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Are you a jewelry designer who markets your personal handmade jewelry line? If so, it may be beneficial to take a step back and take a fresh review your jewelry designs and get yourself an important question:
"Does my handmade jewelry line have a unique personality?".
It is really an important question to inquire about because if your jewelry does not have a personality or voice of its own, it will be lost in the sea of imported and produced in higher quantities jewelry that bombards the consumer every day.
We have a bead store customer who is a significant skillful jewelry maker. She focuses on necklace sets including matching earrings and often a bracelet. She uses top quality materials and her work is excellent constructed. She keeps her prices in a very reasonable level without underselling herself.
Now this excellent handmade jewelry designer arrived to our store having a distraught look on her behalf face. She was visibly upset, even just in tears. She tearfully claimed that the jewelry she worked so difficult on wasn't selling at shows or through the consignment outlets where she consigns. She had the feel of a defeated individual who was about to stop on her behalf dream. We couldn't have that!
We asked her to show us her jewelry designs which she happened to have together with her. One take a look at her designs told me quite a bit. Even though you could tell a great deal of care and workmanship had gone to their construction and the designs were well executed, her pieces lacked the type of impact that turns a good bit of handmade jewelry into a "must have" piece.
This very frustrated handmade jewelry designer used gorgeous semiprecious stone beads and sterling, however they were arranged inside a pretty, but somewhat predictable manner. We decided that they needed to give a "signature look' to her designs to give them personality and using them as something special that consumers would have a hard time passing up.
After circling the store for awhile and discussing various options, we decided the addition of a beautiful handmade lampwork bead or two to each design was just what was required to offer her jewelry a signature look. Yes, she would have to raise her prices a bit since handmade lampwork beads can be expensive, however i felt sure that she could get these higher prices with increased distinctive designs.
Our frustrated jewelry designer went home and designed 15 new necklaces using a couple of strategically placed lampwork beads in each design. The attractive colors in the lampwork beads made the remainder of her design pop, taking them from rather ordinary to quite extraordinary. Her prices were raised to compensate for the increased expense.
To create a long story short, at her next craft show she sold All of her new necklaces. Needless to say, she was thrilled!
Are you looking to check out your jewelry line having a fresh eye for originality? Does your jewelry have a personality? Otherwise, it may be time to make some subtle changes to provide your jewelry sales that extra boost. Here are some ideas for giving new personality for your jewelry:
1. Add few dichroic glass beads in strategic areas of your design. Dichroic glass gives off a beautiful, iridescent sheen that contributes color and life to some handmade jewelry piece.
2. Have you ever caused polymer clay? Using polymer clay, you can create beautiful, one-of-kind signature beads only using a few their hands and an oven. You can create beads that no one else can access. You are able to point out to your customer that these beads are "one-of-a-kind" handmade artisan beads.
3. Give a stunning pendant to the center of some of your necklaces. Don't be satisfied with just a regular pendant. Search for something no one else has. You can make an amazing pendant using a headpin, and unusual lampwork bead plus some decorative sterling silver beads.
4. Make use of a distinctive, large, beautifully detailed high quality clasp that grabs attention. An easy clasp change can often give a necklace or bracelet a completely new personality. You may also consider using a signature clasp cast for you by a jewelry casting company. This is not as expensive as you might think and really adds to your design options.
5. Try some unusual color combinations. Certain colors placed together can definitely make a design "pop". Take a look at color wheel and note how a color could be markedly enhanced when placed next to its complement. Don't settle for tired, overused color combinations. Think out of the box!
6. Sign your work or give a hand stamped, metal signature tag to your designs. It may be custom made for you by variety of companies on the web or you can buy tiny metal discs and hand stamp your own.
7. Consider adding gorgeous buttons or charms having a vintage look as a centerpiece for some of your necklaces. This could add such a vintage feel for your creations.
There are lots more ways to include personality to your jewelry but, wanted to get you started taking into consideration the steps you might take to give you jewelry a more identifiable personality. By regularly reassessing and redefining your jewelry business, you are able to give it the personality it must generate some serious profits.
