My Trip to the Beach

For those who have never had the chance to follow my sea glass blog, just a little background info...

This blog was originally started as a way to introduce sea glass collecting and my sea glass jewelry creations. My blog entries were a sea glass diary of sorts and a way to promote my sea glass jewelry that I sold on Etsy.com and at various craft fairs, shows and local retail stores.
Currently, my shop on Etsy is closed and my jewelry-making days are just a hobby that I struggle to find time for. Sea glass collecting is something that has fallen by the wayside also, as trips to the beach have been rare since Super Storm Sandy. Since Sandy, sea glass on LBI has been rarer than my trips to the beach.

Until yesterday. For those that have followed this blog in the past, you may recall me blogging about an area my DH refers to as "cobalt beach". Cobalt beach is actually a stretch of beach, maybe 3-4 blocks long that has turned up an unusual amount of cobalt blue sea glass, along with several other uncommon colors.

So anyway, after a few disappointing trips to LBI, trips that left me and my family sad about the aftermath of Sandy, yesterday we headed back to stretch of beach that had once been our sea glass goldmine. The one time we visited this stretch of beach since Sandy, we only found a couple browns-not jewelry quality and not the type of browns that I hope to find, but brown sea glass nonetheless.

This trip to the beach started out no different... a large piece of brown that was finished on the outside, but the shard appeared to have been broken recently, so the inside needed more time for the ocean to finish the job. My DH referred to this piece as undercooked, so we found a safe area to return it to the sea. What I did find encouraging was this piece had some thickness to it and that could mean it was an older piece of glass.

For most of the day, I almost regretted returning that undercooked brown because there was nothing else to be found anywhere. Even the stretch formerly known as "cobalt beach" came up empty (again). As the crowds began leaving and the tide started pulling out, we gave it one more walk thru before we called it a day.

Despite several decent sized shell beds, cobalt beach was a disappointing bust... there was nothing to be found other than a few recently shards from recently broken Budweiser bottles (that were picked up and thrown into the trash bin). So we turned and headed back to our chairs and my son wanted one last dip n the ocean. While I kept watch, my DH continued on (in the opposite direction of what was once cobalt beach) & after a few minutes, my son and I went off in his directions where we found several large shell beds containing a lot of small shells, broken shell pieces and lots of stones and zero pieces of glass of any kind.

Shell bed after shell bed yielded nothing. Then my DH doubled back to showed me two pieces. The first was a clear white piece and it was nearly perfect. Well-weathered and frosted, only a recent chip in the edge kept it from being perfect. The 2nd piece was better. Another white, this one perfect and it's jewelry quality (rare for NJ). As a white piece of sea glass, it wouldn't fetch much as a piece of jewelry...but this piece has a tinge of amethyst coloring in it (I'm hoping now that it's been rescued from the sea, it will continue to turn color) Both of these pieces were found within 2 feet of each other, so we went back to the area and I found 2 pieces...one a frosty white- nothing to get real excited and the second a pale blue tear-drop shaped piece...weathered, slightly frosty and without a doubt, jewelry quality. One of the nicest jewelry quality pieces I have ever found on LBI. This one will become a charm for a necklace.
The craziest thing about both of these pieces, is they were found within 10 feet of those that my DH found and before we left the area, a thick chunky amber piece washed up!

30 minutes before we leave, the ocean presents us with a couple of the nicest pieces of sea glass that we ever found on LBI...and all 5 pieces were found with 10-12 feet of each other and there was nothing to be found anywhere else on the beach...go figure!

Hopefully, I can get images uploaded to the blog and show off my finds!

'til next time

Craft Show- Tips and Trends

At my most recent show, my hubby pointed out several things he observed during the show. Some of these observations were trends he noticed before and in the next few events they seemed to prove themselves as situations I wanted to create or avoid. Hubby is a people watcher and he'll often at shows, whisper to me that a certain person is going to buy something. The most bizarre thing is, he does it as the person is leaving my display and more often than not, he's correct because they come back and make a purchase!

The observation that he finds that often leads to a sale is- a crowd at the display and the bigger, the better! When I have several people standing in front of my display tables, it seems that more people see the crowd and get drawn in, like moths to a porch light. Others become curious and just have to see why there is a crowd at my display tables. Because two pieces of sea glass are rarely alike, my jewelry creations are essentially one-of-a-kind creations. And large crowds at my display make those right in front a little antsy, especially if they "love" one of my items. I have watched people have conversations with each other, almost justifying a reason why they are going to make a purchase... upcoming birthday, Put it away for a Christmas present, this is her color, etc. Sometimes it seems like the person feels that this could be there last chance to make the purchase and if they walk away and come back, "their" piece of jewelry will be bought by someone else. So crowds, especially a large and getting bigger crowd, will often facilitate a purchase and there is nothing better than a large group of people seeing someone make a purchase. I rarely make jewelry at a show. It's often just too hectic and I never liked the pressure of doing it in front of people. At my most recent show, I pulled out some jewelry-quality pieces of sea glass and decided I would try to wrap a couple. The foot traffic at the show was good, but sales were slow and hubby has always encouraged me to make jewelry at the show, "on-the-fly". With my hubby and two boys at the tables to talk with anyone who came to my display, I was able to start wrapping without interruption and just got lost wrapping jewelry. I had a nice flow going and after turning several pieces of sea glass into pendants, I looked up to find I had a large audience off to the side of my table, all watching me do my thing. Several inquired if I would consider making jewelry with a piece of sea glass they personally found on the beach, took business cards, and a couple of them made purchases. One person claimed that after they observed the process of how I chose to wrap a piece, it became more personable watching "the artist" create it right in front of them (wow, I'm an artist in somebody's mind!) Crafters, if you can preform your craft live at a show, seriously consider it- it goes back to my first tip- it draws a crowd to your display and that often results in something positive for you. Business cards are a must and if you feel comfortable, jot your phone number down on a few to hand out to those you feel may be a future customer. I went through a lot of cards in my last show and if only 10% of those people contact me in the coming months, that show will go from "above expectations" to "HUGE!!!" Credit Cards- I always accept credit card purchases and have only been burned twice in several years (both for small amounts, but it still gets me angry because sea glass is one-of-a-kind and I'll never find another piece like the one I just "gave away") This last show, I noticed that about 60% of the sales were credit cards, and that most of the mid-range price-point items were purchased via a cc. The lower end price points were cash purchases and the high-end items didn't sell. If you can, bring all of your inventory to the show. I sold a piece that I have had in my inventory for a couple of years. I know that there have been shows when this piece wasn't included in the inventory, but you can't sell what you didn't bring and luckily, this piece has found a new home...and the new owner was thrilled because it's her favorite color!

I'm happy that some people seemed to be in a purchasing mood at the show and I have made a couple of recent sales in my shop. But I am still pessimistic about the economy. I hope things are taking a turn for the better and that sales and future shows (for you and I) prove to be successful. Perhaps these tips will help you make a few sales and maybe attract a couple repeat customers for your products and business. Looking forward to see you on the show circuit! 'til next time, R