Commissions ~ A Christmas Tale

One of the aspects I love most about what I do is commissions. Talking with the customer to understand what’s important, exploring options, then working on a design that is everything they were looking for.

This blog tells the story of a wonderful commission from 2020; Christmas presents for 11 members from three generations of a family. The customer’s intention behind the gifts was that after lockdown the family could get together for a meal out, wearing their custom made pieces. And with this in mind, the pieces would be connected by a black and gold colourway.

Tie Slides of different styles within the same overall black and gold design concept.

A zoom conversation with the customer helped me understand more about the people the gifts were for which helped me source pieces and create designs to suit each individual. As well as furthering my jewellery learning, this took me on a journey to work with cufflinks, tie pins and vintage brooches!

Vintage brooch hand painted in Flow Creativity signature petal design inspired by Art Nouveau.

One of the items was to be a statement brooch. Much searching led me to the idea of using vintage brooches and a great find of a pair of brooches were then hand painted in different designs using the black and gold colourway.

Gold plated Cuff Links in Art Deco inspired design with hand painted matt gold circles on black.

Cuff Links presented another new challenge and I was pleased with how these turned out.

Statement pendant with hand painted impression of gold berries and leaves in gold leaf.

Stakes were high with this pendant as I bought the last one available from the supplier!

Sometimes designs come about by chance; I love when that happens! The border came about intuitively: while working with the paint I noticed it was settling in a way that resembled the painted piece being unwrapped. It was an unusual framing effect and I decided to leave it as it was. The use of gold leaf was an “in-the-moment” inspiration adding vibrant tones to a display of leaves around the berries.

All the pieces ready to be wrapped and packed

Complementary Gift Wrapping was included and I loved getting these ready with matching ribbon and decorative berries.

On Christmas morning my thoughts turned to the family members opening their gifts and I felt much appreciation for this opportunity.

Working with Retail

As a maker there are various options for working with retail which can be a great way to complement selling online and at markets.

In this Blog, I’m sharing what I’ve learned to provide advice for makers starting out and to give customers an insider view to this aspect of being a maker.

Options for makers to have their work sold in shops include:

• Renting shelf space

• % Commission for the retailer

• Wholesale (also known as trade)

Renting Shelf Space and % Commission:

Usually with retailers whose main focus is selling work of independent makers.

They are passionate about crafting and will promote your work, some might have stalls at local events or craft fairs and will take your work there.

Quirk in Byres Road, Glasgow and Heart in the Craft, Troon are retailers I work with in this way; they are very supportive and have a great range of work available.

• Renting shelf space usually means you pay a monthly fee to the retailer and you then receive the full amount of the products that are sold.

• % commission means that when your work is sold the retailer will take a % commission which could be between 30 – 50 % of the price of the item.

From a maker perspective, in these models the stock is still yours and retailers can often be flexible about you changing stock, e.g. if you want to take some pieces from the shop to a market, which can be very helpful when you live locally and can readily visit the retailer.

Obviously the more retailers you work with the better the chance of sales, however you need to make sure you have enough stock. So for example, this can work very well for high volume products, e.g. greetings cards and prints. Whereas with one off or small batch pieces, you need to consider how much stock to put in each retailer, especially if you are selling online as well.

Selling Wholesale

The main difference here is that the maker sells the stock to the retailer, so the stock then becomes the retailers. There is also a standard retail mark up, usually 2 for jewellery, so when selling wholesale, knowing your costings is really important.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that this is less financially worthwhile than working with craft retailers; it’s all about factoring in rental / commission costs v likely sales volumes, the price of your products and how many pieces you can make available at any one time.

When I was starting out I sold a small number of pieces wholesale to Wild Grace, Uddingston, and Decadent Riot in Glasgow’s west end, and really appreciated the interest and support. And over 2020 - 21 my work was available in Cassiopeia, Hyndland, Glasgow.

This took me on a learning journey, to have a better handle on costings and creatively to understand what works for the retailer’s customers.

Getting my act together!

So anyone who knows me well will know that numbers has never been my strong point! Sorting out costings to get the pricing right in a way that benefited both parties was definitely going to be a challenge!

Doing some online searching I was delighted (and relieved!) to find a downloadable spreadsheet that helps auto-calculate costings with the retail mark up. (Makers: this can be found on Jessica Rose Jewellery Academy; a great resource where you can sign up for podcasts and email advice. The spreadsheet works for any type of craft).

On the surface it seems simple; list all your materials, add in your time and boom, you’ve got

• materials cost (how much you’ve spent on the components to make the piece)

• wholesale price (your material cost + how much time you’ve spent on it and the value of that time)

• retail price (what it will sell at with the mark up)

With the jewellery I make, there can be lots of very small pieces, e.g. jump rings which are used to attach one component to another, so I had to make sure I factored in everything and also estimated costs for paint and resin.

Once I’ve got a design idea, I will often spend a lot of time online sourcing pieces, e.g. charms, so accounting for that was important too. Not only in terms of acknowledging that this time is part of the process of producing a piece; it’s also about self worth, which is a bit of a journey for most makers in terms of pricing your work.

Cabinet display, Cassiopeia, 2020

Decoupage

Explore the craft of Decoupage! This short blog was written complement Decoupage Heart Kits which I used to make. I no longer make them, however it’s a technique that can done by buying blank decorations and decoupage paper from a craft shop along with some PVA glue.

Watch the video to see the technique being demonstrated.

I first discovered decoupage about 15 years ago when I was drawn to all the brightly coloured paper in a craft shop in Glasgow. I’ve loved decorating boxes and heart shapes and a few years ago, taught decoupage of small picture frames at craft classes in a local community cafe in Glasgow.

People often say “oh, I’m not creative; I won’t be any good at this”, however I believe that everyone has creativity within them; it’s finding a way to let it out and be comfortable with it. As with so many things, making a start is the first step and I’ve found personally and when teaching decoupage that once we get started on the task, we can easily be absorbed by it and be less caught up in worrying about whether it’s good enough and simply enjoy the process.

That “in the zone” feeling is also known as “flow experience”. Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi; proponent of positive psychology and founder of the concept of ‘flow experience’ identified this state of complete immersion in a task that requires one to lose other thoughts thus leading to a state of happiness. This is what led to me finding the name Flow Creativity for all the creative pursuits I enjoy.

Have fun with Decoupage; let me know how you get on. I’d love to see your finished work - you can share them on Instagram using #flowyourcreativity

Warm wishes

Justine

Gourock - Shore to Shop

Here’s the photo story of Heart Decorations I made with shells, seaglass and pottery pieces from the Gourock shore.

Beachcombing - The Portree Haul

One summer a few years ago, we had a family holiday in Portree, Skye; we were so lucky with the weather, and much beach combing ensued!

Staying right on the harbour, even as I stepped out of the car I spotted an interesting piece of rust and lots of bright coloured rope; my curiosity was piqued! 

Morning and night, I came to the shore and found all sorts of interesting pieces; a yellow plastic circle, pottery and sea glass of many colours. The glass was a great find and it’s now become part of my beach hearts collection. 

We were fascinated by a lone, welly boot on the shore that first night, wondering about its story. Each day we saw it washing up in a different place until suddenly on our last day it was gone.....

So here’s a photo of The Portree Haul on the table when we got home.

I love using these pieces in one off mirror houses as well as beach hearts. 

As always if there’s anything you’d like made from what you see here just let me know.

And if you have an old mirror or picture frame that you would like up-cycled then I would love to work with you to design something for your chosen setting.

How it all began

It was New Year and my daughter had friends to stay; miraculously alert after dancing and singing the night away, they were noticing objects around the house that I’ve made: “Did you make these? You could sell them!”.  That got me thinking and a couple of days later at the hairdressers, I swapped Hello magazine for Etsy browsing and several screenshots later I believed there was a market for my stuff. 

Fast forward a couple of months and good friends, Marilyn and Bill Copland were round and commented on the framed photos of seaweed from Iona in 2015; “You must make these available - give other people the opportunity to appreciate this”. Two weeks later, I had a batch of cards printed via Snapfish.

Around that time, I ran evening classes in decoupage and beach crafts at a local community café – big thanks to Kate Cooper for the opportunity.  The name Flow Creativity was borne of knowing that I find my flow in creative activities and seeing how others found a path to relaxation through an evening’s crafting. I decided to go for it. With help from good friend and mentor Mary Bonatti, I got my Etsy Shop set up and thanks to Nadia; all my social media sorted.  Having great encouragement and support from all my family and from many friends has really spurred me on.

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I got to work on a range of products and Flow Creativity's first launch was the local Primary School Summer Fair and then at the Byres Road Makers Market. Many more craft fairs were to follow. I loved the experience; talking with people, sharing interests, listening to what they like, learning what works and the amazing buzz when someone makes a purchase. By December I was sold out of crescent moons.

Making Stained Glass

I had a fantastic time learning how to make stained glass at Partickhill Bowling Club Community Hub. This great course was led by Partickhill Art School.

The glass I started off with and the design I created

Painting the glass before it is fired in the kiln
 

Leading up, after some very precise cutting

Took the glass home and put it in the front window right away

Cutting the glass
 

Using a light box to check the result of the firing

Adding putty to secure the glass

I love looking at this every day