Your Favorite Things and their Stories

 Being a handmade seller can be at times a bit difficult. Not everyone appreciates the meaning behind artisanal work and choose low-priced mass produced items. In the case of jewelry, an incredible amount of necklaces, rings and bracelets are created every day making the competition fierce. It takes a great deal of energy at times to keep on making and keep on selling. It can be overwhelming to make our ideas and value in particular stand out.

 During tougher times, it is important to remember that buyers are not interested in settling for handmade items the way they would purchase a plastic broom from a department store, they want to fall in love with your artwork, to instead discover a mystical and fascinating witch’s broom, scented with their favorite herbs. The ingenuity behind a hand maker is the heart and soul they put into their creations and this is something factory-made objects can never compare to. To remember that, I offer an anecdote.

 When I was young, the running joke in our kitchen was my mother’s inability to keep dishes intact for very long. Wine glasses were especially at risk, but as she explained, these were mass produced glasses, and accidentally smashing them to a million pieces wasn’t a big deal.

On the very top shelf of the glassware cupboard, however, were small crystal glasses my parents hardly ever touched. Fine crystal brandy snifters that had belonged to my now deceased grandmother. The sentimental value attached made them irreplaceable, but something else made them undeniably special.

The material was incredibly thin and delicate, their shape completely unique, and etched onto them was a remarkable flower and vine design I could have spent hours admiring. Upon looking closer at this florid embellishment, I noticed that between the set of four glasses, the design was not identical. The vine seemed to flow freely, growing buds where it pleased and blooming spontaneously. Each glass was perfectly unique, only the hand of the artist understood this vine pattern, an expression of himself that could never be reproduced. On this delicate crystal, the artist had lovingly engraved a mysterious and charming story.

On special occasions, I was offered a drink from one of these magnificent heirlooms, and each sip could not have been sweeter. They sit to this day carefully returned to their high shelf, safer away from the daily family kitchen accidents, but fully enjoyed.

Got a story to tell? Send me an email, show me your favorite things and the stories behind them!

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