Handmade Jewelry - behind the scenes

Just as a carpenter or a dentist has tools for their work, and newer or different tools are always coming along, jewelry artists have many tools for making jewelry. It's important to use good quality tools, and because these tools are expensive, I've purchased tools one or two at a time. I still have a lot of tools on my wish list. The right tool is necessary to get the job done right, whether it's special pliers for a certain effect with wire, or something as simple as a crochet hook for crochet jewelry.

Then there's the matter of gemstones. Every jewelry maker has a stash. The bigger the stash the better to make more design options. There's not much that I like more than buying gemstone beads. I wrote in a previous blog that I purchase many beads at gem shows. While this is to a certain extent one stop shopping, one has to be careful as it's easy to get burned. It's important to inspect each stone for flaws. One tiny little flaw can make a gemstone useless for making jewelry. It's very easy for me to miss flaws and find them only when I get home. Does anyone want a large, beautiful, gemstone quality ametrine briolette with a black fleck right in the middle? There's not much I can make with that!

I purchase a lot of gemstones on line. I've discovered a handful of on line stores that consistently sell good quality gemstone beads. Finding these stores is a matter of trial and error. It's disappointing to order a strand of beads, or several, only to find that the only person who would be seen dead in them is the family dog. There are many things that may not be apparent when inspecting new bead purchases, like large drill holes. Beads with huge holes do not line up nicely.(I'm not talking about holes that are deliberately large for stringing on leather.) This could be a problem. So could beads that are supposed to be clear but are cloudy, beads with small cracks, beads that are discolored, beads with drill holes that are askew and other things that may not even be noticed until I start to use the beads. Most on line sellers will take beads back within a certain period of time. Shipping is expensive, so shipping beads back and forth adds up. I would say that I probably return about 1/4 of the beads I buy because they are not of good quality. Then I can always count on a few bad beads on a strand of beads that I thought were perfect but aren't. It's just a fact of life. One thing about finding good sellers is that I don't have the bad bead obstacle. However, I will always want to venture forth to new sellers to find new gemstones, new cuts, new whatever. Then it's important to carefully inspect each bead.

I could not even come close to estimating how much time goes into buying jewelry components. Since I like to make things that are a little different, this is an ongoing process. Especially anything involving a gemstone anything. When you buy a simple pair of pearl earrings from me, you can be guaranteed that a lot of time went into choosing those pearls. This past winter I was looking for some nice gemstone pendants to put on necklaces. I looked at literally hundreds of pendants and wound up buying TWO!! As I said, this is not an unpleasant process for me, but it does use up a lot of time. Another thing to consider is that gemstones and precious metals aren't cheap, so there is considerable financial investment involved. More on that later.

To come: more about gemstones, silver and other metals, marketing options, online marketing and more.

Author: Michele Doane, Sacred Earth Jewelry