Here we go...

My first post. Now that I've spent three days deciding on color options for my homepage (which I am sure I will change another 10 times), what shall I write about? Hmm...

I guess I should introduce myself first. Hi. I'm Staci (with an i). Nice to meet you. I am a jewelry designer.

It feels weird to title myself as such, but heck, I guess that is what I am (among other things). I just started to take this jewelry-design thing seriously earlier this year. I'd tried it in the past, but never really found my niche. Then one day, I was digging through my mother-in-law's box of estate jewelry rejects, and grabbed a handful of things (cameos, rhinestone brooches, etc) that I thought were pretty. Next thing you know, I made a necklace using them....and I sold it. I revisited her reject box for more. Made another necklace....sold it. Before I knew it, I was visiting every flea market, antique mall, and estate sale I heard about looking for vintage jewelry to incorporate into my new creations. Around the same time, I figured out how to make rosettes out of ribbon, and they paired really well with the vintage pieces.

One of my earlier pieces

Now, 6 months later, I am successfully selling my jewelry at two stores, and working towards more. I should really have some on my etsy site too (http://www.stacilynn22.etsy.com/), but one thing at a time. In order to produce all these pieces, I have to get my hands on vintage items....and that is what this blog will mainly be about. The hunt. My adventures at flea markets, estate sales, rummage sales, and auctions. I see so many different things (and meet so many *interesting* people) that knew I had to share it with anybody who gave a crap.

So, I know this is getting long already, but I HAVE to share about my experience at an auction this last Monday. I've only been to two other auctions in my life. Both of them were prior to all this jewelry business, and at both, I was WAY too timid to bid. I made my husband (then boyfriend) hold my number. So I heard about this auction on Monday and decided to go check it out. By myself. I was kind of hoping there wouldn't be anything good there, so I could just turn around and leave. 'Twas not the case. There were several lots of rhinestone jewelry. I am usually looking for clear, large, super sparkly, rhinestone pieces...and they had them. Shoot.

I made notes about the items I wanted to bid on and sat nervously in a folding chair, trying to figure out how much I would be willing to pay for each item. I knew there were antique dealers there to compete with too, so I had to be realistic. I wasn't going to walk away with a box of jewelry for $5.00. The bidding started and I began watching everybody else for clues on strategies of bidding and their special hand signals/ head movements to indicate whether they wanted to up their bid or not. I wanted to look like I at least sort of knew what the hell I was doing.

Once they finally started auctioning off some of the jewelry, my heart was racing. Everything was moving at a much faster pace than I was comfortable with. My brain likes to take its time while processing information. I bid on a few things that I didn't win, but that was okay, I was getting the hang of it, and there was still one jewelry lot that I was very interested in. 30 pieces, (some of which would end up in my own "reject box") Lots o' sparkle. In the meantime, this cool antique settee was up for bid. It wasn't my favorite color, but it was in great shape.In thought to myself, "If I can get it for $50.00, I'll take it" (even though I wasn't sure if it could fit in my car or if we had a place for it at our house). I got it for $20.00! (actually, everything happened so fast that I didn't realize I had the high bid until he said "SOLD!" and pointed to me.)



My new $20.00 Settee!! Yay!

So finally, (after sitting there for almost 2 hours) the jewelry lot I was most interested in came up for bid. I had a number in my head of what I wanted to pay, but I was so worried that there would be several bidders and I wouldn't be able to keep track of what was going on. It sounds silly, but with my inexperience, sometimes it was hard to know if the number he was yelling out (with a bunch of other stuff I couldn't understand) was the current bid, or the bid he was looking for. And then how come he would take a bid in between? Where the hell did that come from? ANYWAY, the bidding started and I was literally shaking as I held up my number card time and time again. I didn't always know exactly what I was bidding, but I knew we weren't up to "my magic number" yet. I was starting to get nervous though. Finally, he stopped on a dollar amount. Was that my bid? Yes. I looked at the other woman who was bidding. She was out. Victory was mine!



My Auction Purchase

Overall, I'd say my first auction experience was a good one. I was tired and braindead by the end, but it was a good learning experience for me and I still walked away with some great things. Will I still have jitters next time? Yep. But maybe not so many. Will I be able to keep up with the pace next time? Probably a little better. Will I bring a seat cushion next time? You better believe it.