by Dale "Cougar" Armstrong, Wire-Sculpture.com

Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip for
December 30, 2011

Amethyst, one in a Series on Quartz

As we learned in an Introduction to Quartz, macrocrystalline quartz is when the mineral’s crystals are easily visible. When this type of precious quartz is translucent to transparent, it can be made into cabochons or carved; however, when it is "jewelry grade" or totally transparent with zero inclusions, it is usually faceted into some of the most amazing gemstones! The color of a quartz is the result of it forming near, or with, another mineral or compound. The type of material that will be covered in this article is: amethyst; to be followed by ametrine and citrine next week, with prasiolite (green quartz),  rock crystal, rose quartz, and smoky quartz being covered later.

About Amethyst

The color coming from iron and from being exposed to natural gamma rays during its formation, quartz found in hues of deep blue-purple through light pinkish-lavender, sometimes with reds and gray, is better known as amethyst. Most of the amethyst on today’s market comes to us from South America and Madagascar; however, it can be found all over the world and is also mined in India, the Ural Mountains of Russia, Germany, Canada, Pakistan, Finland, and Sri Lanka. Special forms of amethyst include the "cactus" amethyst, that is found only in South Africa.

The Four Peaks Amethyst Mine (pdf download) in Arizona is almost impossible to access; however, several years ago I had the pleasure of personally meeting and digging with the then-miner of Four Peaks Amethyst. This deep, rich purple material is similar to that only before found in Siberia and is difficult to find on the open market; all the rough material being cut in Thailand and the faceted stones are mainly sold to major jewelry manufacturers.

Amethyst from the Thunder Bay area of Ontario, Canada often has extra "spots" of hematite, causing a reddish-pink tint to the lavender crystals. By the way, this is a fun place to visit, because the gravel in some local parking lots is actually small chunks of clustered amethyst crystals!

The amethyst geodes, called amethyst cathedrals, that most of us adore are formed by the quartz crystallizing in pockets left by gasses in volcanic rock. Most of these come from Minas Gerais in Brazil, as small to gigantic geodes that formed in basalt. The blackish-gray material that surrounds these geodes is a stabilizing compound that is used to strengthen the thinner quartz walls. The beautiful, but pricy, flower-like slices of amethyst that can be found on the jewelry maker’s market today are slices of stalactite that often have a quartz or agate center. These amethyst slices come to us from Brazil and Uruguay.

Amethyst Facts

It wasn’t too long ago that gem quality amethyst was one of the "top" gemstones, along with ruby, sapphire, emerald and diamond. The best specimens used to come from Siberia and it was rare to find in large quantities and good color. However, when large deposits were discovered in South America, amethyst lost its "top" gemstone ranking. Now, because it is no longer difficult to find, amethyst is extremely affordable and available in a wide range of quality.

Amethyst’s range of colors encourages different marketing names and labels. For example, the pale amethyst that is more of a violet pink color has been called "Rose la France" since the 1930s. Translucent to opaque amethyst "quartz" that has banded stripes of white, purple, and lavender, can be labeled chevron amethyst and is mainly used to make into beads and cabochons. Amethyst can be confused with beryl, kunzite, fluorite, spinel, and tourmaline. Just beware of any deep purple faceted stone named "Japanese" amethyst as this is synthetic, or glass. Natural amethyst is extremely affordable and a great choice for wire workers! Amethyst will fade in sunlight, so be sure to keep your specimens and stones away from brightly lit windows!

Amethyst Metaphysical and Cultural Meanings

For centuries, amethyst has been one of the most popular quartz gemstones; the name coming from the Greek "a-methystos," meaning "unaffected by drink." Many people are familiar with tales of ancient Romans and Greeks supposedly drinking wine from cups carved from amethyst as a way to prevent intoxication, however my research discovered the actual reason. After folks had drunk enough regular wine to become slightly light-headed, watered-down wine was poured into amethyst cups whose color made the wine appear to be of the best quality, thus preventing (or trying to prevent) heavy intoxication. Pretty clever!

Amethyst is the state stone of North Carolina and the national stone of Uruguay. It is one of the stones mentioned in the Bible as being required in Aaron’s Breastplate as well as being one of the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem. It is the birthstone for those born in February and the anniversary stone for the 4th and 6th years of marriage. Catherine the Great was a famous collector of amethyst, and the amethyst worn by Edward the Confessor in 1042 England is the oldest of the crown jewels. This lovely purple gemstone has been the chosen stone of kings and popes, as such many of the Catholic faith wear amethyst rings as a symbol of understanding thought and philosophy. Ancient people also wore amulets carved from amethyst, to prevent sickness and bad luck.

Metaphysically, amethyst is said to be a "stone of spirituality and contentment", clearing the aura and balancing the energies of emotion, intellect and physical body. It is also supposed to protect against psychic attacks and to assist one with the assimilation of new ideas. (As designers, maybe all of us should carry an amethyst stone in our pocket this next  year?)

Green Amethyst

Although I will be covering the subject of green quartz in the near future, I do have to mention "green" amethyst in this article. A couple of years ago, "green" amethyst hit the gemstone market big time! Affordable, beautifully faceted stones seemed to be everywhere and a lot of us wondered just "what" this stone was. Why was a stone that has been known as being shades of purple suddenly being called "green"? (Kind of like an "orange" emerald.) Well, it turns out that whereas natural, gem-quality green quartz is pretty rare – you have probably guessed it – this "affordable" green amethyst is actually lab-enhanced, or heat-treated amethyst! Not just any amethyst will turn green when heat treated. The amethyst must come from certain areas of the world, and be very pale in color. Of course, this meant that man could now make synthetic green amethyst too! So, most of the "green" amethyst on the market today is synthetically produced. When the majority of amethyst is heated, it turns into shades of yellow, gold and brown, transforming into… one of the subjects for next week’s profile, when I will write about citrine and ametrine.

Have you made wire jewelry with ametrine or citrine before? Email pictures to tips@wire-sculpture.com, and they could be featured!

Resources

Print Resources:

• The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals, ISBN 0-394-50269-8
• Love is in the Earth by Melody, ISBN 0-9628190-3-4
• Gems and Minerals of the Bible by Ruth V. Wright and Robert Chadbourne, Harper & Row, 1954
• Minerals of the World by Walter Schumann, ISBN 0-8069-8570-4

Internet Resources:

• www.arizonagems.com
• www.mindat.org
• www.wikipedia.org

Gem Profile by Dale "Cougar" Armstrong

Click to Receive Daily Tips by Email

---

 

by Kate Keipp, JewelryTools.com

Precious metal prices this year have been a bit turbulent as they’ve gone high and low and then extra high, record high to be exact. If you compare gold prices now to a couple of years ago you’ll find that they’re still incredibly inflated. The good news? Prices are lower now than they were just a few short months ago, and have remained fairly steady for about the last month. At close of markets on Friday, December 16th, gold was at $1599.20 per troy ounce. Even silver, which skyrocketed last spring to nearly $50 per ounce, has come back down in cost and remained constant the last few months. On Friday, December 16th the cost of silver was just $29.74 per troy ounce.

Did you know there are many variables that merge together to determine the cost of precious metals? There is always supply and demand to consider, but this summer, for instance, there was the US economic recovery and the European economy that affected the value of the dollar and the euro, and therefore, metal prices. Here in the U.S. the folks on Capitol Hill disagreed on fiscal measures, we suffered from a credit rating downgrade, and the EU neared defaults by some of its members. What will 2012 bring with the upcoming U.S. presidential election and most of the world trying to emerge from suffering economies? Unfortunately, nobody knows how all of these factors will affect the cost of precious metals. The best thing to do is stock up on precious metal wire and other findings while the prices are low!

We know a lot of you like to keep on top of the latest jewelry trends. And why not? You want to ensure the pieces you make are made with metal, beads and in styles that are popular, right? If you’re one of the many who trend watch, then you probably have noticed that gold jewelry wasn’t as popular this year. The cost was a main factor. Similar to the clothing world, the jewelry world works with what it can afford. Did you notice the colossal amount of flannel at your local retailers this year? It was "in" because it’s inexpensive to make clothes from that style of fabric. Silver, Argentium, silver-filled, and even copper are hugely popular right now because most people can afford pieces made from these metals.

Another metal that’s hot right now is copper. Yes, copper. This may be surprising, but there are so many ways to work with copper that will make you fall in love. You can put liver of sulfur on your copper and give it a lovely patina finish. This is huge in the fashion world and we’ve seen a lot of it locally, too.

To make things fair for you, our prices on precious metals change frequently to keep pace with market changes, so that if the price of silver or gold plunges, you will get the best deal. That’s why the price of our gold filled, Argentium, sterling silver, or silver-filled wire is different from last week, and the week before. We have an incredible stock of gold filled and sterling silver filled wire for you to choose from. Now is the time to jump at the chance to stock up on wire. With prices this low and so far, holding steady, it’s the right time to put in that large wire order you’ve been waiting for – and remember, our Gold Club members save an additional 25%!

P.S.: We often have people ask us, “If I buy silver wire at a low price, but then the price of silver is much higher when I finish my pieces, should I use the low price of silver, or the new, higher price to base my selling price on?” And what we always say is, consider the cost of replacing the material. If you sell your silver wire bracelet for less than it will cost you to restock on silver wire – you can’t afford it! Always keep your profit and costs in mind when you set prices on your precious metal jewelry pieces.

Here are some additional resources:

http://money.cnn.com/data/commodities/
http://www.kitco.com/reports/KitcoNews20111205TW_2012outlook.html
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livesilver.html
http://www.kitco.com/charts/livegold.html
http://www.wire-sculpture.com/jewelry-making-blog/2369/current-gold-wire-prices/
http://www.nationaljeweler.com/nj/fashion/a/~27470-Record-prices-hamper-gold-demand

 

Click to Receive Daily Tips by Email

by Rose Marion, Wire-Sculpture.com

Dale’s taking the week off to be with her family, helping her daughter recover from her recent successful surgery, so I’m filling in for her this Friday – not to write about quartz, which is the topic of next week’s Gem Profile, although you can still send me your pictures of wire wrapped quartz pieces at tips@wire-sculpture.com.

Instead, I wanted to take just a minute and highlight some of the free resources we’ve put here for you on Wire-Sculpture.com!

First, I hope you have all found the Resource Center helpful (located in the blue Information/Education bar at the top of every page). We have reference articles covering Gemstones, Wire, Business, and Jewelry Care advice and information. This is also where you can find past contest entries and winners, and our current Wire Artist of the Month!

Also in the blue Information/Education bar, there’s a link to “How To Videos.” From that page, you can find 3 full-length project videos (completely free) as well as several free Video Tips by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong, Sherrie Lingerfelt, Albina Manning, and more.

Last but not least, I hope you’ve checked out our Patterns & Ideas page in the blue Information/Education bar. Not only can you find 23 (and counting) free, full-length patterns, the most recent being Jill Gentry’s Simple Flower Pendant, but you can scroll down and find 14 interesting Wire Jewelry Ideas – just some visual inspiration for a creative rainy day. Plus, you can sign up for even more original wire jewelry patterns on our Patterns & Ideas page!

 

Covering the entire wire jewelry spectrum, including traditional wire wrapping, chainmaille, wire sculpting, and beaded wire jewelry, you’ll love these wire jewelry patterns, written by over 20 talented designers.

We have dozens of patterns available by signing up for Free Patterns via Email. The pictures here – Sweet Peach Chainmaille Bracelet, Birch Leaf Earrings, Herringbone Bracelet, and Double Swivel bead – are just a few of my favorites – and I know that you’ll love getting these patterns every 2 weeks!

 

These Email Patterns are high-quality step-by-step patterns that you can print and use over and over again. (To print a pattern: Select the whole text of the pattern (click and hold the mouse down at the beginning of the pattern, and drag it to the end of the pattern). Go to Edit > Copy. Open a word processor such as Microsoft Word or OpenOffice Writer, and go to Edit > Paste. Now you can save it on your computer, make changes, and print it!)

If you currently receive our Free Email Patterns, what’s your favorite pattern you’ve received? We love to hear your feedback!

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that you can find several of our talented Pattern Designers this coming January/February in Tucson, Arizona! You can discover new jewelry techniques and designs from Lena Bugrimenko, Albina Manning, and Dale “Cougar” Armstrong, and several other instructors January 28 – February 12.  Plus, several of our friends from JewelryTools.com and I will be there (JewelryTools.com is officially sponsoring these classes) to demonstrate tools.  I hope I will see you there!

Albina Manning	Bea Grob	Brenda Schweder
Dale Armstrong	Debbi Simon	Eva Sherman
Irina Wilson	Jackie Truty	Jodi Bombardier
Lauren Andersen	Lilian Chen	Meredith Arnold
Olena Bugrimenko	Patti Bullard	Stephanie Eddy

by Rose Marion, Wire-Sculpture.com

Wire Jewelry Idea for
November 9, 2011

Tis the season for handcrafted jewelry artists to be pulling out the pliers and making gifts for all their family and friends. But are you stuck on what to be making for your loved ones this year? Maybe you’ve settled on who gets what, vaguely – like you overheard your niece wishing for a collar necklace this fall, or you’ve got the perfect light-blue aquamarine cabochon to bring out your sister’s eyes, but you haven’t decided how to use it.

One place you can turn to is Pantone, known to all types of designers as the authority on color. Pantone’s Fall 2011 Color Report is one source for jewelry inspiration that will help you with your gift-giving this season, for a very simple reason: you’re not the only one using the Pantone color chart. Big clothing retailers across the country are referencing the same color chart! I’ve been seeing these colors come in to my local big-box stores since this spring, and I even have some shirts that exactly match Cedar, Coffee Liqueur, and Honeysuckle, and an Orchid Hush sweater (see chart below). So if you design using a color palette similar to Pantone’s Fall colors, you stand a very good chance to match or complement the wardrobe of the folks you’re giving gifts to! There’s nothing like opening a box of earrings and knowing with pleasure exactly which outfits will go with them!

Here are some jewelry supplies I picked out from the Wire-Sculpture warehouse that follow the Pantone Fall 2011 Palette. Not all the colors are an exact match, but I really enjoyed putting together different color combinations I’d never thought of before! And some stones actually match several colors in the palette, like Fire Agate (Bamboo and Emberglow) and Sardonyx (Coffee Liqueur, Nougat, and Orchid Hush).

I hope this gives you some fresh new color ideas, and who knows, the earrings or pendant you make from this palette just might match your friend’s or your new wardrobe this season! Happpy creating, and let me know your favorites in the comments below!

Have a Wire Jewelry Idea you’d like to share? Click Here to submit your idea. You could be featured on our Blog!

Click to Receive Daily Tips by Email

How to Instantly Increase Your Jewelry Sales
by up to 70%

by Gary Capps, guest author on Wire-Sculpture.com

Now I realize that this is a bold headline.

Can it really be true?

Is it really possible that you can increase the sales of your jewelry by up to 70% instantly?

Well the answer is yes, and I’m going to explain to you a head-slapping simple sales technique that can help you do just that.

Before I do that I just want to take a second to introduce myself to the readers of the Wire-Sculpture.com blog.

My name is Gary Capps and I am the owner and creator behind Bead Manager Pro Jewelry Software. Over the last 5 years we have been helping jewelry artisans just like you to create profitable jewelry businesses.

I’ve been lucky enough to work with hundreds of people during that time and get insight into the ins and outs of what works and what doesn’t work to help coach those people to make a success of their passion.

Last year we became good friends with some of the great team at Wire-Sculpture.com and Rose asked me if I would share some of the tips we’ve learnt over the last few years here on the blog.

Now I’m pretty sure most business owners would like to be able to increase their sales by 70% instantly, but it just doesn’t work in every business.

However, the great news is that this little gem of advice (excuse the pun) works perfectly in the home jewelry business.

This is so simple it’s brilliant; when I heard about it I was amazed by the simplicity yet full power of the way that a few little words could change a business.

That’s right: words.

You may be doing this already, selling one item for $30 and two for $50, but what do you SAY when someone asks you the price.

Here’s the conversation most people have:

Customer: “How much is that necklace?”
You: “They’re $30 each, or you can buy two for $50.”
Customer: “Thanks, I’ll take that one.”

Now check out a new way of saying things:

Customer: “How much is that necklace?”
You: “They’re two for $50.”
Customer: “Ok, those two are nice, I’ll have them.”

Obviously this is a very simplified version of any potential conversation, but do you see the subtle difference?

Before, they were given a choice.

Now we are only giving them one option.

Do not underestimate this very tiny change in language.

By giving the customer the option to purchase two items the majority of the time, if a customer is already serious about making a purchase, they will upsell to two items.

If you think this sounds to simple you should know that McDonalds have added millions to their bottom line every year with this same basic strategy.

Think about it, you go to McDonald’s, order a burger and what do they say?

“Would you like fries with that?”

Those 6 simple words are literally worth millions and millions of dollars every year to McDonalds.

It’s the same basic sales principle that you can add to your jewelry-selling arsenal.

This is why I said it only works for some business; obviously, if you’re selling houses, the two-for-one offer doesn’t fly much, but when we’re looking at smaller impulse buying, this can have tremendous effect on your bottom line.

And of course if the customer says they only want one, well, there’s no law says that you shouldn’t just sell them one, but try to sell two at first.

Now preparation and setup for a show can help increase how this strategy will work, so let’s review some of the basics there.

Preparing For A Show:

To increase your chances of success even more using this very simple strategy lets take a look at how you prepare for your next craft show or home jewelry party and what you might make to help improve your double sales technique.

Think about the preparation ahead of time and plan what you are going to make and how you are going to display it.

Research the show and the type of audience that are going to be there.

One of the most important things you can do is ask the organizers for sales figures from last year’s show and what the average spend was.

This can be vital information because if you know that the average spend last year at the show you’re just about to attend was $50, and you are planning on trying to sell $200 pieces, you are likely to have a hard time.

Knowing this ahead of time you can create the right pieces at the right price point for the audience you are about to encounter.

To make the two-for-one sale strategy work even better try making matching sets of necklaces, earrings, bracelets, and rings.

If you get a customer at your booth who falls in love with your beautiful necklace that you have made that you’re selling for $30, how hard do you think it would be to upsell them to a matching pair of earrings for another $20?

Certainly nowhere near as hard as trying to sell them a completely separate piece.

But what about if you specialize in creating One-Of-A-Kind (OOAK) jewelry pieces with no matching sets?

Don’t worry, let’s look at setting up your displays and how you can help to increase your double sales odds by setting up the correct way.

How To Display Your Jewelry Pieces:

There’s normally a pretty typical way that that a lot of artisans will display their jewelry at shows and it’s not eye catching.

I’m sorry, but it’s true for so many.

How many shows have you been to where you lift things out of trays, dig underneath one bracelet to get to another, or everything’s just laying flat on a table so nothing catches your eye at all when you walk past?

Quite often I’d bet.

So take moment to set your stand up in a way that it catches your eye as you walk past.

If you have created matching sets, keep them together but elevate items off the table at different levels.

While a flat table looks beautiful, when you’re up close, because you can see everything at once, nothing catches your eye to start with to get customers there.

If you have OOAK pieces, keep them in groups, so your necklaces together, your earrings together, your bracelets together, etc.

That way when someone picks up one piece and asks how much it is, you’re ready to say “Those are two for $50″ straight away.

Set up at least one piece as a “Wow” centerpiece attention-grabber. You can use lights or mirrors to accentuate effects as well.

Make sure once you are done setting up that you walk away for at least 5 minutes to clear your brain, then come back and look at your stand from different angles.

• Does it catch your eye?
• Would you stop to look at that centerpiece there?
• How do the other stands look around you?
• Are they more eye catching?

You need to get people to your stand to be able to sell them anything, so having a centerpiece can just help to catch people’s eye and get the most basic transaction started: a smile.

Remember, a smile can lead to a conversation, which leads to questions and when they ask “How much?” now you know what to say: “Those are two for $50″!

So in final summary:

1. Most Important: Price two items into each sale transaction as a FIRST sale attempt. If you don’t get that, you can always come down to one item.
2. Know your market and price point, and be prepared for your next show.
3. Create the right pieces for your market.
4. Create a unique eye-catching display.
5. Take advantage of any interaction and SMILE.
6. Be genuine, honest, and helpful to your customers, they’ll appreciate it.

So give this a go at your next booth sale or jewelry party. Be confident in what you say and make sure you offer your customer assistance with their choice.

If you leave any comments or questions below I’ll do my best to answer them for you.

Happy Selling

Gary Capps
Bead Manager Pro Jewelry Software