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?

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