One Idea Leads To Another...

Welcome!

I realized that my last post was mainly focused on Etsy Wholesale, and I don't want you to think I forgot about my lovely customers that purchase through Etsy; so I wanted to incorporate both into today's post!  

About those fabulous hand chains...for these I wanted to list something different in my retail shop so I looked through my huge inventory of supplies and found that I had quite a bit of one type of antiqued gold chain, which was perfect for the new hand chains!  As well, some of the Mother of Pearl shell beads have drilled holes of different sizes (a bit frustrating...) so my matte black components did not fit, but the antiqued gold components I have are a bit thinner gauge (skinnier) and they fit perfectly!  

I still could not decide on one placement I liked better for the focal bead so I made both styles again!  Here is a photo of the styles available in my Etsy shop:

Antiqued Gold Hand Chains with Mother of Pearl shell

 And let's talk about those Y-drop necklaces shall we?

I had some crystal bar necklaces listed for quite some time on Etsy, but they were not being purchased, so I thought maybe I could convert them into something else rather than just ripping them apart (I hate to do that to a beautiful piece of jewelry) So partly going along the same lines of the black Y-drop necklace for Etsy Wholesale I decided to try something different, here is a before and after photo:

Before and After: Crystal Bar Necklace to Y-Drop Necklace

 I absolutely love how they turned out! And of course it got me to thinking...what about pearls with black chain...yes I made a few of those also but with my super fine black chain that I use for my stamped bar necklaces and in keeping with that style I used silver wire and findings for those:

Freshwater Pearl & Black Chain Y-Drop Necklaces

 There are only a few of these pearl ones in my Etsy shop and each of them has a different length of drop (some shorter, some longer) this is a style I plan to add to Etsy Wholesale as soon as I am able to get the proper wire to produce large quantities of these pretties!

Of course that did not stop me from thinking about copper....if you have been following along for a while, you might remember how I made a bazillion bangles in copper with Freshwater pearls for intentions of Wholesale a while ago; well they are on my linesheet and ready to be shipped to a fabulous boutique...but again I felt like they had no "mate" so I thought since I have everything I need to make copper and pearl Y-drop necklaces I shouldn't wait on those, here are a few photos of them:

Freshwater Pearl & Copper Y-Drop Necklaces

These are pretty much opposite of the crystal Y-drop necklaces; I pre-made them for listing photos at 16" with a shorter drop, but of course I will still offer the 18" and 20" lengths all with 2" extender chains as I know people like options :)  

Freshwater Pearl & Copper Bangles

The bangles come in sets of 3 in a variety of pearl colors; I decided to only offer a few colors for these necklaces as I feel that all pearls compliment each other and no matter which colors retailers choose to carry in their boutique, the bangles will always compliment the necklaces!

Funny thing about me...I don't really like to create "jewelry sets" (earrings, necklace, bracelet) but my mind wonders if some ladies prefer bangles to go with their necklace, but other ladies might prefer earrings to go with their bangles...ah yes...the ideas are always coming...possibly a copper & pearl earring style is in my future...to make it unique I of course will have to think about that one for a while...

So what about earrings for the black chain collection you ask? Well...black components are not easy to come by...I did find some by chance browsing my new Rio Grande supply catalog, but of course they are on closeout.  This means they will no longer be carrying this product.  Which obviously does not work for my Etsy Wholesale intentions...I may have to contact them in a few months to see what is possible for ordering those in bulk before they are gone, or if special orders are possible...the ideas I had when I saw these components were just overflowing, but I have a budget as everyone else does so I need to just wait and be patient...but it's SO DIFFICULT!!!

So I will write down my ideas for now (so I don't forget) and we'll just have to wait and see what happens...next post I still have a few new items I want to tell you about and I hope you'll come back to visit!

Until then you can find me on Instagram nearly every evening (I do take Sundays off) and I am trying to be more consistent about posting on Facebook as well, I have started posting at the same time as I do my Instagram photos in the evening (helps me to remember to do both at the same time) so pop over to LITVA'S Jewelry on either channel and say hello!


 

A Very Busy Summer...

Welcome!

Wow! The summer has literally flown by!  I have been keeping myself busy trying to work on my Etsy Wholesale by doing quite a few new things...

After some advice from a very successful lady on Instagram I made postcards to mail out to boutiques across the U.S. though they were a little complicated... but now that I have figured it out I'm sure it will be easier the next time I do it!

Here is a photo of them:

Etsy Wholesale Postcards

By her suggestion to send them out to 100 boutiques...yes 100... there were many weeks of research that went into finding boutiques that I thought would be a place I would like to see my jewelry in, that it would fit with their price points and still be different from what they are currently carrying.

I sent them out in batches as I planned to do an email one week later and a follow up email a week after that, 100 postcards are no problem but 100 emails is another thing altogether!!! 

 So I had a few rejections, some that said they would keep my info on file for future ordering options, mostly radio silence from the majority and a few that seemed very interested and tell me they are planning to place orders!

No orders yet but I am hopeful that they will start coming in as fall weather arrives!  

As I was putting together these postcards and thinking about the products I offer on my linesheet, I of course had some new ideas...

I thought about hand chains...I'm not sure why I thought about hand chains...I just did...and I thought I could use some more pieces that incorporated black chain because I LOVE black chain...(all I had were my stamped bar necklaces on my linesheet) and well, I have lots of Mother of Pearl shell in different shapes and sizes...so I thought I would try them together...

I made two different styles; one with the shell sitting high at the wrist and one with the shell sitting at mid-hand...loved the final result! Here is a photo of both:

Hand Chains with Mother of Pearl shell and Black Chain

 And might I add that photographing your own hand in a photo light tent is the most difficult thing on the planet...

Well of course then I thought what about a different style of necklace to "compliment" these hand chains specifically by color?  The Y drop necklace has always been something I wanted to try so I thought why not now? Here they are!

Black Chain Y Drop & Crystal Necklace

 I am wearing the necklace at the shortest length of 16" but am also offering 18" and 20" with a 2" extender chain...because we all have different length preferences ;)
This style has the same matching rollo chain as the hand chains with Czech Preciosa crystals on a short drop.

Of course...the ideas just seem to keep coming...and I thought...hmmm....these seem to be a "collection" all of a sudden...what about my fabulous petal hoop earrings?  They don't really have a "mate" do they? 

So why not some hand chains and Y drop necklaces in the matching crystal colors? Yes. Definitely yes.

Copper and Garnet Czech crystal collection

 For this Y drop I am wearing the longest 20" length but all three lengths will be available.  I decided to do a longer drop with three petite wire wrapped crystals at the center on this one...I didn't realize it until just now, but the petite crystals on the Y drop necklace match the crystals on the petal hoops and the crystal drop at the end matches the crystal drop on the hand chain...wow, I had it more together than I knew!  The chain for these is very petite (1.7mm) delicate but very strong as it is soldered not open links, so much more durable as I know not everyone is gentle with their jewelry...

Now yes, there are Y drop necklaces and hand chains out there... so of course I wanted mine to be unique, which is why I went with black chain paired with Mother of Pearl shell and Czech crystals---no where have I really seen black chain...I'm not sure why...it's modern, unique and it goes with everything... For the copper collection I accented the copper hand chain with textured antiqued coin dangles, decided to do wire wrapped Czech crystals on the necklace and the petal hoops are unique just on their own!

There are a few more new items I have added but I will wait for my next post to tell you about those...

As I'm sure you are figuring out...I don't like to do what everyone else is doing...I'm not big on hopping on that "gold train" that's going around as I don't particularly like gold very much....

I will always be a silver kind of girl...darker metals like black, gunmetal and vintage bronze catch my eye, I love copper for its natural warmth and that it is something that our body needs and uses, so wearing it is actually good for you!

I like being different. I like being unique. I feel that my jewelry reflects that and that makes my heart and my soul happy. I'm looking forward to finding boutique owners that are looking for something different and unique, and I'm really excited :)