Posts Tagged ‘sterling silver’

If you’re a jewelry designer, you’re probably already aware of the amount of competition there is for the handmade jewelry dollar. It can be frustrating when you exhibit at a jewelry or craft show and find you’re one of many jewelry exhibitors. What’s the best way to overcome this problem? Your answer may lie in harnessing the power of niche marketing for your jewelry business. Why? It’s easier and less costly to reach your market if you’re a specialist in your jewelry niche. Being a specialist also gives you added credibility.

Let me illustrate by telling you about a business that has found a unique little niche that has made them quite a success.

One day at our bead store, a lady walked in with an interesting line of handmade jewelry. Her jewelry consisted of little teapots in all shapes and sizes cast in sterling silver. Some of the teapots had beads as the body of the teapot, while others were composed of hollow sterling with intricate patterns on their surface. She had made these little teapots into earrings, Victorian looking necklaces, bracelets, and pins. According to her, she had the teapots cast by a silver casting company in Providence, Rhode Island. Once casted, they were sent to her to make into completed designs.

Although she had a great deal of success marketing her teapot jewelry at craft and jewelry shows, her biggest source of sales has been tea stores across the country. It seems these stores can’t get enough of her tea themed jewelry. She has a beautiful color brochure that really plays up the beauty and uniqueness of her designs. To reach her market, she simply sends out mailings of her color brochure to tea stores across the country and then follows up with a phone call. This is a very simple and effective marketing technique.

This lady has found a powerful niche market for her jewelry. Wouldn’t you think most people who shop in a tea store for teapots and tea accessories would be interested in what this lady has to offer? Teapot collecting has become a popular hobby and what better way to express a love for a hobby than by wearing teapot jewelry? In addition, people know they can’t find teapot jewelry just anywhere so they’re more inclined to buy it when they see it.

Is there a niche market for your handmade jewelry you may have been overlooking? Could you adapt your jewelry to meet the demands of particular niche market?

A few ideas might be:

1. Cat jewelry for a veterinarian’s office who specializes in the care of cats.

2. Dog jewelry for veterinarian’s offices, doggie day care facilities, boarding and grooming centers, pet stores etc.

3. Ballet themed jewelry for dance studios and dancing supply stores.

4. Plant and flower themed jewelry for gardening centers and gardening gift shops.

5. Food themed jewelry for gourmet supply and gourmet foods stores.

6. Bicycle themed jewelry for bicycle supply stores.

The list could go on and on. Sometimes making jewelry for these markets can be as simple as adding a sterling silver charm to one of your current designs with the appropriate theme. Just imagine of all the hobbies and occupations you could target with your handmade jewelry designs. Give niche designing and marketing a try and see if it can help YOUR jewelry business.

Kristie Leong M.D. specializes in helping handmade jewelry designers find new markets for their jewelry. She publishes a blog and has website full of information on jewelry marketing at http://www.jewelry-marketing.com

Author: Kristie Leong
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Selecting wedding rings is one of the most important decisions you have to make for your wedding. A wedding ring is not just a piece of jewelry; it is a sign of your love to your partner. And you are going to wear it for many years. How do you select the rings that are perfect for you and your loved one?

It is unlikely that both the bride and the groom will like the same style of rings, so it is important to find a compromise that would make both sides happy.

It might go against tradition, but shopping for a wedding ring together as a couple makes cense. This way both of you can see available styles, and find something that each likes.

What are your choices for wedding rings?

When it comes to wedding rings, choices are endless. Modern jewelers offer a great variety of materials and styles. You can get rings made of yellow or white gold, platinum, titanium or sterling silver. Each material has its advantages and disadvantages. Yellow gold is a classic wedding ring or band material. Titanium is durable, modern and fashionable, but along with platinum titanium rings are awfully expensive. Sterling silver is the cheapest, but it is not very durable, so if you plan to wear your wedding band on daily basis silver is not a good choice.

There are many styles as well – plain bands, antique and vintage wedding rings, Celtic style bands. You can get rings without any gem stones, or with jewels. Most popular of course are diamonds, you can get a single diamond ring or a diamond-encrusted band.

If you can’t agree on the style that both like, consider buying not matching wedding rings. After all, everybody has different taste, and you will have to respects another person’s preferences. Getting different wedding bands becomes more popular in the recent years; because this way each person can get the ring she or he likes the most.

Buying wedding rings at reasonable price

Wedding rings are not hard to find items; every jewelry shop has some to offer. Most stores have hundreds of different styles and catalogues for you to order your rings. So be prepared to go shopping for your rings in advance, so you have time for ordering the bands you like, rather than buying what is available in the store.

If you are looking to save money, department stores usually have good collections of wedding rings at reasonable prices.

You can also look for wedding rings online. There are many jewelry stores that sell wedding bands over the internet. The prices are usually better than in ordinary stores. And of course you can search many places sitting in your chair, instead of running all over the city chasing jewelry shops. After you find the material and the style of ring you like, check several online jewelry shops for prices.

Tanya Turner is a jewelry expert and a founder of Wedding Rings Guide Find the advantages and disadvantages of different wedding ring materials and see a guide to wedding band styles

Author: Tanya Turner
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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“I can only wear gold jewelry, everything else breaks me out.” How many times did I hear that exact phrase from my mother when I was a child? Every time I would give her jewelry that was her response.

Why does everything but gold break my mother out? Is that statement even true? When I started designing jewelry over a year ago I decided to find out. I wanted to design jewelry for my mom that she could wear without fear of a breakout. Now I am going to let you in on what I have discovered.

My mother, like many people, develops contact dermatitis when her skin comes in contact with some types of jewelry. The dermatitis is a result of an allergic reaction to the nickel found in many types of jewelry. Nickel allergies are very common. One out of every seven people is likely to suffer from a nickel allergy. More women tend to suffer from nickel allergies than men. However this may be attributed to the fact that women tend to wear more jewelry than men and are therefore more likely to be exposed to skin contact with nickel.

Now that I knew what was causing my mother’s breakout, I had to find out what types of jewelry metals did not contain nickel.

First I looked at gold jewelry. Generally speaking, yellow gold (above 14 karat) will not cause an allergic reaction. However white gold may. White gold alloys contain nickel and other “white” metals to produce its silver coloring. One out of every nine people will react to the nickel in white gold.

Another for of gold jewelry is gold filled or “GF” jewelry. Gold filled jewelry metal is created when a base metal is coated with a layer of gold. Gold filled differs from gold plated by the amount of gold applied. The layer used in gold filled jewelry is typically 50 to 100 time thicker that the layer used to coat gold plated products.

Next I looked at silver jewelry. For those who are nickel sensitive, fine silver and sterling silver are great choices for “white” metals.

Fine silver is by definition 99.9% pure silver. Jewelry is generally not made of fine silver because the metal is extremely soft and does not withstand normal wear and tear well.

Typically silver jewelry is made of sterling silver. Sterling silver is by definition 92.5% pure silver. Typically the remaining 7.5% metal is made up of copper. Copper is infused to harden the silver and make it more durable. Since copper is the normal metal used, sterling silver is a great metal for nickel allergic people. You can typically distinguish sterling silver by a “925″ mark found on the jewelry. This is common on manufactured pieces, but may not be present on artisan jewelry.

Some other metals that are considered safe for people with nickel allergies are:

Copper – Copper jewelry is generally considered pure and not mixed with nickel or nickel alloys.

Platinum – Platinum jewelry contains 95% platinum and 5% of a secondary metal typically iridium.

Titanium – Titanium jewelry is both hypoallergenic and durable. It is a highly recommended metal for those who suffer from nickel allergies.

Since I have given you a list of safe metals, I thought I would also give you a list of metal terms to watch out for when you are shopping for jewelry.

Fashion or costume jewelry typically contains base metals that include nickel.

German silver or nickel silver is a metal to stay away from where jewelry is concerned. German silver does not contain any silver. The silver refers to the silver coloration of the metal. The color is derived from a combination of nickel, zinc, lead, and tin found within the alloy.

Surgical or stainless steel – Surgical grade stainless steel is made to be in the human body. However, the steel alloy contains between eight and twelve percent nickel. I have heard varying reports as to how safe this metal is for people with nickel allergies. Since the steel alloy does contain nickel, I would tend to avoid it, but some people swear by it.

If you do buy a piece of jewelry and are concerned that it may contain nickel, commercial test kits are available online. These kits contain chemicals that react in the presence of nickel.

Doing a little research can prevent a nickel allergy attack and still allow you to wear any fashion.

April Williams is the owner of Eluna Jewelry Designs, widely known for an exquisite selection of gemstone pendants, sterling silver earrings, and reproduction sea glass jewelry. Using beading techniques, wire wrapping, and metalworking, as well as lapidary gemstone cutting, her jewelry designs are uniquely breathtaking. Eluna Jewelry can now be found on Etsy, Facebook, Blogger, and Twitter.

Author: April Williams
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty tariff

Gold

Gold is the most popular jewelry metal for men’s and women’s wedding and engagement rings, and is also customarily used in the crafting of earrings, pendants, brooches, necklaces and bracelets. Gold is a highly valuable metal, and is one of the most coveted metals in all of history. Gold symbolizes riches, wealth, and good standing, and in its purest form, is impossible to tarnish. Gold jewelry is sophisticated and refined, and is a divine and precious metal that is perfect for all occasions.

Pure (24-karat) gold can sometimes be too soft and malleable for everyday wear. Therefore, gold jewelry is usually complemented by a mixture of other alloyed metals (such as silver, copper, nickel and zinc) to help it retain more resistance and strength. While purer gold’s are rarer and more exotic, they are oftentimes prone to being bent or twisted. Since other alloying metals are employed to build gold jewelry’s resistance, gold then becomes more likely to stain or to tarnish. Pure gold can never tarnish, but in gold pieces that are mixed with components of nickel, slight discoloration may occur over time, and it is possible for the gold compound to leave a dark residue on the skin. When purchasing gold jewelry, it is best to stick to the higher karat gold. If the gold jewelry is to be worn everyday, make sure it is between 14-18 karat gold. (The karat measurement denotes what percentage of the gold jewelry is made of pure gold. For example, 18k gold is 18/24 real gold, or 75% pure gold.)

Silver

Silver is perhaps one of the most popular jewelry metals because it is much more abundant in nature and therefore more affordable than its competitor metals. Sterling silver, which is 92.5% pure silver, is the best quality of silver metal for setting precious stones and adorning fancy jewelry.

Silver can tarnish rather easily and is less durable than other jewelry metals such as gold and platinum. Silver in its purest form is even softer than pure gold, so finer quality silvers are not always appropriate for everyday wear. Silver can also be prone to oxidation, sometimes causing slight discoloration and blackening of the metal. Luckily, it is easy to make silver jewelry look brand new again by simply purchasing a silver jewelry cleaning solution at little cost (which can be found in most department stores).

White Gold

White Gold a greater percentage of nickel in a gold metal alloy mixture gives white gold its color, while a higher percentage of copper will turn gold a more reddish hue, resulting in ‘rose gold.’ White gold is simply gold that has been chemically treated and then coated with another white medal called Rhodium. Rhodium metal has similar properties to platinum and gives white gold its pristine color and shine.

While white gold is a very hard metal thanks in part to its Rhodium coating, it does wear eventually. To keep a white gold ring from fading and loosing its luster, you should get your white gold jewelry re-Rhodium-plated approximately once a year or at least every 18 months. Most local jewelers can re-coat white gold jewelry at a cost effective price.

Platinum

Platinum is a clean, sharp- looking jewelry metal, and is second to none in terms of durability. Platinum is so strong that it is impossible to tarnish and it has the highest melting point of the popular jewelry metals. Platinum jewelry is generally composed of 90% platinum and 10% iridium. The innate strength of this metal makes platinum the ideal choice for setting precious stones.

While platinum is the best in terms of toughness and can outlive its rival jewelry metals in terms of appearance and strength, it is important to consider its price. Platinum is rarer, more durable, and therefore, more expensive, than gold. With all other things being equal, a platinum ring will cost approximately twice the price of a white gold ring of 18 karats. It is, however, a prime material for the careful crafting of wedding rings.

Palladium

Palladium is harder, lighter, and less expensive than platinum. It is a close substitute in look and feel, and palladium jewelry can endure the perils of everyday wear and tear and come out spotless.

While Palladium aims to imitate platinum, it cannot truly fool anyone. Palladium metal lacks the prestigious ‘platinum’ insignia; marked on the inside rim of every platinum jewelry piece will be a small stamped engraving bearing the word: ‘plat.’ So if you are looking to trick someone into thinking you have purchased ‘the real thing’, it might be more difficult to do so than you had previously imagined.

Titanium

Titanium is the hardest naturally-occurring metal in the world. This makes titanium the perfect metal for fine jewelry, especially rings. Titanium is three times as strong as steel, yet maintains a light and comfortable weight. Titanium jewelry will not bend, scratch or dent. Most importantly, pure titanium jewelry is 100% hypoallergenic, meaning that it will not cause allergic reactions and is safe for anyone to wear.

The one and only foreseeable downside to purchasing titanium jewelry is that it cannot be soldered, rendering it impossible to re-size a ring made of the substance.

Natalie Inger

Handmade jewelry

Author: Natalie Inger
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty rate