it put you off contacting me.
**Terms & Conditions Apply

Thoughts on my second craft fair

On Saturday I had my 2nd Christmas craft fair. It was held at Belle Isle URC. I was hoping it was going to be better than the last fair. Read on to find out if it did.

I'd managed to get most of the stuff ready the night before so had a fairly smooth morning. I even remembered to take the stocking filler/pocket money items that I forgot last time.

There were a lot more stalls at this fair with quite a variety of products. There were a lot more people coming through as well. I think it helped that it was in a church that was used by the community. It had a community cafe in the church, which was open during the fair. This encouraged more people to come and have a look at the stalls before or after eating. Some even had a look whilst they waited for food to be made. I had a few friends, family and fans of my jewellery come along too, which added to the numbers.


There was a reasonable amount of interest in my jewellery and I made a few sales. Most of them were the stocking filler/pocket money items, which was understandable because they were cheap and meant to draw children's attention and therefore their parents. However I hope they didn't detract too much from my main items. I did make a few sales of my silver items. I sold a necklace and some earrings, and someone ordered a ring. Quite a few people took business cards so hopefully I'll get a few more sales from them in the future.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with how it went. I would have preferred a few more sales, particularly of my silver items, but I sold enough to cover costs and make some profit too. The problem with craft fairs is they take quite a lot of time and effort in preparation and on the day. It's trying to find the balance between the amount of time and effort it takes and how much I will make from it. However, this isn't as straight forward as how much money I take on the day because craft fairs can often act as advertising. As I said earlier quite a few people took business cards, so I'm hoping that it will raise my profile and I will make sales in the future. Plus I do like meeting customers. It's a lot nicer seeing people look at your work and making positive comments than looking at some stats saying that x many people visited my on-line store.

Have you ever been to a craft fair? What attracts you to certain stalls? Is it the products, the display, the seller? What do you like/not like about craft fairs?

Have you sold anything at a craft fair before? How did you find it and how did you find the balance of time and effort versus items sold?

Christmas Craft Fair No. 2

This week it's time for me to prepare for my 2nd Christmas craft fair for this year. I'm planning on restocking a few items that sold during or since my last fair, and making a few new items. I've already made one new item - a bracelet. I'll try to add a few photos for you of the new items. Watch this space! Any special requests or suggestions for particular types of items?

Luckily I don't have much work to do on the display as I can use my ideas and spacing from the last craft fair. Last time I forgot to take my basket for stocking filler/pocket money items, so hopefully I'll remember it this time and make a few more sales. It may attract some children and bring their parents along to buy the more grown up jewellery.

It looks like the organiser has been doing a lot of advertising in the local area, so hopefully there will be more customers than the last fair. However, the location is not such a central one, so people who aren't in the area are less likely to come. It is closer to where I live, so I am hoping more of my friends and regular customers will be able to attend.

This fair looks like it's going to have more of a Christmassy feel to it than the last one as well. Santa's going to be making a visit, so it should be family friendly. There will be lots of other stalls selling potential Christmas presents, so feel free to come along if you want to do a bit of Christmas shopping. Below is the address.

Belle Isle URC
Nesfield Road
Belle Isle
Leeds
LS10 3L

How I faired...

I did my first of the three Christmas craft fairs on Saturday. It was held at Zeus Restaurant, on the edge of Huddersfield town centre. It took quite a lot of effort to prepare, but I was looking forward to it. My husband was kind enough to come along and help me out with the stall. Here's how the day went.

The morning started early as I got up at 7am to make sure I'd got the last few bits ready and packed up. Despite getting up earlier we still ended up leaving later than we meant. However, it worked out fine and we got there with enough time to set up before it started.

All set up and ready to go

The start time was 10am and it was a quiet start. I was expecting this to a certain extent because it was a Saturday and most people don't usually go into town to shop until after lunch. The organiser went out at this point with some volunteers to hand out leaflets to advertise. I took this time to speak to the other stall holders and look at what they were selling. It's always nice to meet other designer-makers and crafters, especially since most of us make things in isolation.




As the morning went on, the amount of customers didn't pick up much. The other stallholders took this time to look at some of my items. Luckily, most of them were interested in my work, and eventually I had an order, which boosted my spirits.

I had expected the afternoon to pick up with people who had come into town to do shopping. However, this didn't seem to happen. There were a few flurries of people coming through. A few were interested and took business cards, but no one bought anything. Part of the problem was that we were on the edge of town so didn't have any through traffic. Some friends came to visit in the afternoon through, which cheered me up, and even better they bought a some items too!

Overall I made enough to cover the costs, but I was still disappointed. I had hoped it would be reasonably busy due to the central location and from the advertising that had been done. One problem was that when customers did come in there weren't many of them. This probably resulted in them feeling like they were being watched or stared at, which will have put them off. I also wanted to try to engage people to keep them, but I didn't want to scare them off either by talking at them too much or watching them.

Has anyone else had similar experiences? How did you deal with it? Does anyone have any hints or tips as to the best way to engage customers without scaring them off?

Russian Inspired Rings

Silver and Copper Ring

I have recently been designing and making some rings with three intertwined bands. They're inspired by Russian wedding bands. There is also an Elizabethan version, which is called the Gimmal Ring. They're usually made of gold with three different coloured bands, e.g. white, yellow and rose. However, I make them with silver and sometimes copper.
There are various different meanings for the 3 bands. I'm not sure which is the original, but here are a couple that I've found. (I've provided links at the bottom to show where I got some of the answers.)

Silver Ring with Varied Textures

The first meaning behind the 3 bands relates to Christianity. Each ring represents one part of the trinity; Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Also the circles being an endless line can symbolise eternity or God.
The second meaning is based on only 2 colours for the 3 bands; white (i.e. silver colour) and yellow. The white colour is a symbol of the sun god, and the yellow colour is a symbol of the moon god. It could be that the ring was inspired by paganism before Christianity came to Russia.

Silver and Copper Ring with Varied Textures

If you would like to buy a Russian inspired ring, feel free to visit my Folksy shop:
http://folksy.com/shops/SilverChestnut?shop_section=rings





Research links:
http://woodenwedding-rings.com/russian-wedding-rings

http://uk.ask.com/question/what-is-the-history-of-russian-wedding-ring

http://www.answerbag.com/q_view/1941911

First Christmas Craft Fair

My first Christmas craft fair is fast approaching. I'm looking forward to it as I haven't done many craft fairs before and with it being Christmas themed I'm sure it will change the atmosphere. I am looking forward to interacting with the customers and meeting others in the design/craft world.




I've managed to get ahead with my preparation and have stocked up on most things. Only a few more pieces to make and a week and a half to make them, which should be enough time. I've even managed to make a few Christmas/winter themed items for it. (See photo) Is anyone else preparing for Christmas?





This first fair is being held at Zeus Restaurant in Huddersfield town centre. I've never been there so I'm a bit nervous as I'm not quite sure what it will be like. (Has anyone else been to this restaurant?) However, I am also excited about it because it's going to be in a town centre on a Saturday so hopefully that means lots of potential customers.

If you are in the area and interested in coming along to see my work, and others', please feel free to come along. You may even find some Christmas presents! It's happening from 10 - 3 at the Zeus Restaurant (address below).

Zeus Restaurant
35 Kirkgate
Huddersfield
HD1 1QT

4 sales in just over a week!

It's been such a good week since I got back from holiday that I just had to tell people. Within the first day of re-opening my shop on Folksy, I had a sale. I wonder if they had been waiting for me to re-open to buy it.

My first sale - Frosted Leaf

Two days later I had another sale on Folksy. It was one of my items that I have set as 'made to order', so I made it and sent it off.

My second sale - Daisy Studs

Then a friend of a friend wanted some jewellery as an anniversary present. They looked at my jewellery and wanted something making that was similar to some of the items with a few changes. I designed and made them a set of matching earrings and necklace. (If you'd like a design making for you feel free to contact me on jenny@silverchestnut.co.uk)

My third sale - Semi Textured Set

My final sale, and hopefully not the last, of the week was today on Folksy Some of my earrings this time. All these sales are really good. I hope it's a sign of more sales to come, although it does mean that I have to make a few more bits of jewellery to restock before the Christmas craft fairs.

My final sale - Dangly Textured Earrings

I'm back!

I'm back from my holiday. We had a good time, but it's also good to be back.

I'll soon be writing more about the craft fairs and jewellery parties that are coming up, so keep your eye out for more posts!

Have any of you been on holiday anywhere nice?

Bye for now!

Just thought I'd let anyone out there who regularly reads my blog. You won't hear from me until October. Silver Chestnut is closed for three weeks whilst I am on holiday.

See you in October with more news on what I'm up to!

Christmas already?!

No it's not Christmas yet, but I am thinking about it! Normally I don't start thinking about Christmas until about the end of November. I don't even start buying presents until mid December, unless I happen to see something I think someone will really like. So it's quite unusual for me to be thinking about Christmas in September. Here are some of things I've been planning...

Designs
I have started designing (and making) some more winter/Christmas themed items. I've also tried to design them so that people can wear them any time of the year, although I am considering making some snowflake designs. Here are two of the designs:

Frosted Leaf inspired by frost on leaves

Star Earrings

These are currently on sale in my Folksy shop if you fancy a look:
http://folksy.com/shops/SilverChestnut

Craft Fairs
I've been researching and booking craft fairs. I have 3 booked; 3rd November, 17th November and 15th December. I'm going to leave it at 3 fairs this year because there will be 2 weeks between each of them and the Christmas jewellery party I'm planning (see below). This gives me time to restock anything I've sold and make any orders I've recieved.

Jewellery Party
I'm planning a Christmas themed jewellery party for the beginning of December, to which I'm inviting some friends, family and long term customers of mine. There'll be Christmas music and decorations, with food like mince pies and biscuits shaped in Christmas themed things. As well as jewellery to buy for Christmas presents of course (or possibly as a treat!).

It's quite exciting. It's only just September but I am getting excited about planning and making stuff for the Christmas events. I'll blog about the events closer to the time to let you know more.

Are any of you planning things for Christmas yet? Have you started buying presents? Or are you like me and tend to leave it to the last minute? Let me know your thoughts!

Facebook Competition Winner

Yesterday was the end of my facebook competition. It closed at 2.30. Here's how it went...

I wrote all the entrants names down and folded them up....

 

Then I put all the names in my hat...

...and I picked out a winner!

And the winner is... (drum roll)...

Lena Wettach

If you would like to get updates on my work and enter competitions visit my facebook page and click the like button:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Silver-Chestnut/254701737935713

Facebook Competition

My facebook page recently got 100 likes. To celebrate I'm having a giveaway of these earrings.

To be in with a chance to win the earrings, you need to go to my facebook page, like the page (if you don't already) and share the picture of the earrings on the time line. Tomorrow I'm putting all the names in a hat and pulling out the winner.

If you'd like to take part, here's my facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Silver-Chestnut/254701737935713

Jewellery Parties Part 2

The jewellery party on Friday was a quiet night, but I did have 3 visitors. It was good to catch up with them because I hadn't seen them for a while, and they each made an order, which is good.

My next planned jewellery party is at Christmas. I've done a couple of Christmas themed ones before and they tend to be quite popular with people buying presents, and occasionally treats for themselves. I've got a few regulars that like to come and see what new things I'm doing. From doing this jewellery party on Friday it looks like I've got more people to invite to it. There were a few comments about Christmas presents. I do enjoy the Christmas themed ones, partly because I'm a big kid and I like having the Christmas music on and decorations up.

If you or someone you might know would be interested in hosting a Silver Chestnut jewellery party feel free to get in touch. As a host of a Silver Chestnut jewellery party, you would receive 10% of the takings on the night of the jewellery party. (Any orders made but not paid for will not count towards the takings of the night.)

Jewellery Parties Part 1

Some of you may be asking what a jewellery party is so I thought I better start with a short explanation for you. It's a social get together where jewellery on display to touch, try on and buy. It's a good chance for friends to have a good catch up and also browse some lovely jewellery. There is a host who is the person who invites their friends and holds the party, normally at their house. Usually the host gets a little gift for hosting and a percentage of the takings. There is also a sales type person who is the person who brings the jewellery along and can answer any questions about it, etc. Depending on the business this person will be an employee (such as sales assistant) or, as in my case, is the person who makes the jewellery.

I enjoy doing jewellery parties because it's a chance for me to talk to customers about what I do and a chance for the customers to see and touch the jewellery, which is a lot easier than seeing a photograph on-line.

Last week I had a Silver Chestnut jewellery party for some friends at my house. It was a fairly quiet evening, but it was good to catch up with friends and I made a few sales too. This evening I'm having another one for some ex-colleagues (not that they're not friends too!). I'm looking forward to it and I'll let you know how it went on Monday!

Polishing accident!

I thought I would show you one of the slightly more interesting things that happened this week as I was working on my jewellery. I have never seen or heard of it happening before so if  you have let me know.

I was making a ring and had come to polish it. At the moment I don't have the full polishing equipment I would eventually like to own, but I do have a hand held 'multi-tool' that you can add different bits to including a small polishing wheel (or pendant, which is the proper name for it). I was polishing the inside of the ring which I have done many times before on other rings. The ring slipped out of my hand and started spinning round the metal 'pole' that I attach multi-tool grips on to. This does occasionally happen as it moves very fast, but normally I just turn the tool off and take the ring off. This time I turned it off and somehow with the spinning and, I'm guessing, the heat, my polishing wheel has now been bent. :(

Luckily I do have a spare, so I could carry on.

Cuff Links

I have recently started making cuff links. I made some over a year ago as a present for my husband (seen on the left), but hadn't made any to sell due to my main focus being to make jewellery for women. Then after to talking to a couple of friends, both of whom are regular customers/supporters of Silver Chestnut, I began thinking that perhaps it could be a good idea to branch out.


So I set to designing some cuff links. After a mixture of drawing, doodling, crossing out, daydreaming, measuring and a few other things I finally got round to coming up with some designs. Some have been scrapped, some are a work in progress, but finally some designs have been made, polished and photographed. So here's to the first couple of cuff links for you to view.

Keep an eye out for more designs. I have some more in the pipeline. If you would like to purchase these cuff links or want to check to see I've made any more, why not visit the cuff link section of my Folksy shop:
http://folksy.com/shops/SilverChestnut?shop_section=cuff_links

Craft Juice

I have recently started using a website called Craft Juice. It's for people to list craft items on their website with a photo, description and a link to where it's being sold. Then people can vote for the items they like. The more votes people get the more advertising a particular item will get. An item needs at least 5 votes for it to get some advertising, which means it will be shown on Craft Juice's Facebook and Twitter pages. The most popular items get shown in the monthly newsletter.

It's quite a good way of getting some free advertising with links through to my Folksy shop. I've just listed two rings, which I've pictured here for you. If would like to vote on them visit the following links:







http://www.craftjuice.com/story.php?title=twisted-ring-with-amethyst-folksy

http://www.craftjuice.com/story.php?title=twisted-ring-folksy-1

Silver Chestnut is now full time!

This week begins a new chapter for Silver Chestnut. Yesterday was my last shift at 'the other job', which shall remain nameless. This now means that from this week onwards I will be working on Silver Chestnut full time. I'm quite excited about it and have got various things lined up to do, such as designs to make, potential outlets to visit, craft fairs to apply for, jewellery parties to plan.... The list could go on. I am looking forward to having the time to work on things more, getting into a routine and being able to plan ahead. (In 'the other job' we didn't get our rotas very far in advance so planning ahead was difficult.)

As I said, I'm quite excited about it, although there are some things that perhaps I'm a little less certain about. Most of these stem from the fact that I am now going to be (a) working from home and (b) working on my own. Some parts of this will be easier to solve than others. This is because, as mentioned previously, I have a few potential outlets to visit, so I will be both getting out of the house and being able to talk to other people. I am also in touch with another jeweller who will let me use his workshop one or two days a week, so I can use the equipment I don't have. Doing more craft fairs and jewellery parties will help this too. However, working from home and being strict with myself, so I don't end up watching TV or finding housework or gardening that needs doing, may be more difficult.

I realise that all jobs have a downside, and maybe being more disciplined and not doing the things around the house that I'm tempted to are the downsides for this job. But I think they are outweighed by the positives, like the joy I find in making things, polishing up a finished piece to see it shine, and seeing people react positively to my jewellery and actually want ot buy it or sell it in their shops. Essentially, finally having a job I enjoy!

If anyone has any advice on working on from home or on your own, feel free to pass it on to me.

reLoved Spoons

I wanted to share with you about reLoved Spoon collection. It was my first official collection.

The inspiration for them came from Welsh love spoons, which I have always liked as a symbol and gift of love. I also like the idea of recycling. After pondering how I could make my love spoon designs a bit different, I decided to combine the two ideas, so all of my love spoons are made from unwanted spoons, most of which I have bought from charity shop.





To try to point out that they made are recycled spoons I decided to combine the recycle with love to create a name for them, so we get re-love. I thought the name fitted quite well because they are spoons that are now wanted instead of unwanted, recycled and reused for something new. They are re-loved.




Currently the ones I have in stock are made from silver plated nickel spoons. Feel free to see my re-Loved section in my shop: http://folksy.com/shops/SilverChestnut?shop_section=reloved_spoons

More designs to follow!

Welcome to Silver Chestnut's blog!

Wire Leaf Pendant

Welcome to Silver Chestnut's blog.

I'm new to all this blog stuff so I'm still working out what to write and how often, etc. I thought I would start by introducing myself and explaining a bit about what I do.

Blossom Necklace

I'm a designer-maker from West Yorkshire. I design and make jewellery, mainly using silver. I like creating different surfaces and setting stones. I get a lot of inspiration from nature. I have a range of daisy items and blossom items. I also get inspiration from Celtic designs. I've included a few examples of my work in this blog for you.

Twisted Ring

I sell my jewellery on-line, at craft fairs and in a shop (with the possibility of more!). The website I sell my items through is Folksy, a website that showcases UK designers and makers. Feel free to browse my shop: http://folksy.com/shops/SilverChestnut