Launch Party! And some musings on Black Friday

After years of constantly bumping it down my to-do-list, I found it time to admit that I would never have the dedicated "free time" to launch a website. Instead, I'd just have to do it anyways. 

So finally… THE WEBSITE IS LIVE! This has been a labor of love, (and an exercise in the perils of perfectionism.) I’m so excited to put this out in the world, and would be THRILLED for you to let me know what you think.

To celebrate, use code: LAUNCHPARTY2021 for 10% off.

I’ve been hard at work adding new pieces, better photography, and clearer descriptions to make this site easy and exciting to use. It’s nice to have my own space to expand and explore, and share more of my story and values.

• Convenient shopping filters and collections
• Past work and info on custom designs
• My story as a maker and brand
• Our values as a business!
• More blog posts coming soon!

Lastly, what’s a launch without a launch party? To celebrate the new website (and escaping the wrath of Etsy fees), we launched with a sale.

And TBH, I have some feels about it:

I really debated whether to do a sale this year, and to be honest, this may be the last sale of this sort I will offer. I’ve been thinking deep on whether I want to perpetuate the idea of small businesses needing to offer sales to keep up with big-business expectations. I don’t. (But… I do want to celebrate launching my website).

I try my best to keep my prices as low as I can year-round, yet I still know fine jewelry is expensive. In that discomfort, I end up cutting out my own wages in order to make the price more "friendly." Which isn't sustainable. 

Black Friday is built on the idea that greedy retailers are taking big mark-ups, and you, the clever shopper, can avoid those with great deals. But for small businesses, the truth is that we don’t have big margins. Most of us are barely making margins, trying to balance valuing the labor of handmade, against the bottom-line price tags of big-box.

In the past year, I’ve definitely had to become more confident with my pricing, and acknowledging that the price of my work has to actually value my labor, not give it away for free. Asking for money is scary and hard, but I have to remind myself: So are the hours I spend consulting clients, testing and revising designs, sourcing fine materials and expensive equipment, making jewelry, photographing work…. on and on.

Fortunately, moving away from Etsy was a big step in escaping heavy fees, and I'm passing the extra savings on to you this weekend! While I'm grateful for that platform, it constantly places amazon-like demands on its makers, forcing us to raise prices to cover their enormous fees, mandatory free shipping, and otherwise play their game or be threatened by lower priority. Designing my own site also gives me the room to be more transparent about my items, materials, and values, and share a bit more of my story.

All in all, I've made room to grow. I hope you enjoy the journey too. <3