A Bit on Pricing

Last week, Jess of http://www.rosyrevolver.com/, asked some of us if we would participate in a blog discussing the issue of pricing our jewelry.  It seems that everyone was in agreement that this is the most difficult part of selling, especially in today's market.  The following is a great article in a newletter written by jewelry artist Eni Oken.

Everything she says, was reiterated in the blogs on this subject written by
these artists:  Check them out for their input at their respective blogs or go to http://www.rosyrevolver.com/  for some great reading!!

Nova of Sweden

Alice Istanbul Designs (that post coming soon)

Sissy & Jack's (post coming soon)

Bella-Bijou Jewelry

Blue Piranha

Devine Designs Jewelry

You may also be interested in a nifty downloadable jewelry pricing tool invented by jewelry artist Eni Oken - the Jewelry Price Calculator for Excel.
http://www.enioken.com/ or http://www.jewelrylessons.com/

Important Elements of a

Jewelry Pricing Formula

In my opinion, using a jewelry pricing formula is just the first step in arriving at the final price of a piece of jewelry.

First, I use a calculation to determine a base price that ensures I won't be selling the piece at a loss.

Then, once I've determined that base price, I adjust the final retail price to more accurately reflect the value of the piece to my particular market.

The key is to be sure that any jewelry pricing formula you use compensates you for

your supplies

your overhead expenses

your time.

The Second Step in My

Jewelry Pricing Formula

After using my formula, I add an important second step: Adjust the resulting price to reflect:

the overall outcome of the finished piece

how easily I could replace all of the elements in the piece if I wanted to make a similar item

what I believe people in my target market would be willing to pay.

Of course, these three points are mainly subjective, and require a bit of experience with your intended market. But I know I can't drop the final retail price below the base price the formula gave me, without losing money on the sale.

My Jewelry Base-Price Formula

It's a simple equation:

Base price =

(cost of materials + packaging) x 4
+ your pro-rated hourly labor rate

then + 10% of that total for overhead costs.

An Example of Using My Formula:

For this example, let's say that:

you made a necklace using $5 of supplies

your packaging (tag, box, bow, bag, and business card) for this piece totals $1

the necklace took you 30 minutes to make

your hourly labor rate is $20 (of course, your own labor rate may be much different, depending on your medium, your speed, and your skill level).

Now let's calculate:

1.First, figure out your pro-rated labor cost:

Your 30 minutes of labor equals half an hour. So half of your $20 hourly labor rate equals $10 of labor on this necklace.

2.Next, add up your cost of materials:

$5 of jewelry supplies + $1 of packaging = $6 subtotal.

3.Now multiply your total cost of materials by 4:

$6 x 4 = $24.

4.Then add your pro-rated labor rate to that:

$24 + $10 = $34.

5.Now figure your overhead, which is 10% of that:

$34 x .10 = $3.40

6.Finally, add the overhead to our $34 subtotal:

$34 + $3.40 = $37.40.

7.Our base price for the necklace is $37.40, which we'll round off to $37.

That means we can't price the necklace below $37 without losing money on it. Now we can adjust that retail price up a little or a lot - depending on the uniqueness and overall outcome of the necklace, how easily we could replace the components if we wanted to, and how much our intended market would be willing to pay.

Does That Seem Like
a Big Markup to You?

Many jewelry artists price their work by simply doubling the cost of their supplies - charging $10 for that necklace made from $5 of jewelry supplies. Unfortunately, it's impossible to have a profitable business with that kind of pricing. It doesn't cover all of your costs.

When you sell your jewelry, you need to be paid for the time, effort and craftsmanship you put into all the various aspects of your jewelry business, plus the cost of all of your overhead expenses, if you want to stay in business.

Your overhead expenses include things like your jewelry business website fees, jewelry displays, tools, insurance, merchant account fees for accepting credit cards, receipt books, digital camera (and its batteries) for photographing your work, jewelry magazines, workshops, etc.

If you're in business, your jewelry has to pay for all of those expenses as well as your jewelry making supplies.

And after all the expenses are paid for, you'd like to have a little left over to pay yourself too.

That's what I like about my jewelry pricing formula - by finding the base price, I know I'm not losing money when I sell my jewelry; and the final price more accurately reflects what the piece is worth to its buyer.

Why Multiply x4 in This Formula?

Thanks for asking!

Multiplying your cost of materials + packaging x 4 in my jewelry pricing formula sets your retail price high enough so that if you sell your pieces at wholesale or on consignment to a shop, you'll still make a profit.

Wholesale and consignment prices are typically 50% to 60% of your retail price. So the $37 retail-priced bracelet in this example would be wholesale-priced at $18.50.

The shop owner who buys it from you at wholesale would then turn around and retail-price the bracelet at $37, and sell it to a customer who comes into the shop.

Your $18.50 wholesale price gives you a much smaller profit margin on your bracelet. So wholesale pricing usually requires the shop owner to purchase a minimum quantity of 6, 10, 12, (or however many) items at a time.

When you make and sell multiples of an item, your manufacturing and selling costs are lower, and you make up for the smaller per-item profit by selling more items at a time.

In contrast, when you're selling jewelry pieces one or two at a time to individual customers (at shows, home parties, etc.), you'll need to charge retail pricing to stay in business.

That extra money you receive when you sell your bracelet to a customer yourself (retail-priced at $37) gets eaten into quickly by booth fees, party hostess incentives, travel expenses, wear and tear on your displays, and other costs of selling directly to the public.

So multiplying your cost of materials + packaging x4 gives you the minimum retail price you can charge without losing money.

It also clues you in to the minimum wholesale price (usually half of your retail price) you can charge without losing money when you sell your jewelry to shops or other wholesale buyers.

This article is reprinted from Eni Oken's newsletter.

This is a ton of information and you need to weigh all of the options and choose which one works for you - just don't underprice yourself and others.



Etching, Etching, Etching

Before one can create, the materials must be prepared

A fun, funky ring

 Free hand drawings on metal

The fruits of our labor

My good friend, Madeline, and I have been working like crazy all week on our metal etching. We have been invited to do a trunk show the weekend before Thanksgiving in Tucson, AZ. We are very flattered indeed, however, it takes a large inventory to put on a good show and we are off and running - or etching as the case may be. My pictures don't do our work justice but for the moment it's the best we have. It has been both gratifying and frustrating to work with metal etching. It is a very labor intensive process. We are working with chemicals that require special attention to dispose of, to say nothing of the mess involved!! We've been through several pairs of rubber gloves and rolls of paper towels since this little venture began and we aren't through yet. Aside from all of the cons, there are lots of pros which make it all worth the extra effort. I hope you enjoy the pictures and there will be more soon.

Thanks for stopping by for a peek. I truly love sharing my thoughts and words with you and hope you will leave me a little comment or two once in awhile. Have a great week and take tomorrow off - it's Labor Day!!

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you - Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Wind Beneath My Wings: Bette Midler Live in 2008

Beautiful day at home today and I thought this was a perfect way to tie it all up. Dedicated to my best friend and spouse.....you are the wind beneath my wings for sure:O) Love you.

Gathering Momentum

Hello out there in blogger land - I have something very special to share with you today and I hope you enjoy...

I subscribe to Whole Lotta Whimsey's ezine and this article was in today's edition.  I know many of us relate to what Tonya is writing and I just felt the need to share it with all of my fellow smithers and metal artists.  I know you will enjoy and I suggest you subscribe (it's free!!) to her ezine newsletter for more wonderful, helpful information.

Gathering Momentum

Yep, my family is a bit football crazy. Growing up in Colorado where our lives revolved around sports and the outdoors gave me an early love for athletics, not to mention competition. I have fond memories of watching football with my parents. I loved how my dad thought they could hear him as he shouted to the tv and how my parents danced together after touchdowns!

There is a football player in our city who draws big crowds at games. He is phenomenal! He led his team to the State Championship last year largely due to his skills. My son and I frequently talk about his style, technique and form. This player knows how to hold the ball, run the plays, move his hips, but the key...the secret...is his ability to keep the momentum.

When his opponents are trying to tackle him, he never stops moving his feet. He is constantly moving....momentum! You'll see him enter a mass of opponents trying to tackle him, and out he comes, and there he goes. Score!

Sometimes we need to first slow down in order to excel. Clarity is key. This means gathering our intentions, making a plan, and a system of how to execute that plan without having to stop.

Let's head into the fall of 2010 by gathering our desires and intentions so we too can gain some momentum for our most important season for sales and promotion as artists.

7 Ways to Gain Momentum

1) Meditate and Get Clear

Just spending 20-30 minutes sitting quietly and allowing yourself to focus on you, without thinking about kids, laundry, bills, groceries etc. Take time to put pen to paper asking yourself what is my intention this fall. What do I really want for myself and my business? Write down any desires and ideas you might have for things you'd like to accomplish in the next 4 months. Write down anything that comes to mind. There is no limit. You can always edit later. Do a complete mind dump.

2) Prioritize

Decide which items on your list are things you really want to accomplish this Fall. Remember it's only 4 months, and 2 of them have major holidays that will take time away from anything on your goal list. Pick your top 3-5 goals and make them as specific as possible. Keep it doable!

3) Mind map out your goals

Mind mapping is a great technique and if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it. Simply start with one of the desires or goals you wrote down. Write this in the center of a large piece of paper and put a circle around it. Then write the major categories of tasks that will be required to accomplish the goals around that stated goal. Then branch off spokes of those action steps to further bubbles of action steps. Keep breaking it down to bite size action steps.

Studies show that the connection to the subconscious is through the right side of the brain which thinks in pictures. So as you sketch out your map, include as many pictures and drawings as possible. Cut them out from magazines if needed.

4) Do a Time Audit

Spend a week writing down how you spend your time. At the beginning of every hour write down how you spent the previous hour. Be honest and include all internet surfing, phone calls, unnecessary errands, etc. At the end of the week, take a good look at how you spent your time. It'll be an eye-opener. I bet you'll find the Pareto Principal in effect. This means you spend about 20% of your time producing 80% of your success.

5) Identify bad habits

Now that you've done a self-assessment, what would you be able to accomplish if you took more of that wasted time and spent it on activities that truly served your goals?

90% of our behavior is habit. So if we identify our bad habits, and we decide what's unacceptable, we can make a concerted effort to change those bad habits. We can choose to change or alter our bad habits.

For example, if I want to work out everyday, then I need to go to bed one hour earlier to compensate for getting up earlier. That means I need to give up that silly hour of needless drama on Bravo tv, from 10-11pm. If I really want to watch it, that's what the DVR is for and weekends or free time.

I also used to worry about missing a customer's email. So I'd check it every 10-15 minutes. This was a disruptive habit. I would stop and handle it right away as if it was a crisis. I was always in reaction mode. I realized, after reflection, that it took me longer to get back to the flow of my "genius" work and often I couldn't be creative.

So I set up systems or scheduled times that I am able to check my email. I then do batch all my replies during that time. This leaves me with some extra time during the day and less mistakes to fix.

6) Set a schedule and make systems

The key to success is scheduling your time. We creative types dislike schedules. We tend to want to go with the flow of things, but this can lead you off your action steps and onto other things that waste your time.

If you want to create everyday, do this first thing in the am or after working out. Once you start working on email, paperwork, bills, etc, your left brain is engaged. It's really hard for it to let go and let your right brain have it's creative time.

Also try working in 40-50 minute segments starting at the beginning of the hour. This is uninterrupted time, dedicated to whatever action step you are working on. Set a timer and when it goes off you can then return calls, emails, check facebook, get a drink, and stretch your legs. You'll be amazed how much clarity you'll have and how much you get done when you are working with systems!

7) Keeping your eye on the prize

Celebrate each success! I have an employee that walks through our warehouse exuberantly exclaiming yippee after actions are completed. At first it was surprising, but we all quickly learned to love it. For one it raises everyone's spirits. It makes you smile. We often associate negative emotions with mistakes, but we don't celebrate enough the small or even medium size achievements. Associate emotions with completed actions no matter how big or small.

Surround yourself with anything that reminds you of your success. This could be awards, a chart showing your sales each month, hits to your site, increased bank account, new customers or galleries, etc.

Make an inspiration board. This is also called a vision board or treasure map. Cut out pictures of things you want to accomplish, inspiring words, places you want to go, etc. Put this in a prominent place so you can see it everyday. We are visual and it's a great reminder....keeping our eye on the prize!
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Tonya Davidson is an artist, entrepreneur, coach and mentor. She helps other artists better their techniques and business skills by empowering them to live creatively from the inside out. Her ezine goes out to over 11,000 subscribers. If you want to learn to create a life you love, sign up for a FREE subscription at http://wholelottawhimsy.com. Be sure to check out her blog at www.tonyadavidson.com for more articles like this one.

© 2010. Whole Lotta Whimsy. All Rights Reserved.
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Just a short note about my trip to Santa Fe today....It was a gorgeous, bright, sunny day and the brilliant yellow flowers along the highway made for a perfect picture frame of a day.  I arrived in good shape in a little less than 6 hours, made a few stops along the way to take pictures.  I will share those with you tomorrow.  It is midnight here and I am zonked out.  
 
Enjoy the article I've included and let's all begin to gather momentum in our daily lives.  I know for sure that I waste WAY too much time on tasks that do not matter (like checking my emails every 15 minutes).  FOR WHAT????
 
Hugs to all and remember - you make a big difference in my life so thanks for being there!!

I WARNED YOU!!!

I warned you!!   I told you from the very beginning that we weren't a good fit !!  Your  beads didn't function the way I wanted them to so this is what it's all come down to - RIP.  Now I can relax and begin another piece......

Comment

Is it possible that my site does not allow comments?  I am sure that someone is reading this at least once in a while - dontcha think???  Let me hear from you if that is the case, and I will feel like my time is worthwhile;)

Devine Designs Jewelry is having a giveaway

Check it out - http://www.etsy.com/shop/devinedesignsjewelry.

Wonderful jewelry and a great giveaway!!

My Lucky Day has arrived

This is the day I have been waiting for all week:0) My christmas gift to myself has arrived so without further adoo - on to my life in the snowy White Mountains of Arizona - I just returned from my mailbox (I could hear a little screaming voice outside and went to investigate). I opened the door and yippers, wowzie, OMGosh, guess what jumped into my waiting arms??? Well, I excitedly took this little brown square box into my studio to be opened in private because I didn't want dh to wonder what I was up to now. I carefully pulled out my box cutter, ever so precisely cutting the packing tape away from the top to reveal a beautiful card and a spot of luscious, mouth watering Ginseng Green Tea bag, just waiting to be sipped. I very quietly pulled away the packing papers and crikey----there was the most beautiful object I have ever seen, my very own inbetween ring from my dearest Jillian. The turquoise and copper are so stunning along side the very darling baubles and other stones. I purchased this last Friday, Jill mailed it on Monday and here it is on my finger Wednesday. Wow, the postal service must have known my anxiety and hand carried it all the way from Pokey to me......Jill, you are the best and I am so lucky to be able to call you my friend.....I am speaking of course, for those of you who don't know her, Jillian of thenoisyplume@etsy.com. She creates some of the most beautiful jewelry I have ever seen, check her out. Also, check out my friend Carolyn of autumnleavesjewelry@etsy.com. She also is a very talented silversmither. They are my mentors while I am busy learning the trade and I hope someday to be as proficient as they are....I will, it will just take time. Hugs to all and thank you for reading my blog. I am off to fix a cuppa tea compliments of Jillian. Sally

Ryan Martin Hoffman

It's official - Baby Boy Hoffman has been named Ryan Martin Hoffman. Born September 4, 2009, 9 lbs 2 oz, 22 inches long. A very exciting moment in the lives of Granddma and Grandpa Hoffman. We have three lovely granddaughters and now we have a very handsome grandson. We are anxious to meet him and welcome him into our arms. Wow - life is good.

The White Mountain Woman's Club Home and Garden Tour went off without a hitch today. Rain was lurking its ugly head but it never materialized - thank goodness. I was in charge of raffle tickets and the home where the bake sale was being held and it was a very big success. I also won one of the gift baskets so I felt very lucky. It was a darling basket filled with margarita mix, glasses, table cloth, napkins and other related items. We will be taking it on our trip next week.

I've missed my time in my studio the past 2 weeks due to other commitments with the WMWC. I'm happy that the pace will slow down and I can get back to my metal friends.

Everyone enjoy a safe Labor Day weekend and I'm posting some pictures of our activities over this past week.

Character is not made in a crisis, it is only exhibited - Robert Freeman

Baby Boy Hoffman

What a wonderful day this was. My son celebrated his birthday with the birth of a baby boy. He weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz - everyone is doing fine. His older sister will be 1 year old on September 8th. Do you think the parents are going to be a little busy for a few years? We can't wait to meet him.

I spent my day helping set up for the White Mountain Woman's Club Home and Garden Tour. It will be held tomorrow and we are all praying for no rain until after 4pm:) There are so many beautiful hand crated items available for sale and I'm sure they will sell fast. This is a yearly event and very well attended. All of the proceeds benefit various charities here on the mountain.

I'll update later with pictures.

Make the most of yourself for that is all there is of you - Ralph Waldo Emerson

First Flights-www.jillrutanhoffman.com

Check out this website....Our daughter-in-law, Jill Rutan Hoffman, recently published her second book and it is wonderful. We are all so proud of her. If you love flying, and who doesn't, you will love these stories. Many of them keep you on the edge of your seat wondering how they will end. Jill and I are both wives of Air Force Test Pilots and we have lived through some pretty exciting times. I'm sure that we weren't always told the "whole story" by our husbands, but sometimes that was a good thing. I encourage you to purchase and read this fantastic book and if you have children who are interested in aviation, perhaps they could someday be reliving some of these stories.

I've been busy cleaning the Pinetop home this week and will soon be sitting down in my studio to solder away. I want to finish some earrings I'm making for a friend and then I will be starting a cuff bracelet. I am waiting for my silver order as I type so maybe it will arrive tomorrow and I can begin.

The weather up here is delightful. It is certainly better than the 112 degrees we suffered through in Green Valley last week - whew!! I don't know how people can stand that heat full time.

I guess I've rambled on long enough - not much to report. Have a great week and don't forget to check out Jill's blog at www.jillrutanhoffman.com. Cheers, Sally

Hello Out There

Wow, I can't believe I haven't blogged since May 15th. It has been a busy summer and I am having a great time. I just returned from a wonderful trip to Idaho where I attended the wedding of my cousin. It was in a beautiful setting at a resort ranch, Wildhorse Creek Ranch in MacKay, Idaho. I was also able to spend some quality time with some of my cousins that I hadn't seen in almost 18 years, Where does time go? We all agreed that we would do better at keeping in touch with each other and even spoke about organizing a Wallace family reunion next year. It will be such fun getting this generation and our children/grandchildren together - some for the first time. Unfortunately, since the last Wallace reunion in 1990, we've lost many of our parents, aunts and uncles. We miss them terribly but will always remember them with big smiles. The Wallace family is always full of smiles and laughter so I look forward to getting this reunion on the road. I also spent time with my best friend from high school and the maid of honor at my wedding, Joanne. We never seem to change and I think that is about as good as it gets. She drove me all around Boise and I was able to take pictures of my previous homes - they looked as good as ever too. John and I are planning a road trip in our Airstream in August to go back to Idaho and enjoy the great outdoors it has to offer.

We've been very busy with the Pinetop house renovations this summer. John has been working right along with the contractors on the new decks, patios and stonework on the front of the garage areas. It is beautiful and we will be enjoying it for many years to come - soon. He has no trouble keeping right up with the 30 year olds so that makes him smile alot.






I had a terrific garage sale recently and made enough to purchase my last 2 big tools I've wanted for a long time - a Foredom Flexshaft Power Tool and a Smith Little Torch unit for soldering. Now I need to get busy and create some wonderful pieces of jewelry from all of this luxury. Can't wait.

I'd better sign off for now but it feels good to be back. Hugs and good soldering to all of my silversmithing friends and hugs to all. Sally

Spring is on the way

It's that time of the year again. You know, the time when all of the flowers start blooming, the birds are building nests, and the wind is blowing constantly. This all leads to one thing - allergy season. I should be dehydrated as much as I've blown my nose and wiped my tears away this past week. The good news is that it will all soon be over - I hope.

I had a wonderful trip to Santa Fe and the Interweave Beadfest. I even caught a few snowflakes on my tongue one day. We were walking from one hotel to the other and all of a sudden there was a huge snow storm.

It was so much fun to meet the instructors, authors and artists that I've interacted with for many years via the web and books. I took a wonderful workshop from Tracy Stanley - Cold Connections. It was really exciting to learn different techniques of texturing metals and combining them with several different kinds of riveting to create a fabulous bracelet. She is a delight to spend time with and a wonderful instructor. Check out her website to learn more about her

http://www.wiredarts.net/

The first picture is of Tracy, me and a new friend of mine. When we were getting settled at our tables before class started, we discovered that we were from the same town, Green Valley, Arizona. It is still small enough that we probably should have know each other before now. We are both active in the same metalsmithing and lapidary classes so go figure why we hadn't met before now. Anyway, we will be having some fun together now. The picture of the bracelet is of one of Tracy's examples because we didn't finish ours by the end of the class. It is a lot of work to put one of these together - guess that's why Tracy told us that they sell for $420.00!! If you're interested, I'll work you a killer deal though":>}

Another exciting moment for me was meeting and visiting with Susan Lenart Kazmer. For those of you who do not recognize her name, she is an explorer, inventor and maverick, according to her bio. She is the queen of cold connections and has developed techniques most would love to be able to master. Her recent book is titled Making Connections. A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed Media Artists. It is a great book to learn from and also makes a nice coffee table adornment. Susan has more energy than any ten people I know and she is a delight to watch in action. I plan to take a class from her next year but boy, the minute the classes are posted they fill up so if you are interested I have one word for you - hurry! You can check her out at the following address:

http://www.susanlenartkazmer.net/

This is a picture of Susan signing my book. What a fun time.

I was able to visit my brother and sister-in-law while attending the conference too. They live about 20 miles from Santa Fe so it was great to be able to B & B with them. Thanks so much Jerry and Sandy. I hope I can return the favor this summer up in the White Mountains of Pinetop. Of course the visit wouldn't have been complete without several shopping trips - something my sister-in-law and I have down to a science:>} She had several vintage pieces of jewelry that we (she) re-worked and a good time was had by all. My brother was happy because he was in complete control of the remote and could watch anything he wanted for an entire week........

I guess I've rambled long enough so I will sign off for now. Happy spring to everyone and have a great week. I'd love to hear from you so if you read my blog please let me know what you think of it.

It's A Wonderful Day

Hi everyone. I had a wonderful day today. I took a PMC class that I've wanted to take for quite some time. I made three pendants and can't wait to go back tomorrow to clean them up and enjoy. I am no longer afraid to work with the clay and like everything else, once you try it, the fear is gone. Another fun avenue in the roadmap of jewelry. My husband thinks I have too many toys - I think I have too little time:>} I'm going to Santa Fe next week to attend the Santa Fe Beadfest. I AM SO EXCITED. My brother and sister-in-law live there so I will take a few classes and play the rest of the time. I'm taking a class on cold connections from Tracey Stanley. It will be a blast. I'll keep you posted and send pictures along the way.

On a sad note, for those of you who have been reading my blog, my friend Jan is in Hospice tonight and has slipped into a coma. She is the friend that I took the quilt to a few weeks ago. I am so happy that I had a chance to visit with her and give her the quilt. She was so happy with the quilt. God will take good care of her, I know, but it is so hard to let go. God Bless you Jan and thanks for the wonderful memories.

The weather here is Arizona is wonderful but I won't elaborate because I know what my friends and family on the east coast are going through right now.

REMEMBER: Running around with good friends is one of life's greatest pleasures - enjoy.

Dirty Story

It's a dirty story but someone has to tell it. I was tumbling some of my finished pieces last night and when I took them out, they were blackened, like they had been dipped in LOS. I paniced and wondered to myself, "Self, did you patina a piece and forget to rinse it off before you put it in the tumbler?" I didn't think so but in my normal state of SADD,(senior attention deficit disorder:>}) I wouldn't guarantee anything. I decided to tumble another piece and see if it happened again. Sure enough, the second piece looked just the same. I knew I was going to be attending a design class today at the Lapidary Shop so decided not to panic. After all, when I go to the shop to work on something I always have more than enough advisors available:>}. After the session, I asked the main instructor if I'd done the unpardonable and was it irreversible. I had visions in my head of needing to dispose of the shot due to contamination and it is expensive to purchase and more expensive to ship so I surely didn't want that to be the case. He kind of gave me that ole SEG and asked me what color my water was. I told him it was pretty dirty and the shot was black. Ah hah he said. You haven't cleaned your shot lately have you? Nope, no one told me I had to do that......never heard of cleaning the shot. He told me to go home and either order some Shot Cleaner Fluid (from Rio) or just mix up a solution of ammonia and let the shot soak for awhile and that should take care of the problemo......I came home and followed his instructions and sure enough, the water turned black from the gunk attached to the shot and the shot is now nice and shiny. I love those experts who always seem to bail us out of trouble. I guess those are the best kinds of lessons because I will always wash my shot once a week or so to make sure this doesn't happen to me again.


On another note the design class was wonderful and I can't wait until Wednesday and Thursday when I take my PMC class. I've had some packages of PMC in my studio for months because I was afraid to open the packages. It is so expensive I was afraid I'd screw it up and waste the clay. I'm told that the main thing you have to worry about is letting it dry out so I will be very careful. Will keep you posted. My husband is back home after the weekend in Phoenix and very happy to have a steak dinner and sleep in his own bed for a change.....Gotta love them.


On another note, I came home from my class to find this little visitor on my patio, having lunch no less - yuk. In case you can't tell, it is a beautiful hawk.