Craft Fairs

I have a couple of craft fairs coming up that I am really looking forward to.  These are both regular events that I have attended in the past so it'll be good to catch up with other stall holders that I haven't seen for a while.

The first is the Saints Crafters Fair on 6th July in St Ives (Cambridgeshire).  This is a monthly fair held in the Free Church Hall on Market Hill.  For more information about Saint Crafters visit their website www.saintscrafters.blogspot.co.uk

The second is in Ely at the Cathedral Centre on Palace Green and is open from 10am until 4pm.  More than 30 artists and crafters will have their work on display and available to purchase.

Bridesmaid Gifts

It has been an incredibly busy month at www.arcjewellery.co.uk with lots of lovely orders for handmade sterling silver bridesmaid and birthday gifts, as well as people treating themselves to pieces of jewellery.  

It's always really useful to receive feedback from customers and I have had some wonderful messages from my lovely customers as well as many repeat orders, which is always a good sign!

As a thank you to my customers I offer a 10% discount code that can be used the next time they shop online at www.arcjewellery.co.uk.  I have decided to extend this offer to include my Facebook followers and blog readers and am offering 10% off all online purchases to the end of August.  

Simply enter the code FBPROM10 into the promotion code box at check out and the discount will be deducted for you.

This promotional code can be used as many times at you like until 31st August 2013.  Please share it with friends and family who might also like to take advantage of this offer and treat themselves to piece of handmade silver jewellery.

The code is only valid for use in my online shop at www.arcjewellery.co.uk and not in my Folksy or Etsy shops.

Follow arc jewellery on Facebook to keep up to date with new designs, offers and promotions.  www.facebook.com/arcjewellery

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Also this month I am working on some new pendants.  They are similar in style to this one but with the addition of a pin so that they can also be worn as a brooch.  Two pieces of jewellery for the price of one! 

They are about to be sent to Goldsmith Assay office for hallmarking but will be listed in my shop as soon as they return...I will keep you posted.

St Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely

On Saturday 1st June I shall be at the Etheldreda Fair in Ely with my ARC Jewellery stall and I thought it would be a good idea to find out a bit more about St Etheldreda before I go.  

I knew she was responsible for the construction of a monastery on the site where Ely Cathedral now stands, where she lived as Abbess for the latter part of her life but I didn't really know very much more about her than that.  

In brief....St Etheldreda, Abbess of Ely, was born around AD 636 in Exning, Suffolk.  She really wanted to pursue a life of worship and become a nun but was forced into marriage at the age of 16.  It was her husband, Tondberht, who gave her the estate of Ely (then known as Elge) as part of their marriage settlement.  During her marriage to Tondberht, which ended after three years with his death, Etheldreda was allowed to live life as a nun.

Her second marriage to Egfrith (who became king of Northumbria) ended with her fleeing  (disguised as a beggar) back to Ely to seek sanctuary from her demanding husband.  Etheldreda and Egfrith had married when he was just 15 but now, in his twenties, he wanted (demanded) more from his marriage and wife (who was now Queen of Northumbria).  Etheldreda was determined to continue with a life of celibacy and worship and in AD 673 she built the monastery in Ely where she lived until her death (from a tumour) at the age of 43.

It's a fascinating story about a very strong willed woman who was determined and suceeded to live the life she chose for herself.

To find out more about St Etheldreda follow the links below...

http://www.elycathedral.org/history/the_story_cathedral.html

http://www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/adversaries/bios/etheldreda.html

ARC Jewellery will be at the fair on Palace Green (in front of the Cathedral) on Saturday 1st June 2013 from 10am - 5pm.

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www.arcjewellery.co.uk

www.facebook.com/arcjewellery

Selling at Craft Fairs...

It has been a very busy bank holiday weekend of decorating, gardening, socialising, making jewellery and attending a local craft fair to sell my work.

There were a reasonable number of people mooching around the craft fair but not so many people buying.  Several of the visitors to the event were saying that they would love to treat themselves (a friend or loved one) but have just received their BIGGER than expected winter fuel bill or increased council tax bill so treats are off the shopping list for now.  Understandable in the current economic climate.

I have also read several comments recently on blogs and in forums suggesting that craft fairs, especially the smaller village or church hall type events, have had their day.  I have heard people say that there are just too many around, a lot of people jumped on the band wagon hoping to make a quick buck from them, they started cropping up all over the place and because of that they are losing their appeal.  

I do hope this isn't the case. 

I am a member of a craft group that hosts a monthly fair in St Ives (Cambridgeshire, not the one in Cornwall) and it's as much a social and networking event for the members as it is a place to sell.  
http://saintscrafters.blogspot.com

Many of the members have been going for a number of years and great friendships have been formed through their shared interest in art and craft.  

It's also a great opportunity to get direct, face to face feedback from customers and other stall holders about designs, techniques or ways to display work.  Of course there is the chance to get feedback when selling online and I have received some wonderful emails and thank you cards from customers but it doesn't quite compare with seeing someone with a great big grin on their face as they walk away wearing a piece of my jewellery. 

I do hope that the genuine craft fair where you can buy direct from the maker (not those selling mass produced imported goods) are here to stay. I really enjoy going to them both as a seller and as a buyer and the fact that people are still attending and looking at what's on offer means that they are interested, even if they aren't always in a position to buy.

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I have been adding to my bracelet collection; all are available at www.arcjewellery.co.uk on Etsy or on Folksy.

http://www.arcjewellery.co.uk/Products.aspx?Type=4

https://www.facebook.com/arcjewellery

http://folksy.com/shops/ARCJewellery

http://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ARCJewellery

Anniversary and Enamelling

It's been a while...months in fact...so I thought it was about time that I put in a bit more effort into keeping my blog up to date.

What's been happening...well, Saturday 6th of April was the first year anniversary of ARC Jewellery and what an amazing year it has been...yes, I did celebrate with something bubbly.

During the year I have opened my own online shop www.arcjewellery.co.uk, plus one on Etsy and Folksy and set up my wonderful home workshop (I love it!).  I have attended numerous art & craft fairs only one of which was a complete disaster (have learnt a lot from that experience and won't be doing that one again!).  I've been featured in Making Jewellery magazine, had my work in local galleries, obtained my hallmark and lost track of how many commissions I have worked on.  I have met some wonderful (and extremely talented) artists and crafters along the way, many of whom I have become good friends with.  I feel a real sense of accomplishment when I look back at photographs of the work that I've created and sold during the last 12 months, I sometimes can't quite believe how much I've achieved in that space of time.  It has been an extremely busy year but very worthwhile and I have enjoyed every minute of it.

So, on to the next year and I thought I would start by learning a new skill.  I have wanted to learn the art of enamelling for some time and was lucky to be able to attend a workshop last weekend run by the lovely and very talented Sheila Mcdonald - check out her website, her work is an amazing explosion of colour http://www.sheilamcdonald.co.uk
It was an intense weekend, as a complete beginner there was an awful lot for me to take in and I was exhausted by the time I got home.  I was also buzzing with enthusiasm and am inspired to take it further.  I created some sample tiles during the workshop using various enamelling techniques, stencilling, using foils & leaf, transferring designs with pen & stamps, wet packing enamel and Cloisonné.  I would love to have a go at Plique a jour but having seen it demonstrated I think I need quite a bit more practice before I tackle something so skilled and delicate.

So, perhaps in my next blog entry I will be able to show you some of my new enamelled pieces of jewellery but for now here is a selection of my recent work...

All of these are available to buy from www.arcjewellery.co.uk

Silver and Copper

It's been a while since I was last here with any news and as I've recently been telling more people about my blog I thought it might be a good idea to update it!

So, lately I've been working on a few commission pieces, some earrings for the artist Lia Melia.  I'm really fond of the bass/treble clef pair so might just have to make some more of those for myself.                               

I've also been concentrating on pieces that are either just silver in simple shapes and designs or are lightly embellished with a small semi-precious stone.  

Details of all of these designs and many more pieces of my jewellery can be found on my website www.arcjewellery.co.uk
I also recently made my first pair of copper earrings.  These are for my sister who doesn't like silver  so I made these copper earrings with a deep blue facetted agate bead.  Copper is a metal that I only usually use for practice pieces, when I'm trying out something new or a little complicated.  However, she's really delighted with these and I was also pleased with the way they turned out so I may start using it a bit more.

I've also been busy putting together my Etsy shop www.etsy.com/shop/arcjewellery

I've just added a few things for now to see how it goes.  There's a great community feel on Etsy with lots of teams to join and forums to contribute to.  A really good way to get networking.  These leaf drop earrings have proved to be very popular on there so far...

Don't forget that you can shop online at www.arcjewellery.co.uk for the items listed here.

Beads from Vietnam...

A lot of my current pieces of jewellery contain some lovely agate beads in rich, deep purple, bright citrus orange or with mystical black dragon veins.  I thought you may like to know the origin of these beads...

Earlier this year I was lucky to have the opportunity to visit Vietnam.  Whilst there we visited one of the many floating, fishing villages in Halong Bay in the North of the country.  Like in so many of the villages the people were struggling to make ends meet and were trying to raise money for books and equipment for the village school through the sale of crafts, gift ware and beads.  I bought several strings of agate and jade, which are lovely quality and have such beautiful colours with flashes of silver or deep, rich veins of colour running through them.  I was pleased that I was going to be able to create some lovely pieces of jewellery with these and that the proceeds were going to a really good cause.

This is the school house and some of the children, who were incredibly friendly and loved having their photograph taken.

The class room

A game of football in the playground

The ball spent a lot of time in the water...

Here are some of those beads used in simple long pendants with the addition of silver hearts and leaves.  All of the beads are a good size, the largest being approx. 2cm x 1.5cm with lovely colours and patterns running through.

Many others in different designs, with twists and curls of silver, can be found on my website where you can shop online...
www.arcjewellery.co.uk

Why not join arc jewellery on Facebook...
www.facebook.com/arcjewellery

Web updates and postal option changes...

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks at arc jewellery.  I've been creating some new designs and additional stock for some upcoming events as well as trying out some new tools and techniques.  I managed to find time to photograph my work and restock the virtual shelves in my shop at www.arcjewellery.co.uk 

There are some classic pieces here as well as some more unusual designs.

I have also decided to review the postage options available to customers when purchasing jewellery from my online shop. In the past I have preferred to use the Royal Mail 'signed for' service so that I can track when parcels are delivered.  However, I have discovered that quite often a signature isn't even requested and the parcel just gets put through the letterbox in the usual way meaning that no tracking information is available anyway.  

The other side of this is when the postal service do insist on collecting a signature and the recipient is out.  They then have the inconvenience of having to go to the sorting office to collect the parcel themselves.  

With all of this in mind I have decided to offer 4 options for UK delivery still using Royal Mail:
First class, Second class, First class 'signed for' and Second class 'signed for'.  

There are two options for overseas deliveries: Airmail standard small parcel service or Airmail 'signed for' parcel service.

I think there is still the occasional need for using 'signed for' especially when sending a gift that you want to track to make sure that it has arrived safely and on time.  For the most part though it seems that regular post is not only the more convenient but also the most cost effective option.

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