afmetalsmith

Wow. Busy these days!

I've been finishing up and sending some Valentine's Day pieces (and some of the clients kinda pushed my boundaries as to timeframe).

I am, nonetheless, mostly caught up with the requested estimates- and all the V-day deadlines were met, which is even more important.

My commission queue is growing again, and I love that. I've got a great mix of items to make! I'll need to take that into account as I estimate price and timeframe for additional work, though as i finish things, more space opens up for new work.

If you are commissioning a custom piece of jewelry, please remember that the person making it is another person, not a faceless conglomerate.

For example: sometimes (not always) I can "rush" a piece... but since that requires me to work extra hours, it does cost extra over my regular price, since I need to do extra work to fit it in. Similarly, sometimes I can work the materials so they are less expensive than they would ordinarily be... but this generally takes extra time to manage. And at any point, either of these may not be possible; it depends on the current circumstances.

So: trying to low-ball both the price (which I set fairly, based on what your piece would cost to make) AND the deadline is not a win. I know there's a lot of stuff being published that says that one should negotiate EVERYTHING. Sometimes, though- that's not true.

I offer excellent work for fair prices (actually, my prices are currently rather cheap based on various pricing strategies). I know this. I also know how long things take me to make, including my current queue of commissions. Trying to finess one or the other- well, it's a trade-off, and might or might not be possible; trying to finesse BOTH- no. I can't do it. Period.

If you are commissioning something from an artisan, please think about giving them credit for knowing their own work, and offering a fair price. If that price is more than fits your budget- unfortunate; I think we all understand that! Gods know I soften at the sight of some stuff I can't afford! But- I don't expect that makers of such things will discount their work to meet my budget, because I know they can't afford to- and neither can I.

I posted earlier about what looked like a Craig's List scam migrating to Etsy.

Well, I informed Etsy about it, and despite that they're saying replies take 3-4 days- they cancelled the suspicious account immediately.

I am very pleased.

I know some people dislike the $0.20 listing fee for either 3 or 4 months per item, and the 3.5% commission they take- but to me, this is a very reasonable cost of business (galleries take something like 50-60%, AND you have to give them the goods to get that! with Etsy, stuff that hasn't sold remains in MY clutches, and thus not available to a failed gallerey that migh6t choose to use my goods- unpaid-for- to pay off thier other creditors.), and the fact that they are PROACTIVE like this about dealing with scams is part of my satisfaction.

Yeah, there's a lot of competition in many areas... but there's also a ROCKIN' search engine, and I am both doing well myself AND finding insanely cool stuff for gifts for persnickety people on it.

I think it's a fabulous paradigm, well-implemented.

I've had a good couple of days in the studio this weekend- quite a relief, since this series of colds has really been kicking my butt lately!

I've made lots of progress on various wedding rings, and am now into the finishing process on them. I should have them finished this week.

I also finished 2 Trinket Ring orders for mailing tomorrow, and another 2 are nearing done; I'll be able to set the stones and finish the polishing tomorrow.

AND, best of all, my Mysterious Prototype Experimental Ring, v3, came out perfectly. I am so excited! Next step is to order some gold and make it in that. It's really fun- nifty conceptually, plus entertaining to play with... and that's all I'll say till the unveiling. :)

Today someone stopped by and picked up a ring he'd commissioned. It's one of my Trinket Rings, and he asked whether I just bought ring blanks and added the settings or motifs or whatever to them.

Um, NO! I was a bit surprised by the question!

I make my ring shanks myself. I do buy a few things- like really small cabochon settings, and sometimes tube settings for faceted gems, and jump rings... but mostly, I start from mill goods and make things myself. IU love the control that gives me over the final results.

So, no- I do NOT buy ring blanks and just gussy them up a bit- not even for my affordable stuff, like the Trinket Rings. Handmade, baby!

First off: while I adore Fabio (my Durston 158mm rolling mill), I will emntion that we only a couple of days ago received the replacement lock for the one we had to drill out of their cabinet after **2** of them had non-functional locks...

but we have also not heard anything at all about their promise to "comensate us for the trouble" of buying 2 cabinets that couldn't be opened, and then having to ourselves drill out the lock on one of them to make it work. These are not cheap cabinets. I think it is entirely appropriate that they do SOMETHING to compensate us- pkus they promised to do so! Still: at this point, they have not done anything, nor contacted us to arrange or negotiate anything.

The rolling mill is fabulous and wonderful and I adore it. The company... at this point, not so much.

A good day in the studio today- good progress on commissions, plus on some other stuff. More necesary tomorrow, of course...

My Dublin Rose plique-a-jour earrings have been featrued on the Etsy Stalker blog! See the entry here: http://etsystalker.com/?p=5529 I'm flattered to be in such great company!

And now I must hie myself back to the studio because I ahve a TON of work to do today..!

I stand corrected. :)

Fabio is actually perfect. I was trying to read his calibration on the wrong side of him- the ZERO mark is on the output side, not the imput one.

I clearly do need to sopend some time learning to read the measurements, and making notes of how to adapt them to what I do. But Fabio himself needs no adjustment (except maybe for the ingot-rolling-out parts).

I've done some cleaning up on him- tools like this generally come bathed in lots of grease, which needs to be removed. I do need to do more.

And- I have a new wedding ring commission, and I am hoping I can use Fabio for the final smoothing of the forged stock, and get it really precise: so I need to clean him off, AND learn better how to read his settings.

Still no useful Fabio. Alas. He continues to slack in his shipping crate.

Meanwhile, we (meaning J) did drill out the lock on one of the cabinets, so there is at least the potential to install him! Hey- given the comedy of errors that's been going on, I take comfort in that. (We still need to send the other cabinet back; it and its box are very inconvenient in the studio.)

We have not yet received a replacement (hopefully functional) lock, nor any "comensation for our trouble". I do plan about posting about these whn/if they happen.

Meanwhile, Fabio reclines lazily, taunting me with his many virtues and capabilitites. Argh! Maybe we can get him functional this weekend...

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As far as work goes- one goes out, another comes in. I've finished several commissions, and am getting some new ones. While it'd be financially better to stay swamped and a bit overwhelmed- I'm personally glad that this isn't happening right now. I've done well this year, especially considering the economy, and am really looking forweard to a couple of months in which I do NOT need to spend all my in-studio timne on commissions; I have a whole long and growing list of Stuff I want to make, and appreciate the potential to explore at least some of this.

Plus: now that it's cold, running a kiln seems ever more attractive! and I also have various enameled things I want to finish, that I'd been neglecting over the summer...

We haven't yet tried the graphite lube in the lock on Fabio's cabinet; maybe tonight. I thought we has somne graphite lock-lube around somewhere, but maybe not, so we'll need to acquire it.

Simple jiggling does NOT work; I have tried many varieties of that.

So: 2 weeks later: still no functional stand for poor Fabio, and it is getting past ridiculous given the prices of all these things.

Ahem. Anyway.

I am making a sort-of resolution to do at least SOME website updating on a weekly basis. We shall see how long I manage this. :P Anyway: I do have a new pic up in the home page on http://www.afmetalsmith.com, and it is also on the new page (plus, I've removed some older stuff), and it even has its own page for details.

This is an "Annular Brooch"- an ancient brooch form- decorated with birthstones for the 12 months. I'll add that this is one jeweler's idea of funny (at least conceptually- annular = annual= equals birthstones... well, you probably had to be there!).