I'm still writing

Well, I have now had 2 articles published by Ezine and I'm currently working on my third. Wow, I never thought I would actually be doing this much writing and enjoying it. So, next time you want something to read, other than my blog, pop on over to Ezine and search for my articles. And, so that you don't miss any of them, sign up to follow me on Twitter - I'm JewlryJaynmarie, and never miss any of my articles again!

I write about subjects all jewelers would like to hear about, such as where the best place to sell your scrap is, and about gemstones, and so on. So, sign up and never miss an issue; and its free!

I'm now working on more wedding jewelry, because I am really interested in this market. I think of all places, this is the market that I can be really good at. If you look at my website:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/JewelryByJaynemarie

you will see many examples of my work. Tomorrow, I will have many new designs up because I have spent the weekend working on a  lot of new wedding jewelry. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take any pictures yet, because of my busy life of both of my two daughters! But, I'll get there. But, I can't leave without something of my work pictured, so here is my one and only calla lily earrings, made of hand carved white onyx with a tiny blue Swarovski Crystal in the center.

Craftomania Tools: Craftomania I-Scream is on the front page!

 Craftomania Tools: Craftomania I-Scream is on the front page!


And I am a now a member of the Craftomania Tools Team.  I really like their toolbar, it makes working on my Etsy site so much easier! You really should take a look at it and download it. I was surprised at how easy it makes navigating around Etsy and other sites to promote yourself. Now, I don't know how I ever lived without it - just kidding. But, it does make the Etsy side of the my jewelry job easier.


And, since we are talking about jewelry, I might as well show you another piece of my collections, This time, I'll show a Moonstone Necklace that would be great for a Wedding or any other special occasion. This is in my Special Designs Section.

Weddings, Weddings, Weddings

Well, I'm trying to figure out how to market my wedding jewelry. I know I have some good jewelry, but how to get it to the right market it the tough part. I'm in the research part of do I advertise? Or, do I do a lot of blogging and convos, etc. Give-aways are a definite part of my strategy, but is this enough? Then, there is always the question of what to give away? And, where to launch the give-away from?

That's a lot of questions for me to figure out. It almost makes my head spin. No, it really does make my head spin. But for an ending, here is one of my wedding earrings, so you can see, I do have a good variety.

You can follow me on Twitter!

Well, you can now follow me on Twitter! I'm moving up in the world. I've submitted a second article to Ezine and now have my Twitter account up and have a button on my blog so you can follow me on Twitter and keep up to date when I get new articles published and new designs on my website.

And, when I have any giveaways and contests, I'll let you know as well. So, make sure you keep updated by signing up for my twitter updates!

I'm an Author!

I did it! My article was accepted! I'm so excited, Ezine like my article and now I'm going to be published. I just got the news and was given the code to put the banner on my website. Wow, now I really have to get going on another article.

Well, I better get writing then. Bye for now.

I hate waiting!

Well, I'm waiting to hear from Ezine on my article about where to sell you scrap and I'm already writing another article for them. I can't believe I'm doing this. I mean, Engineers aren't supposed to be able to write. That's what I was told all my life. Well, I've been breaking molds all the time, so I suppose, this is another one to go (I hope, I'm keeping my fingers crossed on this).

I know I said I got a Twitter account, but I haven't figured out how to set it up so that when I post here, I will send out a Tweet. I need to do that, but if anyone know how to do that, please let me know.

Well, my CFS and Fibromyalgia is acting up, so to keep busy I'm writing and trying to learn some new Filigree techniques. I have to practice a lot to make new shapes because my long term goal is to do Russian Filigree work. 

Until then, I work on other designs, especially for weddings, that utilize wirework techniques. Like these new Silver Pearl Earrings.

I just started to Twitter

I know I need to market myself, so I've been asking for help from my team mates and so I took the leap and opened a Twitter account. So, now you can follow me on Twitter. My Twitter name is  JewlryJaynmarie.

I was surprised to see that soon as I signed up, I got a follower. Someone from Australia.  I think that is so neat. It shows that the Internet really has shrunk the world.

Now, I just need to figure out how to get Twitter on my blog. I'll get that next. I also submitted my previous posting to Ezine. I hope they publish it. I can use the publicity for my jewelry. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed on that one.

Selling Your Scrap

Last time I talked about working green for the sake of our planet as well as for the sake of our checkbooks. Then comes the next question of, where do I sell my scrap?

This is a very good question! There are so many ads on the TV, the radio and the newspapers all asking for your scrap metal. Well, I would caution you about going to any of those places. NONE of them will pay you anywhere near what you should receive for the precious metals you are turning in for scrap. In fact, most of them will be either reselling your jewelry at a tidy profit, or they are going to sell it to either of these places that I am going to tell you about. They just don't want you to know that.

First off, if you have a wholesaler's license, and have an active account with merchants who do sell gold, silver and gold filled metal, wire and findings, then they usually have a way for their customers to send them their scrap for either a credit for future metal buys, or will give you a check, which will usually be for less than the credit you would receive if you took the credit.

If you don't have an active account with a merchant such as this, don't despair! There is still as way to make a MUCH better deal that you would by going with any of the places I told you about in the second paragraph. This place is a precious metals refinery. That is all they do!

So, of course, they would want your scrap. And, the neatest feature of all, is their website, it has a way to determine how much money your scrap is worth, once you have measured it. Now, this will only be an approximation, because you will probably be using a kitchen scale such as I do. And make sure you measure in grams, because otherwise, the ounces jewelers mean when they say ounce is a troy ounce which is actually 1.097 ounces.

You will need to have a minimum amount of scrap in order to send off to the refiner, it has to be worth their while to re-refine new metal out of scrap, but this calculator will tell you if you don't have enough, so you can go back and keep saving. But once you see how much this refiner gives you, you will NEVER consider going anywhere else again. Believe me - I won't!

Oh, I have absolutely NO ties to this refiner. I haven't used them yet, but I will. Every other jewelry who has, recommends them highly!

This refiner is: Midwest Refineries, LLC in Waterford, Michigan. And their link is:

http://www.midwestrefineries.com/

Green Jewelry

I know recycling is very important today, so I wanted to let everyone know that I too, am aware of this issue and make sure that the silver, gold and gold filled material I use is made of recycled silver and gold from jewelers like me. We send in the material that is left over whenever we make our jewelry.

You know what I mean, you do a wire wrap, for example, and there is always a little bit of wire left over. Well, what do you do with that wire? For me, I have recycling jars. I have a separate jar for each type of material I work with: one for gold, one for silver and one for gold-filled.

Every piece of material, not matter how small, goes into the recycling jar. I even keep the dust from my filing. It adds up. When the jars get full enough - I go by weight, then I send the contents to the recyclers. They in turn will either send me cash, so that I can purchase more materials, or they will give me credit for me to purchase more metal.

This way, instead of relying on mining for more gold and silver, I know I am doing my part to help mother earth by recycling and reusing precious metals. And today, it couldn't be easier, with all the companies out there wanting to purchase your scrap.