Featured Artist - Gems By Jerri

Today I am featuring Gems by Jerri. She has a studio on ArtFire which features bracelets, barrettes, earrings and necklaces. One feature she has which I really liked was the earring of the month club. You subscribe to it and she sends you a new pair of earrings each month. What a cleaver idea that is. And you get a new pair of earrings to wear each month. Sounds like fun to me.

Jerri lives in Texas and has been crafting all her life. She works for a jewelry manufacturer during the day and then comes home and makes her own jewelry at night. She started out making jewelry for herself to wear. Then she began giving jewelry that she made to friends and family as gifts. They liked her work so much that she has recently started to sell her jewelry online.

The most exciting part of making jewelry for Jerri is receiving new materials. She gets excited about what she can create with them and likens it to how you feel when receiving Christmas gifts. She also gets excited when someone orders jewelry from her online studio because then she knows she wasn't the only one that liked that particular item.

Jerri's least favorite part of this endeavor is photographing her jewelry so that she can post it online. I think this is probably one of the most difficult things for most jewelry crafters. Unless, you are really skilled with a camera it is sometimes difficult to get crystal clear pictures that really show off the detail of jewelry in a way that the buyer can appreciate.

Jerri is currently learning to work with polymer clay. She claims this could become an addiction for her. Polymer clay is something I have wanted to learn as well. At some point I know I will have to give it a try too.

In addition to making jewelry Jerry also enjoys reading, music and spending time with family and friends.

You can find Jerry on the web at:

http://www.gemsbyjerri.etsy.com/

http://www.gemsbyjerri.artfire.com/

http://www.gemsbyjerri.blogspot.com/

www.twitter.com/gemsbyjerri

www.facebook.com/people/Jerri-Chatham/1206458224

Handmadeology is the brain child of Timothy Adam. If you are not familiar with his work you have to visit his blog at http://timothyadamdesigns.blogspot.com

Timothy does beautiful metal designs. He has a successful Etsy shop and has recently opened a shop on ArtFire. That is where I became familiar with his work.

But that is not all Timothy does. He has started Handmadeology as a way to offer guidance and give the tools of the trade to other online artists. I for one can use all the help I can get.

I visited Handmadeology today and was very impressed with all it has to offer. I only viewed 3 videos and read 2 articles but they were chock full of good ideas and a treasure trove of information. I found many helpful hints and can't wait to put them into being.

One of Timothy's suggestions was the importance of blogging. So I am finally getting my blog going and hope to publish it today. So click on over to Handmadeology and see what it is all about. I know I will be back often. I am sure if you check it out you will be too. You can get to Handmadeology at http://handmadeology.biz/home or just click on the sign above and it will take you there too. Have fun. I did.

Blogging

How to start a blog? This is the question of the hour. I am told that one needs to blog to have a social network. And you have to have a social network if you really want to do business online. A social network supposedly allows you to brand yourself and by doing so give your business a name of it's own as well. You want it to become as recognizable as the Golden Arches. Do I want to sell my products online? Yes. Do I want to be as famous as Ronald McDonald? I don't think so. While that may sound like the ultimate goal I really don't want to work that hard.

I am a retired pediatric nurse practitioner who has been making jewelry for the past five years. I started out taking a few classes with friends and making jewelry as gifts for family and friends. I retired from nursing two years ago and since that time I have really started to blossom as a jewelry maker. I really love to try new things and to experiment with different techniques and beads to see how they work together.

I have taken a few more classes and I have read several bead/jewelry magazines and books. I want to start to learn a few more techniques and also try some new mediums. I did take a class on chainmaille. I loved the look of the bracelet I made. I can see how people become hooked on it. But I think it would take a lot of practice and definitely a lot of patience. So that may not be the best thing for me. I do like working with wire though. I have made some wire crochet necklaces. I want to try and make some wire bracelets and earrings. And some different styles of wire necklaces as well. Another medium I would like to try some day is polymer clay. It looks like you could get really creative with it. I will have to research this option some more before I start down that road.

I have listed some of my jewelry for sale on a wonderful site called ArtFire. I am hopeful that I will be able to sell it there and to build up a customer base. I am also planning on featuring some of the other artists there on my blog. So I hope everyone will visit my studio at ArtFire. You can get there by going to http://www.suzbax.artfire.com/ Check out the other artists while you are there too. I think you will be impressed with all it has to offer. There is nothing like buying original handmade products. They make excellent gifts as well. You can be sure that the person you are giving them to will not have anything like it already.

This blog is a work in progress so I hope you will check back often or even sign up to follow it. I hope it will be a fun and informative place for everyone who visits.