February 2006

Gail Crosman Moore • February 2006

Nestled among the hills of the north Quabbin Region in Massachusetts, Gail Crosman Moore experiments with various techniques and materials to create vastly different kinds of jewelry. On the one hand, she works with molten glass to make intricate beads, and on the other, she uses felt as a sculptural medium, and in jewelry. She says using complex coloration and a soft palette helps keep her work fresh. She's been recognized in such publications as Bead and Button, Lapidary Journal, and she's just recently exhibited her work at the prestigious Philadelphia Museum of Arts Craft Show.

TCR: How did you get involved in jewelry?

GCM: When I was at MassArt I was hypnotized by the hot glass shop, I took a few semesters in that department, deciding I really didn't like the scale of it and that I didn't want to keep a furnace full of glass hot all the time! When I was introduced to the scale of lampworking I knew I had found what I had been looking for. The small scale lets me focus on the surface of a small object/bead/pendant and work the surface in a detailed way.

The next question was how do I use these components in a finished way, my jewelry was born.

TCR: What came first...felt or glass? Can you explain what makes you attracted to both, and why you choose to create jewelry from each of these materials?

GCM: The glass came first. The felt was appealing to me in its ability to absorb all light in high contrast to the reflective aspects of glass. Once again, the jewelry scale lets me focus on a smaller area and heavily embellish, with attention to small detail.

TCR: Do you treat each material as a separate business with a separate market?

GCM: I overlap in some markets but I know where the felt is more marketable as I know where I can sell my beads and components.

TCR: How have you pursued your business? Can you provide a brief timeline of when you got started, and how your career has evolved?

GCM: I started in this business 15 years ago, that is the selling of my handmade work in a retail/wholesale way. I started out making hand bound books and selling them through ACC shows. This was very stifling as I would /could only come up with a new line annually and then just fill orders until the next February came around. It was 11 years ago that I started making jewelry and I've chosen to pursue this in a strictly retail manner, this way I can make whatever strikes my fancy, I'm not locked into a 'line' of work. This means I travel a lot more selling at both craft shows and bead shows, but I hold out to be able to make one of a kind work. I had a three-year period of time where I went to work as an elementary art teacher, during this time I had a full show schedule also. For the past three years I do shows and teach workshops nationally in both lampworking and felt making.

TCR: Who is the market for your work? What is your strategy for reaching them?

GCM: The market for my work is predominately 30 plus women that make their own jewelry and use my beads/components or collect, I come face to face with them at bead shows. The other group that is buying the finished work I see at craft shows, they fall into the same demographic category.

TCR: Have there been major turning points in your business?

GCM: There have certainly been ups and downs, the shift from books to glass was a big shift and the addition of the felt was another. Meeting Karen Flowers in 2001 was a great happenstance. We have been collaborating since on all of the crochet work that I offer at shows. It has been a wonderful experience to have two heads to spark around the creative process.

TCR: Do you see any business challenges specific to artists who work in jewelry, or in a niche as specific as felt jewelry? how have you overcome these?

GCM: The jewelry market is a challenge. In applying to high end craft shows there is some really stiff competition, you cannot count on getting into a show from year to year. I count on attending a series of bead shows nationally. I find my biggest market to be on the west coast, so I schedule and travel to shows and workshops out there.

TCR: What has been the most difficult thing you have encountered in your work?

GCM: Finding the right market.

TCR: What, in terms of business insight, have you learned to do or not to do over the years?

GCM: To not put all of “my eggs in one basket.”

TCR: How has the Internet affected your business?

GCM: I don't really know. I use the Internet and my website to guide people to my shows and workshops.

TCR: What is the next step for you?

GCM: I am in the process of reworking my website to offer direct sales.

TCR: What is your show Schedule...if you have one...and where is your work available and through whom?

GCM: Look for my updated semi yearly schedule on my website www.gailcrosmanmoore.com.