Posted by Melissa Banks on February 07, 2012
The end of last year/beginning of this year has had a bit of a different vibe for me, and I am currently finding myself struggling with burn-out, and looking forward to some much needed relaxation. In the past, I've had a bit of a rest between summer show season and the holiday season, then a small break before my wholesale show in January. Then I fill orders from that show in February and March, which is a little more slow-paced...then when those orders are finished I can rest, design, catch-up on business-y things, and gear up for the shows in May. An artist's year is pretty unique! And of course we are our own boss...which means lots of wasted time, and lots of over-time as well! Self-discipline is a constant struggle for many self-employed people, and I am no different.
As my business has grown, that break I used to have between summer and the holidays is no longer there, so I'm pushing all the way through the end of the year now. And then this year after Christmas, I put the challenge upon myself to create a body of work consisting of one-of-a-kind pieces that I could photograph and use to apply for art fairs. I worked pretty intensively on these pieces, and was able to work up to my deadline to have them photographed and apply to the first round of shows. Whew! After that project was complete, I realized that my wholesale show was just a week away. So off to work on preparation for that, then the show itself.....
After the wholesale show, in the midst of starting on orders, I decided it might be good to have a Valentine's Day promotion. "Bring on the work!" I say ;) So here I am, making sure I get all orders made and out the door. I'm hoping to finally see that break I've been dreaming about in the very near future. I feel like I've been "go, go, go" since last May! It is GREAT to see growth, and business continuing to come my way - don't get me wrong. It's just another challenge to manage my time differently - and maybe not put too much pressure upon myself. Hi, my name is Melissa, and I'm a workaholic...
What I'm looking forward to the most, is having time to focus on my health and well-being. This includes changing my insane schedule of sleep/work/work. I have always been a night-owl, and I find I have lots of creative energy late at night. I also have a hard time STOPPING work. So I will find myself making jewelry until the wee hours, anywhere from 2-5am. This of course shifts my sleep so I don't get up until 11am-noon, don't start office work at the studio until 2pm, don't get home until 7, 8, or 9pm, scarf down dinner and sit down to make jewelry again.
And did anyone notice my schedule of sleep/work/work? Where's my time to play? That needs to be worked in as well ;) Wish me luck! I say shifting my schedule is going to be tougher than quitting smoking was.....is there a patch for that? Or perhaps I should consider hypnosis.....
Posted by Melissa Banks on December 23, 2011
First of all, a huge thank you to all of my customers for making 2011 a fantastic year! Your continued support allows me to do what I love for a living, and I feel truly grateful.
I will be taking a much needed break between Christmas & New Year's, so I won't be resuming business hours until Monday, January 2nd. If you need my immediate attention before then, please email me at melissa@raptinmaille.com
Also, I will be extending my normal 14 day exchange policy for the season. Any orders that were placed between Nov 1st and Dec 31st can be exchanged up until the end of January.
I sincerely wish you all a happy, fun, safe & warm holiday season and all the best in 2012!
Melissa
Posted by Melissa Banks on December 14, 2011
The online orders are coming in every day, and I just wanted to be sure everyone gets their jewelry in time for Christmas! I ship every order out by priority mail, which the US Postal Service says takes 2-3 business days. Please note, however, that this is NOT a guaranteed service. Last minute orders that I may get on Monday the 19th will be made that night and shipped out on Tuesday the 20th. Three business days after that will be Friday the 23rd. Again, since this service is not guaranteed, Rapt in Maille is not responsible for orders not received by this date.....so please get everything ordered online as soon as possible to ensure a smooth transaction! We surely appreciate it :)
JUST IN CASE you need anything sent by Express Mail Overnight, we do not offer this shipping option online. Please call the studio at 773-944-0541 in the afternoon/early evening for the best chance of catching me at work, and I can take your order over the phone and get it to the post office - PENDING AVAILABILITY. Please remember, all items are handmade to order. I really hate the post office, so this is not the best scenario ;) Please help save my sanity for the holidays, kthx.
And if you live in or near Chicago, pick-up is always an option! Call or email melissa@raptinmaille.com for details. Check our event page for this weekend's Holiday Open Studio, you don't need an RSVP to show up and shop!
Happiest of holidays to you and yours!
~ Melissa
Posted by Melissa Banks on November 30, 2011
The One of a Kind Show begins tomorrow at noon, and I just wanted to make sure everyone gets to print out a free admission pass. Price is otherwise $12 at the door. Follow this link to print out complimentary admission for you and a guest!
I will be in my usual space - booth #2107
Show information:
One of a Kind Show & Sale, Chicago
8th Floor, Merchandise Mart
Thursday, Dec 1st: 12-9pm
Friday, Dec 2nd: 11am-9pm
Saturday, Dec 3rd: 10am-7pm
Sunday, Dec 4th: 10am-5pm
See you there!
Melissa
Posted by Melissa Banks on November 23, 2011
I am so happy to have this special piece up on my website. I've been displaying it at my shows, but I know a lot of people that visit the website can't always make it to the Midwest to see me in person at the art fairs.
I like to design unique, one-of-a-kind pieces at least once or twice a year when I have a little bit of down time (which is hard to come across these days!) It really makes me focus on the artistry and creativity when during busy times that can be lacking.
I made this piece in the early months of this year (2011) when I had a break from retail art fairs. I look forward to being able to create like this again after the holidays!
Posted by Melissa Banks on November 14, 2011
There's just never enough time to prepare for the holiday season as well as I would like, but I'm working on getting photos retouched and uploaded to the website in the midst of making inventory. I worked really hard this year on designing pieces for the guys out there. It was a challenge to say the least! I really wanted to design pieces that were a little "outside of the box" while still being accessible and wearable for men. I really did have to look at designing in a very different way, considering sizes of patterns, lengths of necklace & bracelets, along with other things. I'm still learning, so any feedback is appreciated! I hope this collection is successful and stays around for a while. I'm curious to see how it evolves as I continue to learn.
I'm a little over half-way done getting the photos ready to launch here on the website. Look for an announcement soon!
(...and a big "thank you" to Tony Davis for modeling the collection - and Audrey Keller for shooting it!)
Posted by Melissa Banks on November 07, 2011
I saw these photos posted today by my jump ring supplier, The Ring Lord, and they are pretty incredible and exciting to see! Check out the rail car delivering 40,000 lbs of stainless steel wire that will eventually be made into jump rings. It is very cool to have a visual of the beginning stages of my jewelry materials....I'm sure some of this wire will eventually make its way to Chicago - and on to the necks, wrists, ears, and fingers of my customers - maybe you!
Posted by Melissa Banks on September 06, 2011
There are many options for businesses to accept credit card payments from their customers, especially now with the invention of the Square, GoPayment, and many other mobile credit card processors. When I started doing art fairs 13 years ago, I signed up with a processing company and used the old "knuckle-buster" method to imprint a customer's credit card. Then I'd go home, get online, and enter all the credit card charges manually. After a successful show, this could take up to 2 hours of my time - the last thing I wanted to do after being exhausted from the weekend.
Then three years ago, I finally entered the modern age and signed up with a new company to get the wireless credit card terminal that would swipe and process charges on the spot at shows. A representative from the company wooed me, sold me, and signed me up. The contracts, fine print, and hidden charges that I had to navigate through were confusing and ridiculous, to say the least. I did my best to negotiate prices and finally felt good about what I had signed up for. One account for charging customers for wireless purchases, and one account to process my website purchases.
The past year or so has been really, really hectic with the business growing and making changes, moving into a studio, etc, and I found myself getting into the bad habit of throwing my statements from my merchant processor in a pile to the side of my desk. I just had the feeling I was being ripped off with confusing charges and miscellaneous fees, but the prospect of going through all of those papers and the hours of work and phone calls I needed to make to navigate everything kept those bad habits going.
With all of my friends trying the Square and GoPayment, which have no hidden fees and a pretty standard rate, I decided it was time to hunker down to review my statements. What I found was pretty infuriating. I made the call to my company to address how angry/disappointed I was, tried to get some of the money for these ridiculous charges back, and they were only willing to budge a fraction of what I expected with absolutely no desire to keep me as a customer.
I was somewhat relieved to discover that my 3-year contract was over in July, so I was ready to move on. Today I discovered that my contract had been automatically renewed for another year because I failed to give them 60 days notice to terminate, and the fee to cancel my contract is absurd. So they have me by the balls for another year, and I sit here feeling completely jacked around.
Also ridiculous is the rate at which they charge us for accepting a customer's payment. They make this extremely confusing for businesses to navigate and understand. There are "qualified" and "unqualified" rates, rates for rewards cards, rates for the different credit cards (Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Discover), etc, etc, etc. So a credit card company will sell a business on their very competitive rate for processing credit cards (usually between 2.5-3.75%), but then fail to mention that those rates go up for certain credit cards, which happen to be the ones that customers use the most.
I do not currently accept American Express at shows. I have never had a big issue with this because most customers have an alternate form of payment, which I appreciate. Here's the way it works, folks: American Express can offer big perks to their customers because they are charging businesses higher rates to process their purchases. Same with "Rewards" cards. Those rewards you get aren't coming from a benevolent bank that is just giving you that money for being their loyal customer - those "rewards" are coming out of the pockets of the businesses you purchase from.
I also know that when the person at the register asks me if I want to use my card as debit or credit, I am making a decision whether I want to take more money from that business for my own "reward" (credit), or if I want to pass up my "reward" and help the business out by letting them keep more of their earnings (debit). This difference is maybe only one percent, or a fraction of, but over time it can really add up.
Every month when I go into my neighborhood pet store to get food for the kitten, I always say "debit" when they ask me how to use my card (if I can't pay with cash). I know they are a small business, the owner is really nice, and I can see every time I go in how much of an appreciated presence they are in the neighborhood. It's just another small way of supporting them.
Without boring you even more with the vast amount of information there is about how credit cards work, I hope I was able to point out a few things so that consumers can be a little more conscious of how their spending affects the world of business, namely small businesses....and selfishly, how it can affect a hard-working artist out there on the road. Maybe the next time you buy a beautiful piece of work from your local, friendly artist, you can hand them cash instead of that Rewards or Miles card, or write them a check if they accept it. That little act can go a long way.
Posted by Melissa Banks on August 23, 2011
Did you know that this will be my ELEVENTH year in a row exhibiting at the Bucktown Arts Fest? Looking back on that first year in 2001, I was sharing a booth with my fellow jeweler, Melissa Kolbusz of Wired, and boy, did it rain! It poured so hard that the roof of our tent pooled with water and collapsed on top of us as we tried to push it off. Whoops - that didn't work so well. Jewelry fell to the ground and into the muddy water in our booth. What a way to begin our history with this show!
Regardless of the storms, we had a great time and met some really cool artists and dedicated patrons of the show. Since then, it has been one of my favorite shows of the year with lots of my fellow artist friends and what I personally believe is the best of the best in Chicago. It's also a special show because it always falls on or near my birthday. This year, it lands right on it - Saturday the 27th. The first 20 people who wish me a happy birthday and mention this blog post will receive a free pair of earrings from a selection of oldies but goodies :)
The last thing I'll mention - PLEASE note that my booth is 13 spots due WEST of where I have been in past years (on Lyndale), so do not miss me!
See you this weekend!
Posted by Melissa Banks on August 10, 2011
I've decided to start a running theme with some of Rapt in Maille's blog posts - called "Did you know...?" This may help answer some frequently asked questions, and share some insight to why I do what I do, and why artists might do what they do. One of our many jobs as artists includes educating the public on what drives us, and what our thought processes and experiences are, along with many other things. I hope this may help in accomplishing that.
#1 - Did you know that the "Metal" part of the METAL Collection refers to the term "Heavy metal?"
Years ago, I decided to only use one word to name each collection, so I have in a way closed myself off to having more options. So it is often a challenge coming up with collection names. With the METAL Collection, I wanted to describe it's edgy rocker-vibe, but so many words that came to mind seemed too cheezy. I was worried, with "metal," that customers might think I was referring to its material, (which it is a metal - stainless), but a lot of people use the word as a generic term to describe jewelry made from cheaper materials (like mass-produced costume jewelry). But it was a risk that I took. And now I'm here to tell you - it's METAL, MAN!
