Jewelry Business Blog

September 2005

© by Rena Klingenberg; all rights reserved

The Jewelry Business Blog has essential jewelry business tips, information, questions, answers, and news that you won't find anywhere else!

September 28, 2005

Your Jewelry Customer's Perspective - a reader tip

Author Sam Serio offers these 10 tips for jewelry customers' purchasing safety. How well does your jewelry business address these concerns?

Jewelry Shoppers' Top TenTips

Buying jewelry can be fun, exciting and confusing.

Whether you're considering a gift of jewelry for someone special or as a treat for yourself, take some time to learn the terms used in the industry. Here's some information to help you get the best quality jewelry for your money, whether you're shopping in a traditional brick and mortar store or online.

Top ten tips for jewelry shoppers:

1. When you're in the market for a piece of jewelry for yourself or someone you love, shop around. Compare quality, price, and service. If you're not familiar with any jewelers in your area, ask family members, friends, and co-workers for recommendations.

2. Ask for the store's refund and return policy before you buy.

3. Check for the appropriate markings on metal jewelry.

4. Ask whether the stones are natural, cultured, or imitation.

5. Ask whether the gemstones have been treated. Is the change permanent? Is special care required?

6. Make sure the jeweler writes on the sales receipt any information you relied on when making your purchase, such as the gem's weight or size. Some jewelers also may supply a grading report form a gemological laboratory.

In addition, these tips apply when you're shopping for jewelry online:

7. Shop with companies you know or do some homework before buying to make sure a company is legitimate before doing business with it.

8. Get the details about the product, as well as the merchant's refund and return policies, before you buy.

9. Look for an address to write to or a phone number to call if you have a question, a problem or need help.

10. If you have a problem with the jewelry you purchased, first try to resolve it with the jeweler. If you are dissatisfied with the response, contact your local Better Business Bureau or local consumer protection agency.

Tips from Sam Serio of Morning Light Jewelry.

September 24, 2005

Find Dropped Metal Beads, Findings, Wire Clippings, Beading Needles

Wire snippings, small silver beads, jump rings, and other tiny jewelry making supplies can be really hard to find if you drop them - especially if they land on a multi-colored carpet. Here's a quick way to find shiny things you drop while making jewelry:

Dim the lights in the room and shine a flashlight over the area where you think the object landed. The missing item will reflect the bright beam of the flashlight so you can see it more easily.

Make a Statement with Your Jewelry Designs! - a reader tip

Unconventional always gets attention. When you do this with jewelry, you make a statement - when you do this with your jewelry designs, you make a sale!

Open your designs up with unconventional materials and styles.

Combine natural materials with man-made materials. You can open up a whole new facet of your designs and have fun doing it!

Tip from Rickina of Spipo Designs.

September 19, 2005

Use a Blackening and Polishing Kit to Highlight Your Metal Jewelry Tags - new guest article

Blackening and Polishing Kit Highlights Metal Jewelry Tags
You can highlight the designs you've stamped onto your metal jewelry tags with a blackening and polishing kit. Guest author John Stancliffe describes this technique, and how it makes your tags more eye-catching and easier to read.

Article by John Stancliffe of Infinity Stamps, Inc.

September 18, 2005

A Quick Look at Hallmarks - new guest article

A Quick Look at Hallmarks
Hallmarks are official marks that are stamped, incised, or punched on gold or silver to show quality and metal purity according to carat or sterling standard. Guest author David Foard discusses British hallmarks, considered one of the world's leading hallmarking systems.

A new article by David Foard F.G.A.A. of Online Jewelry Appraisal Center.

September 16, 2005

Boost Creativity with a Change of Scene - a reader tip

I like to try to create and design in a different part of the house, during different times of the day. I'm a new stay at home mom, and since no moment is ever predictable or my own anymore, creating when and where I can has actually opened me up to new ideas and possibilities!

Tip from Rickina of Spipo Designs.

September 15, 2005

Develop Your Own Jewelry Style - a new guest article

Develop Your Own Jewelry Style
Having a unique jewelry style is one of the factors of a successful jewelry business. Should you specialize or diversify in your jewelry designs and materials? Guest author Dvora Schleffer discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.

Article by Dvora Schleffer of Dvora Schleffer Designs.

September 14, 2005

Selling Jewelry Through Catalogs - a new article

Selling Jewelry Through Catalogs
By selling jewelry through catalogs, a home jewelry business with the right product can quickly rack up huge sales. However, there are many pitfalls, and several things you must be prepared for. Here's what you need to know.

September 13, 2005

Jewelry Business Leads from Your Business Cards - a reader tip

Here's a way to work on getting your jewelry business leads...put your business card EVERYWHERE! I put my business cards in bills I send in snail mail, and I put them on chairs wherever I go, I put them in sugar packets bins on restaurant tables. Anywhere you frequent, put your card out there!

Tip from Rickina of Spipo Designs.

September 12, 2005

Two Tests to See if Freshwater Pearls are Real - a reader tip

With today's growing demand for pearls and pearl jewelry, it's very useful to be able to differentiate a real pearl from fake pearl. Here are two quick and easy methods:

1. Simply rub the pearl on a mirror; if there is a powder residue, then your pearl is real.
2. Rub the pearl agaist your teeth; if the surface feels rough, then your pearl is real. (However, this second method is less hygenic than the first.)

A tip from Peerawich of Vora Jewelry.

September 11, 2005

Find Out What Jewelry Customers are Looking for

Here's a nifty link that can help you find out what jewelry customers are searching for online right now. It's eBay's monthly list of the most-searched-for items in their "Jewelry & Watches" category:

What's Hot in Jewelry and Watches.

How might you use this information?

Think beyond eBay - although this info would certainly be helpful to anyone selling their jewelry in online auctions.

For example, the current top 10 searches revealed in "What's Hot in Jewelry & Watches" include chandelier earrings, cuff bracelets, colorful watches, and diamond right-hand rings. It's a good bet that if you make a few of these items, you'll have an excellent chance at selling them via your website, art shows, and jewelry parties.

You might also want to consider using these most-searched-for terms in your website's keywords and product titles.

Try checking in on this link every month when it's updated. Note trends throughout the year. Over time, what's popularly searched for around Valentine's Day? Mother's Day? Christmas? Summer? Fall?

The best strategy for selling jewelry is to know what jewelry customers want, and how they search for it.

Good luck! :o)

Reader Comment:

I love to check out the fashion catalogs and magazines. They let me know the colors and styles and trends that are current. My teenage daughters are also a big help. They are the roughest critics! Yet so much fun!Stopping in my favorite stores and seeing the colors coming in the season are a great way to forcast the styles especially for your area!

-From Melinda Jernigan.

September 10, 2005

I recently discovered that it's not a good idea to wear bright colors when photographing your jewelry.

Without thinking much about it, I wore an orange t-shirt a few weeks ago while taking pictures of my jewelry. Even though I used my camera's timer and stood back, all of the pieces I shot that morning showed orange reflections.

On pieces that had a good-size expanse of sterling silver, the orange was reflected perfectly in the shape of a shirt! The pieces that had either sterling silver or white pearls showed the most reflections. DOH!

I didn't discover it until I had downloaded the photos and had them in a slideshow on my computer monitor to pick the best shot of each piece. Of course I had to change to a different top (white this time) and re-shoot everything - this time standing WAY off to the side.

My jewelry buddy Laura says she did the same thing once, in a pink top. :o)

September 07, 2005

Jewelry Packaging and Your Information - a reader tip

Business cards are great - a must, in fact. But how many customers actually retain your business card?

I'm sure a lot of people do, but I would imagine a lot of people lose them or discard them. I have found it helpful to add my name and web info to the packaging of my products as well. I like to use round tins with a glass lid and add a round sticker to the bottom of the tin with my name, telephone number and website address.

I doubt that the customers will throw out the tin as it is rather nice, and so it ensures that they have my information should they require it in the future.

A tip from Angela Schoonen of Angela Schoonen Lampwork Beads and Jewelry.

September 06, 2005

Wearing Your Own Jewelry - a reader tip

When making a new piece of jewelry, please remember to make a duplicate for yourself to wear. The compliments you receive will open conversations about your business, and lead to sales and interest in your jewelry!

A tip from Donna of Devine Jewelry Design.

September 05, 2005

Getting Your Jewelry into Shops and Boutiques

How can I get my handcrafted jewelry into shops and boutiques?- a reader question.

I think the biggest hurdle in starting a jewelry business is getting up the nerve to actually market the jewelry you make. I alternately dreamed of and dreaded selling my jewelry for about two years before a friend nearly forced me to do my first small show! :o) I don't know where I'd be today if she hadn't given me the push I needed.

If it makes you feel braver, nearly all jewelry artists feel the same apprehension about taking the first step in selling - or the first step in a new way of selling - their work. So you're in good company!

When you approach shops or boutiques, remember that you have a wonderful, unique line of jewelry to offer them. You're offering them a great product to carry in their store, so be confident in that knowledge.

If a shop says "no" or "not now", please don't take it to heart. There may be many reasons, having nothing to do with you or your jewelry, why they refuse. For example, their business may be slow right now - in which case, it's not a good shop for your work anyway.

And if you do hear a "no" from one shop, don't let that stop you from moving on to the next shop. You may want to ask what type of jewelry they are interested in, or if there's anything their customers have been requesting. But if they say they're already overloaded with jewelry, then once again, it's not an ideal place for your work anyway.

I have a whole section of articles on consigning and wholesaling your work through shops, galleries, and boutiques:

Wholesaling and Consigning Jewelry.

Have courage and believe in your work - and visualize your success. Remember that if they say "no", it's their loss, not yours - and that it's probably not a good place for your jewelry anyway. Just stay positive, and move on to the next possibility.

September 03, 2005

Katrina and Jewelry

As our thoughts and prayers are with the hundreds of thousands of people who will forever think of their lives as "before" and "after" Hurricane Katrina, I appreciate so deeply how blessed I am.

And seeing the devastation and suffering in what were safe, clean American cities and towns just a week ago makes designing jewelry seem so frivolous.

I felt the same way in the aftermath of September 11, 2001. At that time I had been selling some of my jewelry through a small shop in upstate New York, and a few days after the terrorist attacks the shop owner emailed me to request some more of my jewelry.

In the email I sent back to her, I told her that I couldn't make myself sit at my jewelry table and make anything - it seemed so frivolous to sit there creating bracelets and earrings when people were suffering from such a life-altering event and all I could do for them was to pray and make donations.

The shop owner emailed back, "I disagree. It is in times like these that the world most needs the beauty of what you can create. Artists have the gift of reminding the rest of us of what is beautiful and good in the world. Having something that was lovingly made by hand is healing and grounding, and restores our faith that the bad things won't last forever, that we don't have to give in to them."

Her words struck a chord with me, and helped me more than anything else in those tragic, tense days.

And here's another way your jewelry can help the people whose lives and homes were damaged by Katrina:

You can use your jewelry to help the people in need by having a fundraiser jewelry show - or by letting your customers know that you're donating a portion of your jewelry business proceeds for the rest of 2005 to either the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, or Habitat for Humanity.

September 02, 2005

Children Find 1,000-Year-Old Jewelry

A simple family garden in Norway will undergo a major excavation after two kids found ancient Viking artifacts while just playing around a tree.

Aftenposten reports two 5-year-olds from Tromso were digging around the tree's root when they found a large circular pendant and a silver bead.

Since then, archeologists have discovered more artifacts from what they suspect are Viking graves from around the year 900.

Associate Professor Inger Storli of the Tromso Museum said he had never seen anything like it before.

The garden will now be turned into a major archeologist site to search for more artifacts.

Copyright 2005 by United Press International

September 01, 2005

Sapphire - Lore and Legend of September's Birthstone

by Sam Serio of Morning Light Jewelry.

September Birthstone: Sapphire

Birthstone Properties: Brings physical and emotional balance.

Sapphire is the birthstone for September and the gemstone given for anniversaries of the 5th and 45th years of marriage. Taken from the Greek word for blue, "sapphirus", sapphires have a time-honored tradition with priests (who considered them symbolic of purity) and kings (who considered them symbolic of wisdom.)

Sapphires were mined as early as the 7th Century, BC in India and what is now Sri Lanka. Today they are found in Sri Lanka, Australia, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Kashmir, Myanmar, Thailand, China, Madagascar, and the United States.

Against Which All Others Are Measured

Sapphires, like rubies, are a variety of corundum. The sapphire's color spectrum includes pink and lavender varieties, a rare orange hue, and, of course, the velvety blue sapphire that earned the gemstone its name.

Because of the way in which corundum crystals are formed, large sapphires are rare - and valuable. The priceless 563-carat Star of India, on display at New York City's Museum of Natural History, is the largest and most famous of "star sapphires" (sapphires that are cut to reflect light from inclusions within the stone to reveal a bright six-legged star pattern).

To Your Health

So strong was the power of a sapphire, it was alleged that a venomous snake put in a vessel made of sapphire would quickly die. Sapphires therefore earned the reputation as an excellent all-purpose medicine and were ingested as an antidote to poison. Additionally, sapphires were ground into powders as a remedy for everything from colic to rheumatism and mental illness.

Sapphires were also believed to be able to stop bleeding and cure disorders of the eye.

The Eyes Have It

Egyptians associated the clear sapphire with the eye of Horas -- the all-seeing, all-knowing "eye in the sky" -- while the gemstone was used by the Greeks to to tap into the subconscious mind by stimulating the opening of the "third eye."

A Mirror of the Soul

Husbands and wives in ancient times frequently exchanged gifts of sapphires. Although the fact that sapphires represent sincerity and faithfulness was undoubtedly the primary reason it was a popular marriage gift, another motive may have been at work: it was believed that a sapphire would not shine if worn by someone who was wicked or impure.

Sapphires were considered to be so powerful they continued to protect the original owner even after being sold.

Say it With Sapphires

Clear sapphires, like diamonds, are the guardians of love. When exchanged with a loved one, sapphires are considered to enhance feelings for one another and attunes the two psyches. Sapphires are said to have the power to banish envy and jealousy, and to promote fidelity in marriage.

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