Wednesday, November 11, 2009

What a difference a photo makes



It's amazing what a real photographer can do for you, huh? The above image of my cartwheel earrings is from Artisan Design Gallery.com - a Tennessee-based online store for artisan-made jewelry and art. I was excited when the owner, Kathy, picked up my line for her website at the Buyer's Market of American Craft in July, but now that her website has finally debuted - I. Am. Speechless. Her photos of my jewelry are in a completely different league than mine! I'm a little embarrassed to show you my sad image of the same earring style, but here goes:


Ack! Shield your eyes from all the grey! Is it time for me to hire a professional? Maybe I should just hire a professional to shoot the ones with gemstones. It's no wonder I barely sell any of these beautiful earrings on my website - my photos just do not do them justice and they really are pretty.

Now that I have a lot to ponder, you should go and visit Artisan Design Gallery - she's having a 20% off Grand Opening Sale and she has a lot of beautiful work to choose from!

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Shows 2009 - looking back

The saga continues from a previous post here. I thought I would update my shows of 2009...

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Shows I have attended...

ONB Magic City - Birmingham, AL - April
~ awesome show, great sales, great weather, fabulous!

Spring Bada-Bing - Richmond, VA - April
~ great show put on by great people, but Richmond is a lonnngggg way away for a show that only lasts a few hours, probably won't do it again

Crafty Feast - Columbia, SC - May
~ bad location, not enough shoppers but plenty of bored neighborhood people who took up lots of space, too far of a drive for the earning potential, probably won't do again

Artfest - Dallas, TX - May
~ poorly run show, bad food vendors, terrible location, worst sales I've had in years at a large-scale craft show - they love some dichroic glass in Texas though! I think I learned that Texas is NOT my market. This show is actually on "hiatus" for 2010... interesting...

Athens Indie Craftstraganza - Athens, GA - May
~ eh. not good. rainy, shoppers were poor college students. read about it here.

Fountain Square Art Festival - near Chicago, IL - June
~ really great show! great quality of craft, nice town with people who like to shop, very windy though which I think is a recurring theme in Chicago this time of year

Indieana Handicraft Exchange - Indianapolis, IN - June
~ this show is as good quality-wise as the Renegade shows but unfortunately Indianapolis is just not ready for it. Sales were sloowwww and people complained about prices - not good.

Renegade Craft Fair - San Francisco, CA - July
~ a high quality indie show, amazing trip, slightly too many vendors which overwhelmed buyers and as a result my sales were just so-so (low for a Renegade show). i heard sales were generally lower than expected from other vendors, too. learned lesson that flying to a show is too expensive

Grant Park Summer Shade Festival - Atlanta, GA - August
~ this show has such potential, Saturday was decent but unfortunately it rained all day Sunday so I didn't sell that much... it's never been a huge money maker, so I will have to reconsider doing again next year

Kentuck Arts Festival - Northport, AL - October
~ a muddy mess this year unfortunately but I still had a great show! I had to fight my way in since they initially rejected me but it was worth it!

Pink Palace Crafts Fair - Memphis, TN - October
~ a four day show that was great the first three days but the final day was a nasty, rainy mess so sales definitely suffered that day...

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OFFICIALLY REJECTED

Atlanta Arts Festival - Atlanta, GA ($25)
~ screw this show - two years in a row they invited me to apply, $50 down the drain

Woodland Art Fair - Lexington, KY ($25)
~ double screw this show, three years rejected in a row. I even asked them if I should just give up applying but they gave me the song and dance that juries change every year, yada yada yada. I give up on Lexington, for reals.

Forum on Peachtree - Norcross, GA ($25)
~ they never even had the decency to officially give me any kind of rejection notice, what's up with that?

Virginia Beach Christmas Market - Virginia Beach, VA
~ officially rejected with a very nice letter. may apply again next year.

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All in all, including my four wholesale shows not listed here, I will have done 20 shows this year, and I just tacked on another one for November 7th! Also on the horizon, I have applied for the NYIGF!! The biggest wholesale show that I could possibly do (without going overseas) and wouldn't it be cool and scary to get in!?!? I believe they are mailing notices on November 1st so next week will be exciting! I dread driving to New York with my wholesale getup and dread dealing with their unions even more! I hear you can't even change a lightbulb yourself - the union has to do it. How did we evolve to that??

Saturday, October 31, 2009

October

This month has been a whirlwind, and just when I think I'm caught up, I get totally slammed again! I'm not complaining, especially since I just got to take a fabulous 4 day mini vacation with my husband to Treasure Island, Florida, which I highly recommend...


I hit the studio hard when I got back and had to finish up the biggest wholesale order I've ever had! I started it before I left town, but since I had a bunch of website orders I needed to get out when I returned, I did not get the big order done and shipped it two days past their desired ship date. I guess the busier I get, the more that is going to happen, but I'm just not used to being behind and it is irritating! This year will be my first Christmas season after stepping into the wholesale world full force, so it will be interesting to see how I keep my sanity! I had big plans of getting ahead by stocking up on my best sellers so that I wouldn't have to make everything when an order came in, and boy was that wishful thinking!! Such are the woes of small business growing pains, I guess.

I better get busy in the studio again this week because this Saturday, I actually have a show in my home town! Twist Art Gallery is hosting a handmade show in the Arcade downtown coinciding with the First Saturday Gallery Art Crawl and several talented Nashville artists will also be there including Mary Ink and Amanda Conley!

Come see me at Handmade in the Arcade, Sat, Nov 7th 1-9p.m.
Downtown Nashville, TN (click for directions)

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Renegade Craft Fair is this weekend!


And we'll be there! Freshie & Zero will be in booth #276, and our buddies from Rinse Soap will be right behind us in #275, so you can get accessorized and smellin' good just by stopping by our corner! We will be situated on Division Street between Paulina Street and Hermitage Avenue. According to the forecast, there is a 40% chance of rain, but there's no way it could rain as much as last year, right?

I'll be bringing a lot of one of a kind mixed metals to this show, so if you're in the area, please stop by!

Giveaway winners announced!

Congratulations Sweet Mary & ErinChris07 - you guys were randomly chosen by the random number generator (random.org) to win a cartwheel necklace! Thanks to everyone who
entered, and stay tuned for more contests in the future!









Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Giveaway in honor of my 200th post!

Wow! It's only taken me four years to get to number 200, but here it is! I was going to post up some banner ads I just made so you can see the marketing machine hard at work - the marketing machine named Freshie. :) But in honor of my 200th post, I think I should have a GIVEAWAY! Enter to win the Cartwheel necklace that is featured in a few of my new ads! And in honor of #200, I'll pick two winners - completely at random.

To enter the giveaway, simply comment on this post by answering the following question: What is your favorite Freshie & Zero piece and why? Easy enough, right? To win, you MUST include your email address so that I can contact you! Entries will be accepted through midnight on Monday, September 7th, and I'll announce the winners on Tuesday, September 8th here on the blog and also via email so please add beth(at)freshieandzero(dot)com to your list of email addresses so my email does not possibly wind up in your spam filter!

So, without further adieu, here are the latest banner ads, featured on SF Weekly (last month), Scoutie Girl, and Indie Fixx. I've been experimenting with different color backdrops - mostly to jazz up my etsy site, but I think over the course of the next few months, I will start shooting all of the jewelry on a slate background for the website, so that the colors are more consistent than the white I am currently using (which always looks grey in the photos anyway).


These ads take way too much time - in fact it's 1:45 and my plan was to make jewelry all day and what have I done? Written a blog, answered emails, and worked on the 3rd ad you see above. Now it's time for lunch, and when I come back, I have to file my business tax. The time flies when you're in charge of your own business! I don't know how I get any jewelry made with all the marketing and paperwork! It's been a good day, though. I've had two reorders from shops, and I am going to get ready for the Grant Park Festival in Atlanta this weekend. Life is good!

Happy giveaway entering! I can't wait to see everyone's comments!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Anika Easter

I found Anika Easter's shop while stumbling through etsy. I am loving this painting:


It's a 30" x 30" and it's already framed! It's so hard to find big, quality artwork on etsy that isn't thousands of dollars, and this is definitely a winner in that department. I think it would look very nice in my dining room... I have an art addition, in case you didn't know. Everyone who visits my house is always taken aback by how much art and screen printed posters I have, and not just tacked up but framed. That's what happens when you major in art and then work in a gallery/frame shop for the next 9 years!

Anyway, back to Ms. Anika - she has many other lovely things in her etsy shop, or you can see her website here. She also has a line of frames made from reclaimed wood and designs clothing! Here's another of my favorites and you must read the description! It's subtly interactive!