Well, my features are winding down for the year as I will be showcasing just a couple more people before summer is over. Today, we are taking a look at Gems by Jerri's Artfire studio. Who hasn't heard of Jerri? She is all over the Internet! Makes me very happy to add to that with this feature!
Jerri lives in Texas and grew up watching her mother beading. This eventually led to her beading with her mother. She began with seed beads and has branched out to other kinds of beads. Ironically, Jerri works for a jewelry company which deals mostly in silver jewelry as her day job, then she comes home to her own jewelry business. Eventually, she would love to add precious metal clay products to her business. She has seen her art evolve over time in that when she began, her designs were created using patterns in books...it was how she learned to do things. Over time, and after working for the jewelry company, she learned many new techniques and branched out to design her own pieces, including wire wrapping. Currently, she sells exclusively online as working a day job saps much time out of the tasks to preparing for craft shows.
Silver Wire Wrapped Pendant
Pink Fancy Jasper
$9
Jerri doesn't wish to take the time to design her pieces on paper. She tends to more let the pieces create themselves. She begins with an idea in mind, but since she prefers to create pieces with clean, simple designs, she doesn't feel that paper-planning is necessary. When she hits a creative road block, she will walk away and patiently wait for that inspiration to put her back to work. When she is working, she prefers to have the T.V. airing the news for background noise. She feels it fills the void of silence, but at the same time she can follow it even though she can't look at the T.V. itself.
Tea Time Bracelet
$9.50
For Jerri, her biggest accomplishment in her business was making her first sale on Etsy. She was thrilled with the fact that she isn't the only one who likes her designs. Right now, she feels her biggest obstacle is making sales. With the economy down, she tries not to make a lot of supply purchases, only what she needs to create what is in demand. And you are right, Jerri, we are all feeling this, too! As for marketing, she relies on Project Wonderful as well as her blog. She features other sellers to help promote them and feels the connections she makes with her blog really helps her. Jerri even confessed that she promotes her blog as much, if not more, than her shops!
Tiny Butterfly
Czech Glass and a Butterfly
$6
Finally, I asked Jerri if she had any advice for fellow business owners. This is what she had to say:
You can find Jerri in her Artfire Shop, her Etsy Shop, her blog, Twitter and Facebook.
"Make sure that you have a good quality product and that it is priced right for you. The hardest thing for me is pricing and it is probably the most important thing to any business. If you expect to succeed in your business you must make sure that you are not only getting back what you put in but that you are also paying yourself for your time/labor. No one wants to work for free."
You can find Jerri in her Artfire Shop, her Etsy Shop, her blog, Twitter and Facebook.
