Off-line Business Opp - Jewelry Designer
August 19, 2007 | Author: Eve Lester | Filed under: Working at Home
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This is a very fun, yet tough field. Beaded jewelry is beautiful and actually very simple to learn. As a jewelry designer you will use all of your creativity, and patience to design, make, and sell custom jewelry and accessories. You can work with sterling silver or other recycled metals, even using clay or paper-mâché. You can market and sell your finished work at fairs, flea markets, art shows, even in some local gift shops. All you need is a nice little tablecloth to lay over the table and display your jewels on that.
I recommend learning the basics of jewelry design before jumping into this full time, you can begin with a few books and I have also tracked down some e-books on the subject. More on those in a minute. If you are planning on selling homemade jewelry, you will need to find a source that you can buy in bulk for cheap. Also make sure to buy a minimum of 3 each of anything you buy (beads and jewel related- not the wires and thread) You want to get multiples for a few reasons, one is so you can make more, another is if you make a piece and sell it, what if their friend loves it and wants one just like it. Often the store you bought it from may not have the ’same’ pieces, just like in knitting, you want everything to come from the same dye lot.
Always start out small if you are not already a jeweler, get a feel for it using a kit or a set, here are a few to get you started; Bead Buddy Kit
You will also want to pick up some books / Magazines on the subject, they have several at Amazon, just search for Bead Making
Another way to get started are the ebooks on the jewelry design business, I tracked down some on Click Bank; Guide To Your Profitable Jewelry Booth, Beading And Jewelry Making and Start Your Own Jewelry Party Business look promising.
If you are wondering what to charge for your pieces, there is a great software program, this is what I used when I started selling at the fair every week. It is a program that has you enter in all of your supplies and the cost, then each time you make a piece you specify how much of what you used and it tells you how much it ‘cost’ to make that piece, and gives recommendations of the price based on the hourly rate you set for yourself. This really helped me as I am really bad at undercharging, therefor not making a profit, this helped so I always made at least some profit. You can get the Bead Manager Pro here .
Ok, I think I covered the basics, let me know if you get started in this, I would love to see what you come up with, jewelry design is so beautiful to me.
Table of contents for Off-line Business Opportunity Series
- Off-line Business Opportunity Series
- Off-line Business Opp - Professional Organizer
- Off-line Business Opp - Jewelry Designer
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4 people have left comments
Great post! I’ve been making and selling jewelry for a while now, and I think you hit on all of the most important factors for beginners.
I want to add my new book to your list of jewelry making books for beginners, because it fits into that category perfectly.
It’s called Teach Yourself Visually: Jewelry Making & Beading. It’s scheduled for release on October 1, but is available for pre-order on Amazon.
It covers the main types of jewelry that beginners usually get started with, explaining all those basic techniques, so that new artisans can experiment and decide which techniques and styles they like best.
As the title suggests, it’s full of hundreds of color photographs demonstrating how to do things - but I’ve also included a lot of general reference information (like how to select the best stringing material for a project) that readers can refer back to as their skills develop.
I hope some folks getting started will find it useful! If anyone has any questions about it, feel free to contact me through my blog.
Take care,
Chris
Thanks Chris, I will add your book to the list now!
i am a experianced jeweler specializing in handmade braclets/bangles/jingles/powerbands and slavebands
i am looking for wholesale buyers of these mechandise
and or a need for labour of this kind. willing to use customer’s material and just charge for labour.
My mother and I are currently starting an online jewelry business and really appreciate the advice.