Spotted on a well-known jewelry site:

...necklace with "gem quality genuine lemon quartz", selling for $300 (the faceted "lavender jade" was only 125, while "Ocean Colors Quartz" was a steal at 115).

[my quote marks]

Sheesh! Dunno about the rest of you, but this sort of thing has more impact on my business than all those "hobbyists-who-undercut-us"

Phoebe

I once saw an ad for "genuine imitation diamonds." go figure!

I agree - I had to really stop and think hard to de-code "genuine hand-crafted faux" something. Some of the best brain-teasers are NOT on the SAT tests!

QUOTE: Originally posted by csaen Spotted on a well-known jewelry site:

You are not doing anyone any favors by not telling which "well-known jewelry site" you saw this on.
(Actually, you are doing the "well-known jewelry site" a huge favor.So why would you want to help them like that?)

QUOTE: You are not doing anyone any favors by not telling which "well-known jewelry site" you saw this on. (Actually, you are doing the "well-known jewelry site" a huge favor.So why would you want to help them like that?)

What???

Help, shmelp.

Obviously the competition on ruby and esty is so frantic that people get desperate to stand out: the point of this post is that too many jewelry crafters either don't know what they're doing, or are blatently lying.

There's a difference between "pineapple quartz" which is just the powdered silica made into a gemstone-like product, and "lemon quartz" which is actual quartz that's been heat treated. They might not have been purposely misleading...but I wouldn't know without seeing it.

I think a lot of jewellery crafters are benevolently clueless. They honestly believe it's "art" or "artisan" simply because they are putting it together and they don't have the experience or education to know that 20 years ago "African apricot jade" or whatever was just mineral x that got tumbled for fish tanks or driveways.

I saw a site a while back where the lady announced she only used precious metals... sterling and copper. She seemed perfectly genuine too.

Margaret

You had me going there until I realized I was thinking of Gem Quality Lemon Topaz. Quite the difference.

It does make you think, are they misleading their buyers, or were they mislead buying supplies?

QUOTE: I think a lot of jewellery crafters are benevolently clueless

Indeed, Sandpiper. But is that acceptable? Because, as Bloomer said, they're misleading their buyers.

The suppliers misled them? Well, let's see: have you ever bought "genuine, natural turquoise" for $5 a strand? Do your sterling findings cost less than $5 /ounce? Is your quartz fruity?

Yes, sometimes we get stung by dishonest dealers, but shouldn't we be able to spot 'too good a deal'?

Suppliers have all kinds of clever ad copy that can fool the unwary. And it's not only online - I've seen dealers with incredibly learned spiels hawking questionable stuff at shows. Isn't what's in our jewelry ultimately our responsibility ?

It's a pity the successful-home-based-business gurus forget to mention to the newbies that they need to educate themselves about their raw materials. And about integrity.

Cheers,
Phoebe

>>I saw a site a while back where the lady announced she only used precious metals... sterling and copper. She seemed perfectly genuine too.<<

Have you seen the price of copper wire lately?? The roll of 10g at Home Depot has about tripled in the past year or so..... The pipes, coils, etc also have all gone up. Copper "Bali style" beads/findings aren't priced all that much lower than silver-- although that may be because they're harder to find, and tend to be sold in smaller "packs". Maybe copper's not officially "precious", but it's getting there.

When the plumber starts putting gold pipes in my loo I'll reconsider copper's claim to be precious.

Margaret

LOL, Margaret. [fact is copper costs almost as much as gold - when my plumber uses it.]

Words matter. "Precious metals' has a meaning, nothing to do with how much it costs at the craft store.

Have you noticed that stones used for jewelry are now called "precious gems" in some circles? Caveat emptor!
Cheers,
Phoebe

Indeed, Sandpiper. But is that acceptable? Because, as Bloomer said, they're misleading their buyers.

Up to a point it’s better than being wilfully deceitful although I do appreciate the window between ignorance and deceit is a narrow one.

We all start off ignorant and educate ourselves for love or necessity. The problem is with jewellery making right now is that it has reached mega-craze proprotions. The crazers aren’t in love and they don’t know any greater necessity than funding the next spending spree. I am passionate about it as an art form because my first arty love was sculpture and I see jewellery as small-scale wearable scultpure. I suspect – sorry if I now sound like a horrible snob – that an awful lot of the girls making jewellery are more passionate about running up the credit card at Rio or somewhere. They are shopaholics but instead of buying shoes they buy “pretties”. There’s no other imaginable reason for the god-awful design stagnation around – everyone loves the stuff and hardly anyone knows what to do with it.

If a gazillion women can buy B&B in Safeway and chuck it in the trolley with the cereal and the cat food and go home and order a supply catalogue from page 32 then you can’t, with the best will in the world you can’t, expect a whole lot in the way of education and responsibility. My grandmother was a goldsmith – she knew and loved metal. She was an artist. She was an engineer. She was an architect. A rabbi came to her once and asked her to recreate from a mediocre drawing the communal wedding ring of his community in Poland before the Holocaust. You should have seen her plans – this ring was (forgive the flippancy) like a Disney castle on a band and from Baba’s drawings you’d think she was recreating Chartres but she was a perfectionist and this was her love. Now I find folk on Etsy and Ruby Lane talking about “passion” and “obsession” and what they’re doing is sticking 3 beads on a headpin and making a loop. I could scream but I don’t because there’s no point. I feel immensely for you and others like you who are trying to make a profession and a living but, to quote Dorothy Parker, “You can take a whore to culture but you can’t make her think.” All you can do is wait it out. I am waiting it out as a collector. In the past 12 months I have bought less artist jewellery than ever before since I had my own income. I have bought earrings from Magdalena Borejko and Margaux Lange and that’s it. I am saving up to buy from Ananda Khalsa. Irony of ironies in this world where half of it and her aunt and their cat is making jewellery I’ve started making my own. I joined the CWJ forum Year of Jewelry project because I’m miserable about all the OOAK stuff that’s exactly like everything else I’ve seen so I’d rather make and wear my own. I have no doubt my efforts will make the other YOJ’ers grin like kindly Cheshire cats but my desire for uniqueness has overcome my desire for skill J

Having got to the end of this ramble, Phoebe, I have no idea whether it’s an answer or not. I hope it is.

Margi

Well okay [:)] the plumber turns a profit. My friend married one - I know. Still, whatever one feels about copper, the fact is when the customer thinks of precious metal she's not thinking of the pipes under her sink.

My personal feeling is that if more people were concerned about orginality in design less would be worrying about price and preciousness of components.

Margi

Yep, and a good answer, Margi.

The quality issue should be a whole other thread. I'm just so glad to hear someone else talk about the crud that's out there, and which hurts our efforts. ":Snob"? Bah, we're just being realistic. And honest.

Has this forum always had the emphasis on "product" and "getting your name out there" that it has now? I find it unfortunate, which probably bumps me into the snob category. Glad I'm in such good company.

There's a middle ground, one which in my view, reflects one's sense of self-worth/esteem better than how much one charges for their work: caring about what you do doesn't have to translate to gushy prose or amateurish blather. It's a matter of striving to do whatever you do well, of not cutting corners, of constantly stretching to improve.

Take a look at the posts on these boards: it's pretty clear who's in which category.

Thanks for a good discussion!

Phoebe (I started with sculpture too, but switched to canvas - more portable for a nomad).