Happy New Year

Happy New Year! Best to all of you this next year in 2011.

My prediction for silver to reach $30 by the end of the year was weak.... today it closed at $30.91. I'll be keeping an eye on it in the first few weeks, how it acts early should indicate how it will extend into the new year. The spot price will probably continue to rise, maybe $2 or more within 30-45 days. If you deal in Silver primarily like I do, you are no longer doing crafts, you are entering the area of Fine Jewelry. Be happy about this because the competition is thinning out. Emphasize quality and you will be realize sales.

Let's all dig in and make jewelry like we never have before. I'm promoting my more substantial (weighty) jewelry as a way to 'wear your wealth'. Another strategy to make silver affordable might be to include smaller amounts of silver in a piece while combining it with other metals like copper, brass, etc. This seems to be popular and effective with artists on Etsy.

Good luck!

Wow!

Hi Everybody,
Amazing! I mean WOW!!! It only took the market a little over a month to move the price of silver to $30 (closed at $30.06 today). Not sure what to say at this point.

If you do have the money to buy silver you may want to get some and just hoard it and ride this out. That is what I am going to do with all that I have now. It is sad but I am suspending my production because my silver is making money just sitting there.

If all of the uncertainty about currencies is going to continue it is going to be worth even more soon. I was predicting $30 by the end of 2010, but now it looks like it may go to $35 or higher. I'll keep you posted.

Need I say more?

Hi Everyone!

I have been sitting back watching my Handmade Silver Jewelry Collection increase in value =). This is not because of my fabulous designs and the constant demand for my pieces, rather it is because the price of metals continues to climb. The market is about an hour before closing and silver is sitting at $24.70 per troy ounce. Whoa!!!!!

I know I warned you that this was going to happen and it did.... so here is more good news. Silver has NOT YET finished it's rise in price. And again, I am no expert at the investing game but from what I understand there is going to be even more adjustment forthcoming. One of the factors that is really starting to kick in is the number of people who are simply investing in metals as a commodity. So us craftsman that use it for our livelihood just have to grin and bear it, so to speak, as one of the crowd. This is increasing every day because of the second and more basic reason.... the weakening of the US dollar against other world currencies. We are far from seeing the end of this.

It would take another post to discuss some of the things going on behind the scenes (you won't hear about on CNN or Fox) that will affect the Dollar when they kick in and I would also probably sound like some kind of conspiracy theorist, which I am not, so I will (again) just say.... the price of silver is going to go up more... and more... and more!

If you are an Artist that uses silver in your production you should buy as much as you can as soon as you can. You will automatically be making money as the price rises, even if you don't use it. I for one would like to buy a truck load but those days are gone. It was not that long ago (10 years) that I did my work based on $5 an ounce silver -- HooHoo! .... or is it BooHoo!

Anyway, I wanted to say Hi and let you all know I am still here. So round up your cash and Buy Silver while it is cheap.

Hi All-
Yes I consider my making jewelry Art. It is a peculiar medium because Jewelry is a common item and most of the time it is machine made and we get it at a Stores. Unlike Painting or making Pottery which are very commonly considered Art and always win the awards at Juried shows, it is more utilitarian. So we are used to it having a price tag on it and NOT thinking of it as Art, more like an accessory and similar to the way we think of clothes or shoes. Actually I don't think that ALL jewelry IS Art and much of the jewelry people make nowadays is definitely not Art, it is more like craft. Okay so what's my point?

Today I was working on some jewelry while sitting in a public place and a friend happened by. They said to me... ''you are making jewelry" and I replied, "yes, I make it all the time". She then said the inevitable "where are you selling it".... like since I haven't been doing any shows or trying to sell it in public lately means I stopped making it. NOT! For about 20 years now making jewelry has been my main artistic outlet and during this time I have taken different approaches to ridding myself of all the stuff I have made. And yes it is important and nice to gain some monetary reward for my effort but this is where I want to express myself.

I do not make jewelry to make money. The type of jewelry I make involves many hours of tedious process and many of the steps are not actually fun, like sitting at the buffing wheel for example. I make jewelry because I like the materials, I love fire, I am able to create pieces that will not only endure but are wearable and also have some value beyond the weight of the metal itself. Most importantly and primarily, I do this as a MEDITATIVE process. I have been able to convey this a few times to people I have met at shows and other places. The little steps and processes I have made my work require that I be PRESENT. So it is a way for me to BE in what I consider the best state that I can be as a human. Making Jewelry for me is a Labor of Love. I know this sounds like a cliche. I do not spend the time making jewelry to end up with the piece. It is good that I do derive some result, a product that I can sell, but I am literally making jewelry to spend the time doing it. It is very similar to making pottery -- there is a saying that "a Potter changes the clay, but what really changes is the Potter".

Okay, so what I am getting at is that Yes, I am still making jewelry, and Yes, I have some for sale... in fact I have it laying all over the place. However if you are waiting for it to be on a table or in a showcase somewhere like you presume it should be because it is jewelry, you are not going to see my work and you are dissing me as an Artist. I am always ready to show it to anyone and I will also sell it, have your checkbook ready.

PS This is also why I call myself a Jewelry Artist rather than a Jeweler, because if I call myself the later the next question will be "can you repair this?"
I don't do repairs except on jewelry that I have made, which rarely breaks.

All of the above is my opinion, which is a vanity (of course) and therefore worthless =).

Please feel free to use this space to discuss Art, making money, etc. Your comments and replies are welcomed.

Time to get some Silver

Okay, I have posted about this before (last time Silver was hovering around $12 ounce) and I don't mean to be redundant, but NOW is the time to increase your supply. Logically a lower commodities price would indicate a stronger Dollar, but there are so many factors in what causes them to go up and down that it is beyond my time limits to stay current with the reasons why on a daily basis. However I do check Silver daily and I have noticed a fairly large drop in price in the past week. Will it stay this low? I don't really know but today's price ($15.26) is the lowest it has been for quite some time and I don't really see it going too much lower, so again, get some while the getting is good.
If you haven't read some of my previous posts about how cool it is that because we are craftsmen we actually get metal when we buy Silver (many investors get paper) you can read those if you want.
It is also a good time of year to get going on all your projects. It really isn't too early to start making your collection that you will sell next Christmas. Maybe you don't work that far ahead but I do. Just consider this a heads up and good luck with your work.

Happy New Year 2010

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. I noticed that I have had a few new subscribers so WELCOME to my blog. I hope in the future there will be more interaction, that is questions, comments, discussion, whatever you want.
I already know how to make jewelry and I am interested in helping other people, so let me know how I can help. My typical style involves a lot of soldering. Some of my chains require 500 individual solders. There are some pieces I made in this style on this webpage.

Here's a photo of a piece I made a while back using parts created with an interesting technique that I first discovered about 15 years ago. Recently I saw an article in a jewelry mag about how to do this. I can tell you here. The parts are cast using water.
I was reprocessing some silver for future castings into small pieces by filling my crucible and slowly pouring the molten metal into water. I noticed I was getting these cool little dome shaped pieces sometimes. I started paying more attention to the way I was pouring and my success rate got pretty good.
Once I had a little pile of the pieces I just incorporated them into other designs. What is really neat is they required no mold and no finishing!!
I like casting a lot and it requires a lot less tools than some other techniques, plus it is very immediate. Once a piece is cast it can be cooled and in your hands within minutes. Casting is great way to make parts to use later. Besides water casting, unique pieces can be attained casting onto wet-straw, ice, sand and lots of other mediums. Hope you like this tip. Happy 2010!!