Drum Roll Please..

I am a day late due to health reasons, however regardless of the lost day.. we have a winner, and it was a tight race!  Robin Stewart won the race at the final hour with a 1 point lead over Tiny Toes.

Here is the winning photo:



Thank you to everyone who voted, because of your votes here are the earrings that Robin will be sporting around town:

Congratulations Robin!  I had a lot of fun doing this competition and I do plan on doing another one so make sure to take a photo of your Aly Dahl Jewelry & keep it on hand for our next competition!

Here is a link to our facebook page with the final photo's in the competition: Facebook/alydahldesigns

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 :) 

Contest Time!

Post your favourite picture of you or your loved one wearing a piece of our jewelry on our facebook fanpage and win these fun hot new earrings:

Contest details: 

Upload your pictures by April 24th at midnight to: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aly-Dahl-Designs/235097213785#!/pages/Aly-Dahl-Designs/235097213785   Please tag yourself in the photo so we can contact you if you're the winner.

Once your photo's are uploaded we will put them into an album and on  April 25th - May 8th our facebook fan's can vote for their favourite picture,  invite your friends & family to vote.  They will need to become fans to vote.

Voting, each person can vote once per photo - Votes will be by saying "vote" in comment section or by liking the photo.

You can upload more than one picture, but must highlight a different piece of Aly Dahl jewelry in each photo.

Winner will be announced May 9th,  shipping will be paid by Aly Dahl Designs.

By uploading your photo you will be agreeing for Aly Dahl Designs to use your photo for promotion. 

 Thank you for entering & good luck!

Good Luck!



Congratulations Laila Ali!

Congratulations to the Ali family on the birth of Laila's baby girl, Sydney.

We had the absolute pleasure of meeting Laila at the Oscar event in LA in February, gorgeous doesn't begin to describe her, perhaps it was the baby glow but she is perfection.  If only I could afford to hire her as my model, she is that kind of beautiful.  

Here is a photo of Laila with baby Sydney still in belly. 

We spoke about doing baby Sydney's toe print,  and I can't wait! I love doing toe prints!

Once again,  Congratulations to Laila & family. 

Oscar Post 9 - Miss Jay

Miss Jay

I have to say that Miss Jay seemed like an old friend.  You know the ones that you only see once every few years, but when you do it's like nothings changed.  Perhaps it's the years of watching America's Next Top Model, or maybe it is just the way he is. 

He is one of the funniest people I have met in a long time.  He had Jolene and I laughing for most of our encounter.   It started with him coming over and asking what it is I do, and when I started to tell him he stopped me and looked me in the eyes and said "Oh Child, you don't have enough silver to cast what I would want immortalized".

I am sure I replied in a perverse kind of way as I recall him saying "You must be Canadian, only Canadians can keep up with my dirty mind".

Believe it or not, but that is not the first time I have been asked to cast an impression of a personal part... I mean I do tell people, I can cast what ever you can take an impression of...

Miss Jay was the last person to come to our booth on the first day.  And I am so glad it was him,  it was the perfect way to end a long, fun filled, adrenaline high day.

He took a kit to take to France with him as his partner has a niece that he loves to spoil.  I look forward to making a special keepsake for the worlds best Cat walker.

Here is one of the goofy shots we took..

Oscar Post 8 - Autum Reeser & Toeprints

Autumn Reeser was adorable, and had that perfect pregnancy glow going on.  She was so sweet and I can't wait to cast her coming attractions little toe print and memorialize it in silver to become a cherished keepsake for her & her family for generations to come! 

I love doing toe prints.  For newborn's and kids under 1 they turn out the best, but even for bigger kids (including adults) they are so cute.  I recently did a dog tag for a famous Daddy with the child's finger and toe print on it.. and I have to say it was SO CUTE!   Toes tend to be rounder and fingers more oval so it was obvious on the tag which was which.  I LOVED IT and so did he!

 I am thinking I will probably do one for myself of each of my kids so when they get older I can give it to them so they will always a piece of their childhood with them to look back on.    

My daughter is 5 on Monday and I will be finger printing and toe printing her on that day to capture this milestone.  For some reason 5 seems huge to me, like it's the beginning of the end.. school, boyfriends, college, moving out, marriage, babies, .. OK I need to stop before the waterworks begin.

Her and I are working on a butterfly pendant that will have her toe prints and finger prints as the wings.. I'll keep you posted on how that turns out.  I have a feeling it will be a ton of work.. but it's worth it to me, I love making jewellery with meaning.   Especially when her and I can do it together.

Oscars Post 7 - A personal Fave

There has only been a few times in my life that I have had that feeling of butterflies dancing inside me, that feeling of pure excitement..

Meeting Dot Marie Jones was one of those events that did just that, sitting here now just looking at the photo brings all of the joy that I felt in that moment come gushing back.

Dot Marie Jones plays Coach Bieste on one of my favourite shows, Glee.  This woman is so talented, and I have to say she was probably one of the kindest people I have ever met.  LOVE LOVE LOVE her.

Now my excitement came from my own excitement to meet the Coach, but it was also to do with my daughter.  At the ripe age of "almost 5" celebrity is not really in her vocab... but I knew she would know this one.

My daughter, Maaren, goes to gymnastics every Tuesday evening and as soon as she gets home from the hard work out, she sits down next to me and suggests we start Glee. (We hate the weeks it's not on.) 
Typically the whole family watches together, but it is my Maary and I that snuggle up and demand silence after every commercial break. 

When I saw Dot walk in the room, I knew how excited Maary would be to see me standing next to Coach Bieste.  Here is one of the few pictures that I am in from the Oscar event that I don't hate. Can you see the genuine look of "Glee" in my eye!



My BFF and employee of the century Jolene is also a big fan of the show and we couldn't resist getting one of the two of them as well. 



Fast forward a couple days to me arriving back to Palm Springs loaded up with My Little Ponies, Leap Frog Maps and pens, and other fun freebies from the event to shower my children with.. I then dig out my camera and the first picture I show her is the one of me and Dot Marie Jones and my daughter flips out.  I'm not talking a quick "cool mom".. I'm talking she almost "peed herself" excitement.  That was the moment for me when I knew that at least in my "almost 5" year old daughters eyes I was cool. (Hopefully I can milk that for a few more years).

However the picture did create a lot of confusion.  Maaren now thinks that I work for Coach Bieste and that she gave her all the gifts.  So Ms.Jones if you ever read this, you are a serious hero in my daughters eyes and she would love to know how you knew she loves My Little Pony, she is convinced that you somehow work in cahoots with Santa.

I was a huge fan before I met Dot Marie, but now I am thinking of running for president of her fan club. A serious pleasure it was to be in her presence.