The price of precious metals is just crazy these days. When I look through my stash of supplies it amazes me to see prices have nearly doubled in the handful of years that I've been beading. Unfortunately that means the price of the finished pieces has to go up as well. So how do you deal with that as a microbusiness?
One thing I've noticed is that a lot of other shops on Etsy love base metals- copper, brass, etc... there is a lot you can do with them because they are softer and very economical. Not to mention, the mixed metal look is really cool. But personally, I am not too into the clunky look. I like dainty and understated- stuff I can wear to work without looking like a gypsy or a Twilight-fanatic. Still, these are fun to make and they sure do take well to metal stamping.
Another thing I did was experiment with using natural and upcycled or recycled components. Finding glass, shells and sand on the beach is free and in Hawaii, you can take small amounts considered "personal" use amounts. I never take a living creature from the ocean and limit the rest of what I take to a handful or so. That works well for casual pieces, but shells are particularly challenging to work with because the tiny ones are so delicate. The larger ones are hard to find in good shape. So I would be able to offer fewer items and increase the markup. No bueno- well, not in and of itself, anyway.
The third thing I tried to do was focus on making simpler, more classic pieces that will last more than one season. This is pretty easy for me since I like delicate, dainty, understated jewelry. If there are multiple colors, there is a pattern. Maybe it's my inner nerd. Kumihimo bracelets are especially satisfying in that way- you have to string ALL the beads first, then weave them, so it's a challenge to figure out which colors should go on which cord to get the desired effect. While I guess one could argue that a bracelet made of 300 Swarovski crystals is not understated or subtle, I sure do get a lot of compliments on them.
Finally, every crafter has that bag of unfinished projects. I went in and started sorting them out- pieces to finish, pieces to "frog" (cut apart), pieces to give away, pieces to throw away. I was able to salvage probably a couple hundred dollars worth of supplies and merchandise by taking one rainy Sunday afternoon to do nothing but deconstruct and organize. Not to mention, upon organizing my supplies, I now have a much better idea of what to buy and what not to reorder. For example, I found three times as many 1" sterling headpins as I thought I had. The following weekend, I organized supplies by types of projects so I can sit and crank them out without rummaging through the rest of the stuff I just put away neatly and wrecking all that hard work.
So if you're like me and trying to do more with less, here it is in a nutshell:
- Look for alternative materials to work with that are cheaper to purchase
- Use found or recycled items
- Create simple, clean designs that will last more than one season
- Use what you already have
Hope that helps!
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