I just completed a new jewelry making video showing how to make what I call a Three Stream Bracelet.

This design uses a lot of bicone beads, round beads, and seed beads.

It is not a difficult design but it does take patience since some of the steps are repetitive.

This design is always popular when I sell jewelry at craft shows.

You can also make a very attractive variation on this design by substituting swarovski pearls in place of the bicone beads.

You can watch a preview video of the class here:

Three Stream Bracelet Video Preview

While you’re making a bracelet it can be a little stressful wondering if you are making it the right length.

Fortunately, there is a very useful and inexpensive tool called EZ Bracelet which makes it very easy to get the bracelet length right.

I show you the EZ Bracelet tool in this video and explain more about it.

As we all know by now, the US economy and probably most every other economy in the world has fallen into a recession.

It’s been a while since there was a serious economic recession, but one thing’s for sure.

There aren’t many products or services that are immune to the negative effects of a recession, particulary products that aren’t considered life necessities.

As much as I love making jewelry, I’d be hard pressed to say that jewelry is a life necessity.

Nonetheless, there are still ways to “sell” your jewelry even if you don’t receive cash in return?

What am I talking about?

Bartering.

I read this article about a jewelry maker who barters her work for other goods and services she needs.

In a recession, a prospective customer is much less likely to give you their cash for a piece of jewelry that they want to buy.

However, if that same customer has something, a product or a service, that you want to buy then you have the opportunity for a potential barter.

Check out the article and see if it helps spark some ideas about opportunities to barter your handmade jewelry items.

Barter Your Jewelry

Sometimes you see an idea that seems so obvious that you want to kick yourself for not thinking of it yourself.

Obviously, there has been a lot of excitement in recent months in the US about the presidential election.

Whether you supported Barak Obama or not you have to admit that he created a couple of different slogans during both his primary and presidential campaigns that struck a chord with many Americans.

The first one was “Change”, and then he followed that up with “Yes We Can.”

As those slogans took hold in the minds of many Americans, smart marketers of products that people can wear (like jewelry!) could take advantage of this by creating custom items with those slogans on them.

That’s exactly what a jewelry maker in Rhode Island did.

His primary business is laser engraving wedding rings with whatever messages people want on them, but he made a connection between his capability to do that and the Obama slogans and created a commemorative Yes We Can ring.

That is very smart marketing.

You can read more about his ring here: Commemorative Yes We Can Ring

As a handcrafted jewelry maker, can you think of trends like this that you can take advantage of by offering a personalized version of your jewelry creations?

There’s no doubt about it. When you set up a booth to sell your jewelry, your sales results will depend greatly on how your jewelry is displayed.

This may seem like common sense but when I think about many of the booths I have seen at craft shows very few invest much time, thought, or money in their jewelry displays.

I think folks get very caught up in how attractive the jewelry is and forget that they have to enhance that attractiveness with attractive displays.

Think about it.

Imagine walking in two different retail apparel stores that have exactly the same clothes.

One store just puts all their clothes on standard hangers and standard hanger racks.

The other store uses fashionable manequins, nice lighting, and product positioning to create a more valuable look.

Not only will this second store sell a lot more, they will also be able to command a higher price.

Those rules apply to your jewelry booth as well!

Fortunately, there is great information available to help you with your displays.

Rena Klingenberg offers an incredible amount of valuable information about jewelry displays on her website.

I recommend that you read all the articles she has there. You will learn many tips that will help you increase sales at your next craftshow.

Here’s the link to her webpage:

Displaying Jewelry

One of the things I have always loved about the business of making and selling handcrafted jewelry is that I don’t have to actually do much selling.

All you have to do is wear your jewelry and as long as you’ve made something that is eye-catching and appealing, someone is going to ask you, “Where did you get that?”

When you answer, “I made it myself” you are on your way to one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to sell.

When people really like your jewelry they will say something like, “Do you sell any of jewelry?”

How easy is that? It’s a salesperson’s dream situation.

Yesterday, I read a blog post that reminded me again about how much fun it is to sell jewelry like this.

But what I really liked about this one is the unique item the jewelry artist uses to show off her jewelry making skills.

She uses a lanyard that she made to hold her YMCA member card. What a cool idea!

Check out the article she wrote about this, and look around her website as well.

There are a ton of tips on her site about making Polymer Clay beads. 

Custom Beaded Lanyard

I just finished creating a new video class where I show how to make a framed pendant.

The centerpiece of the design is a 16mm 1122 Swarovski Rivoli gemstone.

I then use 3mm 5301 bicone beads and size 11 seed beads to create the frame that holds the Rivoli bead.

Creating this design takes a while but I think you will find the end result well worth it.

Click the link to see a preview video of this video class: Framed Pendant Preview Video

Yeah! My puffy heart video class received a very nice review!

I always get excited when a fellow jewelry maker compliments one of my videos.

Here’s a link to the review: Puffy Heart Review

If you are interested in trying the puffy heart pattern yourself, please take a look at the preview video at this link: Preview of Puffy Heart Video Class

This is a challenging design to make, but once you figure it out with a little practice, it’s a lot of fun to make.

And the puffy heart design has been very popular for some time so if you are in the business of selling your jewelry this one is an easy sell.

I found this article yesterday and I thought it was so neat that this lady, Dianne Johnson, has found a way to use her jewelry making to help others heal, or commemorate very special events.

What she did was find a way to turn rose petals into beads, and then make those beads into pendants, necklaces, and bracelets.

Her primary work is taking roses that people bring to her from the funerals of loved ones, and turning those into jewelry that becomes a keepsake for remembering the one who has passed away.

Needless to say, Dianne says she gets a lot of spiritual and emotional satisfaction from doing this service for people.

Here’s a link to the article where you can read more details about Dianne’s work:

Angel Rosebeads

Sometimes I’m just amazed by how creative jewelry artists can get.

I ran across a blog by jewelry artist Madeline Kaczmarczyk showing some of the incredible work she does by combining very intricate seed bead work with clay.

Her work is stunningly beautiful and I can’t imagine how she has the patience to do it.

Take a look at her work here:

Madeline Kaczmarczyk’s Seed Bead and Clay Art