Friday's Featured Artist - Smadars Treasure

I'd like to introduce you all to a very talented bead weaver that I've had the pleasure of getting to know! I contacted her awhile ago with a question - and that conversation turned into a friendship that eventually led to me joining the Etsy Bead Weavers! There's so much more I could say - but I'll let her work and her words speak for themselves :)

1. What type of art work do you do?

I create jewelry, focusing on beadweaving and embroidery, but I also like designing other jewelry with assembled components and wire-work.

2. How did you get started

doing art work?

In 2004 I attended a beading workshop – simple stringing – and I realized that creating with beads was very relaxing for me. I continued beading for a few more months until I discovered the fascinating world of bead weaving.

3. Do you do any other crafts?

Ever since I was a child I liked crafting – painting,

knitting, scrapbooking, wood engraving and sculpting, but what I really love is drawing. Beadweaving took over my spare time (and my Muse) and I sometime miss drawing … This is my last drawing, from about two years ago, of an old Indian woman by a photograph of one of my most favorite photographer Wendell Phillips (please see the images at the bottom)

4. What's your favorite piece in your shop right now?

Note - I did ask her this question - but I'm thinking it must have sold because I can no longer find it! Congrats on the sale Smadar!

5. Where do you sell your work?

Most of my work can be found in my Etsy shop www.smadarstreasure.etsy.com

but I also have a shop on Artfire www.smadarstreasure.artfire.com and another one on Dawanda , where you can find my assembled jewelry. http://en.dawanda.com/shop/SmadarsTreasure

6. Do you blog?

Yes, I do have a blog http://smadarstreasure.blogspot.com . I wish I could post more often, but there's never enough time… I try to update my blog everytime I have a new work finished.

7. Are you on any social networks you'd like to share?

Not long ago I have joined Facebook, which is fun and lets you make new beady friends from all over the world. I am also proud to be a member of two beading groups – the Etsy BeadWeavers (EBW) and the Bead Art Originals (BAO) group.

8. Do you watch or listen to anything while you work? If so, what?

Sometimes I listen to a local radio station that broadcast non-stop music, but I prefer working in a quiet environment. That's why I usually bead at late night hours, when everyone in my family is sleeping.

9. Tell us one random fact about your self *wink*

I think I am a compulsive collector. :) Until I discovered beading, and to the resentment of my family, I used to collect many kinds of what people would call "junk", like boxes, pieces of wood, wrapping papers etc. in order to create something beautiful out of them. I now have tons of "materials" in my working room, waiting patiently to be reused. I stopped collecting junk materials, but now I am collecting beading supplies of all kinds..;)

The picture on the left goes with the link and is the picture she was working from as mentioned in question #3 :)

http://www.wendellphillips.com/india/05.asp

Hard Decisions

Some times, as a business woman, you have to make decisions that are hard. For me, one of the hardest decisions is deciding how to price my items! That's been one of my biggest struggles since I started Rose Works Jewelry, and I have a feeling it will continue to be a process I struggle with. 

Fortunately, over the last year, I've come to a place where I'm fairly confident in the pricing of most of my pieces.  Most of my earrings and wire work are at prices that I'm comfortable with and that I think pretty accurately reflect my time invested and the materials used. What I have always struggled with, and continue to struggle with, is the price of my woven work.

When I first started out selling my bead weaving I priced it pretty low. A large part of that was a lack of confidence in my own work. It was also, though, a lack of knowledge of what else was out there, and what other people charged for similar work.  

Over time I have raised my prices some, but I've known from what I've read and what others have told me that my prices were still too low.  Let me give you an example. The piece pictured below, Amelia, is currently listed for $25. Now the cost fator going into is pretty small, seed beads are cheap, so that doesn't affect the end price too much. But how long do you think it took me to make? Any guesses? 

I don't know precisely, because I didn't track it, but a brick stitch piece like that usually takes me around 6 hours. And I'm only charging $25...that means that if I don't even count the cost of the beads I'm only making a little over $4/hr for my labor! This is not a sweat-shop and I think most would agree that my time is worth more than that.

Because of this, I'm going to be raising prices on my woven pieces. I'm still doing research and figuring things out, so it'll probably be a week before you see the changes, but if you've had your eye on any of my woven work, now is the time to buy it! 

I'll admit that I'm really nervous about making this change. In this economy it's scary to be raising my prices, but I don't want to undercut my fellow beadweavers. I also think it's time that I actually earn a little bit more of what my time is worth. 

There are a lot of resources out there that talk about pricing your work, but here's just two that I've recently looked at. Bead Nerd and Home Based Jewelry Business.

I want to say a big thanks to Smadar, she's not only an incredible bead weaver, she's also been kind enough to spend some time lately giving me advice on the pricing issue and other questions I've had about the beading world. Be sure to go check out her shop! The picture below is just one of her awesome pieces :)