How to Make Custom Jewelry
Your great sense of style and creativity would be a great asset to you if you should consider constructing quality custom jewelry for individual clients. If you are good at your job you will receive continuous phone calls from clients who would require you to construct special pieces for them or as gifts for others. It is easy to start making exquisite custom costume jewelry if you possess the creativity and talent. You must aim at making your pieces unique so that when your client wears jewelry that you designed and created she knows that there is none other like it in the whole world.
Working with clients is actually the hardest part and you need to get a picture in your mind that matches the picture that is in their minds. It would be a gross error for you to work in the presence of your clients and expose to them how easy it is to create bespoke jewelry – it is tantamount to teaching them the trade and you run the risk of losing clients. The only way to know what custom jewelry design that will match their style and the type of person of your clients are is to talk to them at length. If the piece is to be a gift for someone else, ask lots of questions about that person, and if possible, meet them in person yourself. Remember that uniqueness and exclusivity are the keys to making this type of business successful – but great communication with the clients is vitally important as well.
There are times when you will be asked by clients to make custom jewelry using stones or gems for existing jewelry. They may even want you to just enhance a piece that they already have that is old and requires work to make it look new again. To avoid destroying a client’s piece of jewelry, do not accept the job unless you know you can complete it without a problem. Find out all you can about the piece and what special meaning, if any, it holds for the owner.
In order to make your custom jewelry you will definitely have to purchase the pieces from wholesale sources. Just make sure that you are buying quality parts and look for sources of unique jewelry making supplies as well – imported pieces are great sources although you will have to quote your client a price before you start, so be careful here. Once you have quoted a price, make an allowance of 15 to 30 percent to be deducted from it as your profit margin if you do not want to lose money. After deducting 15 to 30 percent, use the remainder as your ‘budget’ when buying supplies to make the custom jewelry.