The Business end of Cabochons?

Let's see here, yea, some get sold, but mostly I just bring my trays to get togethers with my friends and let them pick one to keep! Okay, seriously, back in Sept I brought my cabs to a large arts and crafts show here in San Jose and went to each booth that had jewelry for sale and I managed to hook up with one who bought 3 cabs on the spot, then in the next few months made a couple of more purchases. The first thing most of them asked me was,"Do you have a website?" I didn't, but that is changing in the next 2 weeks. Once I have my website up and running I plan on calling on local jewelers and craft type places and over the hill in Santa Cruz(artsy-fartsy area). I do plan on increasing my sales in the next couple of months(hint hint all you RTHer's)

Next, I haven't just been being kind when I compliment your work so far, I'm just out and out fibbing! ;D ;D JUST KIDDING!!! Seriously, I like what I've seen and I've seen a lot of improvement so it's obvious you enjoy doing it. As for justifying the expense of the machine, when was the last time you bought yourself a toy? You've been handling a big responsibility with your grandmother, so you deserve some fun. And once you get a real grinder, I feel sorry for grandma, cuz you'll be too busy cutting cabs to be dealing with responsibility. Oh wait, that's me I'm talking about!

GO FOR IT MARK!!!!! Okay, how many people agree with me?

I also bought a table at a local crafts exhibition and sold more than I'd anticipated.
But nowhere near enough to offset the capital investment, or even really to sustain things.

I agree with Stoner's suggesiton that an impressive on-line presence is really essential if you want to take the selling thing to the next level.

I always look at Sam Silverhawk's site for inspiration that it can be done, but I'd be the first to admit that I'm a long ways, no- make that a REAL long ways away from his level....

In the mean time I see it as a hobby, just one more in a long list of holes I throw my hard earned money into.

Mark, building the machine as you mentioned at Woodward is probably the best way. Genie's are nice, but half of the price of the Genie is the wheels, another half is the name brand, and the last half ( ) is the actual arbor. So, cut out the name brand and the price goes down. Cut out the name brand and buy it used...and it really, really goes down. It's not so much of an investment then. My grinder (which should be running all diamond next week!) has cost me a total of $600, and that includes the diamond upgrades I just completed. If I had wanted to stay SiC, it would have only cost me the original $150.

On my end, because I wire-wrap, I'll actually be saving a bit of money on each wrap (once I get good enough with my grinder ). Right now, I have to scout out the cabs that I like, pay for those, and then add it into my price on the wrap itself. Granted, I'll still be charging for the cabs, but I can cut a cab specifically for a necklace I have in mind.

If I were you, I'd scout out the local rock shows. I know Wichita and McPherson have one. There are also a couple in Northern OK. Hit a few of those this year (call it research and just be happy you enjoy the research). See how much the "locals" are charging for their cabs. At the show I just went to, vibe finished cabs were selling for about $3-$5 a piece (depending on the material). True cabs were selling for $10-$15 a piece. And there were people buying, including me. And then you have your arts shows, which I know Kansas has a few of those also. Heck, I think Kansas invented the craft shows from how many of those each little region has a year.

Buy...buy it because you enjoy working with the stone, okay?

What each of you have said is pretty much what I am thinking (especially the fibbing part! HA), except for the website. That would be way down the line if ever.

I need to justify it in my mind because the laptop I am typing on, the antique glass I bought, and the recent trip were my toys. So if I put $50.00 a week aside I should be able to do something in a couple of months and I would not feel so bad.

In the mean time I have 10 ready for the rotary, only 30 or 40 more to go before I have enough to run.

Thanks for the help
Spike

Mark,

I started doing this because i enjoy it and to be honest, money is not an issue for me (praise GOD). That said, after doing it for a while my wife wanted me to take the next step and try wrapping. I did or at least try to wrap. Anyway, she would wear them to work and people there wanted to buy them. That's basically how I started selling my stuff. Ed's right about the web site, you gotta have one if you want to do this. I've been lucky enough in life to have worked for some really big companies. During my time at these companies I have learned lots of stuff, including marketing and sales (there is a difference between the two). Everything I do is calculated (time, material, equipment, etc.). I decide what I want to charge for my time and that is what goes into the price of the wrap. My prices are higher than what I've seen others charge here on the board which leads me to believe that others either charge less for their time or they don't calculate everything in the way I do. I will also agree with Daniel (and Randy), if you are looking to keep the price down then mass is how you want to proceed (I put too much of myself into each one I cut to fall into this category).

I will say this, I have only sold a couple of just cabs. Most of what I sell is wraps - people will pick out the cab and then I will wrap it but just cabs have been few.

Hope this helps

Mainstream "Jewelry Stores" are pretty fixed into the faceted stone racket, if you are looking to sell raw cabochons, your best bet is to hook up with the local custom silversmith/art jewelry folks, as they will be more inclined to be interested in shapes and colors that don't fall in the more classic formal jewelry paradigm.

Any place that has metalworking/jewelry classes is bound to have students who need stones for their projects, but all in all the market for raw cabs is pretty well limited to people who do things with them, which means custom jewelers or students, not many others.

But if you have the skills and time to do it, wirewraps or "finding mounted" stones; either pins or necklace pendants will have a much wider market demographic, with hundreds of potential customers at every flea market, truck stop or curio shop.

Yep, that is what I am thinking. I was going to build one and use sc wheels, then realized diamond would be so much better, well between the wheels, and the other costs I figured it real close to that $695 price and the headaches of self design and delay would not be there. The $800 I am (wrote "was" first HA) planning is to include shipping.

Ed showing me his machine and telling me the cost was behind this thread.

"your best bet is to hook up with the local custom silversmith/art jewelry folks" Rally that is the thought. I found a really good custom jeweler in Wichita. It is kind of a long story how good she is and you probably won't see it in the pic's I will eventually post of a ring I am having made from one of Ed's cabs as I wanted a simple straight sided design, but lets just say if she said I will buy five for a dollar I would, just to be able to say she liked and used them.

I have zero talent when it comes to something like wire wrapping, I can follow instructions (well usually!) but to come up with something like that on my own forget it. I am (Those that know me don't laugh) thinking about beading, I have some definite ideas for some earthy necklaces that I think would sell like crazy during a once year bluegrass festival that draws over 15,000 people to our little town from all over the world. I will just tell them that I did the cab and one of my daughters did the beading, I just don't remember which one!!

BTW I was not holding out on the unit Ed told me about, just learned of it yesterday. Also Ed, I meant to ask about the mess, does much water spray? My mind is about twenty steps ahead of my wallet and I am thinking about where to put it in the winter.

As for the the profit margin, while that is of course something to keep in mind, what I would make from each one would make my former set price per hour blush from shame, my goal is to see something I had formed on the neck of someone walking down the street. Lofty? yes, but in a town of 14,000, maybe.

Ok, that is more words than I have spoke in a week, so I will stop.

Spike

Mark, your goals are not lofty in the least bit. The work you're doing now with just a standard grinder is looking good and getting better each time you post. Sitting down at a cabbing unit is a whole lot different than a standard grinder as I hope you will see shortly.
As for water splashing, I find I have water that drips down the dop on to my hands which are resting on the front part of the grinder, and then a little water drips on the floor in front of the unit. But 99.5% of the water goes into the tray and out the drain tube, so it could be used indoors. Besides, during winter it's too damn cold in the garage to have your hands in water being fanned by the wheels spinning.

I'm sorry Ronda, I just started checking the price of grinders since I got home from WWR. This machine will allow you to cut a cab from rough to finish polish, and it's really reasonably priced.

Spike...you've gotten some VERY good advice & encouragement here. Networking...networking and MORE networking.

One of the worst things about doing something out of our comfort zones is fear of failure. Jump in buddy...you'll get use to the water!!!