|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 21, 2016 19:03:51 GMT -5
Well while this has been a really fun project to learn I think these are the last of this style for awhile. I posted one last week that I really liked and it only got one comment on here and so far sales show about the same enthusiasm. I really wish they took off better so I could justify trying some in silver. Thanks to Pat rockjunquie and micellular for the idea to give these a try. Pricing could be part of the issue but when I do the math on labor involved and the value of the cab I cannot see selling these for under $50 Thanks for loking Chuck
|
|
|
Post by radio on Feb 21, 2016 19:24:33 GMT -5
good job on them, and they are pretty.
I think most folks are concerned about copper turning the skin green and doing them in sterling actually wouldn't increase cost all that much. The Puddingstone pendant would likely have about $2 worth of silver in it, $3 max. One would just have to do the layout like a jigsaw puzzle to maximize the pieces you get. With good sawing skills it could be done pretty easily. My experience is that more folks want reasonably simple, but elegant designs and bezel set is King.
You might also wish to perfect a hammered finish on the copper before moving to silver.
|
|
|
Post by Jugglerguy on Feb 21, 2016 19:25:18 GMT -5
I can see them being fun to make, but your wire wraps look so much better. The wire wraps look light and elegant. These look heavy. You sure do nice work though, too bad they don't sell.
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 21, 2016 19:46:00 GMT -5
I can see them being fun to make, but your wire wraps look so much better. The wire wraps look light and elegant. These look heavy. You sure do nice work though, too bad they don't sell. I do really like the groove wraps best but like anything else I was getting bored. I also have about a hundred of those sitting on a rack and that is a deterrent to making more. The smart thing to do is to come to a complete stop until some stuff sells but I am not wired that way so I just keep cranking stuff out. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 21, 2016 19:52:42 GMT -5
good job on them, and they are pretty. I think most folks are concerned about copper turning the skin green and doing them in sterling actually wouldn't increase cost all that much. The Puddingstone pendant would likely have about $2 worth of silver in it, $3 max. One would just have to do the layout like a jigsaw puzzle to maximize the pieces you get. With good sawing skills it could be done pretty easily. My experience is that more folks want reasonably simple, but elegant designs and bezel set is King. You might also wish to perfect a hammered finish on the copper before moving to silver. I know that after hollowing out the backs and sending the scraps back it would save some money but most of these require a starting piece that is about 2" x 3" and I think when I checked rio that came out to about $15 per piece. I do think about 75% of that would end up going back and the final cost would be closer to 3 or 4 bucks each in the end. The labor is the killer. Even after doing 10 of these really simple ones with no texture I am spending a good solid hour on each bezel. $20 cab with $4 in silver and an hour of skilled trade labor has to be worth doing. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by radio on Feb 21, 2016 20:16:35 GMT -5
good job on them, and they are pretty. I think most folks are concerned about copper turning the skin green and doing them in sterling actually wouldn't increase cost all that much. The Puddingstone pendant would likely have about $2 worth of silver in it, $3 max. One would just have to do the layout like a jigsaw puzzle to maximize the pieces you get. With good sawing skills it could be done pretty easily. My experience is that more folks want reasonably simple, but elegant designs and bezel set is King. You might also wish to perfect a hammered finish on the copper before moving to silver. I know that after hollowing out the backs and sending the scraps back it would save some money but most of these require a starting piece that is about 2" x 3" and I think when I checked rio that came out to about $15 per piece. I do think about 75% of that would end up going back and the final cost would be closer to 3 or 4 bucks each in the end. The labor is the killer. Even after doing 10 of these really simple ones with no texture I am spending a good solid hour on each bezel. $20 cab with $4 in silver and an hour of skilled trade labor has to be worth doing. Chuck I went back and looked at the pics again and see i severely underestimated the size of the cabs. The triangle must be in the 50-60 mm range and the Puddingstone about the same in height? This could be one reason they aren't selling for you is just the sheer size of the pieces. I would make some about half that size and see if they sell better. At these sizes, silver wouldn't be a good choice unless bezel set
|
|
fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 215
|
Post by fireforged on Feb 21, 2016 20:19:25 GMT -5
They look awesome to me. I like the idea and when I get some time i am going to do my version. Don't give up on this too quickly. It takes time to develop a market and the people buying the wire wraps will be different from those buying the prong pendants. Especially when the prong pendants are from copper and brass. Make three or four silver ones and see how they are met by the market.
Although this bulletin board is good for information on "how to" it is not a good market research tool. Hang in there and keep on keepen on.
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 21, 2016 20:23:50 GMT -5
They look awesome to me. I like the idea and when I get some time i am going to do my version. Don't give up on this too quickly. It takes time to develop a market and the people buying the wire wraps will be different from those buying the prong pendants. Especially when the prong pendants are from copper and brass. Make three or four silver ones and see how they are met by the market. Although this bulletin board is good for information on "how to" it is not a good market research tool. Hang in there and keep on keepen on. Thanks- I am not a fan of copper myself and 95% of my wire wraps are done in silver so I may have to bite the bullet and get some. A small piece to play with is a quick $80 bucks though. Chuck
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 21, 2016 20:29:06 GMT -5
I know that after hollowing out the backs and sending the scraps back it would save some money but most of these require a starting piece that is about 2" x 3" and I think when I checked rio that came out to about $15 per piece. I do think about 75% of that would end up going back and the final cost would be closer to 3 or 4 bucks each in the end. The labor is the killer. Even after doing 10 of these really simple ones with no texture I am spending a good solid hour on each bezel. $20 cab with $4 in silver and an hour of skilled trade labor has to be worth doing. Chuck I went back and looked at the pics again and see i severely underestimated the size of the cabs. The triangle must be in the 50-60 mm range and the Puddingstone about the same in height? This could be one reason they aren't selling for you is just the sheer size of the pieces. I would make some about half that size and see if they sell better. At these sizes, silver wouldn't be a good choice unless bezel set I did make a few much smaller ones. I did two 28mm squares and I did two 28mm circles. Thats really as small as I can go and still get content in a pudding stone cab. Oddly enough the only one that has sold on etsy so far was also the largest one. Something for everyone I guess. I have a question about silver though. If I decide to give a try that how much more work or tools are involved? Does a piece like this in silver need to be completely polished and buffed? These in copper are just cut, filed, sanded then 0000 steel wool. A quick dip in LOS and hit again with 0000 steel wool to finish. Thanks, Chuck
|
|
fireforged
starting to spend too much on rocks
Member since December 2015
Posts: 215
|
Post by fireforged on Feb 21, 2016 20:33:49 GMT -5
My rule of thumb is if you can do it in brass and copper you can make it look even better in silver. Yes you have to keep the silver from getting scratched and you have to touch it up after you finish.
|
|
|
Post by radio on Feb 21, 2016 20:46:14 GMT -5
I went back and looked at the pics again and see i severely underestimated the size of the cabs. The triangle must be in the 50-60 mm range and the Puddingstone about the same in height? This could be one reason they aren't selling for you is just the sheer size of the pieces. I would make some about half that size and see if they sell better. At these sizes, silver wouldn't be a good choice unless bezel set I did make a few much smaller ones. I did two 28mm squares and I did two 28mm circles. Thats really as small as I can go and still get content in a pudding stone cab. Oddly enough the only one that has sold on etsy so far was also the largest one. Something for everyone I guess. I have a question about silver though. If I decide to give a try that how much more work or tools are involved? Does a piece like this in silver need to be completely polished and buffed? These in copper are just cut, filed, sanded then 0000 steel wool. A quick dip in LOS and hit again with 0000 steel wool to finish. Thanks, Chuck That was one reason I suggested practicing a hammered finish on the copper, because if left smooth, silver would need a lot more finish work than the copper. If the silver were hammered, stippled or patterned in some manner, it would be a lot simpler to make saleable. One of my pet peeves is seeing a poorly finished silver piece as it tends to show every tiny imperfection when polished, or polished AT, should I say. I've had two apprentices in the last 3 years and I told both of them to pursue other fields until they developed the patience to file, sand and prefinish the piece well enough to take a killer shine. Young folks these days don't have the patience to spend an hour sanding on a piece before going to the buffer
|
|
|
Post by rockjunquie on Feb 21, 2016 21:45:36 GMT -5
Most of my pendants are on the large side and they sell just fine. Everyone is different. You just have to get the right people to look at them. I also still have people who will buy copper over silver, too. Personally, I prefer everything about copper. I'd rather work with it than silver. However, silver does sell better. Your tab pieces are looking good. Just give them some time. They'll find the right people.
|
|
|
Post by Drummond Island Rocks on Feb 21, 2016 22:22:44 GMT -5
I did make a few much smaller ones. I did two 28mm squares and I did two 28mm circles. Thats really as small as I can go and still get content in a pudding stone cab. Oddly enough the only one that has sold on etsy so far was also the largest one. Something for everyone I guess. I have a question about silver though. If I decide to give a try that how much more work or tools are involved? Does a piece like this in silver need to be completely polished and buffed? These in copper are just cut, filed, sanded then 0000 steel wool. A quick dip in LOS and hit again with 0000 steel wool to finish. Thanks, Chuck That was one reason I suggested practicing a hammered finish on the copper, because if left smooth, silver would need a lot more finish work than the copper. If the silver were hammered, stippled or patterned in some manner, it would be a lot simpler to make saleable. One of my pet peeves is seeing a poorly finished silver piece as it tends to show every tiny imperfection when polished, or polished AT, should I say. I've had two apprentices in the last 3 years and I told both of them to pursue other fields until they developed the patience to file, sand and prefinish the piece well enough to take a killer shine. Young folks these days don't have the patience to spend an hour sanding on a piece before going to the buffer Thank you. Good solid advice. I have been wrapping in silver for awhile but I have zero experience in metal work and finishing. Baby steps. Chuck
|
|
icatz
spending too much on rocks
Member since October 2015
Posts: 453
|
Post by icatz on Feb 22, 2016 7:09:00 GMT -5
I think one reason is the size. I've made half a dozen of these with great stones that are just too costly to do in sterling. The one I'm doing now would be cost prohibitive.
Some people really love them, but a lot of ppl do NOT like large pendants. One I've made is quite large. I collected, polished and set the chalcedony myself and it's beautiful, but it's quite heavy and frankly I can't see anyone except a large man or woman wearing it comfortably. I always have a hard time selling large pendants, copper or sterling. I think they're great, but I'm not buying. So you have to find your market for these. I do find, and this may sound weird, but the skater guys and gals love these big pendants on long pieces of black leather. I've had a few custom requests from them. I use copper findings on the ends, but usually just join them, they don't need a clasp since they're so long. I really need to start posting some of these but I'm loo lazy to plug my phone into the computer. I will soon.
|
|
|
Post by toiv0 on Feb 22, 2016 15:24:47 GMT -5
I put a high polish on just about everything, if its brushed I can't seem to sell. As for the cost I will post some pendants and rings in process where I will weigh the silver and see what the cost is. I don't normally weigh the silver on a piece. I in my mind what I have to get for it and price it accordingly.
|
|