Some Artisans of Florence

The artisan culture in Florence, Italy, is based on centuries of skill and tradition.  This was part of the reason why I chose to spend a week in Florence.

Many artisans reside or have workshops in what is called "Oltrarno" or the other side of the Arno.  Armed with a list of addresses and my map, my friend and I crossed one of the bridges into the Santo Spirito district and the maze of streets known as Oltrarno looking for the violin makers, jewelers, bookbinders, and gilders.

I'd like to tell you that I found them all but following a map in Florence isn't as easy as it looks.  Streets change names at each intersection and some smaller alleys aren't even listed.  We did see a couple of open doors to studios with artisans refinishing or gilding very old furniture and frames.

Through a little trial and error we finally found ViaToscanella, 5 and the studio of Giancarlo Giachetti and his cat.  He looked to be in his 70s and spoke no English.  But he pointed to a poster on the wall from several years ago that showed him as a much younger man participating in an art event in Hawaii.

The link attached here to his name has a great little article about this internationally known Florence artisan and his background.  We had no idea that we were meeting a legend of the Tuscan artisan world.

Sometime later, walking down what appeared to be a deserted back street in Oltrarno, we saw a couple of men take a right into an open door that we probably would have passed without a second thought.  It appeared to be more a museum than a jewelry shop and was filled with nicely displayed and glass encased pieces that looked like a cross between jewelry and sculpture.  Mostly rings, they looked like they could have been ancient and were set with gemstones and crystal.  Off to the right as you enter was the man I later found out was Alessandro Dari, probably one of the most talented jewelers on the planet, working on his latest piece.

I was a bit too intimidated to even ask if I could take pictures so these are ones publicly available on the web

If you're interested in purchasing one of Dari's pieces, click here.


If you clicked the link to Dari's jewelry prices, you'll see that some artists have a customer base most of us can only dream of.  The Mercado Central, Florence's central open air market, is filled with booths of leather, t-shirts, jewelry, and scarves.  Most of these people are selling items produced in third world countries or in little factories in Italy that use leather from China.  Prices are low and vendors are happy to bargain i.e. "How much do you want to spend?  We can make a deal."  It was refreshing to meet one leather artisan who talked to us about how to determine if the coat or purse you're buying is truly handmade in Italy.  And, of course, we segued onto the subject of price.  It should be no surprise to anyone that pricing is an artist's biggest challenge--what it's worth vs what it will actually sell for.  And it's difficult to compete with the Pakistani vendors that fill the market.

We found Vittoria Scaffidi in front of the Pitti Palace.  There are always artists and their paintings in front of the museums and palaces of Florence.  Some are just selling cheap prints but we found several very talented painters with their work on display.  Vittoria's style was a combination of ink and watercolor and while the subjects of her paintings were the usual scenes of Florence, her technique was unique.  Vittoria is originally from England but has been in Italy for 17 years.  I'm not sure how often she brings her work to the Piazza Pitti, but as someone who sets up a tent at a few craft shows a year, I see this as a tough way to earn a living.  Her prices, like some of mine, were based on what the public is willing to spend.

A Little Fun after the Snowfall

Sometimes you just do a craft show because you know it will be fun.  I occasionally am asked for advice about the criteria I use for selecting shows to apply to.  And I definitely have my list -- well established, good traffic, communicative organizers, no re-sellers, etc.  But Handmade with Love, the little show at Eastworks that happens twice a year, has always been an exception.  While it ticks several of my must have boxes, it's still a small show with traffic well below the 3000 I generally look for.  But the organizers are organized, the handmade arts and crafts are varied and well made, and the vendors are all local and all friends.

So even after Nemo hit and they had to postpone until the next day and a few of the artists weren't available on Sunday, it was still a successful show.  Yes, traffic was lower than usual and sales were a bit off.  But in between groups of customers who seemed to come in waves, we chatted, checked out each others' newest items, got caught up on what shows we were applying to, and even had a little unofficial AWM meeting about our planned Demo Day.  More about that in the future.

Then came a little impromptu treat that I hope will become a tradition at this show. As it got close to closing time, Jen pulled down one of her very ornately painted guitars and she and Karen serenaded us with a few oldies.

You know they were REALLY oldies since I knew all the words.

So for those of you who were unfortunately still shoveling on Sunday, you missed a great little artisan show in Easthampton.

Pricing Handmade ???

Unfortunately, if you're looking for answers on how to price your handmade goods, you won't find it here.  For me it's been an on-going problem that I still haven't completely resolved.  Early on my prices fluctuated with each show.  If people seemed to think they were too high I'd lower them for the next show.  Then someone would comment on how "reasonable" my prices were or asked how I could sell so cheaply and I'd raise them again.

In trying to solve this problem I found lots of formulas out there on how to find your wholesale and retail price.  After all, you need to charge enough at retail to be able to sell for less to wholesalers.  So there's:

             2x cost of supplies + time at your hourly wage = wholesale
             Double this for retail.

                                                OR
             3 to 5X the cost of supplies will give you enough to cover your time

                                                OR

             there is the Rena Klingenberg school of thought which includes the cost of packaging and other supplies and considers booth fees, camera, tools, etc.

Because I use genuine stones, fine and sterling silver, and gold I have never sold at full retail.  In this area and in this economy it just isn't possible. My prices have always been somewhere between wholesale and full retail.  Which is now a problem as I've started consigning to a few gift shops who take a 30% or 40% cut.

So if I don't have answers why did I even bring this up?   Lately some of my craft show customers have been very price conscious, even asking if I give discounts.  And at 2 recent shows typically loaded with jewelry, I found vendors practically giving away their product.  Granted their work was more of what is sometimes referred to as "assembled".  But I know what findings and beads cost, even low end beads and base metal findings.  So I don't see where these jewelers, who though they are selling more units than the rest of us, are actually making any money, especially if you add in the booth fee, travel time, meals, gas, etc.

I certainly wouldn't tell anyone else how to price their work.  Each individual has the right to decide what their time and creativity is worth.  But as I find more of these low priced jewelry makers at shows I can't help being concerned for "handmade" in general.  They not only do not value their own work, they are undercutting those of us who do.

In my last post I mentioned a young girl who called my silver pieces "real jewelry".  Some people understand the difference between handmade and hand assembled, and actually think about the time and creativity that goes into a truly handmade item.  Those that aren't aware need to be educated.  And craft show organizers and promoters can help by doing a better job of jurying and asking about the price range of peoples' work.

I don't expect the Walmart mentality to disappear.  I just wish people could leave it at home when they come to art and craft shows.
                                             

Sneak Peak at My Goldie Bronze

While I love working with Art Clay Silver, there are several other types of metal clay on the market that I have been anxious to try. I like the look of bronze but previously bronze clay products were either too yellow or too pink for my taste.  Just recently Goldie Bronze became available in the U.S.  Developed by Waldo Ilowiecki of Poland, Goldie Bronze is a dream to work with, has a short firing time, and finishes to a nice soft golden color.

When I say it became available recently, I mean within the last month.  And there's only 1 US distributor and she was out when I placed my order.  So I had to wait.

Goldie Bronze, like several other base metal clays on the market, comes in powdered form and has to be mixed with water.  This is actually a great idea since it gives unused clay a longer shelf life.  

My first reaction was that the clay has a totally different feel from the silver clay--softer and more silky.  It dries less quickly so I have a lot of time to change my mind if I don't like something and want a "do over".  

While silver clay fires for 2 hours at 1650 degrees, bronze fires at a lower temp.  But the process for firing bronze clay is a bit more complicated.  I needed to purchase a metal pan and coconut carbon.  The dried pieces are fired on top of the carbon at 662 degrees for 30 minutes.  Then you bury it in about 1/2" of more carbon and fire it for 40 minutes at 1508 degrees.  You can take it out of the kiln hot if you don't want to wait for it to completely cool down.  

My first surprise was after the first firing.  The pieces were completely black.  Then after the 2nd firing they came out these lovely colors but gritty to the touch.

But after cleaning and polishing the end result is a lovely golden color.

 I've only had time to make a few pieces but we'll be showing them off for the first time at the Mattoon Street Festival this weekend in Springfield.  Stop by for the arts and crafts and take a tour of the brownstones or their gardens.

More news about Jansjems--

Jansjems jewelry is now also available at the Red Lion Inn Gift Shop in Stockbridge, MA.  If you're from the Berkshires or visiting the area, stop by and check out this wonderful gift shop.  Jayne Church has filled it with a wonderful variety of locally made artisan products.

There is also a small selection of jewelry at Sawmill River Arts, a gift shop you can find next to the Bookmill in Montague, MA.

And, of course, The Daylily in the center of South Deerfeld still carries our work.

The fall craft fair season starts in earnest for us this weekend. Visit our website for a complete list of upcoming shows. 

Stockbridge Arts, Crafts and Infomercial Show

There are a lot of arts and craft shows in the Berkshires, three in Lilac Park alone. It's a great place for them with tourist traffic all year long so there are new customers every week.

This weekend we were in Stockbridge.  Two great days--sunshine, warm temps, and  low humidity.  The show takes place in the center of town, walking distance from the Red Lion Inn in a town filled with tourists.  And they love to bring home local art.  So we were busy both days with customers who appreciated the work that went into the silver pieces and the creativity that went into the steampunk.  Most sales were made with credit cards and there was no shortage of American Express cards.

I was a bit disappointed, however, to find yet another show that had too many jewelers.  But it didn't seem to matter as we were all different and everyone seemed to be doing well.   We were situated across from Beth Russo jewelry, next to The Silver Web, and there were other vendors near us with jewelry as part of their inventory.  I had seen Beth at other shows but never really had a chance to talk to her much.  Being across the aisle she and her friend, Ellen, came over to compare impressions of the "garlic girl" in the next tent who has infiltrated yet another craft show.   I've mentioned her and her infomercial spiel before in this blog.  And while she professes to make each and every one of her graters herself, no one really believes it.  She is still very animated but she has dropped the volume of her routine and offends less by using less garlic and more carrots. She's been doing this for so long she has now added some comic one-liners and a Julia Child impression.  Ellen & I were amazed at the number of people who stopped by (and brought friends over) just to listen.  Is she an actress, a stand-up comedian, or just a natural talent?  OMG, she's plain annoying!   And, yes, she was selling them -- for $20!

I think we've succeeded in getting her removed from at least one show, probably 2.  But it's very frustrating for people who work hard creating from scratch their own artistic products to have what amounts to a carnival barker included in the mix.  As I've said before, she belongs at the home show next to the guy selling Vegamatics.

More Questions than Answers after This Past Weekend's Craft Show

This past weekend I had a tent set up for the third year in a row at Celebrate West Hartford.   This show continues to puzzle me.  We did really well the first year and poorly last year.  And if you've read my reviews you know that it almost seemed as though a completely different population attended each year.

So this was my deciding year and this time both the population from 2010 and the one from 2011 attended--on different days.  Saturday was a bit rainy with intermittent sun.  Lots of people found their way into our tent but very few purchased anything.  They looked at prices and continued to the next tent. Jewelry on display ranged from $18 earrings to a $250 necklace with lots of pieces well under $100.  I strolled around and checked out other jewelers (there were over 30 of us at this event) and found that a couple of the people with bead strands were doing very well while higher end designers didn't seem to be so busy.

On Sunday we put out almost all new pieces in the same price range.  The show begins at noon on Sunday due to a road race but people start wandering through around 11. By noon there were thousands of people crowding the aisles of craft show booths.  Yet things still looked bleak at 2 pm when I made the decision not to apply to this show next year and a wave of customers appeared with their American Express cards to purchase multiple pieces and tell us how "reasonable" our prices are.  So we ended up selling almost as much as we did in 2010 and way more than 2011 but mostly within the span of a couple of hours on Sunday.

So do I apply to this show again next year and hope that the 2010 population shows up even if it's just for a couple of hours?

Do I raise my prices or lower them?  Actually, I've been using a suggested formula based on the cost of supplies and my time creating each design.  I've increased my prices a bit each year to cover the increased cost of silver and supplies and in an attempt to reach full retail. I'm still about 10%-20% away.  I feel badly that some people can't afford my jewelry but I think I feel worse when someone suggests I should be charging more. As if I don't value my work enough.  My daughter thinks I'm trying too hard to please everyone but my 2 lines of jewelry are at such opposite ends of the fashion trends that I'm really creating for 2 very different audiences.

I was pleased to see so many people purchasing fine art this year, much more so than in past years.  There are some incredibly talented people at this show-- from Linda Tenukas oil paintings to the graphic designs of James Polisky and including the ceramic art of Gail Markewitz.

And John Cheer just blew me away.  This show was once primarily an arts festival and over time they've included more and more crafters.





So what is the future of art and craft shows?  I did 3 shows before West Hartford and sold little at 2 of them.  I took a ride to Mayfest in Vermont and found they are accepting resellers.  Are they not getting enough applications to fill all their spaces?  Are more shows desperate for booth fees going to head in the same direction?  As resellers increase artisans, who can't compete with their prices, will decrease.  Do people no longer appreciate locally handmade goods?  Can people no longer afford them?

Handmade with Love--February Edition

If you enjoy shopping for handmade crafts and maybe even sometimes buying handmade, you'll love this small craft show that takes place at Eastworks in Easthampton, MA, on Feb.11.   In a small room on the right hand side of the building you'll find a group of 20-25 local artisans exhibiting their work which runs from the traditional to the unique.


 It's only a few days to Valentine's Day so Jansjems will be there with every heart in our jewelry collection--hearts with pearls, fine silver hearts, hearts with gemstones, steampunk hearts, and even a few red & pink ones.

Easthampton has an Artwalk the 2nd Saturday of each month.  It doesn't start until 5pm so Eastworks would be a great place to stop earlier to take a stroll through Handmade with Love and maybe have an early supper at Riff's Joint.

What kinds of things will you find at Handmade with Love?  Well, jewelry for sure.  And not just mine.  Heather Black and Amy Love have lovely gemstone jewelry.  Glimmerstone is a bead weaver and her work is truly unique. And there will be others.



The Little Birch Shop had body products.  You'll find sculptured paperworks, Lou's bags and wallets made from recycled plastics,quilted items, and purses from handwoven fabrics.



It's supposed to be sunny, so come on out to see us. There's no admission fee.

And the first 50 people through the door get free goodie bags.

StART on the Street

One of the pieces of information an artisan needs when deciding to which arts and crafts shows he/she will apply is traffic.  The estimated number of people who attended in the past tells us if the show is established, well advertised, and popular.  Unfortunately that information is not always available. Occasionally I find a website for a show that actually has pictures of people in the aisles and shopping (and not just their volunteers manning the donations table).  When I can't get numbers, these pictures sometimes prompt me to give the show a try.

StART on the Street just had it's eighth show yesterday.  They have no problem advertising that they get over 200 vendors and attract over 20,000 people.  That's what I want to hear.  When I can't get that information, this is what I want to see.

This show takes place on Park Avenue in Worcester.  It begins at 11am and somewhere between 12 & 1pm this mass of people arrives making getting from one booth to the next a bit of a challenge.  At times we had so many people in the booth I could've used a third person.


The variety of arts and crafts runs from the truly funky and kitchy to high end and polished.  You can buy a skarf made from recycled t-shirts or fine art.  But StART isn't just a craft show.

  Throughout the day they have a variety of musicians performing, dancers, performance art,  mimes, and even a poetry reading stage this year.  There's a section dedicated to keeping children entertained.

And I can't leave out the Chinese dragon who made an appearance.

This is a fun show.   It's loud, it's crowded, it's full of the unusual and the unexpected.  You should try to get there next year.

For artisans who want more detailed information, go to my review section.

A Weekend in Lenox

I wasn't certain I was going to apply again for this year's Church on the Hill Craft Show but I'm glad I finally did. Last year was a bad one for weather, traffic and sales.  But I decided to give it another go and was pleasantly surprised that all the bad from last year was good this year.

Two other AWM members were present at the show.  Amy Love was located across the aisle from Aviva of Sieber Designs and her colorful quilts.  


We spent some time comparing notes about how we dealt with the very hilly terrain.  We all had to shim our tables to level them off.  My tent was notched higher in the front than the back to make it look level.  It's a very rough park to set up in.  But being in the center of town we picked up a lot of tourist traffic and the businesses in town were busy too with people who came just for the craft show.

It's been many months since I spoke with Emily of Emily Betti Designs.  We met in Springfield, I think.  She also makes jewelry and has a shop on Etsy.  We chatted a bit and since I could see her booth from mine, I noticed she was having a good weekend too.

Thai Indigo Village had a booth across the aisle from us.  This is a family business located in Northampton.  The weaving is just exquisite.  

I must say though that there were way too many jewelers this year--about every third booth.  In talking to one of the organizers I learned that like lots of other shows they had trouble attracting non jewelry crafters and accepted more jewelers to fill the empty spaces.  And how did all these jewelry vendors do with so much competition?  Well, I learned that  4 of us did well enough to come back again.  As for the rest, I don't know.

For the official review of this craft show, see my side pages.

Crafts on the Common -- Successful and Rain Free

Sunshine and occasional cool breezes made for a pleasant Saturday in Amherst at the Annual Crafts on the Common Craft Show.  We were shouting distance from the always wonderful Amherst Farmer's Market and  had a great spot between Amy, who does wood carved sculptures and Shannon, who drew a crowd of children for face painting.

Didn't even realize my friend, Rebecca, was in the background.


And here's Bethany getting into the steampunk spirit of things with Shannon's help--

We at Jansjems featured mostly steampunk designs.  They are really popular with all ages at this show.  We also had a small collection of traditional jewelry just in case.  But we only sold a couple of those pieces.  I did have to say "goodbye" to one of my favorite steampunk pieces.                                                  



Several other members of the Artisans of Western Mass. were there--

Lou's Upcycles had a corner booth and her banner stood out nicely from a distance.



Cutsomers got drawn in by Aviva's bright and colorful Sieberdesigns.

And you couldn't miss Wild Child's tie dyed clothing.

Steve was there with handcrafted soaps and skin care products from Little Birch Farm.

Another jeweler from the group, Mary Risley Jewelry, brought her beautiful silver and gemstone pieces to the show.

It was really nice seeing some of my former co-workers from the Umass Library who stopped by the tent to chat.  The Indian food was great and the snow cones were enormous.  And it was nice to spend the day with artistic friends and appreciative customers.

Even Hamlet had a good time.  I don't think he bought anything but it looks like he chatted with friends.


For an official review of this show, see my side pages.