HAND OR HOME CRAFTED VS BUY AND SELL

ONE OF THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS I GET ASKED IS "DID YOU MAKE THIS"?

The answer to this question is really a, "yes" and "no", to most of the items we have for sale.

For instance, I don't make crystal beads - I just use them to make bracelets or necklaces. I also don't hammer out the metal or make the natural natural semiprecious gemstones. I just use them to make earrings and anklets. I don't make metal finger rings or sterling silver neck chains. So what is a home or hand crafted item and what is a buy and sell item?

If my wife or I was involved in the production of the final product for sale then I think of those goods as home crafted or hand crafted; Whereas buy and sell goods are items that we have basically bought for resale.

Assembled items are hand crafted items, if you have purchased the components to make a new product and have assembled them in a novel way. Many of our pendant necklaces are hand crafted because we buy the focal bead, (the pendant), the bale, (silver tone, sterling silver, or silver plated), the neck chain, (fabric voile, leather, sterling silver, whatever) . We then assemble the components. Voila - we have a beautiful pendant necklace. Usually this process takes a lot of time looking for and then buying the matching components whereas the actual assembly is a straight forward, easy task.

However beading is far more complex. Many of our earrings, bracelets and necklaces, contain several components and then we have to bead them in such a way that they are appealing to the buying public. A three stranded bracelet using Swarovski crystal or a double stranded necklace using Mother of Pearls beads is far more complicated than just assembling an pendant necklace.

Added to that is the fact that skilled workmanship is required (like in earrings) to bend over metal eye or head pins and/or attaching clasps on necklaces. To do a good job - time - is the main cost of production. Time has an impact on everything we handle. Sad to say we cannot charge for all of our jewelry making time. We are constantly told our jewelry looks lovely, but it is over priced, - because people compare our jewelry to the jewelry they can buy from India, China, Thailand or Malaysia. People don't stop and consider the different wage rates and cost of living between our county and countries such as these.

Our overall aim in providing jewelry to you is that it is a hobby first and foremost. I get a lot of enjoyment from presenting and displaying both my creations and the jewelry I think looks lovely. Secondly I want to find jewelry that makes you look good and makes you feel good too. So with these two thoughts I am always concerned about competition, but I will more or less follow my own path with your purchases always being the main indicator as to how well I am accomplishing my mission.

So Thanks for looking at my blog. I have enjoyed putting up the pictures on the net for you to view. If you feel so inclined, please don't be shy in leaving me a comment. Thanks again.

To make life simple for you - the reader of this blog. I have put a (HC) for hand or home crafted items and a (B&S) for buy and sell items.