Reinventing the wheel, finding different avenues to sell your goods

I love creating my beads and jewelry… wouldn’t it be nice if they sold themselves? Unfortunately that doesn’t happen very often so a fairly large part of my time is taken up trying to find different ways to sell my work.

Over the years I’ve tried a variety of ideas that have worked for awhile. I started out doing home parties I called Bead Together’s. I would bring all the supplies to create bracelets, earrings and other easy projects, made into kits, and taught people how to make their own jewelry. That worked great for a few years until I began to run out of leads.

It occurred to me that local community ed programs might be interested in offering leisure classes in jewelry making and off I went in a new direction. Again, that was great for awhile but eventually Michigan’s economy caught up with community ed classes and it was time for me to find another venue…

For the last few years I’ve been selling my jewelry in galleries around Michigan and have been pleased with the response I’ve received. Unfortunately, this year sales have been way down and it’s time, once again, to come up with a new game plan!

A good friend of mine hosted an open house featuring my jewelry this week and I was amazed at how well it went! It’s got me wondering if there might be a way to do these more often. I have to confess it’s nice not having to split the profits with a gallery or shop!

So I will continue to plug along with my website and Etsy, but I know that I need to keep working to find new avenues to showcase my jewelry and beads. I never realized how much was involved in being a successful artist… Exactly when does my clone arrive??

Nancy Sells Puffer is a lampwork bead/jewelry artist from Grand Rapids, MI. Check out her very own blog here and visit her website at www.nancysellsglass.com