KR Designs 11 - Beadwoven Jewelry Blog

This blog is for my comments about making beadwoven jewelry, my inspirations, frustrations, and love of color.

The banner is Lilacs in Springtime, a free form peyote bracelet.
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business. Show all posts

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Role of Music


I have been working on applications for Art Fairs, and put a picture of my booth on facebook. I purchased the tent in September 2010 and used it for one fair before winter set in, so it needs work. I have used shadow box frames to pin my jewelry for display which has a magnetic closure on the front, which created some interest in where they were available. They are available at Hobby Lobby.

Hobby Lobby is a great story/role model for on line entrepreneurs such as Etsy sellers. It was started in the family's living area with a small amount of money, quite a while ago as the founder is now a great grandfather. It is a family business, actually several family businesses, because the product in the stores (over 400 Hobby Lobby stores in 39 states) is made by their own companies. Gives them great control over the quality of the product which is in my opinion, good value. You can also order on line. They are based in Oklahoma and have used some of the best sales promotion features of JoAnn and Walmart, etc. Whole categories of items are on sale at 30 - 50% off frequently, and there is always a 40% off one item with the coupon available in the store. Big difference is that the stores are closed on Sundays as it is a Christian business.

When I visited my local store yesterday to purchase a couple more shadow box frames at 50% off, I noticed the upbeat music which repeated itself fairly often, but it didn't bother me. I had a discussion with my hair stylist earlier about the importance of music in the shop. In Hobby Lobby I realized that the music was familiar but not the usual arrangement. When I found the words to the song were in my head, that I knew the "song", I realized that the music was praising God, because the song was "How Great Thou Art". If you are unfamiliar with it, the song has strong emotional connections. We hear so much noise in the world, this was so pleasant, reaching back to my childhood upbringing, that it was in my head the rest of the day. I even woke up "hearing" it. Of course, I bought more than I might have and spent extra time just looking. I have a couple ideas using items I saw in their store. Just from music that was soothing to me, so I could relax in the store. A positive shopping experience.

As an artist/designer, I use music as I work. I will be paying more attention to what I play both while I work and at Art Fairs. To learn more about Hobby Lobby, follow the link:

http://www.hobbylobby.com/our_company/our_company.cfm
Please share in the comments section the music you like to listen to as you work.

Friday, May 7, 2010

Business of Art Fairs

Today I did some of the business things needed for the Burr Ridge Crafte Fest next weekend. I compared paypal and propay for telephone service for processing credit cards. I like the idea of the card readers, but you must be connected on line in order to get immediate approval. The propay rep assured me I'd be finished in about a minute on the phone with only a 4 digit access code. The percentage of sale and per transaction fee are higher than paypal, but the monthly fee is better at propay if you need service for more than 2 months a year. Either one is far better than what I had before.

I learned about propay from randomcreative who is an etsy beaderweaver and blogger who faithfully posts on the EBW forum weekly post. My newest follower is also an etsy blogger and she has an art fair this weekend. So everybody in Oklahoma, visit her at her show and BUY something from her. Storybeader has an etsy shop with some jewelry and handmade books. I have made a few books with handmade paper and always felt they were too good to actually write in partly because of how I was brought up and partly because I knew how much work went into making it. I would list her etsy shop url but since I don't know her and don't have her permission, I won't.

Picture taking tonight, so photos tomorrow.