Change in course

While a re-charge was certainly in order after completing the anthropologie order earlier this year, I hadn't planned on one lasting months. Today in fact my family and I were suppose to arrive at the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean via royal mail ship, a trip we had been planning for well over a year. It was heart breaking to have to cancel the trip.

The view looking west across the South Atlantic when we were on Saint Helena in 2013.

But after an emergency trip to the hospital in March, I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. And although I'm undergoing treatment, and the endocrinologist says she feels I'm in a good position to go into remission, the recovery time frame could very likely stretch into next March. And since I am still symptomatic (irregular heart rhythm, anxiety, muscle atrophy, sore joints) it was decided that the rigors of getting to Saint Helena (24 hr. flight to Cape Town followed by 5 days at sea), not to mention being on an isolated island without specialist doctors for 4 weeks, probably was not the best course of action. Clearly we are just not suppose to go this year but oh, how sad that makes me.

Hiking to distant cottage in 2013.

We had planned and planned. We were scheduled to volunteer at SHAPE; I was going to be helping develop new jewelry designs  and we were going to visit with friends we haven't seen since 2013. And now instead here I am, adjusting to the fact that, in all likelihood, I will be managing a disease for the rest of my life.

I'm currently working on beads made from recycled paper made at SHAPE. 

The decision was made that if stress reduction was an important part of me getting to remission, we'd do one of the things we knew had worked for all of us in the past - head to the Maine coast and stay for as long as we could. So we're packing up - painting supplies, kayaks, sailboat and all - and leaving this Saturday,  to "take the waters" as it were.

I'll be posting on Instagram if you're interested (@gwilliamson).

On a business note…the shop will stay open June 20-July 20 but orders will not ship until July 20, when we return. If you place an order by this Thursday it will ship Friday. It you've already placed an order it will ship Friday.

And its outta here!

The Anthropologie order shipped yesterday! Can I tell you what a relief this is, can I just tell you?

 It was a lot of work and the last month ended up being a case of "if it can go wrong, it will go wrong".  But I will tell you this, I learned a heck of a lot about wholesale, about business and most certainly about myself.

And this was a calm day...

Fragment Drop necklaces in verdigris - anthropologie is calling this "blue motif"

Out to Sea earrings

Hemisphere earrings in process

I purchased some IKEA bins ahead of time and they were really helpful for storing and moving things around.

My mom and my husband did the barcoding and packaging last Saturday.  

This is 227 pieces. And to think the buyer originally was talking about 4000 total with pieces "to all doors"! Instead they're carrying my work as a web exclusive only and you can also see some of the pieces on models throughout the website. 

Game On

I'm happy to tell you that an order from ANTHROPOLOGIE is finally official. There was a bit of back and forth and a bit of "price point" and a bit of "ball park" and 37 emails, 3 phone calls and a vendor manual but its finally settled.

The samples

The size of the order initially suggested by the buyer (which is beyond my capacity at this point) has been whittled down to a very manageable quantity of seven different pieces with the ship date extended by a week. The flip side of that is that the pieces will only be available online. However the the flip side of THAT is that the samples may be included in a photo shoot which would be pretty cool, I must admit.

Its been a bit like jumping into the deep end really but I feel pretty good about it and I've certainly already learned a lot.  And now…its production time.

(The Etsy shop is relatively full and will stay open. I've even got some new pieces to add. Check back on Wednesday if you're interested.)

Today is the last day for orders in my Etsy shop before a bit of Christmas break. How much of a break it will be is yet to be determined as anthropologie is still working on my order which they expect to finalize by Christmas day at the latest.

Earthy beaded necklace

Now that the preliminary decisions have been made, I am working the an assistant buyer and buying operations coordinators and I do have to say that everyone I've talked to has been really nice. I sold a small selection of pieces to Terrain, anthropologie's earthy, garden/home goods "sister store", about 4 years ago so I'm still in the Urban Outfitters vendor system which makes things a bit easier. The legal vendor stuff is ever so fun to read (NOT) and a bit frightening at that.

And in other news... its so great to be part of a dark, jewelry finds collection over on Amy Tavern's blog. Probably no surprise that I love her work so I'm quite please to be there with such great company!

Active Waiting

So ANTHROPOLOGIE asked for a line sheet in July, they asked for samples in November, LOVED the samples in November and now, now I'm waiting. Waiting to hear if the price point is right and if they can accept the quantity I can produce.

I wasn't even going to share this, thinking that if it all goes pear shaped, am I really going to want to talk about it openly? But that sounds sort of like failure thinking, doesn't it?

And either way, this is not a failure. They're talking about 2000 pieces and my jewelry in all stores. That is not a failure. The fact that I can not produce 2000 pieces in two and a half months is also not a failure...but it SURE as heck gives one pause for thought!

I think I might be at a juncture. Stand by.

I have a problem

So. Anthropologie has now requested samples. After the initial inquiry in early July I was beginning to think I had fallen off the radar.
I rattled off all my fears to my husband over the weekend  "I'm going to have a crazy, busy week! What if they don't like them? What if they DO like them?! What if…? What if…?" I continued in this vein for several minutes.
When I took a breath my husband calmly said, "Honey, anthropologie wants to see some of your work. That's a very nice "problem" to have, don't you think?"