Final Push Before Tucson

I continued to pump out as much jewelry for sale as possible in this final full week before heading to Tucson. I even surprised myself at what I was able to accomplish!

I started with this grouping of jewelry by Navajo artist Leon Martinez. I met his family last year and they were such cool people. I had purchased lots more earrings than this and they did sell well in the caravan but I never got around to doing anything with the rest. The workmanship and quality of the stones is impeccable on the pendants and ring, and the earrings are high quality for reasonable prices. I was able to sell the Royston turquoise pendant on the left as well as the two remaining pair of the triple hoop earrings and the two smaller post earrings on the right. The other pieces are available. I did put the Royston turquoise pendant at the top and the white buffalo pendant at the bottom into my personal collection but I am open to selling them. I plan to see the family again next Wednesday. What I am hoping for is another round of great earrings as well as pendants for myself that are larger than these but not quite as large as the showstopper in the center.

Next, I posted another grouping of Buffalo Dancer jewelry. I reduced prices somewhat and this lot sold well! The 3-heart bracelet, all of the earrings except the purple Mojave hearts, the small purple spiny oyster shell pendant, the white buffalo heart pendant and ring, the wild horse pendant, the two rings on the displays and the two pair of concho earrings all sold, the remaining items are available. In addition, the white buffalo heart naja pendant is on its way to Australia. I am a huge fan of this jewelry and look forward to meeting up with the artists next Thursday. I will be making a beeline for their booth before others grab everything up!

I could have sold the concho earrings several times over and I let each person who missed them know about all of the other Buffalo Dancer concho earrings I had. I was able to sell one pair that way and presented the others in two separate groups, one with no stones and the other with turquoise.

All of the turquoise earrings sold and there are only two remaining of the ones with no stones. I spent the better part of an afternoon packing up earrings to send them to their destinations all over the country. I will restock what I can next week as quite a few people are interested in this jewelry.

I purchased two of these Lone Mountain turquoise statement cluster pendants by Navajo artist Bobby Johnson last year and again, did not have time to do anything with them. I put them out for sale this week and while there was lots of interest and in spite of offering them at half of retail, they are still investment pieces and there were no takers. To the online store they will go!

Finally, Sunday evening I posted a second lot of brilliant blue turquoise jewelry. Many of the pieces are investments but I was able to sell the charm bracelet, butterfly pin and cluster dangle earrings on the right. When I started to work with these earrings to prepare them for sale, I realized that they had to be something special. Susan Backus is an artist who takes vintage Native American jewelry, mostly from the Fred Harvey era and fashions multiple pieces of them into incredible statement necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Her website shows her past work and I was able to match the earrings to a photo she had posted. I was most excited as they are worth a lot! Unfortunately this style does not work for me but I was immediately able to find them a new home.

On Friday Mother and I had an outing - after a couple of schedule changes, we were able to get to Medi Pedi Scottsdale and a session with Kat. She is such an expert at what she does. I have not had a manicure in about 5 years but got a mani pedi this time and Mother just got a manicure because she was there with Rachel and had her pedicure at that time. I chose a soft aqua color for my fingers and a shade darker for my toes. I then took some time Saturday afternoon to shoot modeling photos for all of the remaining Federico rings. I can provide measurements all day long but it really helps buyers to see a piece of jewelry on in order to determine scale.

Bouncing back to Friday again, after our appointment we headed further north on Scottsdale Road up to the town of Carefree for the first time. The Art & Wine Festival was going on and we needed to meet one of the artists to pick up a ring Mother needed to have repaired. We were so impressed by the town, it is completely surrounded by mountains and was breathtaking. There was not a lot of time before the stores closed but we stopped by Ortega's Native American jewelry shop and they had an incredible collection of both vintage and new pieces. We did not buy anything since the Gem Show is looming. After that, I met up with a customer who happens to live nearby. She bought the 3-heart Buffalo Dancer bracelet and a pair of coordinating heart earrings that I had not posted yet. Once the transaction was complete, Mother wanted to check out the shoe store. The store is called Baudine's Mad About Shoes and they only carry one brand of shoes and purses - Spring Step. The L'artiste line is just that - very artistic and right up Mother's alley. She was able to find two pairs of shoes on sale and they not only look great but she can put them on herself. When we returned home, she went online and purchased another pair of shoes and a handbag. She was so pleased to have found this brand.

Before we left Carefree, we went to a casual restaurant called Venues. I ordered a pulled pork sandwich with onion rings and Mother chose a meatloaf sandwich with sweet potato fries. I thought the food was very good, even though they only had a 3.5 rating on Yelp. We will definitely make the trip to Carefree again before we leave and also visit Cave Creek which is right next door. We are learning more about the area all the time!

Signing off for now, next week I will be reporting from Tucson!