Amid my busy scary schedule this week, I’m contemplating the kinds of jewelry pieces I’d need to make to effectively ‘go wholesale’. It’s a tricky calculation. Too elaborate (my normal setting) and I could never afford the time or materials to set up even a hundred-piece order with a boutique. Too simple, and I run the risk of looking like every other Etsy jewelry seller out there.
I have a few thoughts on what might work, given the time and price point constraints of most wholesale work. My painted shell and stone jewelry pieces, accented with simple beadwork or silver findings?
Sterling silver pieces, if I can simplify from these themes…or find more pricey boutiques willing to try them.
Some of my slightly more modest beadwoven designs, maybe.
Simple but luxurious fiber art pieces like this mother-of-pearl beaded linen scarf, perhaps.
The fallback, if I can market them properly, would be the nest necklaces in knotted cord and semiprecious stone and pearl. These babies sold like crazy a decade ago in galleries in Scottsdale and Sedona, and I’ve only become more skilled at making them.
My biggest obstacle to wholesale orders is my inclination toward one-of-a-kind or small-batch editions. It’s where I’m most comfortable at. I’d like to find boutique and gallery clients who feel the same way about showcasing unique works.
Can that happen? Can’t hurt to try.
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What won’t work in wholesale, except at the highest end reaches (We’re talking national and international juried shows, which I do not have the capital to enter right now):
Gonzo jewelry like this, which has to be OOAK because it takes me about 60 hours to make one piece.
Detailed and obscure tapestries like this, which might do well at a big science-fiction con art show, but just confuse the Normal People.
Most of my fiber, leather, and wood book art. Coming to terms with this is rough, yet every artist has to identify the audiences they probably cannot reach. I love book art. People who don’t even read regular books likely won’t have any resonance with my book art sculptures and jewelry.
I could make purses and clean up at the bank. I don’t *love* purses, and sooner or later that would show. Maybe shoes. I do have a weakness for shoes, but then we get into shoe sizes, alas. Hats have the same problem as tapestries: I put too much work into them for boutique prices. And my hats are weird.
It takes all kinds of clients to respond to different types of art media and themes. Learning and respecting that is a major life lesson for artists.