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Jewellery, Beads & Buttons!


Vex

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Since a few people have asked me about my jewllery on a few different threads (and I've seen the replies so late that I haven't replied), I thought I might post some of my work on here. I'm not doing this with the goal of selling - As far as I know I haven't actually got the means of selling online (buyer-only ebay, etsy and paypal accounts) and I sell for cash through my family's shop and friends with stalls at markets.

 

I mostly do necklaces, but I also do charm bracelets, rings and brooches. Almost 100% of the charms and buttons I use are 'vintage'. Some stuff goes back as far as the 20's, and goes all the way to the early eighties. When I get the chance, I'll use findings and chain that's vintage too - the chain from the charm braclet photos is from the 70's. I explicitly search for natural, undyed stone and coral to use in my pieces, but since I source my stuff online there are probably some 'enhanced' beads in there. I much prefer the colours found in nature to those man makes.

 

My most used materials are definitely silver wire, turquoise, red bamboo coral and various hues of jade. My favourite cut to use is faceted, I love the sparkle of faceted gems. I also adore using genuine fossils and vintage carved chinese cinnabar, but those are both pretty pricey.

 

If anyone wants to know the exact components of any of the pieces, I always keep lists so I can tell you. If anyone is actually interested in knowing more about my stuff, feel free to PM me.

 

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I had them automatically resized, but if they need more resizing let me know and I'll get right on it.

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2. No spam, no advertising, no self-promoting bullshit. Spam gets deleted, and the rest gets a pedicure maneuver* or the testosterone takeover.**

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It's not advertising - I explicitly stated I don't sell online for that reason. I don't have any stock to sell, even if someone wanted to buy.

Several posters have asked me about my stuff - not to buy, just out of curiosity - and so I posted one thread rather than PMing individual people.

I was interested to hear what the people who had asked thought about it - I've seen people here post photos and other creative work and I don't recall it being an issue. I did not think I was violating the rules, since I felt I made it explicit I had no method of selling and was not looking for sales.

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Vex, I really like your charm bracelet! I find it hard to make one that doesn't come out looking like a random pile of garbage, or way too matchy.

I used to make and sell jewelry to gift shops in art galleries. With all of the competition on etsy etc driving down prices, I earned more money that way than I would've by selling online. My pieces practically sold themselves when people had the opportunity to handle them, but it's hard to convey in a photograph why your product is worth more than an inexpensive and cheaply made pretty thing listed by a reseller.

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I"m PMing you now. I need a coral necklace for my son for Civil war reenacting! I may order 2 depending on how much the costs are!

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Thank you for the replies! I really appreciate feedback, but I'm kind of scared to ask in jewellery/art forums.

The first necklace I posted was actually the first I made. I had that gorgeous branch of coral and I wanted to build around it. I love making necklaces where the focal point is a something natural and spectacular, just with some wire wrapping.

Charm bracelets are really hard to get right, I've only ever put up a couple for sale because I'm rarely satisfied with them. Getting the charms looking random is actually really difficult! I'm always adding and removing things. The one in the picture has probably about 20+ hours put into it now it's finished (it wasn't finished in the pictures) and I put so much work into it that I wound up keeping it. It would have been extremely difficult to price because there are so many charms, some of them were very old and cost quite a lot. I always find pricing pieces unpleasant, which discourages me from selling more pieces.

I agree that it's much easier to sell in person. When I put things up for sale in markets I rarely get anything returned to me. My dad's shop isn't as great a place to sell because people don't go in that kind of store looking to buy jewellery, but I make a lot of sales around major holidays and word seems to have gotten around in the community. When people can touch your stuff, see the quality and materials and details for themselves it makes it easier to sell. When I buy handmade jewellery online I'm always worried that when I get it home there will be flaws the photos didn't show that would have otherwise prevented me from buying it.

Also, as mentioned, photos don't tend to do pieces justice. The depth of colour in some of the stones I use are amazing and can only be appreciated in person. I use a lot of faceted beads for texture even when they're not a focal point, and they often don't show in photos. I don't really like the whole system of eBay and etsy, anyway. My dad displays my work for free, and I only have to pay $5 at the markets to have my stuff sold. No seller's fees, no merchant accounts and no hassle!

I'd love to see the work of some of the people here, I know there are a lot of artsy folk at FJ.

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  • 1 year later...

Wow Vex! I've gotten quite into jewellery making - mostly earrings, a few broaches and necklaces (although these are premade pins and chains, where I add charms and beads etc.) I now have a few things that are not really my style and am not sure whether to try and sell them (probably on Ebay, not sure I would quite meet Etsy's rules) or just keep them until I want to give them as presents, any suggestions?

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Wow Vex! I've gotten quite into jewellery making - mostly earrings, a few broaches and necklaces (although these are premade pins and chains, where I add charms and beads etc.) I now have a few things that are not really my style and am not sure whether to try and sell them (probably on Ebay, not sure I would quite meet Etsy's rules) or just keep them until I want to give them as presents, any suggestions?

Not to derail this but you can sell pretty much anything on Etsy. They don't really clarify what is 'handmade'.

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Not to derail this but you can sell pretty much anything on Etsy. They don't really clarify what is 'handmade'.

They do mention something about putting a mass-produced charm on a chain does not count. I don't know how mass-produced the charms I buy are, as I usually get them from an independent bead shop....

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Okay, because I accidentally started to derail Vex's thread :oops:, I thought I'd start a new one. Any other "jewellers" out there?

 

I'm by no means on a par with Vex, but I really got into making jewellery a couple of years ago after stumbling across a bead shop in the city where I go to uni and decided to buy an earring kit on a whim. I had made a few things by taking apart old bracelets and attaching them together with artery clamps (my dad's a nurse and they were the most plier-looking thing I could find at the time!) Then I went back and bought some round nosed pliers, headpins, earwires and beads and was totally hooked on it! I mostly make things for myself or friends and have branched out into necklaces and brooches. I'm considering selling some of the pieces because while I like them, they're not my style. Also I'm in the UK, so I don't know if I can sell on Etsy anyway.... Any thoughts?

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You can sell on Etsy from anywhere in the world. Frankly I'm thinking about starting to sell at craft shows instead because they've turned a blind eye to the cheap mass produced stuff that has taken over. Etsy is out to make money and that's that.

The biggest thing is you have to be really good at promoting yourself and timing your listings just right. I get a lot of 'likes' on my listings if I get listed between 6-7 EST. A lot of it is the tags and descriptions too.

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Guest Anonymous

You can sell on etsy from the UK, but you will need to find ways to drive traffic to your listings, as it is quite a saturated market. Perhaps from a blog or ebay page?

I'd love to see photos of your stuff. :)

I have played around with jewellery in the past but never really built up enough kit to make very much of interest, myself. I ended up using my jewellery wire to keep slugs off my plant pots instead. :lol:

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You can sell on etsy from the UK, but you will need to find ways to drive traffic to your listings, as it is quite a saturated market. Perhaps from a blog or ebay page?

I'd love to see photos of your stuff. :)

I have played around with jewellery in the past but never really built up enough kit to make very much of interest, myself. I ended up using my jewellery wire to keep slugs off my plant pots instead. :lol:

Well I have a blog (although it's mostly baking) so I think I might go down that or the Ebay route.

Ah cool, I'm in the middle of a jewellery making marathon atm (spent quite a bit in the bead shop today!) so I'll take some photos later and try and figure out how to post them!

Random aside - but if you wash out egg shells and crush them up then sprinkle them around your plants, it keeps the slugs and snails away (according to the man in B&Q and it's what my mum's doing!)

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So I had a bit of a jewellery-making marathon today and made 6 necklaces, 4 pairs of earrings and 2 brooches! Here are the fruits of my labour (hopefully!) plus a couple of pieces that I've made previously. Sorry about the naff photo quality!

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They do mention something about putting a mass-produced charm on a chain does not count. I don't know how mass-produced the charms I buy are, as I usually get them from an independent bead shop....

I really wouldn't worry about that. Etsy openly ignores resellers because they sell a lot of items and make Etsy a lot of money. People actually get punished for calling out resellers on the forums because "being mean" is apparently against the rules. If you skim through regretsy, April Winchell does a lot of great writing on the reseller problem between the snark. Really, the only way to get in trouble on Etsy is to get sued by a big name corporation or try to call out the real resellers. :roll:

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I really wouldn't worry about that. Etsy openly ignores resellers because they sell a lot of items and make Etsy a lot of money. People actually get punished for calling out resellers on the forums because "being mean" is apparently against the rules. If you skim through regretsy, April Winchell does a lot of great writing on the reseller problem between the snark. Really, the only way to get in trouble on Etsy is to get sued by a big name corporation or try to call out the real resellers. :roll:

Okay :)

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Okay :)

Good luck if you decide to start selling on Etsy. :) Just remember that you'll have to do pretty much all your advertising yourself. You could also try looking at store envy- http://www.storenvy.com/ They're a similar service to Etsy, but without the focus on "handmade" and the last time I looked at their stores they had fewer fees. That was a year or two ago, though, so that might have changed. I also haven't heard nearly the amount of negative stuff about storenvy that I have with etsy. I'm thinking of making one soon myself to try to sell stuffed animals.

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I've never made any beaded jewelry before but I've been left with enough beads to last me a lifetime. I broke out the "Beading for Dummies" book, got the beads and the Heart of the Ocean charm, and went to work.

 

I'm thinking ribbon ties in the back.

 

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Thank you for the kind words. :)

I broke out some more beads so hopefully I'll be crafting more soon. It's something to do and something to keep my mind off things. I've got that phone job interview tomorrow so I'm a bit nervous about it.

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Thank you for the kind words. :)

I broke out some more beads so hopefully I'll be crafting more soon. It's something to do and something to keep my mind off things. I've got that phone job interview tomorrow so I'm a bit nervous about it.

Good luck, although I'm sure you won't need it! (the luck that it is!) :) Looking forward to seeing some more of your creations!

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