Cayucos Sea Glass Festival 2012

Early Friday morning, 6:30 to be exact, Steve and I left Palm Springs and headed for Los Angeles where we would leave our standard poodle, Dylan, with Steve's parents for the weekend.  We then headed north to Cayucos for the second annual Cayucos Sea Glass Festival.  After eight hours of driving, we rolled into the small beach town around 3:30.  We checked into our hotel, then headed down to the Veterans' Hall at the end of the pier - where the festival would be held.

The organizers, Kiki, Leila, and Carol, (sorry I don't know the names of the others), were having a mixer for the vendors.  It was a fun event with food and music.  The mixer was a chance to reconnect with old friends and make new ones. We also had a chance to locate our spot and set up our display pieces.  Since the two tables were already covered with white table cloths, we decided not to use our black ones.  After setting up our display, we headed off to the hotel and went to bed early as the next day the clock would switch to Daylight Savings Time and we'd lose an hour.  The time change can really throw you off.  I would be tired for the next two days.  

Bright and early, and I mean early, 7:30, we headed back to the hall to set out our jewelry.  During the night, we'd decided that we needed to use our black table cloths because the white ones were short and we wanted to hide the boxes under the tables.  So off came the displays, on went the black cloths and then on with the displays again.  All around us, people were setting up their booths and chatting and drinking coffee. It was a fun atmosphere.  It takes us a long time to set up because all of our jewelry is in individual plastic bags to keep the silver from tarnishing.  Finally, after a couple of hours we had the tables set up.  

As you can see above, there are a lot of pieces to remove from bags.  At the end of the show, all these pieces go back in their bags.  Time consuming, to say the least.  

As we were setting up, we could see out the windows a line of customers forming.  Every time, I looked the line was longer.  Eventually, the line stretched out of sight and down the pier.  I didn't know whether to be excited or scared.  At ten, the doors opened and a crowd of people surged into the room.  

The crowds continued to come all day which was great.  We were so busy, we didn't have time for lunch or a break.  We didn't care, we were happy selling our jewelry and talking to people.  The event had been so well publicized that people came from as far away as Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Solvang, Los Angeles. The first day was a total success.  When the day came to an end at five o'clock, we were happy and exhausted and hungry.  We met our friends, Victoria and Ken, who also had a booth at the festival.  Victoria also has a shop on Etsy called Victoria Roberts Sea Glass Jewelry.   

We decided to go to the Sea Shanty restaurant for dinner which, unbeknownst to us, is owned by one of the organizers - Carol Kramer and Bill Shea.  Great food at the Sea Shanty and highly recommend it if you are in Cayucos.  http://www.seashantycayucos.com/  

The second day of the festival started off slow, then really picked up as the day went on.  We didn't sell as much as the first day, but it was still profitable and we were very happy with our sales.  When the doors closed on the festival on Sunday night at four, we were tired and my legs hurt from standing for two days, but we were still ready to go have some fun.  We hooked up with another vendor, Don the Beachcomber and Joan the surfer and went back to the Sea Shanty for another meal.  Don and Joan had a booth in the tent outside with a few other vendors like the sisters from Relish who traveled from Erie, PA to be in the show.  And Margaret of Adornment.  

Monday, we drove back to the desert - glad we'd been included in the Cayucos Sea Glass Festival.  We'd written some special orders that needed to be created and we were looking forward to getting back to the workroom.  

This is a picture of one of our new necklaces that we previewed at the show.  Rose gold chain with a side drilled sea foam green sea glass piece.  Dainty and delicate.  

You can find us at Etsy or at our new website SistersJewelryDesigns.com 

Ways to Promote Your Jewelry

As you've read in this blog, we've been selling our sea glass jewelry at art fairs and festivals. We've also been selling them on the web at Etsy. Etsy is a large website that hosts stores for artisans, suppliers and vintage sellers. Etsy is an easy way to get your product for sale on the web as they provide the website, simple steps to get started and also a check out/buying cart. I would recommend Etsy to artisans just getting started on the web. You a can see our Etsy store at http://sistersjewelrydesign.etsy.com/

Okay, so we are on the internet, but how do people hear about us? Find us? Well, at festivals, we give out our cards which list our Etsy site. We list our site on all our emails underneath our names. This is advertising and a way to promote our sea glass jewelry, but it isn't enough to just be on the internet. The internet is HUGE, so we have to do things to promote our site. First, we joined liked minded sites to promote our Etsy store like Facebook - you can see my Facebook page of Sisters Jewelry Design at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sisters-Jewelry-Design/328818121698 there you can like our page and tell others about us. Also I joined a site that promotes Etsy artists called "We Love Etsy," http://etsylove.ning.com/ This ning site gives you a home page where you can talk to other artists and/or advertise your work with pictures and comments - like - "hey, look what I just created." We also pay for a small site on Handmade Spark which is a marketing service for people on Etsy. What I like about Handmade Spark is you can find everything we are doing in one place, ie., blogging, shop, twitter etc. You can click on this following url to go see my site on Handmade spark -http://www.handmadespark.com/myspark/SistersJewelryDesign

Here is a badge they give to you to put on your sites then you click on the sign and off you go to my advertising site. There are other sites to promote your website/store on the web and just a few are Linkedin, Stumbleupon, Handmade Artist Hangout and more. You can twitter about your jewelry - promote your work! There are so many ways to promote your art on the web even this blog is a way for me to share and PROMOTE our sea glass jewelry.

You can spend hours promoting your work on the web or you can hire other people to do it for you. You can spend money on Google ads, we haven't done the ads yets because I want to have a website first. Hours and money can be spent on advertising.

We've also tried a few unconventional ways to promote our sea glass jewelry. My sister Shirley belongs to several charities and is often called to help decorate or set up an auction, a dinner, a lunch. Recently, she was involved in a charity where you buy a table and invite friends. Well, often when you buy a table at an event you can decorate it the way you want! Shirley decided to do a center piece of sea shells and our sea glass jewelry. Here are a couple of pictures of the table (sorry about dimness of photo).

Note how the sea glass necklace on a card lays over the napkin or is tied around a star fish.

One man at the table did take a necklace home by mistake - his wife called Shirley the next day to say they had her necklace. Our jewelry wasn't for sale at the event, but everyone at the table got a good look at some of our pieces. You never know when someone needs a gift and will remember something they saw recently - like our sea glass jewelry. You can also contribute a piece of your art to a charity for auction which is a great way to promote your product.

Another way, we advertise our jewelry is by having it in a case at Shirley's Travel agency. The case filled with jewelry sits on a side table and above the case hangs a picture of sea glass jewelry. Sometimes, someone takes a look and/or even buys a piece. Here are a couple photos of Shirley's set up -

The above ideas are just a few ways we are trying to promote our sea glass jewelry. It is an ongoing learning process. We'd love to hear from you readers if you have any suggestions.

Stay tuned as next we tackle creating our own website!

Santa Cruz Sea Glass Festival 2011

Krista Hammond's Booth Santa Cruz Sea Glass

Krista Hammond's collection of Sea Glass

The first weekend of November 2011, found Steve and I heading up to Santa Cruz, California, for the Santa Cruz Sea Glass Festival hosted by Krista Hammond at the Cocoanut Grove on the boardwalk.  This would be our second time attending the festival.  We were excited and the long drive didn't really bother us.  After checking into our hotel, we headed to the Cocoanut Grove - www.cocoanutgrovesantacruz.com .  

At the Grove, we found our space and quickly set up displays.  We would keep the jewelry with us and set it the following morning.  We strolled the room and met up with some other sea glass artists that we'd met at other shows like Joan the Surfer and Don The Beachcomber.  Here's a picture of Joan setting up their booth.

Joan setting up Don The Beachcomber Booth

Joan is a really fun person and I'd met her up at the Fort Bragg Festival earlier in the year.  At Santa Cruz she gave me a sea glass marble which I cherish as I've yet to find one myself.  


The next morning we arrived early and started laying out our sea glass jewelry.  The room was a buzz with artists setting up.  Here are a few pictures of vendors getting ready for the day.

Beach Glass Bingo Artists 

Lewis Jewelry

Kira and a friend

Kira and Gary Ruvo have been sea glass friends for awhile and we love seeing them.  You can find Gary's work at  www.theglasscrafter.com    Gary is a very talented silversmith and both Steve and I are in awe of his work.   Kira is a talented graphic artist and sea glass beachcomber.  She has found wonderful sea glass including vaseline glass which you use a black light to see the colors.  This year, Kira created a beachcombing kit which sold well.  She also had her sea glass puzzles which are really fun.  


There were 35 amazing sea glass artists at the festival this year.  And here are a few pictures of some of the artists with their displays -

Joyce of Jewelry By Joyce Chadderdon

Victoria Roberts' Angels

We met Victoria up in Fort Bragg earlier in the year.  I love her sea glass angels.  So pretty.  You can find Victoria's creations on Etsy.  


On one side of our booth was Mary Jessen who sold handmade soaps.  We talked a lot between customers and I found out that she owns her own farm and raises many of the herbs and flowers used in her soaps.  Here is a link to Mary's site where she sells her soaps, and much more - www.Deerhavensoap.com .  

Victoria Roberts at Mary's booth

Now for a few shots of our booth - Sisters Jewelry Design -

Earring Board and necklaces

The other side of booth with pendants and necklaces

Closeup of Shirley's Crochet Necklaces

It was a fun weekend.  We sold a lot of sea glass jewelry, saw some old friends and made some new ones.  We had planned to eat out every night with some other sea glass vendors, but both Friday and Saturday nights everyone, including us, were too tired to make a party.  Krista Hammond who put on the festival treated everyone to appetizers on Saturday night which everyone enjoyed.  Steve and I ended up alone for dinner all weekend, but hey, that was good too.  Twice we ate at the FireFish Restaurant on the pier.  The seafood was excellent - try them if you are in Santa Cruz - firefishgrill.net    Monday, we were back on the road heading to Palm Springs.  

Next we decide to create a web page of our own.  Will we hire someone?  Or try to create a website on our own?  Come back to find out what we learn and what we do.  

Click on side with pictures of our sea glass to go to our Etsy website.  

Bend Art Festival - Don't Quit

From Ashland, Oregon, we traveled to Sunriver, Oregon near Bend. We had a few days on the river before the weekend art festival in Bend, so we took advantage of the free time and went fishing on the Deschutes River which flowed right outside the cabin. Steve was in heaven, he could fish all day and into the night which he did. Sometimes, you have to leave the jewelry making behind and just relax in nature. It is Shirley and Pat's cabin and they came up to the river on Thursday with our Mother Jane in tow. Two of Shirley's kids came over to the cabin too and we all had a fun dinner laughing and talking to family - a big part of what Sisters Jewelry Design is all about. I've mentioned in earlier posts that Shirley and I started our company as way to spend more time together doing something we love - collecting sea glass and making jewelry.


On Friday afternoon, July 8th, we headed into Bend, a half hour drive from Sunriver, to set up our booth. If festival organizers give you an afternoon before the festival to set up, do it as it will save you time and aggravation on the day of the festival. And we got there right on time, as we'd just had the experience of being late to set up in Ashland (see earlier post). We got to the street, found our spot and pulled the SUV into the lane to unload. It was tricky as the there were booths running down both sides of the road and in the middle. We had a middle space. Needless to say, there was a lot of careful driving between the booths already set up and anxious vendors yelling "don't get to close to my table, etc."

Here is a shot of a bench sculpture that is at the corner where we'd turn in to set up our booth.

And here is a picure of the street where we set up our booth. Our booth is the fourth one down in the middle. This picture gives you and idea how close the booths were. Because, we were in the middle of the street, we set up using only the two sides of the tent that connected with the other tents, so customers could walk through the tent. The walk through idea is good in that no matter which side people walk they can enter from either side. The bad or downside of this type of set up is that often people just cut through your space to get to the other walkway. In the future, if posssible, I'd prefer to have a space on either side and not in the middle. There are pros and cons for either placement.

Here is a shot of Steve looking down the street from our tent.


It was a bright sunny day and it got hotter as the day progressed, which is another reason to worry about where your booth is placed. Sometimes, you don't get to choose where your booth is situated, but if you have the choice take into account - weather, foot traffic, light If you are indoors, you'll notice that people enter and usually turn right so a good spot for your tables would be to the right of the door. We watch the flow of traffic and are still trying to figure this all out. There is psychology behind how people move through a room or down a street. Think long and hard about product placement.


Here is a shot looking through our tent.

As you looked through our tent to the other side you could see a vendor playing a long guitar and selling cd's. I don't know what it is but we can't seem to get away from these music men. This man was nicer, but after two days of listening to his music all day long it got old. The first time, he took a break, I thought great, a little quiet, but then he loaded his cd into a player and we got more music. I don't want to ever hear "Greensleeves," again or "Free Bird." Also crowds would gather in front of his booth blocking the walkway which did little to let traffic into our booth. Here is a picture of my mother Jane and Shirley's husband Pat - in the background you can see the music vendor. Bend was a two day art festival that covered four blocks of art, crafts, stores and food. And the days were long, going until 7 at night. After the first long day and without many sales, we thought about not coming back for Sunday's sale. It had been really hot and really discouraging. As we drove back to the cabin at Sunriver, we talked for ten minutes about quitting , then for the next twenty minutes we talked about why we should go back on Sunday - we were there, we'd paid for two days and sales might get better.

Sunday dawned bright and early. We were out the door by 6:15 and heading into Bend. It was going to be another hot day. After setting up our displays again, we took turns going to Starbucks for coffee. We talked to other vendors and looked at other people's wares. There were some really fine artists at the festival. I wanted to buy a copper salmon sculpture, but Steve pointed out that we hadn't sold enough to cover the cost. I ended up buying a photograph of a river scene in Oregon from the vendor across from us. Then we got down to business. Again, the sun started to beat down without mercy. There were lots of people, but mostly lookey-loos. By lunchtime, we were discouraged again, having made only one sale. Shirley was still smiling, but she was no longer standing. The day trudged on with a few people saying they'd come back. You hear that a lot, but don't count on it. Our boredom was high. We talked Steve into watching the booth and Shirley and I walked the blocks then stopped for an icy blended drink. We ate cookies, we talked on the phone - anything to make the time go faster. Finally, around 4:30 a young woman came into our booth, she'd visited earlier. Well, now she was ready to buy. She bought a sea glass pendant and then her mother arrived and she bought one too. They had barely left the booth when another woman with her daughter came into the booth and started buying and buying and buying. She wanted gifts to give all of her girls and some friends too. She bought pendants and necklaces. She bought more in that last hour than we'd sold Saturday and all of Sunday. She made our day which is why I've titled this piece "Don't Quit." Sometimes, you have to wait to the very end to make sales. And sometimes, those lookey-loos do come back after seeing everything else at the festival. So don't quit when the going gets tough. Sea glass pendants - one in sterling, one in gold filled wire. On top a sea glass necklace with sterling wire wrapped pendant. You can find us on Etsy at ttp://sistersjewelrydesign.etsy.com/

Lesson Learned - A Mean Music Man

July 4, 2011 found us at the Ashland, Oregon Art Festival in Lithia Park. Yes, we did this festival last year. Not a big money maker, but we like the setting and the people - at least we did until this year. Or I should say, we like the people, except for one busybody vendor and a mean Music Man.

We got to the park a little late, but still early enough to unload and get the car out before the 8:00 deadline of moving the car. Drove right up to our assigned space, the same one we'd had last year, jumped out and stopped dead in our tracks. There was a scruffy young man with an odd looking modified guitar, amplifiers, tables and chairs in our space. Shirley walked up to the Music man and introduced herself, then pointed out that he was in our space - a space we'd paid for and reserved. He went into a story about how he'd traded spaces with another vendor up the line and her space was next to ours, but since we weren't there, he'd taken it upon himself to take our space. About this time, this older woman vendor-busybody comes along all smiles and cheerily tells us that she "thought" it would be fine to let the Music Man have our space.

Well, it wasn't fine with us. We wanted our space and we wanted him to move down the row to the space he'd exchanged with the busybody vendor. Well, he wasn't about to move - telling us that up the line, further into the park, there were a lot of spaces and we could go there. Everyone was getting angry. Finally, an official from the festival came and she tried to calm everyone down and offered us a two space spot further up. Shirley and I didn't want to go up the line of vendors as we wanted our spot. Steve stepped in and said, "Let's move up there." I could tell Steve was upset and he would get more upset if he had to spend the day next to the Music Man. So reluctantly, we moved our stuff up the line. In the meantime, while we were talking to the official, the Music Man slipped off and hid making it impossible to get him to move.

A couple of days later, we learned from a friend that they hadn't walked all the way up the line of vendors, but had turned around where we had our booth the year before. We could understand as it was a hot day and after the parade and walking up past food booths, some people in the park didn't check out all the booths. Lesson learned - don't get to the festival late - get there early to make sure no one takes your spot. (I am glad we didn't have to spend the day next to the Music Man as later when I walked by he was playing some sort of musak on his modified guitar and I'm not sure I'd classify it as music.) Our booth ended up being across from the hat vendor - nice people who did a brisk business. We set up our tables and took up two spaces as we were assigned.

Here we are looking a bit frazzled after setting up the booth. It was early and the sun hadn't hit our side of the park at this point. Later we would wish we were still in the shade. Shirley sold some of her sea glass pendants.

And I sold some of my sea glass earrings -

So all in all, it was a good show - despite learning a hard lesson from a mean Music Man. Next, we are off to an art Festival in Bend, Oregon where we meet up with another fellowing playing and selling his music.


Please check out our store on Etsy at http://sistersjewelrydesign.etsy.com/ for more sea glass jewelry.