Get some Silver, the price has dropped.

Thanks to you new folks who just subscribed to my blog and thanks for hanging around to all of you who are still subscribers. I haven't posted anything in quite awhile, I have been away from my bench, pursuing other creative things like music and sewing.

Today I wanted to bring it to your attention in case you haven't noticed -- SILVER spot price is all the way down to $22.75. You can see that in the chart on the right side of your screen. This price is very affordable to us craftspeople, so it is time to buy.

An interesting thing occurred during the past few years -- due to the SILVER price getting so high, many people turned to Copper and other less expensive metals for their production. Since I am a Silversmith, enjoy soldering, know how to bezel set stones, etc, I am not that crazy about a lot of the work I have seen on Etsy, Pinterest and other websites. However, I have seen some really interesting pieces and I hope the artists who developed these techniques will start using SILVER again. I am referring to the Bohemian style jewelry that is proliferating right now -- twisted wire, lots of beads, simple construction, NO soldering, etc. Since the price of SILVER is low and these techniques are fast and furious, I don't see why the quality of work can not come up by switching back to SILVER and still be affordable.

I plan on starting a new production run soon. When the SILVER spot price was $45+ an ounce, I just couldn't justify using up my stock for the ROI I would get for my finished work. The spoiled public will only pay so much for silver jewelry and there is no way I can get my prices down to match what is available as imports, regardless of quality. Now that the price has dropped I can eek out a profit again, while maintaining my quality and design standards. 

So thank you to the World Banker guys (who are constantly ratcheting everything up and down) for focusing  on other commodities like Oil, Bonds, etc and allowing the SILVER price to go down. I appreciate being able to get back to work. So get some SILVER and get busy! =)

Please comment!

Estaban

PS I have a couple of Jewelry related Boards on Pinterest -- check them out if you have time:
http://pinterest.com/stram99/jewelry/
http://pinterest.com/stram99/my-jewelry/

Silver is taking off again.

Okay I've been watching and Silver has already started to inch up. It has been holding steady for quite some time around $30 spot... today it went above $35. I believe it will go on another run up to $40-50 by end of second quarter, so if you need materials, get them soon. It seems expensive, yes -- the old days are gone -- but if you think about it you make money on it as it rises if you buy it soon enough to catch the increase.

Argentium Silver

I was asked recently the best way to avoid fire scale on pieces when soldering and I recommended using the Argentium silver from Rio Grande. It costs a little more than normal sterling but will probably be worth it to solve this problem, or at least help minimize it.

In case you haven't seen a Rio findings catalog lately then you should get one. Call them at 800-545-6566 and request one. If you tell them that you are an Instructor you will probably get it free, I have never paid for one. The catalog is huge nowadays... beads, display furniture, dichroic glass, etc. Also, there are so many types of raw materials available that you don't even have to do the pre-work yourself. I'm talking about Reticulated sheet, Cuzco-Pattern Mokumé Gane, and even silver plated copper (to cut costs) and more. I did all this stuff by hand years ago but silver was $5 an ounce then... who can experiment very much these days.

So in order to broaden the range of pieces you are making and save a lot of work, try some of these other forms of pre-fabricated materials to make bigger pieces cheaper with more interesting results.

Gratitude is a State

Handled a tricky design problem yesterday. Looking back, it turns out that it was really easy and just staying with it was what it took to get it done. Today I want to say out loud how much gratitude I am feeling. Yes, I have a list.

Go Silver Go!

Hi All-
Since the Federal Reserve doods stuck to their plan today (click the TITLE link to read an article if you want) .... things will remain the same for another go-round. I was braced for a big correction in the Silver price (drop) if they raised interest rates... but they didn't... so silver is gonna keep going up. Since I predicted $50 by the end of 2011 and it will probably get there by Friday (or maybe even by market close today)... I will have to think about it and give you a new updated prediction.
Too bad I am not running a hedge fund.... I would've made a bunch-o-loot!!
The good news is the Silver Jewelry you are making is worth more, so don't be afraid to price it correctly. If somebody think your price is too high ask them to step aside, there will be somebody else right behind them. Stress quality in your work and you will survive when others drop out.
Don't give up, Art is more important than money.

Another New High

Hi All-
You probably know this already but in case you don't ,
Silver Spot price hit $40.00 today.
Wow, I don't know what to say .... and I am gaining confidence about my predictions .... see my past posts. So, if this continues, it is possible that Silver will be $50 by the end of 2011 (or even $100) depending on some other market factors and world events. Check back.

Silver hits new Spot high today!

SILVER HIT $36.00 TODAY!! It is going to go to $50 by the end of 2011, possibly even $100 if some other factors kick in. The only thing holding it back is the fact that it is being manipulated in order to encourage investors towards other paper investments, which are the equivalent of air.

I'm loving this, my collection has doubled in value.

Not sure how this is affecting PMC artists. PMC is already twice as expensive as spot silver. How is everyone doing with sales? Are you being able to realize the markup you need?

I would love to hear your strategies and what you are doing to keep being able to produce Jewelry.

Don't give up! People will always want to adorn themselves, and that is where we come in.

There will always be a market for jewelry. Good luck fellow artists!