Multi Butterfly Bracelet

Jewelry making Project

Bracelet in beaded butterfly design using bicones in both 6 and 4mm crystal beads.  Create this stunning and unique butterfly bracelet and add a touch of elegant shimmer to your life.

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A simple rule you really need to master to sell more jewellery

A simple rule you really need to master to sell more jewellery.

The 80 /20 principle

Do you know the 80/20 rule. This rule states that 80% of your success is down to 20 % of your actions. The key to lasting success is to identify  the 20% of what you do that make a difference and do more of it.

It’s a common rule of thumb also that 80% of you sales come from 20% of your clients. One of the fastest ways to sell more of your jewellery is to identify those 20% and look after them.

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Turquoise Silver Foil Disc Bracelet

Jewelry Making Project

 

 

A contemporary bracelet in cool silver and blue shades.  This cuff style bracelet gives a really unusual look and is a statement piece of jewellery for those who want to stand out from the crowd.

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Insights from jewelry designer and author Dorothy wood

Allison talks to the author of the new jewellery making book “Ultimate Necklace Maker”, Dorothy Wood.

Dorothy has been making jewellery since 2004 and is the author of many books and articles and is a keen crafter.

 

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Czech Glass Contemporary Pillow Bracelet

Jewelry Project

A bracelet made from Czech glass, seed beads and silver plated copper beads, that gives a contemporary look.

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Pretty lampwork bead and cats eye bead bracelet

Jewelry Project

A bracelet with feminine appeal, which will appeal to women both young and old.

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Making jewelry pendants with shrink plastic

Of late there has been a real resurgence of the use of shrink plastic in the design of jewellery.  Shrink plastic, sold under several brand names, was once seen as a crafting medium for small children. Now this versatile medium is being used by those of us interested in making jewellery to add a new dimension and depth to our designs.

To use the shrink plastic, just draw an image on to the plastic sheet, cut out your shape and bake in an oven or use a heat gun to shrink. 

 

On this project we have taken an image and manipulated it in a graphics package to get the desired effect. We have then printed the image via our computer printer directly onto the shrink plastic. (It should be noted here that if you choose to do this we recommend using an old printer or a printer which is not particularly valuable as damage to the printer could occur if the plastic gets stuck in the machine.)

Our image is cut into a plain pendant shape and hole in punched into the plastic before baking in an oven.

We have then decorated the pendant with some co-ordinating beads and used a sliding knot and linen cord.

 

Note.

Please follow the manufacturer’s instructions and guidance which come with your shrink plastic.

The reason some people fail when selling handcrafted jewellery and what you can do to avoid becoming one of them

Years ago I had a light bulb moment. I was going for a job interview on a magazine. The position was as a sales executive selling advertising space. I didn’t know at the time but I was going into one of the hardest professions in the world – selling blank space is not easy.

I hadn’t planned to go into sales and I didn’t consider myself to be the stereo-typical salesman type, but I needed a job that paid (it was the recession of the 80’s) and I knew that these jobs paid well.

Whilst at the interview, the man interviewing the 19 year old girl in front of him said, what do you do when you call someone up and try and sell them some space and they say no. I said, well I would just move onto the next client, and try my luck with them. After all I couldn’t do anything to make someone buy something. That is where I was wrong.

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Letter template for introducing your jewellery to shop owners

Letter template for introducing your jewellery to shop owners.

One of the fundamental things that most people don’t realise when selling their jewellery to stores, is the fact that shops are not going to stock your jewellery as a favour to you. They have to be sold to and convinced that you jewellery will sell and make them profit.

Here are some ways which will greatly increase your chances of store owners stocking your jewellery.

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What are focal beads and how should you use them?

Focal beads are beads which draw the attention of the eye and become the focal point for your piece of jewellery.

In most cases the bead is handmade and more often than not a lampwork bead which has special detailing that make the bead stand out from other regular beads  .

Using focal beads is a great way to minimise costs in jewellery design whilst making the jewellery appear unique and different. And the use of focal beads in jewellery design also prevents jewellery designers from making classic design mistakes by overloading jewellery with competing beads which scream out for attention and detract from the overall look of the jewellery.

Focal beads can range in price from a few pence to a few pounds or dollars. Some Individual glass blowers make their living from creating really unique focal beads. These beads are also sometimes referred to as art beads, and they can in fact be works of art in themselves.

To source unique art or focal beads it is worth getting in touch with individual designers who often belong to glass blowing or beading guilds and having a look at their work.

Below is an example of using a focal bead.

The red focal bead takes centre stage. Co-ordinating red beads are selected and crystal bicone beads in an olivine colour pick up on the accent colours of the main focal bead.

Try http://www.gbuk.org/pages/gallery/marion-sidebottom/ for a look at what is happening in the UK

Try http://www.aussiebeadmakers.com/ for a look at what is happening in Australia

http://www.isgb.org/ Here is the international association of glass bead makers based in the USA

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