Jewellry making and selling - is there money in it

puddy

I fancy the idea of putting some designs into practice but have never made jewellry and wouldnt know whether it brings in any dosh.

I have put me and OH on a taster course in jewellry making and am considering silversmithing as a 10 week course if I like the taster course, but of course it all costs money!

Do others make and sell their jewellry, where do you do it, ebay? craft fairs?

thanks

Jo_F

I make jewellery, wirework and woven along with usual type of beading. I sell online and at craft fairs. But, there are a lot of jewellery makers out there and you may find that a lot of organisers have more than enough jewellery people and so may find it hard to get in.

I diversified slightly and started also making gifts and beaded flowers, which has helped

puddy

thanks for replying, yes i did wonder about the numbers of other people doing the same thing, do you do it full time? i was thinking part time, like in my spare time really

borders_dude

The title of this thread is

Jewellry making and selling - is there money in it

Surely the question should be is there enough money in it? Im sure you will sell some, but whether you sell enough to cover your expenses etc is another thing!

ktpie

Folksy and Etsy might be useful, I haven't bought or sold on either of them so can't give a personal recommendation, but they seem to be pretty popular.

Jo_F

There can be money in it if you have something unique and expensive, but the unique and expensive items generally take a lot of time to design and make, so you need to price them to cover the time taken, which is somethng that a lot of crafts people have trouble with, if they charge minimum wage for their time, then no one is going to pay it. I made a piece of bead woven jewellery that took me nearly 10 hours to make, so that's over £60 without taking into account the cost of the materials used.

I don't do the selling full time, but I do have a lot of events booked for November, which means that I have to take time off from my main job, but I am lucky in that my main job is from home anyway, and I can make jewellery while working (obviously not the more intricate pieces)

Oh, and don't bother with Ebay, you won't shift anything on there.

Each piece I do actually make a profit/money on, but when you factor in other things, then I don't. I did a craft fair on Sunday, my first sale was a £25 jewellery set, which was actually a profit on the time and materials, but over the course of the day, I only sold another £6 worth of jewellery, the stall cost me £20, and the parking at the hotel cost me £6, so a huge profit on the day of £5, luckilly my other half (and the transport manager) didn't charge me for the petrol used.

puddy

im looking at metal clay which would enable me to make some things that im thinking about. ive drawn them down so i dont forget. not sure they are unique enough for others to think 'wow' or to make money though.
was thinking that i could maybe make stuff over the 6 month period and then just sell it over x period until its all gone, then start again

poshm

Never made jewelery but before having a baby I sold my handmade cards online and did very well on etsy

Ebay was a good selling venue for crafts many years ago when there was less competition and the price for a shopfront was reasonable but is very expensive for small traders nowadays and way too much competition

ETSY is a brilliant online selling venue for most handmade crafts, very cheap and easy to get started there. They are based in the US so good if you don't mind selling abroad but also have a big and expanding UK and european following too.

There is also Dawanda which I had limited success on.

Important to try and be unique and offer something different to everyone else

Hope it goes well

tameem

There are a lot of marketingplaces for hand crafts just use google to find them

Moonbeam

You can also look at Jewellery Direct Selling Companies - I work with one, but there are a few out there. They can be a good back up in terms of stock if you can find one that compliments your style and that way you can sell all year round and you don't have to worry about finding the time to make too many pieces initially to have a good display at fairs.

It means that you will be able to get started straight away too...

louisa81

jenner wrote: »

im looking at metal clay which would enable me to make some things that im thinking about. ive drawn them down so i dont forget. not sure they are unique enough for others to think 'wow' or to make money though.
was thinking that i could maybe make stuff over the 6 month period and then just sell it over x period until its all gone, then start again

I bought a metal clay starter kit then realised after reading the instructions that- despite it saying you can do it on a hob/with a blow torch, most itms will need a kiln.
I then looked at kiln firing services which are quite expensive- plus you have to send your items off to someone else who could then copy them
I ended up buying my own small kiln but with all the instructions I still haven't gotten around to using the clay or the kiln!
It is quite difficult from what I've read- the temperature has to be just right and if it's not you'll ruin your piece.

Plus add to that the fact that silver clay is pretty expensive and one your items are over a certain weight you'll have to get them hallmarked....

Look into this more before you spend any money- I wish I had! :rolleyes: