How to submit your jewelry to galleries the safer way.

Some may think that it should be simple to submit your jewelry to a gallery to sell it. One thing I have learned from stories I have heard others tell and some personal experience is that submitting your jewelry work to galleries safely can be trickier than it may seem.

However if you follow some general guidelines you can be successful at it. before I get into this there is a few notes I would like people to consider before they think about trying this. This isn’t necessarily the best thing to try if you are just getting started. mainly because jewelry in galleries often is in the gallery for a long time before it is purchased and if you need money flow in the beginning of a business sometimes this method of marketing is not advantageous. If you are a bit more established it can be a very good way to get noticed by collectors.

All galleries do their processes a bit different so the best thing you can do when submitting to a gallery is to contact the gallery in advance and ask them their preferred method for submitting jewelry. In my experience many galleries prefer to have pieces submitted via slides. Some prefer this method because it is more difficult for a slide to be altered digitally where some are ok with digital images.

One of the biggest things you want to find out before submitting you work to a gallery is whether they have an agreement that is signed when you submit your work and what their policies are regarding payment and the possibility of the piece not selling and how your work will be returned to you if it does not sell. Time-frames for these are important to take note of. I would personally not choose to submit work to any gallery that did not have some of these things in writing. I have heard stories of people losing their items when a gallery goes out of business or not receiving payment because no agreement was outlined.

Essentially just do your homework keep an eye out to see when your items sell and you should have no problems. I would not use this method as the only way to market your work but it can be a very valuable method to make a name for yourself and get established as a well known jewelry artist!