Inside the Mavens

I don't think I'm the only Maven who wonders "Do I belong here? Am I good enough?" In fact, I know I'm not, because it's been voiced behind the scenes, one thing we Mavens seem to have in common is self-doubt, maybe me more than most because I only started bead weaving two years ago. I have times when I can hear a voice in my head saying "Who is this little upstart who thinks she knows about beading?"  "Why should she be a Maven?"

Well....I had this idea to bring a group of beading people together, people whose work I admire, I'd like to work with and learn from and surprisingly they all agreed. I'm known for my big dreams so I don't see this being limited to just the six of us....there are so many great instructors we'd all like to see join us but you have to get things going first or total chaos will set in.

The thing we all liked about the word "Maven" was the interpretation of being knowledgable but more importantly....sharing that knowledge as we are all determined to further and keep alive this wonderful artform.  I think something else we all believe is that we all have things to learn, and when you teach you learn as much from your students as they learn from you.

I was listening to some show about pilots and how many hours of flying they have to do to reach each level of professionalism and it got me thinking how many 'flight hours' have I logged with beading.

A sport pilot has to log 20 hours of flight time.
A private pilot has to log 40 hours.
A commercial pilot has to log between 190 and 250 hours.
An airline transport pilot has to log 1500 hours.

So I totalled it up, using a conservative estimate of 50 hours a week (cos I typically am doing something regarding beads at least 10 hours a day, seven days a week) and mulitiplied it by the 104 weeks I've been doing it.....5200 hours...eek! Wow...I could be flying a 747!!  :-)

I posed the question to the other Mavens and Nancy came back at me with 29,200...double eek!

Cindy and Linda couldn't even estimate because they've been doing it for so many years but I'm thinking a zero added to Nancy's number wouldn't be too far off.  Color me inexperienced...lol!

I was also curious about the hours it takes to get a degree (I'm English, so I didn't know) 64 credit hours for an Associates degree (dang I had to do two years of 40 hour weeks for my English one on top of a 'foundation year')  approx. 120 credit hours for a Bachelors, and an extra 35 for a Masters.  That's what Google told me anyhoo.

Of course it's not all about hours either because you could spend a lot of hours making the same thing in different colors and different beads, you have to have range and mastery of all the stitches. And you have to know you don't know everything because as soon as you think you do, someone will create something new. Thank goodness! Because I believe the Font of Knowledge is Fountain of Youth.

And you know what....it doesn't get rid of the self doubt but it does make me feel a little better, that maybe I have learned a thing or two, that I do have something to offer the beading world. It gives me something to tell my students too...that you don't fly around the world on your second day.

It doesn't just relate to beading either, I think many of us don't give ourselves credit for what we know and have the demon of self doubt sitting on our shoulders telling us we're not good enough. And some of us have more real entities telling us or hinting to us the same thing.
So...if you're having one of those days take some time to really consider what knowledge you do have, total the hours of experience you have....you may well be surprised at your knowledgeable, experienced little self .....and reward yourself with your favorite treat :)

Ask The Mavens

The Jewelry Box

The question came up this week as to how to pack and present your jewelry, something I've struggled with too. Lots of trips to multitudes of stores hunting for just the right box for a large beaded necklace or a wide cuff.

Here are some of our suggestions.

• Check out your local Tuesday Morning....around this time of year they carry some hard cardboard Christmas boxes around 8x11x1". If you don't want the Christmas look cover the box in a wrapping paper you do like.
• Ross and TJ Maxx carry some book boxes...they look like a book but are a box...usually flock lined and if you can find the smaller sizes they are great for special pieces.
• Consider candy boxes....dressed up with a pretty bow these can be fab!

• My fave are these candy boxes from PaperMart.com that close with a flip magnet and come in white and gold.
• For small pieces the little gauze favor bags are great and nice to keep your jewelry in.
• Check out Etsy and Artfire for handmade boxes, I get some darling little pillow boxes for my polymer beads from an Etsy seller and tie them up with some wrinkled ribbon from another Etsy seller...this is the karma buy...buy handmade/sell handmade :)
• Another box I love from PaperMart is the Polka Dot Box collection which have a size great for those bead embroidered cuffs.
• Linda came up with the idea to use personal pizza boxes which could be dressed up to make a very original presentation box.
• If you know someone with one of those scrapbooking die cut machines see if they can make you some boxes...there are a few styles available.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas and a couple of sources. Do remember the size and weight of the box if you're going to have to ship it as this can bite you in the profit! Try and get a gift box that fits into a flat rate box if you ship Priority Mail to avoid sticker shock.

Also box according to price, you don't want to put a $20 piece of jewelry in a $20 box or a $300 piece in a 50c box.  You should be building the price of your jewelry to include it's presentation box....I like to allow up to 5% for my presentation....which means for a $20 piece I won't be spending any more than a $1 on the box and wrappings.  And it gives me money to work with for the more expensive pieces.

It's great to recieve something you bought when it comes packed with love and care, it's something that's remembered and will get you repeat customers.

Well...I hope that helps a little because it is that time of year when the beading gets boxed up and on it's way to it's new home.