JEWELRY MAKING

Jewelry Making: Making Your Own Jewelry


Jewelry making has been a very profitable activity for many centuries. Considered by some to be an art, it went through some important innovations in its design trend during the 19th century and in the present it continues to be seen as an extremely creative pursuit.

There are many types of jewelry making that one can start to work on. Some of these can include beadwork, metal work, jewelry carving as well as clay and plastic jewelry. Any of these can be used for making necklaces, bracelets, earrings and various other types of creative jewelry. Skilled practitioners who know how to work with as many techniques as possible can manage to earn a significant amount of money.

Getting Started

Depending on what you actually want to get started on, you can choose between a few main types of jewelry manufacturing. While you can work on practically all of them, it is usually best for beginners to only focus on one.

• Beadwork: This is the craft of linking beads to one another on a string or wire. It is a very old practice, historians claiming that it has been used for more than 5000 years. It is also one of the least costly of the jewelry making arts so many beginners choose it. Modern beadwork is often used both as a hobby and as a business and some of the more skilled and creative craftsmen can even put together 2D and 3D bead patterns.

• Metal work: This type of jewelry manufacturing is the most difficult but it can also be very valuable, especially if you are using gold and silver. You will need to learn some important methods of working with metal before you can use this practice.

• Clay and plastic jewelry: Clay jewelry is fairly simple and cheap to work with. It has also become much more popular in the past few years. Plastic jewelry making is even more popular and easier to work with than clay. The best thing about it is that you are not restricted to using only the materials available in stores since there are many small plastic objects that you can put together creatively to create jewelry.

Regardless of which of these options you may choose for your jewelry making, you need to have some basic tools that are required for every craftsman. Jewelry pliers are probably the most important of them. They are usually used in beadwork and depending on what you wish to create you can opt to either use chain nose pliers, round nose pliers, flat nose pliers or side cutting pliers. These jewelry pliers are usually geared to help craftspeople work more easily with wire and small objects.

The most basic tools used in jewelry making of any kind can also include various measuring tools for maximizing your precision, magnifiers to work with smaller objects, as well as tools you can use for beadwork such as scissors, needles, glue and knotting tools.
The best way to learn basic jewelry manufacturing methods is to browse online sources. There are literally thousands of video and written tutorials available for free on the internet that can help you get started and improve your techniques with time. Once you have mastered the basics you will most likely want to try out your own methods and create your own innovated jewelry pieces. The originality and creativity that you can achieve are virtually unlimited.

Supplies and Costs

The costs of jewelry making are generally not very high. This is one of the many reasons why the activity is considered so profitable. For many people, cost is very important since not all have the financial possibility to start a large business and jewelry making often begins as a hobby so no real profit is usually involved at first.

This is why you must make a detailed plan concerning the materials you will use. The cost of tools is not as important as that of the supplies because tools rarely need replacing. When it comes to materials, however, it is much easier for example to start your jewelry making using simple plastic parts such as beads rather than going for expensive metals like gold or silver.

Therefore beadwork is probably the most profitable way for beginners to start working with jewelry pieces. Beads are very cheap and you can easily replace them if you make a mistake. The supplies and tools needed to work with them are also quite inexpensive since you will only need to work with string, needles, scissors, glue or pliers, most of which are usually available in any household.

Potential Profit

Before turning jewelry making into a profitable activity you will of course have to reach a certain skill level. If you are a beginner therefore, the first step should be to refine your skills and learn as many methods as you can to create more and more varieties of jewelry pieces.

Another important factor that can decide the potential of your profit is how well organized you are. In order to increase the speed and quality of your work you will have to allocate a certain space for your work place where you can keep and organize all your tools and supplies.

Once you have a few quality jewelry items you can easily start a home business and advertise your work in the local paper and on websites. It will not be long until you receive orders from people for a greater number of jewelry pieces and perhaps even some personalized requests. Jewelry making can then indeed become a very profitable business for you if you are determined enough to see it through and make all the necessary steps.