Liberty - Best of British

Well as some of you may seen from my tweets @zazujewellery myself and Rob headed down to London at the crack of dawn yesterday morning to join the queue for Liberty's Open Call.

So we got up at 5:00am and left for the train station at 6:20am.
We got into London and made our way to the back of the queue which was already all round the building at 8:30am.

We knew that we would be waiting for up to 3 hours but thought it would soon fly by as each person only had 3 minutes to make their pitch.
Doors opened at 9:30am and we were indoors within 15 minutes. Thinking about how quickly we had been moving  I stupidly thought we would be in and out by 11:00 at the latest!

After another 10 minutes we had made it half way up their four storey stair case. I was starting to get a little nervous thinking I was going to get in so quickly!

I had needed the toilet since leaving the train station but thought I could wait as we were flying up these stairs. How wrong I was!

When we had got half way up the stairs a lovely member of staff kept coming down to see if there were any people pitching Home wares and Gifts. These people were being moved to the front on the queue to be seen.
This kept happening, and as the hours went by we were getting more and more fed up standing on a single step as people behind were racing their way up the queue.

When it seemed as if there were no more people from Home wares and Gifts we did start moving again. All out our neighbours were jewellery people. It was weird how we were not being moved into the final room.

We spent another good hour on the last step waiting to go through where I registered my name to see a jewellery buyer.
We got in and the staff members that were registering artists mentioned that they were just going to rush people through. It did make me feel that they just wanted the day over and done with and we were the dregs of the queue that they just wanted to get rid of!
My name got called and I went to sit with 2 buyers (not convinced they were jewellery buyers). They liked my jewellery, made positive remarks and some suggestions but did say that they would of liked to have seen the whole collection. I had bought 3 pendants from the range in 3 different finishes as they did say on the invite  only to bring a maximum of 4 things.

So I left the building feeling great that they hadn't slated me but a little down that we were rushed through at the last minute after waiting for hours.

All in all I do think that Liberty's Best of British open call is a brilliant idea but I did feel it was disorganised, although the two girls running up and down the stairs were lovely.

Maybe as they only select such a small amount of people to go through to the next round it would be better to do a bit amount of vetting on application from the designers. If they don't think your work is right on the photo's then you don't get invited. They know exactly what kind of look they want and I feel that they would end up with fewer amounts of people to see but the work is something that has taken their interest.
I think this way they will see more potential designers that are better suited to the store and then potentially more people going through to the second round.
The last thing I heard yesterday was that 12 people had been selected to go through to the second round, not a lot for the number of people that turned up.

These are what I took, sorry about the rubbish pic it was done on my mobile.

What a month!

We are only half way through the month but so much has happened, some good, some bad.

Our camping holiday to Cornwall has been booked - I cant wait. I haven't had a holiday for 3 years so it has been a long time coming. I just hope the weather is bearable!

R lost his job last Monday - not great news but he is keeping himself busy and i'm sure I have a whole host of jobs he can get on with! He is bored already so I may have to get some paint and get him decorating.

I couldn't believe it when he let me know he had lost his job, he was head hunted by someone he used to work with. He left a good job for this one and 3 months later they are laying people off.

On Tuesday I got some photography done for my new card ranges, it was a long day but so enjoyable spending time with my friend Sally Crane the photos that she has sent through so far are amazing. Here is a sneaky look!

What do you think?

On Friday I went to West Wales to see my Dad, I love going home. It is such a friendly place and I saw someone I worked with about 6 years ago which was lovely.

 I do miss the relaxed atmosphere down there and on the way to pick by sister up from the next town (20 miles away) I realised just how many people worked for themselves from their homes and workshops. There are so many talented people living down there.

August Birthstone - Peridot

The modern birthstone for August is Peridot and I have to say I love it to bits. 

This necklace has a Lapis Lazuli star with little hanging Peridots on an oxidised silver chain.

Available from my shop here

The traditional birthstone is Sardonyx, I have just launched a new range featuring Sardonyx and lava. It is still waiting to be loaded to the website though

The cabochon birthstone is Carnelian, a pretty orangy red colour as seen here

Badge Machine, Stickers & Progress

Well this week has gone so quickly and that's because there has been a lot going on.

So only 10 minutes ago did the badge machine arrive. It has been unpacked, set up and a quite try out done. Not a good image but you get an idea

So this is what I made, a 25mm badge using my Gaia Spirals design. I can also make 48mm and 58mm items. Not just badges, but magnets and mirrors too.

This cupboard was bare last week when I moved my room around but now is full of badge making components.

I have also been making stickers, daisies and butterflies. There are 12 of each in every pack. Designs vary for each pack

So what else has been happening? I have been busy designing cards which will be printed once the photography has been completed.

I have also had a couple of jewellery jobs to do. Making a single earring to replace a lost one that I sold to a lady only last month.

She also wants me to repair some earrings ready for her wedding next week and make a pair of silver cufflinks for the husband to be.

I still have another pair of her earrings to fix but there is no immediate rush for those.

Craft Room Re-Shuffle

When I first set up my craft room it was in my spare bedroom, to make room the spare bed got moved into the corner of my bedroom.

Now a little fed up of seeing the bed everyday, the fact that I end up sleeping on the sofa whenever we have guests and now that we finally have wireless internet we don't have the need for a proper study.

So I decided to move my craft room into the study, its still very much a work in progress but it gives me the time to go through all my bits and have a good clear out.

Im soon going to be getting my own giftware line which means I have to find a home for 4000 gift wraps, greeting cards and postcards!

So this is my progress so far:

The main desk is in, just waiting for a jewellers bench now

Still need to find somewhere to put the telescope and get the mahoosive printer on ebay

And still need to sort the cupboard out & the spare room, I haven't even looked in there yet!

Competition Time!

As some of you may know Zazu Jewellery is soon to be expanding into the Gift ware market.

We will be introducing cards, postcards, wrapping paper, mugs, stickers, magnets, badges and mirrors initially and then expanding even more in the near future - Exciting eh!

I couldn't have done this with out the financial and morale support of one very generous person. You know who you are so thank you very much.xxxx

Before we get onto the competition we have 8 packs of our initial sample gift tags for sale. They will be £3 including postage for 10 instead of 5! Just get in touch if you are interested.

Right, competition time........

As I mentioned above we are going to be making stickers, and these are some that we have been playing around with. In the shape of daisy's. They will however come in many shapes and sizes and want to make them for various uses so everyone can enjoy them.

Now all you have to do to win some of these fab stickers is to leave us a comment and tell us what kind of things you would use stickers for and if for decoration what shapes and colours. There will be 10 lucky winners.

Good luck.

xxx

Zazu Needs You!

I have been thinking for a long time about introducing a giftware range to the business. This will tie back to the jewellery by using my beads and jewellery as the focus.

One slight problem though is funding. Unfortunately as I am not a big shop nor turning over 10s of thousands of pounds each year people (banks) do not take me seriously.

I have found a site that enables me to raise money through the help of the general public and  in my case as a thank you, each investor will receive products from the new giftware ranges. You will be the official reviewers for these products and only once you are happy with them will they be made to be sold.

The investments will be from as little as just £5.00 and I really would love it if you could join me in growing this new product range.

I will let you know step by step what progress is being made and what the next steps will be.

If you have any money to spare in return for some lovely goodies please do bear me in mind.

The website is: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/investment/zazu-jewellery-think-outside-the-box-265

If you have any questions please do get in touch with me.
My email is: chloe@zazu-jewellery.co.uk

Thank you
Chloe
xxx