Jewelry donated for Ruth Streich's cancer battle

Today's post is about a family that needs some help.And a way for you to help and maybe score some jewelry at a wholesale price. Not a bad deal with the Christmas season fast approaching. 

I took time off to take care of my dad a few years ago and talking to Jimmy about that and what his family is going thru, reminded me of both the struggle and the joy of spending time with ailing parents (I miss ya Pop) As an artist I was able to adjusted my life around my fathers and he had no money worries. When I realized that Jimmy's parents could lose their home and a loving couple could be forced to stay in separate care facilities,I knew I had to do something. On top of that their beloved elderly pets would be seperated from their loving home as well.(You can see their sweet faces in my tweets) I selected a few pieces of the jewelry I normally sell to boutiques and galleries for $20-$40 and earmarked them to donate my proceeds from their sale to Ruths cancer battle. Then it dawned on me my wholesale price is considerably lower than the price you would pay retail. By donating the actual jewelry for auction I had the potential to give not just what I would make on them but also the rather hefty profit normally tacked on by upscale retailers and maybe even garner a few extra donations. By bidding on the jewelry you not only get a beautiful bauble to wear or give as a gift you get the priceless knowledge that you did something kind for a fellow human being. Maybe it will also inspire some of you to find something big or small to add to the auction...hope so!
Here is the addy for the auction  http://www.32auctions.com/RuthStreich . There is also a gofundme site if you just wish to donate rather than bid on an item. http://www.gofundme.com/dd2gw8 ( Not sure why the links don't seem clickable but if you type them in or cut and paste they work perfectly.)  Even a one dollar donation would help btw. People often think if they don't give a large amount it won't matter but sometimes it's the momentum from small bids that makes it work. All bids are anonymous so don't let that stop you from making any sized bid. They truly need the help.)

This is the Smokey Quartz set I donated for the auction

And these are the earrings. I don’t normally sell to individuals so if you see one you like...head on over to the auction and cross your fingers that yours is the highest bid. If you don’t want to bid at least think about donating...every single dollar helps.

Bed time for Bozos

Since all but the last pair of earrings currently shown on this blog post are discontinued I thought it was time I posted some new designs.

 And I will just as soon as I figure out where these guys have hidden them.

I did this blog years ago then abandoned the poor thing...time to revive it.

Right before Sierra trading Post got ready to list the pretty toys I sold them a nice gentleman fell asleep at the wheel and decided that updating this blog would have to wait. ( its October and Im updating this again. I had hoped to make it current before they went on line with sales. Turns out I was a bit more bunged up than I realized and almost all the jewelery I sold them had been purchased before I could truly update this. Many styles are sold out completely.) My poor car will never recover but I'm up and about and back to designing albeit at a much slower pace for a bit.
      Months before my accident I was staying in Wyoming. I was there to sell my land and visit my best friend. I thought it would be fun to sell some of my jewelry while we went thru the sale process. Since I normally sell in the very inflated coastal markets, I wasn't sure it would work out ecconomically. Lucky for me Sierra Trading Post loved my designs and the deal I made with them let me do that at a price that was much more affordable than that charged by the upscale boutiques I usually sell to.(Some brick and mortar  boutiques have such high overhead that higher priced is the only way they can go which allows me to charge them substantially more as well. LoL of course I'm happy to oblige them. ; ) ... ) By increasing significantly the number of each style I sold Sierra, I was able to give them a very reduced price. The more limited the edition of a design the more expensive it is to produce both in labor, design and materials cost and though many people happily pay for that premium I wanted to make this run affordable to the average consumer while still making money myself. That said, the ones I sold Sierra were still extremely limited editions compared to a normal commercial style run. And, even though I felt comfortable doing them, as an artist it wasn't quite as much fun. I much prefer designing new styles to making the same one repeatedly.To ballance the experience, I also stopped by Wyoming Home and they bought several lovely one of a kind earrings at the same time that sold for several times the the others. Don't think it's an experiment I'm going to repeat but my heart will always be in Wyoming no matter how far or how often I travel.
  I'm looking forward to this year. I have a feeling it's going to be my most creative ever!

The delicate beauty of natural stone, makes the artists job easy.

Jewelry should reflect the wearer not the year it was made

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