The problem with this may be, however, that I don’t have the materials to make that extra earring. Usually, I luck out and I do, but not always. I’m sure you know how that goes. Maybe you only had a few beads. You used them up and sold the pieces and they are gone. Plus, even if you could locate the same beads, it’s not worth the money or time to order a whole strand of new beads so you can make one earring.
So, how do you deal with this problem – lost earring and no beads?
Here is an option for you: You can reconfigure the design. First warn the customer about the problem – no extra beads. Then ask if she wouldn’t mind if you tried to come up with something using materials from the other earring, but adding new elements to make something a tad different. If this is okay, don’t forget to mention the extra cost because now you are making two earrings and using extra materials.
Another item to consider, whether you can duplicate the earring or not, is to offer different ear hooks. I’ve noticed that petite women sometimes have problems with shepherd-style hooks. Therefore, they would do better with either posts that have a dangle (if the earring design needs it) or lever backs.
