A lot of handcrafted jewelry designers work around the clock putting together new jewelry pieces and hunting for jewelry supplies for that next bracelet or eye-catching design. One unique way to avoid that jewelry making burn out while still using your jewelry making skills is to begin to repair jewelry on the side! Making jewelry is a fun hobby and it can be very lucrative, but it can also suck out your creativity if you’re making a lot of unique jewelry designs and then spending lots of energy putting together the supplies for each piece over and over.

Repairing existing jewelry uses your jewelry design talents and will usually present some unique challenges. Instead of making a necklace from scratch, you usually need to take an existing jewelry pattern and find pieces to replace missing or broken jewelry pieces that either match the rest of the jewelry piece or at least compliment it. Repairing jewelry requires a slightly different approach to buying jewelry supplies because you’ll want to have a wide variety of clasps, seed beads and stringing materials available. You’ll also want think about using a decent jewelry supply inventory software package to track what jewelry supplies you have in stock, what you’ll need to buy soon and where you can get them for the best price. Here are some useful tricks to remember when you begin repairing jewelry for others:

Matching jewelry pieces to older jewelry is often very difficult. You have a much better chance of locating replacement beads or pieces that are complimentary, though sometimes matching the color of certain gemstones can be very challenging.

Even though a connector isn’t broken, you may want to suggest replacing it before it does break. Watch out for structural aging in old jewelry pieces.

Don’t be afraid to price your services accordingly. Often times you’ll be fixing a jewelry piece that holds a sentimental meaning or is particularly favored by your customer. You’re providing a service of not just fixing a piece of jewelry, but often you’re helping restore a memory or feeling!

Finally, don’t forget to have fun with it! Both repairing handcrafted jewelry and creating your own jewelry are creative ways to earn some extra cash, but it’s up to you to find the proper balance to keep you smiling and profitable at the same time. You can usually charge just as much to fix a piece of jewelry as you would to make it. But since are often working with existing jewelry materials fixing a piece of jewelry can be much more profitable.

Need to pick up more tips and tricks? You can visit our site to read more about custom and get some great jewelry ideas while you’re there.


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