Cost of Silver - Yikes!

I did a show yesterday in Vancouver at Portabello West,  being that it was Easter and the Canucks were playing game 6 of round 1...I had very low attendance expectations.  I was pleasantly surprised by the turn out and the response to my art.

However, I had a comment that near broke my heart, a women told be that my Impressions jewelry is expensive, and could she just buy some other piece of silver and I could etch the fingerprints on it?  Are you serious lady?  1.She obviously has never crafted anything in silver and doesn't know a thing about casting or crafting. 2. She has NO clue how expensive silver is. 

After talking to a few other artists I came to the realization that the general public may not be aware of what is happening to the costs of silver. 

Here is a chart that I took from http://silverprice.org/silver-price-history.html to show what has happened to the cost of my raw material since I started this business in the past 2 years,  with special note on the past 6 months.   For those who hate charts, silver has gone up 282% in the past 2 years. 

When I started this business, silver was $12 an oz and it is now $46 an oz.



Are consumers willing to pay a higher cost for silver? 

Most of my items I had on my table yesterday were made from materials I purchased last summer.  Basically what I am saying is the silver items on my website are a steal of a deal.   You could melt them down and make a killing selling it per oz.

Which leads me to my custom work, my Impressions line, this is the  line that I buy silver on a more regular basis.  I have not raised my prices in the past year,  but it is looking more and more like I will have to.   Will this price me out of the market? Are people willing to pay for silver or will silver artists start to die off or turn to copper, & brass?  Do consumers want more brass & copper?

Silver is now a precious metal.  Cherish it.  It is worth something.
 
Next time you are at a market and you try on a silver ring you love, and you find out it is near 300% higher priced than you expect, understand why.
You now know what it cost the artist to buy the silver, the tools, the finishing materials and realize, that these artists are currently working for their passion and their time as been donated to the art you adorn, they are doing this out of  fear that no one will buy it if they charge for their time.

My jewelry tree - love the way it turned out, the pic does not give it justice

If you feel the need to judge an artist by the value of their work, know that your words have power,  most artists create because they love to,  trust me when I say none of them get paid their weight in silver :)