Designing silver charms is one thing, making them easy to buy is another. We are constantly updating our website in search of the most user friendly experience possible. Some of the improvements are immediately obvious, as when we add videos or launch a blog, but many upgrades are made on the back end. For instance, this week we moved to a larger server, an enormous project that is invisible but will keep our site running smoothly with increasing content and visitors.
We listen closely to your comments and try to build solutions quickly. Recently, we have had requests for an Express Shopping template that would allow customers to quickly type in style numbers and quantities. We also heard that our silk cords and ribbons are tricky to order.
Snapshot of New Easy-to-Use Silk Order Form
We have already improved the silk ordering process by adding an easy to use template where you can order all your colors at once. The Express Shopping feature is almost complete.
Please let us know whenever you get frustrated or have a great idea. Our goal is to create a website that designers look forward to visiting! You can always reach us at nina@ninadesigns.com, or leave a comment on our Facebook page.
What is the most frustrating part of the Nina Designs website? What features would you like us to add?
OK, I know I wrote about our new large hole pearls last week, but I’m obsessed so I’m writing about them again! Based on this week’s orders, you like them too! Not surprisingly, the large hole white pearls are selling twice as fast as the gray peacock pearls – and who can argue with white pearls? However, I’d like to sing the praises of the gray peacock pearls. They are subtle and deep. Every pearl is unique – some with hints of cranberry, others with a bronzy shimmer – and every one is a treasure. I made the bracelet below by stringing 20 large holed peacock pearls onto chocolate deer hide lace, and then wrapped the lace around my wrist and tied a square knot.
Luscious large hole peacock pearls look urban and edgy strung on deer hide leather.
This bracelet gets it pop from unexpected contrasts: between “sweet” pearls and tough leather; the glistening luster of the pearls against the absorbing deep chocolate brown; and the smooth surface of the pearls with the supple, rugged texture of the leather. How do you incorporate contrasting elements into your jewelry designs?
Here at Nina Designs we offer literally thousands of styles of silver and gold vermeil clasps, beads, charms, pendants, earring parts, chains, and more. And, every month we roll out new styles to keep our selection fresh and innovative. Consequently, all the ladies here in the office are always oo-ing and aah-ing over their new favorite, or going on & on about why this or that finding will always be their favorite. So we thought we’d broadcast the fun in a monthly Staff Pick Blog. Enjoy!
Leave a comment telling us what your current Nina Designs favorite is for a chance to win a fabulous pair of earrings. See below for details.
Clara's Pick: S1265
Clara: I have always loved these little love knots. They look great hung on an earring wire as a simple earring, and add just the right amount of texture to necklaces and bracelets.
Anna's Pick: A816
Anna: My pick for June is this vintage key plate charm. I love the distressed finish and storybook allure. I feel as if I could peer in the mini keyhole and see a whole secret little world.
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Jewelry Marketing through social media usually focuses on Facebook and Twitter but don’t forget LinkedIn! I used to think of LinkedIn as primarily for professionals in more traditional careers but then I joined and discovered groups like Hand Crafted Jewelry and Women’s Jewelry Association. These groups provide a forum for designers to share advice on many relevant topics.
Make Connections & Market your Jewelry through LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a great way to stay in contact with people you meet at trade shows or other public events. I channel all my jewelry related contacts through Linked In and save Facebook for close friends and family. This is a nice way to balance connection and privacy.
Giving recommendations on LinkedIn is easy and most people will reciprocate. If prospective customers look you up on LinkIn and see glowing recommendations they are much more likely to place orders!
I only recently learned about one of LinkedIn’s most powerful marketing features. If you look at the Network Statistics option under the Contacts Tab on your home page you can see how many people you are connected to. I have 133 direct contacts, 15,900 2nd degree contacts and 1,451,400 3rd degree contacts. LinkedIn allows me to search and reach out to these 3rd degree connections. If I want to sell jewelry to Barney’s, I just enter the company name in the search field in the upper right corner and discover that I have a connection to a buyer at the store through someone I met while setting up our micro-loan program. I can now send this person a message asking for an introduction and advise on how to proceed. That sure beats a Cold Call! Don’t be shy, people are usually quite helpful in this setting.
Do you use LinkedIn?
The arrival of our new large hole pearls last week marked an exciting day at Nina Designs. These pearls are gorgeous: nice and chunky at between 9-10 mm, with a beautiful luster and organic potato shape. Best of all are their extra large holes! At 2.5 mm, these holes can accommodate our silk cord, our deer hide lace, and our thin chain by the foot.
We couldn’t wait to start playing: below is a bracelet made with knotted pink silk cord, white large hole pearls, and our new silver hammer finish button. We also strung the pearls on the deer hide lace for a fantastic contrast between tough leather and refined pearls – simply wrap around the wrist and tie for a very cool look. One large holed peacock pearl sliding on a delicate gold plated chain at the base of the neck is stunning. Can you tell how excited we are? What are some other ways large hole pearls might be used?
First a silver button is added to silk cord, then the silk cord is doubled. A piece of wire becomes a needle and the large hole pearls are threaded onto the silk and knotted.
Large hole pearls knotted onto a double strand of silk cord. Our new silver hammer finish button makes a great clasp!
I’m very passionate about using sterling silver jewelry findings in my designs, but I don’t like the inevitable waste that comes from snipping off a jump ring or the end of a piece of wire after creating a wire wrapped loop. There are many simple things you can do to reduce waste and recycle materials for your jewelry business or hobby. One of the things I do is collect every sterling silver scrap I create. I’ve been saving it for years to be melted down in a moment of great need. I finally decided I was ready to cash in all my snipped open jump rings, headpin ends, scraps of chain and other unusable parts. The process is very simple and a great way to reclaim some of the money you spent on your sterling silver wire and findings.
You can find many sterling silver refiners on the web. I used Rio Grande because I order other supplies from them already, and the process was a piece of cake. I printed out a form, weighed out the scrap, and waited to find out how much it was all worth. My scraps ended up being worth over $180! Now I have money to buy new materials and the piece of mind that all those unusable parts would be brought to life again, instead of simply being wasted. What do you do to reduce waste and re-use or recycle your materials?
Turn you silver scrap into cash!
After a recent silver charm brouhaha on Etsy, I realized that there is still some confusion about copyrights and what is or isn’t allowed. We design most of our products from scratch. They begin as sketches in our studio and eventually become beautiful little silver charms, pendants or findings. Our goal is to inspire you. We love it when you buy our parts and incorporate them into your jewelry. Every designer has their own style and I never cease to be amazed at the myriad ways even a simple silver link can be used to create new looks.
Using Nina Designs’ parts in your jewelry is NOT a copyright violation, nor is re-selling the parts you’ve purchased from us. However, if someone takes our silver charms to Asia, has copies made and sells them on Etsy or anywhere else, that IS a copyright violation.
If we see anyone selling copies, we take action to defend our copyrights. This protects us and it protects you, because the copies are usually cheap and shoddy. In the recent situation on Etsy, we responded to complaints from our legitimate customers when a supplier offered Nina Designs knockoffs for sale.
I hope this clears up any confusion. Any questions?
Have you had negative experiences with people copying your designs?
Lotus pendant we designed from scratch.
One of many ways to use the lotus pendant in a jewelry design.
Our hand-dyed silk cords and ribbons are so much fun to work with, but ordering them through our website could be time consuming. Well, not anymore! We’re excited to introduce a new interface for ordering multiple colors of silk cord. Now it’s easy to select all color options on one screen. No longer is it necessary to go back and forth between the cart and the silk as each individual color is selected (and with 46 colors, this required a time commitment). This new interface will make ordering silk cords and ribbons a breeze.
Nina and Leah luxuriate in a rainbow of silk cords.
And coming soon: an express shopping option for our customers that know what they want and are prepared to order by style number! We’ve heard your feedback and are working hard to upgrade our website and make shopping at Nina Designs easier and more enjoyable. Also in the works: a revision of the “recommended products” feature on the shopping cart. Your opinion matters to us. Is there something about our website that drives you crazy? What would you change if you could?
We are currently working with a group of students from San Francisco State University to obtain Green Business certification from Alameda county. The program covers solid waste, energy, water use, pollution prevention, waste-water and other general conservation efforts. As we work through the extensive check lists it is gratifying to see that we are mostly doing things right already. (We get extra credit for the flooring made from recycled tires that we installed in our order pulling area). Even so, we are adding new measures and formalizing our green practices.
A few new policies include two double sided printers and bins set next to all printers for those extra papers that get spit out. Now we can reuse them every time for printing or scratch paper. We set up a Green Team to make sure our office supplies are made from recycled materials whenever possible, to monitor bills for sudden spikes in energy or water use and to keep an eye on our daily practices like turning lights off in empty rooms and keeping trash out of the paper waste bins.
I will keep you posted on our certification progress. Right now, I need to research refillable pens and a place we can donate our old electronics to be refurbished instead of recycled…..
How do you save energy and resources?
Please keep an eye on your energy use.
Please print on both sides of papers
The deer hide lace we introduced in the Fall has been a great success! Everyone seems to love it, probably because it’s one of the softest, most supple leathers available. We’re going to add several new colors – let your opinion be heard and vote for your favorite new colors! From top left to bottom right, the colors are:
Vote for your favorite new color!
pearl
kiwi
wine
cobalt
sienna
hot pink
mahogany
Add a comment and let us know which colors are your favorites!
