Nice Gems Shame About The Pics and Prices

This article in the Shropshire Star, lured me over to Julieann Beads (Handmade Glass Bead and Gemstone Jewellery) website this afternoon. I landed at the home page and thought how professional the design looked and the showcased pieces looked gorgeous. Unfortunately, things went downhill from there.

This kind of thing really bugs me. So, in a break from previous form, I am going to review the website NOT the jewellery.

My first gripe is that I couldn't trackdown the pieces so graceful splayed across the homepage. Frustratingly, the images are not clickable. Are these current pieces and for sale or not? And, if not, why show them?!

Undeterred, I set about finding them. And, that's when the my initial enthusiasm faded fast.



Clicking through to necklaces from the (unconventionally-placed right-hand sidebar), you are presented with a page of small, murky images with only a name, price and more info button for each. It is obvious that these images in no way do the jewellery on sale justice.

Click-through again to the details page and the images, whilst larger, don't get any clearer or more appealing. I can accept that cut outs on white backgrounds are hard to achieve, but many of the images here are just plain out of focus (as well as underexposed!).

Looking at the prices, everything becomes apparent. Here's a situation I see all too often as a buyer at gift retailer pressies4princesses; the prices are simply too low. They are too low to be credible - is it realistic to believe you are buying "Distinctive Handmade Glass Bead and Gemstone Jewellery" when earrings start at £7.50 a pair?! And they are probably unrealistic for the business as well.

Many small businesses do not account for cost of selling the products in their prices. More still find themselves victims of their own success, when the VAT man pitches up and asks for his 17.5% of the value of every order! Incredibly, Julieann Beads offer to supply wholesale to the trade. Where the extra margin would come from is anyone's guess - unless, of course, they routinely undercut their retailers.

Ranting aside, I can see how this sort of pricing comes about. Firstly, the maker is their worst critic and is far too modest. They lack the confidence to meet the market head on. They simply don't believe people will pay "that much" for their product.

From the outset the maker is thinking, "what's the minimum I can sell this for to make it worth my while". Out comes the calculator and they start counting beads. Then they start thinking about how many they can make an hour. Next thing, they have a price that completely ignores all the other costs of running the business. Worst still, it is entirely incongruent with the product positioning (in this case UK and handmade and distinctive). It places absolutely no value on their design skills (only making). And, is most likely unsustainable in the long run.

My advice to Julieann Beads (I know - you didn't ask for it), double your prices and use the money to take some pictures that do your range justice. From what I can make out (squinting), you've nothing to be so modest about.

Wooden Jewellery Update

On May 16, I wrote about Justin Duances wooden jewellery. I sang the praises of his stylish creations featuring wood inlaid with silver and vice versa. Well, I was so impressed with the images on his website, I decided to put my money where my reviewer's mouth is and buy a piece!

As fortune would have it, it was my wife's birthday yesterday. Usually, I hit the High Street jewellers and buy something exorbitantly expensive with diamonds. Like most blokes I guess I assume that spending loads is best. My logic being that, even if she doesn't like it, at least she can swoon over the swanky price tag. Not that I would ever tell her what it cost. Which, in turn, means you have to buy something that looks every bit as expensive as it is, with only a sideways nod to good taste!



So this year I thought better. I suspected I was getting a little predictable. And, anyway, she might actually have better things to do with that sort of money. So I decided to stick my neck out and buy something I really liked, regardless of the less impressive price tag. I plumped for the 'Small oak pebble pendant inlaid with two lines of silver on a silver snake chain' - see picture. And, have to say was in no way disappointed. This pendant looks even better in the flesh and it arrived very promptly too. My admiration for Justin's work has only increased!

A Bracelet Brimming With Charm

My mother had a charm bracelet that I remember from my youth. It must have been from the seventies and was not the slightest bit interesting. Just lots of cast silver shapes supposedly representing carriages, animals and I think there were even a few monopoly type pieces (the top hat?) and, oh yes, the Rialto bridge from Venice (well, why wouldn't you?!). Some parts even had hinges (a treasure chest, I believe). All very naff and, as far as I recall, not worn for sometime.

Fast forward 30 years and the charm bracelet is back. But, thankfully, these days the look is rather more sophisticated. Out with board game motifs and holiday souvenirs. In with fantastic Venetian glass, intricate Balinese silver, Peruvian clay, Swarovski crystals and semi-precious stones. The look nowadays is very bohemian and much more colourful. Why be dull? Luminescent glass work, rich vibrant stones and colourful enamels pack loads more charm than monotone silver.

Anyway, during a search today I found the perfect proponents of the modern charm bracelet: global charming. Okay, so the name sounds a little like a multinational witches coven, but the bracelets speak for themselves! There are some seriously nice pieces. And, if you don't find precisely what you want, they even have a personalised bracelet making service. Previous customers have had reminders of their engagement and homages to their hobbies produced. Definitely worth a look.

Cornish Crafted Jewellery

When thinking of jewellery, most of us will be imagining something in gold or silver, perhaps with the benefit of a little sparkle from diamonds or some other precious stone. Thankfully, Justin Duance is not like most of us. For he dreams up amazing jewellery - made of wood!




I know, we've all seen wooden jewellery before. But, Justin's work is on another level. There's none of the lazy rustic 'charm' of the folksy stuff that's two a penny at craft fairs. (And, with Justin being based down in Cornwall, I suspect it would be easy for him to fall into that particular trap). Nor is this jewellery cast from the 'me big chief' mass-produced but superficially ethnic mould. No, this is an altogether more grown-up and accomplished product.


The range includes pendants, bracelets, earrings, rings - yes rings with beautiful warm bands of wood contrasting with clinical
silver. All are a joy to be hold.




The gorgeous organic pebble-shapes used in the bracelets and pendants are so naturally perfect. They could just as easily have been made from the ebb and flow of the tide over millions of years, just like the real thing. And, that's the real beauty of this range. It seems almost accidental. Like is has not been designed so much as occurred from some natural process. And the result is, naturally, amazing.

Visit his website to find out more about Justin Duance's silver and wood jewellery.

A Natural Beauty

Today, I chanced upon Georgina Ettridge's gorgeous handmade jewellery range and found this show-stopping "Grecian Leaf" bangle. It possesses such effortless natural elegance, don't you think? Proof-positive that less is indeed more. And what I really like is that you can see the craft. It's obvious it wasn't manufactured - more likely it was lovingly created!

The Grecian Leaf bangle is part of a range of pieces - all featuring natural forms - that includes necklaces, brooches, rings, earrings and even cuff links. All the items are beautifully photographed and available for sale at Georgina's website. I encourage you to take a look and find out more about this young talent!

Back to school for jewellery designer

Not a new discovery (for me at least), but certainly a story worth a mention. 5 years ago, Claire Wood was a mild mannered 'suit' carving out a career in human resources. Thankfully, she came to her senses and jacked that in, so she could follow her dream of being a jewellery designer. At not inconsiderable financial risk (and hardship!) she went back to school and graduated with a first class honours degree in jewellery design 3 years later. She's now developing a successful range of contemporary pieces inspired by geometry and movement.

Claire makes all the pieces herself using traditional skills; soldering, hand-shaping, polishing. And, every piece is made to exacting standards. Each is inspected and re-finished after hallmarking - nothing is left to chance. She works in silver and gold using semi-precious stones.

Currently, the range includes earrings, bracelets and necklaces from around £35 to £125. But at pressies4princesses (the online gift store I manage - see this post for confession) we're big fans and so are our customers! So, we are sponsoring Claire to develop a new range in gold with diamond settings. And, I can tell you, the outlines received so far look fabulous!

Find out more at Claire Wood Jewellery (Claire's website). Alternatively, you can find her pieces to buy at the Designer Jewellery section at pressies4princesses.

My welcome and confession

OK, my first blog post. Slightly intimidating, but I guess I should start by fessing up. Having read the worthwhile Naked Conversations by Scoble and Israel a few months back, one thing that did stick is "don't be fake". So, I should probably start by explaining how I come to be writing about "Pretty Somethings" - what with me being a married man and father of one (a gorgeous little girl - Amelia)

Well, I am founder and managing partner (still clinging on) of pressies4princesses.co.uk - purveyor of fine gifts for women via internet mail order. Take a look. Yes, I know it's very pink and girly! Which is probably why everyone asks the same thing when they see it: "But aren't you straight?". The answer is, of course (I'm a father after all), YES and I think it's a shocking indictment on the pervasion of modern stereotypes that people should even wonder. Whoops - I didn't imagine my first post turning into an "I'm straight - honest" plea. And, please don't even suggest I'm anti gay or owt. I'm not.

The point is that at pressies' one thing we love doing is working with really talented people who make absolutely fabulous things. (God, that sounds like an advert; it's not meant to be. I am just trying to explain why I am blogging here.) And, unlike most retailers we don't care how big or small they are or where they work or what hours they are available. Some of our suppliers are tiny - even 'kitchen table' workers. Several balance their craft with motherhood or part-time work or both! We find them somewhere on page 240-odd in Google and launch them on to the world at large. I guess it's like using the Internet to revitalise good old-fashioned cottage industry! Anyway, because we have to take photos, write some copy, weigh, measure and analyse things - and type lots of stuff into little boxes on a computer screen! - we can't sell everything we love. And, that's a real shame.

So, some of the stuff I write about here will be in the pipeline for pressies' catalogue. Other stuff will already be at the store, but deserves broader recognition (pressies' is very much a gift website, which limits the audience). Much, much more will never make it. And, that's why I want to write about it. It seems such a shame to let it slip through one's fingers. I already invested time finding this gorgeous (nee pretty!) something and it takes 15 minutes to say something about it here. I'm hoping it will be cathartic; it will make night after night of rummaging around in the lower echelons of the search results feel just that little bit more worthwhile!

There you go then; my first post and raison d'etre all wrapped-up. If you got this far, I thank you for your time - I've always struggled with brevity. I suppose I best get back to rummaging. Why not check back soon and see what pretty somethings I've found? I don't expect they'll change your life, but they may just make your friends green with envy!