Faceting Lessons from Tom Mitchell

Tom Mitchell is a faceting instructor who teaches at his Studio, www.mitchelljewelrystudio.com,Faceting Lessons in The Villages, FL, as well as at William Holland School of Lapidary Arts, http://lapidaryschoolregistration.org, in Young Harris, GA. He teaches classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced faceters.

In his Studio, he can teach up to two students at a time. He offers a two-day class for $250.00 or a five-day class for $450.00. Classes are from 9am until 5pm with a break for a complimentary gourmet lunch. Tom provides a kit, included in the cost of the class. It includes his workbook on faceting, “Faceting 1, Learn the Fine Art of Gem Faceting, It’s Easy”, the faceting lessonsstudent’s first stone, a polishing lap and other useful items.

At William Holland, classes are five 1/2 days, Sunday evening until Friday afternoon. To register for these classes go to http://lapidaryschoolregistration.org, click on “2025 Digital Catalog” to find the dates that Tom teaches classes in 2025. A large variety of lapidary classes are available for a tuition of $625.00 per week, including accommodations, the class, tools and materials and three meals per day. The teachers are unpaid volunteers, so a lab fee is collected by each teacher to pay for their unique materials, tools and supplies. Tom provides a lab kit of $65.00 for beginners or $90. for advanced faceters.

If you already own a faceting machine, Tom encourages you to bring your machine to class, so that you can learn the idiosyncrasies of your own machine.

Selling Crafts from A Booth Part 2

Craft Table Display Options

• Tables at most vendor shows are 8ft long and 3-4 ft wide. Most shows require coverings down to the floor on all sides, so here is our resource for table covers in various colors of washable polyester, that are stitched and fitted, but stretch to wrap snuggling around these tables: www.tableclothfactory.com These cloths wash beautifully and never need ironing (not happening here).

• Display your merchandise in an easily viewed manner, ideas are available on Pinterest: display design. For locking glass cases we recommend: arizonacase.com These give you reassurance if you have to leave your display overnight, but we highly recommend participating in vendor shows that provide security at night.

• Provide a hand mirror, always. Yes, others are always borrowing ours…

• Business card holders with your cards readily available and plentiful, be creative here too. Have holders that thematically relate to your products.

• Plastic bins to store and transport your shop display items, but not bins so large that you struggle to lift them. Also a handtruck will be needed frequently.

• Lighting Fixtures: Remember that you are probably far from adequate lighting and your merchandise would benefit from this. Ask around to other vendors and take photos of displays you feel would be within your budget and expertise to assemble. You’ve got to set-up and take down your shop for a show usually within 3-5 hours. Read contracts carefully to be prepared for what electrical hook-ups a show provides to individual booths. We have been very pleased with our Show Off Lighting LED lights that don’t generate extra heat. www.showofflighting.com

Venues for Vendor Booth Selling

• Club Shows are venues organized by groups with particular interests. Do an Internet search of topics of your interest. You will find organizations and clubs and then dive deeper to find shows that provide vendor booths for selling, demonstrations, door prizes, etc. Visit shows in your area to scope out the current scene and ask vendors questions, like: Has this been a good show for you? Have you enjoyed this show location? Are customers buying today? Vendors may not want to hear that you want to be a part of the show and present competition, so direct your inquires about participating as a vendor to the organizers, who will probably be happy to provide information to you. But be prepared to provide a business card, to indicate that you are a serious business. Cost for renting a booth space vary, depending on the venue environment itself, its location and popularity.

• Bazaars, pop ups, trunk shows, church events, community events are other venues available. Watch out for these in your local newspaper.

• Event Planner Venues- usually pricier than small businesses may want to tackle at first. Some concerns here are requirements to use union labor movers to transport your show materials, parking fees, required rentals of equipment and electrical hook-up charges, etc, etc. A Home Show we participated in charged $50. per each folding chair, $500. for electrical hook-up, on and on…A commitment for a series of shows may be required. Many of these planned events are outdoors. This requires vendor booth tents, lighting, generators. Just travel behind the scenes at any outdoor show and see the realities.

Profits and Expenses

• Business profit after expenses will depend on several factors: Desirability of your merchandise, popularity and traffic level of the show location, number of days per year devoted to booth selling, etc. But…you probably won’t have paid employees, health insurance and workers comp insurance costs, and other brick and mortar business expenses, such as local business licenses, etc.

• Free feedback from your customers can provide needed business improvements and inspiration. Observe your buyers and provide information, demos, anecdotes to entertain them and encourage sales, but don’t give away merchandise, it’s valuable and you worked hard to create it.

Business Practices in Selling Hand Crafted Goods

• Value Your Craft Creations and put a commensurate price on them. These are handcrafted items, not mass produced by machines. Calculate the price of an item by labor + materials + profit margin. Have a general sense of what the local traffic will bear before you price your creations too. Do research online, at vendor shows, see prices other vendors offer for similar items. Etsy.com, artfire.com and even Handmade at Amazon are resources. Are you including sales tax in the item price or are you adding sales tax at point of sale? A traveling business that goes from one county to another will find different sales tax rates in each. Some venues also have a city sales tax to be collected and reported. Oh boy…At point of sale you can also consider discounts and sale merchandise. These are positive perks for customers that may be on a budget. In our experience, venues that require an admission charge will usually provide motivated customers who are buying something, just encourage them to buy from you.

• Educate Customers be prepared to explain how something is contructed, what materials are used, ways of wearing or using the merchandise. Demonstrating some aspect of your craft brings the curious from all around you and starts a conversation. Besides your business cards, display flyers of your crafts’ interest groups and encourage new participants. Give away old craft magazines, sell used craft making books too!

• As a professional photographer, I have designed all of our business cards, flyers, online social media presence and I would be happy to help you also. www.judysphotocreations.com

Business Card Back by Judy Mitchell, www.judysphotocreations.com

Business Card Front by Judy Mitchell, www.judysphotocreations.com

Selling Crafts from A Booth Part 1

As a jewelry design and gem faceting company for 10+ years, Tom Mitchell and I have learned a few things and wanted to share these tips with those who want to sell, but don’t want to have a brick and mortar location or don’t have the time to spend at a retail location 24/7. Vendor booth selling is an alternative that retailers round the world use to sell their wares. Of course it does involve preparing ahead by signing contracts, sending deposits and planning lodging if you are far from home. Packing, unpacking and storage of merchandise and display essentials need to be anticipated. Are you up for this?

Essentials/Options for A Business

More often lately, show venues require that you validate your business by presenting a Tax ID certificate, which requires that you collect sales taxes, and report your collections to the state of your residence. As of this writing, collecting taxes on customer purchases generated online is required for sales within your state.

• We have also applied for a “Ficticious Name Registration” in the state of Florida, another possible requirement in your state of residience. Here is the link in Florida: https://www.floridaregistrations.org/dba-forms.html. Florida has a new business start-up Guide at this link: http://floridarevenue.com/dor/business/newbusiness startup.html The annual resale tax certificate link is: http://floridarevenue.com/taxes/taxesfees/Pages/annualresale certificate sut.aspx

• Website Options: Domain name (registered) www.godaddycom is only one choice, but they do have other services, so shop around. Websites are available to be creative from many resources. Review your options by watching some YouTube videos on this subject. Keep in mind that you will have to do the creating, editing and updating, unless you hire a developer to do this as a one-time fee. But then you aren’t able to update the website, as you may want to. An online storefront, as we have here is an additional area of challenge, depending on how involved you wish to go. Facebook and Instagram are now offering live video selling options that may be a way to deal with overstocks and dated merchandise. instagram.com/instgramlive/ A business page on Facebook and Instagram can also enlarge your social media footprint.

• Accounting software: Yes, well, it can get complicated to learn this area, if you are not an accountant, but some websites have apps that provide support in this area, and some softwares are friendlier than others. We use Sage and I’m learning nuances each day.

• Business cards: Check out this expense at your local UPS store. Not only can they help design these, but the glossy finishes available currently are classy. Vistaprint.com and Avery.com can also provide this resource. You can save your design, update and reorder too. vistaprint.com/category/business-cards.aspx

• Accepting multiple forms of payment makes it easiest for your customers, so having a bridge service to process your customer purchases is recommended. This is an Internet connected service to verify credit cards, take cash or check payments, gift cards, determine sales tax charges, all in a few moments. We recommend www.squareup.com that we have used proudly for 12+ years. They have a very friendly transaction system that we love. We get positive customer feedback and they only charge when a transaction is made, no monthly fee. Your money is deposited in your bank account in a timely manner too.

• Inexpensive cash boxes are available at Walmart, but be sure to have small change, and small bills for those cash sales.

• Keep a small pocket calendar in your car/truck glove box to record your mileage for a business expense. Each year this figure changes, but, just Google the current one: business mileage expense.

Tomoka Gem and Mineral Society Show, Volusia County Fairgrounds, Florida, four show tables, plus one “back table” not shown.

Faceting Gems Guru Guidance

Because of the corona virus pandemic, Tom and Judy Mitchell have not been able to teach and attend their favorite jewelry school: William Holland School of Lapidary Arts, in Young Harris, Georgia. The school is closed this year during the pandemic, but will reopen in April of 2021. www.lapidaryschoo.org

Tom’s faceting classes will not be available for students until next year, but one-on-one guidance and questions are always available. How about planning a Zoom meeting with Tom to show off your designs and review methods and procedures? Just send us an email so we can arrange a time for you on the MJS Faceting Gems Channel on Zoom, or to contact us on Facetime to get hands on help while you work. Each faceters request will be mailed a free gift from MJS!

info@mitchelljewelrystudio.com

Tom has used his Stay At Home time to work on a new faceting book, the title has not yet been created. The new book will cover many subjects that concern faceting students, advanced techniques and details about best practices. His current faceting book is in its Fifth edition and is available as a hardcopy or as a download, right here at MJS! https://www.mitchelljewelrystudio.com/our-bling/faceting-1-learn-the-fine-art-of-gem-faceting-its-easy-1

Download book copy link is: https://www.mitchelljewelrystudio.com/our-bling/faceting-1-learn-the-fine-art-of-gem-faceting-its-easy

A tool Tom has created and a must for faceters is the Sticky Dop. See a video on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-0kaH5Ms-s&t=3s

Buy one or more from our online store: https://www.mitchelljewelrystudio.com/our-bling/sticky-dop Another important tool from MJS is the stone holder, which we have is several sizes and colors. https://www.mitchelljewelrystudio.com/our-bling/mjs-tools This link has other tools of importance to faceters as well.

Joining the USGS, United States Faceters Guild provides faceters with another resource on the Forum. It’s for faceting techniques, questions and guidance as well.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/109590169134405/

Is It Real Jade?

Lavender jade is a stone of the angels.  it provides spiritual nourishment to all who touch or even gaze upon it!  These loving lavender jade earrings are in our online store at: https://www.mitchelljewelrystudio.com/our-bling/rectangular-natural-stone-earrings

How do you spot real jade from fake?

Jade is a beautiful stone that comes in many colors; green, orange and white are most common.  Only jadeite and nephrite jade are considered authentic jade.  The most expensive and desirable jadeite (Burmese jadeite, Burma Jade, Imperial Jade, or Chinese Jade) comes from Myanmar(formerly Burma), but small quantities are mined in Guatemala, mexico and Russia.  75% of the world's jade come from mines in British Columbia in the form of nephrite.  it is also mined in Taiwan, the United States and in small amounts, Australia.

Imitation Jade

Serpentine - "new Jade" or "Olive Jade"

Prehnite

Aventurine quartz

Grossular garnet (Transvaal jade)

Chrysophrase (Australian jade, most from Queensland, Australia)

Maw sit sit, also known as jade-albite, is a gemstone found exclusively in northern Burma. ... Maw sit sit is technically a rock rather than a mineral. It is composed of several different minerals, including kosmochlor (also known as ureyite), varying amounts of chromium-enriched jadeite, and albite feldspar.

Malaysia Jade (permanently dyed translucent quartz that may be called by its color-Red Jade, yellow Jade, Blue Jade)

Opaque dolomite marble (Mountain jade"- from Asia, dyed in vibrant colors)

Hold It Up To The Light

If possible , examine the internal structure with a 10x loupe.  Can you see little fibrous or granular, felt-like, asbestos-like intertwinings?  If so, it's probably genuine nephrite or jadeite.  Chrysophase on the other hand, is microcrystalline, so it'll look homogenous.

*If you see something resembling layers with the 10x loupe, you're probably looking at jadeite that's been "doubled" or even "tripled" (thin layer of gem quality jadeite sometimes glued over a different base).

More details and tests can be found at:

ww.howcast.com/videos/398342-How-to-Tell-Real-Jade-from-Fake

http://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-Jade-Is-Real

Large Knuckles, Small Fingers!

There are many reasons why our knuckles become large or swollen.  These may include certain drugs, arthritis and growing older.  Unfortunately our rings don't adjust to these conditions.  Our precious keepsakes sit in a jewelry box, or safe unable to give us the pleasure of wearing them because we can't fit them over our enlarged knuckles or the rings slip around our fingers, facing the wrong direction and causing discomfort.  Also, removing a ring may have become difficult because of these conditions.

Rings can be altered to accommodate these changes.  Mitchell Jewelry Studio doesn't do these repairs, but here are some resources for you.

First, here is a link that describes some of the common causes of swollen knuckles:

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-common-causes-of-knuckle-swelling.htm

Next, here is a link describing some ways to remove the ring:

http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-a-Stuck-Ring

If the ring travels around the finger too freely causing discomfort, maybe some ring beads may stablize it? Here's a google page full of examples of these ring beads:  https://www.google.com/search?q=ring+sizing+beads&sa=X&rlz=1C1SFXN_enUS498US504&es_sm=122&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=Eoi9U6GsMNayyATq_IGgDQ&ved=0CBwQsAQ&biw=1532&bih=754

Finally, here are some resources for manufacturers of ring locks. The lock opens to place the ring on a finger over a large knuckle, then closes and locks the ring in place.  The original ring must be altered to accept a new shank that includes a clamp or locking mechanism, but opinions vary on the best choice of ring locks.  The following links are to the manufacturers websites, or to a YouTube video critical of one of these locks:

http://ringlock.com/ringlockrings.htm                

http://www.doublesnaprings.com/

http://fingermate.com                                        

http://superfitinc.com

YouTube video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v+sUpggCqSXek

Mitchell Jewelry Studio hopes you find these resources helpful.