About 6 months ago i was getting a Tad bit bored. I decided to try my hand at a hobby i had been interested in for a number of years, but either didnt have the time, or didnt have the disposable cash. after practicing for several months with low cost practice materials, Yesterday i produced my first expensive item. A Sterling silver and Jade Bracelet. in the next few weeks i will be trying to make several more items of different designs. Bracelets,Necklaces and maybe a few rings and pendants. I would appreciate any and all feedback as i may decide to turn this from more than just a hobby.
So you switched a profession to jewelcrafter. So how much agility does real world items give these days?
Black opals are a tad out of my reach in quantities required for that design... however i do have a fair amount of Crystal opals, and will be using them in a piece later on. Right now the Gems i currently have are: Tiger eye Onyx Amethyst Aquamarine Jade (pale green,yellow, and black) Alabaster Malachite Crystal Opal Peridot Rough cut Ruby Rough cut Sapphire Chrysocolla Ruby Fuchsite Pink Mexican Opals Pearls (freshwater right now, but will be purchasing Akoya saltwater and Tahitian pearls after the new year) and a few more i am sure i have forgotten to list. Right now i have restricted myself to working in Sterling silver, but i have a supplier that can provide me with .999 Silver and 14k gold (however it will be a while before i dare work in that particular medium)
That looks really nice. If you make anything that could go around a braid, be it for hair or a beard, I'd be interested in seeing what it is. I need to step up my viking game and I've recently decided that means metal in the beard and hair like clasps, cinches, or even caps.
Thats an intriguing idea, and one that i had not previously considered. A quick internet search turned up at least a dozen different styles of metal clasps fit for both hair and beard braids.. a couple of which i could easily do. a few would require me to pick up additional tools (some of which can be rather pricey ) and a few designs would require me to become comfortable with silver soldering (something i plan to do but havent started yet) Give me a couple weeks to see what i can knock up , and i'll post a few of the designs in copper.
Looks good to me... do you have prior experience in related fields or is this something brand new you came up with? Are you doing custom metal work with the ends there (I assume the weave is metal wire?) or do you try to assemble ready made parts?
The end caps and the Lobster claw clasp i purchased as they are. and yes.. the wire frame is constructed from 20 gauge sterling silver wire, i hand wove it from 4 separate 75 cm lengths . the closest thing i ever did to this was safety wiring of nuts and bolts while i was in the marines. with the exception of a few missteps, the methods of weaving and manipulating the silver, has so far, come almost naturally to me. which i thought was funny as i have these monster sized hands. I dont want to just "Assemble" parts... most anyone could do that, but certain Parts (spring clasps, end caps,and cut gems/beads) i do purchase. some pieces i have made (out of copper so far) are 100% created by my own hands. i can create necklace links, toggle clasps, wire work and wire wrapping out of different gauged wire. Currently i am using 28,26,24,20,18,16 and 12 gauge wire (all base round wire at the moment) The bracelet shown in the OP has a total of 9 ft of 20 gauge and 13 inches of 18 gauge silver wire
After looking at metal hair/beard braid bands lastnight, i tried out an idea. I took a U.S. 1/2 dollar (1971) punched a hole through the center. then rolled it into a ring. using my ring stretcher i stretched it to a 21mm Internal diameter, surprisingly once i threaded my hair through it and slid it into position.. the friction from my hair held the band in place quite well. Due to the size of the hole i originally punched in the coin, the height of the band ended up at 8.5mm which would look fine as a hair band, but i could also use a smaller punch and leave more of the coin to make a taller band (although it would have a smaller internal diameter) Taking this idea and applying it to smaller coins (such as an American Quarter or even a dime ) i could make a band that would probably be suitable for thinner braids.(however for thinner braids i would probably suggest a elastic band below the metal band to insure it didnt slip out. this idea would probably look best if done with pre-1970 90% silver coins. ( now i just need a new tip for my torch to anneal the coins without melting it, i would need to heat the coin to between 1000 and 1100 degrees fahrenheit )
Wow! Super nice and very original. I've personally never seen anything like it! How much? My wife likes jewelry.
I honestly havent thought much about what price i would charge for items, i have been just practicing making different styles out of copper wire, then cutting them up to get the gems back out. Also before i even think about selling anything online, i would need to get a secondary bank account (cause fuck linking my current bank account to ANYTHING that deals in money transfers). Will post a pic of a different design i just did out of Sterling Silver and Aquamarine later today, when i have access to something better than a phone camera. (i gotta buy a new quality camera)
Yea plus if you're selling stuff you may want to have a very clear and discrete separation from your personal funds for record keeping in case you end up having to pay taxes, etc.
As promised.. here is a Photo of the new bracelet i made. Sterling Silver and Aquamarine stones. Comprised of 15 8mm Aquamarine stones along with 12 inches of 18 gauge and 12 feet of 26 gauge silver wire
Etsy is good place to start up a business from home. Materials + Labor + overhead + tax = final cost. cost ratio should be around 70% for materials, around 15% to 20% for labor, and rest overhead and taxes which should be almost nothing if you are operating from home. The final cost is then multiplied by what ever amount is most beneficial to the business while still leaving the customer satisfied with the product and its price. Restaurant menus can have all sorts of price multipliers depending on what it is. most are 2 to 3 times the cost of what it was to make. some break even but the ones that break even normally have something that ties in with something else that makes a lot of money. Like lamb chops which normally sell for break even price but people who buy lamb chops in a restaurant also normally buy wine which the price of a single glass is normally the price of the whole bottle that the restaurant paid for. normally 6 glasses to a bottle for reference in mark up. there is also diminishing price increase for products as the amount goes up. Like a 20 oz coke and a 2 liter of coke. the 20oz is 1.50 while the 2 liter is 2.50. the price per amount drops based on the over all perceived enjoyment after a specific amount of the product is consumed for a customer to feel satisfied. but this may not apply for you. jewelry price points don't really equal restaurant menus food cost but maybe this will help in pricing things out a bit.
I like the idea that price contains information on what you want people to buy. If something is a fecker to make, it should have a lot bigger margin than anything else and the stuff that you like doing can have slightly more inviting margins. That achieves two things - you are more likely to get to do what you want to do and also when you have to do those annoying ones you'll be better compensated for them so they don't feel quite as annoying.
