One comment that really stood out was how it is local artists, various shows, and events that a great deal of sales as well as new business opportunities are coming from. I do know from experience not related to lapidary how successful attending local shows  can be. Both from sales and equally important… Networking ! Meeting local artists and lapidaries ! Online social networking can be very successful towards these. A comment was made on another forum about the importance of utilizing “local” online social networking from a “networking” perspective.. Not to focus on “local” online social networking for sales, but concentrate on using it as a local networking tool..

What do some of these thoughts and experiences have to do with the title of this blog entry? For myself it is obvious the importance of getting involved socially on a local level.

If we think about it, not everyone has access to computers, or many that do, are not using them to introduce themselves to national and international online businesses related to their artistic niche. A couple of months ago I had a sale from someone local.. The very first in three years of selling various items online. I am sure there are a whole lot more than just this one who share common interests with me !

Yes, we are certainly in a recession/depression.. No question. It has hit home for myself, family and friends in many significant ways unrelated to my online business.

“When things are tough, the tough get going” ! In other words… Get out there and socially meet some folks from my community !

I think there is kind of a separation for many online business owners like myself. Many are solely selling online as compared to a storefront on Main street. We maintain and operate our online businesses.  A store on Main street operates with many of the same promotional/marketing trials and tribulations except one is online and the other is on Main street. Many brick and mortar type stores utilize online sales right along with their store. Then again, many do not.. An ideal way to close the gap on that separation as an online business owner would be to combine online social networking with selling at local niche events / shows.

I think you get where I am going. Most likely your already well aware. Maybe much like myself we realize what we need to do, and just need to get out there and become locally active within the arts community.

I hear a lot of successful events/shows cheers from many online jewelry designers, and artists after completing their shows.

There are some things that I started to do a couple days ago, and perhaps you can do if your interested in learning how to become more active locally.

Searching online for as many local crafts type events as I could find. Some are “juried” events. Meaning a business license and State tax number are required. Plus we have to be voted or somehow accepted into these juried events. Fees are required just like a non juried event.

I used key search words/phrases like, “Spokane Washington gemstone jewelry shows”, “Spokane crafts hobbies shows”, “Spokane arts festivals shows”, etc…

I found many ! From little events at various jewelry and bead shops, park events, and larger shows at fairgrounds. Both local and in near by communities.

So for myself, I feel it is important to get busy. Get out there and start socializing locally. Network with other lapidaries, jewelry designers and other gemstone related artists who may be interested in my business just as I am in theirs. Trading, and bartering are possible outcomes. Business building and networking possibilities are another and will likely present themselves quickly. Any number of things can happen when business owners who share interests within a common niche network, share new ideas, products, and services.

I decided to take the advice of another CST forum member and am in the process of creating a Spokane area social community within the Ning network. It is brand new and much work to do yet, but it’s a start ! A Ning site that will be completely devoted to, and focuses upon various related and common interest niches for Spokane, and surrounding communities.

So…,  the purpose of this blog entry is sort of both a kick in the butt for myself and of course create some discussion and feedback from other online gemstone and jewelry designers/artists who are presently, or may be considering the same things.  How to bring some of those local artists who visit the areas community stores into our online world.. Consider local community social networking to compensate for declines in our online businesses.

Forgive much of the repetitive rambling. Thanks too for stopping in and reading through.

Don’t be shy.. ! Please reply with any suggestions, comments, feedback, personal experiences,  info about shows and events in the Spokane area, etc… !

Have a great day !

After it arrived, I quickly realized after trying to push the floral like bezel and prongs that nothing was going to budge!

After some discussion and another attempt at pushing it was obvious that at least the floral like bezel setting was too thick to move. It was a bit hard to believe that at least the prongs would not budge.

Well as things turned out, I was pretty disappointed as it became apparent that there was no way around having to glue the darn stone into the setting. I sure would not have purchased it if I had known.

My next purchase I will sure be paying closer attention.. This was a lesson learned.. Glad it was not too expensive and that I did not purchase all three that I will need during this first purchase.

If I can’t find a blank with a push type bezel setting then will buy the blank with a flat top and solder my own bezel setting.

What makes the group gemstone cabochon sets a little more interesting, is the way they are cut from the original mineral slab. Somewhat similar to making a quality pair of earrings. Except instead of using back to back slabs for matching grains on each earring, these sets are cut from the same area off an area from the slab.. Done patiently, a nice contour of the grains will flow through the entire group of gemstones within the settings group.

Lot of fun to do.. They are among the most rewarding when finished.. Just something about them that I really enjoy.. I am thinking of giving a set a whirl myself.. I am still trying to get a little better at my soldering before I tackle one of my own sets!

Any way, just wanted to do a little blog entry. Below are a few examples.. Many more in store. To more easily find just these sets. Use the search box and key word “set”. Happy to do any kind of special requests for similar sets from a variety of interesting and unusual minerals.. Feel free to contact me with a request or questions.

Was finally fortunate enough to have a member from our local club come over and walk me through some basic silver soldering. She was a big help. Little things like working the torch properly, using the flux correctly, etc…

Any way, felt the urge to share the results of this Rainforest Jasper pendant. Still have a long ways to go before I can actually offer some up for sale, but getting there!

I think just like myself, a lot of brand new online lapidary related business owners find ourselves somewhat overwhelmed with the many different possibilities that just sorta seem to present themselves to us as we embark on SEO related techniques.

These practices are completely different in application and technique today than they were when I first gave thought to developing my online presence a little over a year ago.

Different in technique and application, but the basic practices are much the same. Not much sense in sharing in detail. Today my main primary online sites although different are similar in a lot of ways.

I have gone through a couple of different selling sites and have now settled into a great shopping cart. Gone through several blogging software packages and have now finally settled into one that is excellent.

Online jewelry design related business owners like myself who have at least these two basic and very important type of sites up and running properly have just by the nature and course of events that lead to accomplishing them, found ourselves also educated about a few other very important things along the way.

Without a doubt we were told the importance of participating in at least a couple of forums that discussed jewelry design related topics. We learned the importance of joining in discussions and starting topics of interest related to our jewelry related niches. The forums we choose can be a little different for each of us depending upon what exactly our jewelry design related niches are.

From the time I first started out right up until just recently, my jewelry design related niche solely consisted of the sale of gemstones to jewelry designers. Because of that I settled into a couple of fun forums that were a mix of jewelry making related topics.

Still today, this “practice” is still the same, although the technique has changed because I started a lapidary related forum of my own. Still…. the need to mingle with others who share my same interests is extremely important. One big bonus is that I am truly having a great deal of fun. Although I have not actually met any of our forum members in person, we have connected. Connected with many who I have come to feel share a friendship as well as our common interests.

Let there be no mistake though. No matter if I had created a forum of my own or not, the need to mingle and connect with others is a must. Making participation in a couple of forums a daily routine is beneficial because sales can and usually do result from participating.

We also without a doubt learned yet another important, almost daily practice that would become just as routine to us as forum participation. “Social networking”.

Not just any social networking, but a group of people that socialize within a community. Unlike a forum, these communities consist of many different categories of network groups. This was much harder for me to get an understanding of than was the straight forward and easy to understand forum process. When I would participate within the arena of a forum, it all made perfect sense. You post a topic that you want to share or learn from and or reply to someone elses post.

Social networking did not come so easy for myself, and that is really putting it quite mildly. With the exception of the very first community that was introduced to me. It is the Squidoo community. At least this Squidoo community did make sense. Although….. when a person becomes a member and creates a “lens” which is your home page within the community, the interaction with other “lensmasters” is different from that of truly socializing within a network of community members. It is really just a community of home pages, or lenses.

Squidoo was really the only community that I found and participated in where at least it made some sense. You could add your jewelry design related lens to other jewelry design related groups within the Squidoo community. The ideal result for myself was for an actual designer to see my gemstone supply lens and hopefully purchase from me after visiting my lens.

This was not really social networking. I was sure that social networking had to be somewhat similar to participating within a forum. No matter which social network I signed up with, they just make absolutely no sense at all. Networks like StumbleUpon, Delicious, and others just seemed completely unorganized. I could not see how social networking was suppose to improve upon my internet presence in any way.

Finally I gave up on the whole thing…..

Then recently while trying to come up with some ideas for my forum members to use for their own developing of an online presence, I posted several social networking communities and shared how important it is to participate within one or two. Yes, for myself too !

I could hardly preach such a thing without at least giving it another whirl myself. I tried to list social networks that in one way or another had something to do with lapidary, gemstones, jewelry, and or jewelry design. While going through and looking at each of the networks that I listed for members to consider, I found one called Ning. The Ning community consists of a wide range of social networks. They have several jewelry and jewelry design related networks within the community. There are several perfectly fine jewelry design networks to pick from.

It was not long before I had created a page about myself. Then I headed off to the main page for the network I joined. I picked the Jewelry Design Network. I don’t really want to go into lengthy details about the group. I just really wanted to share that the Ning community networks made sense to me right away. The Jewelry Design Network consists of a variety of different kinds of jewelry design related members.

I am really glad that I found a jewelry design related network that has other online lapidary businesses as well as a variety of other crafts people. In no time at all I found myself joining in and discussing lots of interesting topics.

Joining this network is turning out really a-ok. Turning out to be a lot of fun. Not to mention that I can report some sales directly related because of participation within a social network. A network that finally made sense to me.

Just felt like adding a blog entry with a few of my own trials, tribulations and success with trying to get started in social networks. There are many out there to pick from. What my have been awkward and or uncomfortable for me to participate in, may well suit someone else just fine. The bottom line, is that it really is something that everyone should really include in our arsenal of tools/sites towards developing and maintaining the best possible jewelry design related online presence that we possibly can.

There were some difficulties going through the first soldering.

Any way, worth a blog post!

If your here, show me some love and tell me how you like it. I am always interested in comments and suggestions on how to improve.

So don’t be shy, and please post your two cents. Would be greatly appreciated!

Of course if your like me and just starting out making some jewelry, be sure to join in to the forum and either share your expertise or learn from others.

Thanks for stopping in!

I always cut gemstone cabochon sets like these from the same slab. The idea being to have an awesome matching appearance by utilizing colors, grain, and or combinations of mineral types.

I have just received most all the items necessary to do my own bezel settings. The silver backing, bezel tape, soldering paste, torch setup, jewelers files, saw, etc…

I keep hoping for the opportunity to have someone show me in person how to do the actual soldering so as not to waste the rather pricey silver.

A member from my local rock and mineral club offered, and just a matter of getting with her and her husband when they have a minute. Hopefully in the next few days. Then will come back and show off my first bezel setting!

It was the anticipation of doing bezel work as well as learning how to set the bezel tape in silver metal clay that started the creative juices to flow in regards to these multiple sets. The anticipation is killing me, and can’t wait to start offering a few in my store.

When asked a few months ago what some of my long term goals are, one of my responses was to have a little line of my own jewelry to be able and offer. Seems like it is coming together, but rather slowly…

When I do a search online for gemstone jewelry in bezel type settings, it is a little discouraging when I see how cheap some top of the line jewelry can sell for.

Just like the selling of gemstones. Very competitive and ya have to have especially unique minerals to work with so that the gemstones cut from it are more appealing than the next guy.

Seems the same with silvers mithing, silver metal clay, and even bezel type settings. So my little special niche that I hope will make a little difference are going to be these multiple gemstone sets.

Maybe it’s just me and the thought that the beauty is only in the eye of the beholder, but I sure want to believe that really unique matching sets like these will give me a little edge in being able to sell the pieces I make.

Any way…, here are just a few examples would like to share with anyone who stumbles upon this blog entry. You can click on each of the descriptive links to enlarge for a better look.

Brazilian Rainbow Agate

Imperial Stichtite accented with Zoisite Crystals

Mexican Lace Agate

Imperial Spider Jasper

Rainforest Jasper

Lemon Chrysophase

Another Mexican Lace Agate

Another of the Imperial Stichtite with the Zoisite Crystal accents

Of course, as always, if you see something that strikes your fancy and would like to have something along these lines made for you. Feel free to contact me and will be happy to cut and shape similar multiple sets from a variety of minerals available.