After posting a poll about plated wire, while most people agreed that it is less expensive, many were still not ready to use it to make jewelry, even if it meant saving money. I can't say this really surprised me that much; however, it got me thinking about saving money in general when it comes to your jewelry making. Here are some tips I have been using lately to keep my jewelry costs down:Use lower-end metals. For example, I have been using a lot more brass wire, copper wire, and also findings in these two metals. I still use silver and gold-filled, but more sparingly.
Recycle previously made jewelry. I have taken apart a lot of jewelry I have made in the past that either didn't sell or I just no longer like that much. That has given me a lot of new supplies to work with.
Recycle old jewelry. Before many of made jewelry, we bought a lot of it. I have reused old parts of jewelry I had purchased. For example clasps, pendants, and beads can often be repurposed very easily.
Make prototypes with less expensive materials. I just about always made jewelry designs with less expensive materials first, and then once I feel confident, I can break out the good stuff.
These are just a few cost saving ideas, but I have no doubt you may have a few suggestions of your own. Feel free to post them in the comments and share the wealth.
Comments
How funny – I was halfway through a blog post on precisely the same thing – all the money-saving things I’d been doing over the weekend.
I’m always tearing up and redesigning jewelry. Especially when I work with jump rings, I don’t have to waste anything.
I recycle all my silver scrap – a lot of suppliers will give you store credit at a good rate, and since I’m just sending in my trash, it’s like getting supplies for free.
I spent all Saturday making and ear wires. When I started out I wanted to do everything in 20g and now I have ounces of the stuff lying unused. With a little flame, pickling and tumbling I have a huge batch of ear wires and far less useless material.
That is a very good point about the scraps. I save and save them. I need to actually turn them in soon.
Great tips! Thanks for sharing!
I am semi-retired and just starting out in jewelry making so I really have to watch my pennies. I often go to swap meets, flea markets, rummage sales, etc, and pick old jewelry that is decent looking, take it home, cannibalize it, (lol) clean up the components and make new items from it. Save a LOT of money that way.
Great tips! I live a fair distance from any craft or beading shops. And the ones that are close are the type that carry only top name brand supplies, and whatever is in fashion at this time. Frustrating to chose between paying almost double close by, or taking transit for 1 1/2 hrs to get to a good store.
So I started to patrol the second hand, Salvation Army, etc. I found an untapped wealth the first few times I went. Now I have to wait till they get in more. But regardless, I came out with a bag full of parts and pieces, at a price I could never beat. Some I must admit needed some cleaning- a toothbrush, liquid soap and some clean sand (for grit) and those beads looked new again. You probably won’t need the sand, but some of my beads were old and had creases that held dirt in them.
But the point is the amazing deals I got.
$2.00 – 8 wine rings. ( these fit around the stem to distinguish one persons drink to from another) each had about 20 beads, a different color on each ring, and they were good quality beads at that.
$0.50 – per necklace -each of these were stung on fake leather, but the clasps were easily removed, some of the beads were very cheap metal cylinders (aka fat bugle type beads) But some were ornate, and went perfectly on a hair clasp I was making.
$1 – per pair of new earrings. This was a great deal as the earrings were long dangling beads.
$0.30 – beaded bookmark! 4 by 1.5 inches! that’s a lot of beads for little more than a quarter.
$0.50 – single coil memory wire bracelet. This was another steal. Beads,findings AND the memory wire can be reused!
Unfortunately, these shop don’t get a steady supply, so you have to check back often to see if anything came in.
handy tip for cheap beads is to use fimo( bakeable modelling clay that comes in loads of colours and finishes) to recreate anything big that was too expensive to buy…a local shop near me sells large beads at 1$ each which is expensive if you are doing a big project. also you can use nail varnish or modelling paint to fabulously do up older/ newly baked beads! be sure to file them with a nail file first and add a clear layer f varnish after though! the other cheap tip i have is to prowl through the larger cheaper clothes shops for sales on jewellery as loads f this can be remade into much nicer pieces. happy beading!
I always love to recycle old jewelry & turn it into new things I also love making bracelets out of beautiful stones.