If you sell your own handmade jewelry at shows and markets, expect people to come to you with all kinds of broken jewelry, asking for you to repair it. Repairing jewelry made by others can be a lucrative side business, since jewelry stores won’t usually have anything to do with handmade jewelry. It doesn’t come without its drawbacks, however.
You can create the most beautiful jewelry the world has ever seen, price it to be the most affordable jewelry possible, and yet the lady down the street who makes overpriced, unattractive jewelry could sell more in a week than you do in a year, if you don’t learn how to effectively market your business.
Many parts of our lives are about compromising, and about getting by with a little less to stretch things further. When it comes to the tools you use for making jewelry, however, spending more is often better. Sure, you can go to your local discount store and pick up a few pairs of pliers that will get the job done, but they will wear out quickly and will not provide the quality results a high end pair of pliers will. This is particularly true of tools that can wear out, such as wire cutters.
When it comes to creative arts, of which jewelry is certainly one, there seems to be a natural ebb and flow of creativity, and forcing creation for the sake of getting it done when not in the natural flow can be disastrous, or at least very frustrating. For me, I find that my creativity peaks in the spring when the tide of life itself begins surging forward again in a rush of newness. In the winter, when I have more time to create, my mind is in hibernation mode and I find it hard to come up with new designs.
Jewelry for piercings has become so much more popular these days. Now, you can find entire websites devoted to offering the latest and greatest in pierced jewelry. These sites are great temptations to those with a new piercing. It is fun to celebrate a piercing with a new fancy piece of jewelry, but not all jewelry is made alike when it comes to new piercings.
There are many opinions on how best to ship the jewelry you make. I remember looking for hours on the Etsy forums to read how other sellers do it, back when I first started selling online. Shipping jewelry is actually very easy and hassle free, if you don’t complicate it too much. The two main factors to consider are cost and appearance.
Whether you make jewelry as a hobby or for a business, making it is a great way to pass the time and get a creative fix. Few things are as satisfying as seeing a design come together just as you envisioned. This is just my opinion, but I think making jewelry is therapeutic as well. I definitely get cranky when I haven’t created in a while, and can feel myself unwinding when I start going through my beads.
I can’t count how many times a customer has asked if I have earrings to go with that bracelet, or a necklace to accompany a pair of earrings. While some people may only be interested in one piece of a design, having a complete set will give you an opportunity to upsell an item, and give you better sales without the extra work of a new design.
Making jewelry to fit all sizes is nearly impossible. You can get closer by adding extender chains or other adjustable options, but there will still be people who need a custom size. In addition to sizes, some customers will want to change the clasp, and even the layout of beads sometimes. If you can offer alterations to your customers at no charge, you will increase sales. Even better still, if you can do this on the spot at shows and markets, you will get sales you would have otherwise lost.
Sometimes in a jeweler’s life, there comes a product that is so different it completely revolutionizes the way that jewelry makes jewelry. For me, tornado crimp beads are one of those products. In fact, I might credit tornado crimps with my jewelry business success, because without them, I surely would have perished from sheer frustration before my business ever had a chance to take off.