Making Jewellery is easy, but being a entrepreneur is not!!!!

While making jewellery itself is quite simple, one always needs to make an informed choice about it. Jewellery making stands on a three legged milk stool. I believe, and this is just my opinion , that most handmade jewellery fares low to high range based on these three main factors.

1. Innovation & Skill
2. Raw Material
3. Budget

INNOVATION

My reason for putting innovation on the top is, that creativity, artistic freedom everything stems from this one main point. If you want to try something new, you have to give it the extra push irrespective of money. One never escapes learning and what better way to understand your work than trials. You will need to be extra critical of your work, there is no two ways about that. If you want to learn and grow in designing handmade articles you must realise your own shortcomings and try to fix them. My shortfall is symmetry, how much ever I try, what people thinks look good, looks asymmetric to me and that's what I work on the most.

Important Note:
In the world of creativity, the term "inspiration" has been twisted into suiting people's needs. Ethics is too plays an important part of innovation. But if one must recreate, take the needed permissions and give credit to the original artist. Someday you might be someone's "inspiration" and get due credit as well. Do onto others what you would want done onto you. An idea is worth a lot more than it looks. I have faced ire at supposedly having "copied" someone's work (where in the idea was my own from almost a year ago which I revisited in a slightly different way). My page and I both suffered, its horrible because a public spat not only damages your image but definitely loses you clients. People take sides and it creates fodder for some others to reign on.

RAW MATERIALS

Since this forms the biggest part of your expenditure and savings, take utmost care while buying. There is nothing like buying from the source. Find a market nearest to you and buy material with money set aside from previous sales. It's an important reinvestment. Start with what you think is different , fits your budget and you can buy repeatedly if need be. Once you and your customers are comfortable with your material, start to upgrade to better material. for eg: start with buying acrylic beads  but aim to moving into glass beads and eventually semiprecious stones. The transition may be long or short, judge your own skills and customer demands and only then make a change to better material. But once at better material DONOT turn back. You can afford to keep a range from cheap to expensive only if you are a shop that caters to a variety of consumers, a handmade jewellery artist does not necessarily have that advantage.
I personally go to Mumbai, once a year and walk around the market scourging for new things and yes good quality things too. I need to start saving and putting aside money during the year to make this trip. It helps as well to meet the sellers, this helps build a rapport with them. If they know you, they are more willing to cater to your needs whenever you need help. They may even go out of their way to supply material to you.

Online sources are good for convenience ,but the draw back is that you cannot do a quality check from photos and sometimes is a risk, which you need to be ready for.
I once bought Rs 2000/- worth polymer clay online and it turned out to be bad and dry lot, since this was my very first investment it hurt a lot. I was a beginner and could not afford to have "bad" material to waste money on. I blacklisted that seller and had to buck up, refuse orders and lose money, both incoming and outgoing. Even today if my bill is over Rs1000/- from an online buyer, my heart starts pounding and reminding me of my bad experience. Now I only buy from reputed sellers even if they are a tad more expensive.

BUDGET

Once you are running a business (so to speak) money is an integral part of it. You have to assign budget for material, your time and designs and overheads like couriers or delivery, packaging, giftwrap, marketing, online selling cut, card payments or paypal commission,tools, stationary, exhibitions and sales etc. Everything today costs money, and it would do well to charge for your time accordingly as well. When you are designing for someone, it is the best practice to ask you client for their budget. It sounds rude, but you can only bear so many losses in trials. You can always go an extra little step to go beyond the expectations of your clients, and in turn gain their trust. You never know, you might end up as friends later! A new business needs time to set up, so expect slow sales in the beginning but start socialising for your business. It's marketing at grassroot level- word of mouth and needs less to no money. Once you have a footing in the market, invest in marketing , do exhibitions / pop up stalls/ promotional events.

Making some art
~Richa

P.S
I have an upcoming Jewellery making workshop in Pune, India
follow the event link below for info.

https://www.facebook.com/events/527651930754926

Artzire ++ Nakshatram ++ Nama:II

Our newest Polymer clay designs begin with the ideas - Indian Traditional, wedding (occasion) and GRAND!!!

The ins and outs of the Nakshatram piece can be found at 

http://artzire.blogspot.in/2015/12/pouring-our-blood-into-polymer-clay.html

The number two grand piece Nama:|| 

When the idea was formulating, again, with a traditional main theme, we contemplated mixing it with paper at first! Then came the idea of creating a third dimension in a pendant, and then we added symmetry to it!
Next came the few trials for making the Ganesha as the central piece, it took me at-least 3 tries before I was satisfied with the figurine. We baked it separately so as to avoid distorting it. Then painstakingly we outlined the flower in the 2nd layer of clay with a flower, so as to make it look like the Ganesha, sat in the centre of a Lotus. The matching Sari had the colours: Yellow-gold and Magenta, Since we could not include yellow in the pendant and earring ( because it lacked the contrast with the gold base), we incorporated it into the stringing with citrines and agates, which complimented each other completely!!! I decided to blend Magenta, Pearl and Purple clay together, to get a colour changing effect ( just like a Sari, that changes colour with the light). Once the outlines of the flower were in place, we filled in the channel created with minute clay balls, all cut to the measurement of 2mm each!!! Remember to do it, only when you are up for some brain numbing cutting and rolling! Trust me it takes hours! Once that was in place, we baked the 2nd part. The final layer, which included our veins for attaching the bead strings to the pendant came last. Once the base was created, we joined it together with the 2nd layer and an outline of clay and then merging the outline, such that it looked seamless! The biggest advantage of Polymer clay is that it can be baked as many times as you need  as long as it is within its core baking temperature.

Personal Note

I am lucky that Art'zire ropes me in for some juicy work. These projects I have never even considered doing, mainly because I doubt my own skills, but Pritesh is always there to help and give honest feedback. She sometimes thinks she is being very picky, and sometimes I think so too, and that's what makes all the difference between grand and "Grandeur". It's the exact measurement, mathematical precision and ideas that make the results worth everything. Sometimes it is mistaken for 'digitally printed designs'. In a manner of speaking we are glad for it! When people mistake our work for digital copies, it's a huge compliment to us!

So please let the love pour in! 

~Richa