The Orientation to Beads and Jewelry Findings is being offered online at the Land of Odds.  This course was developed by instructor Warren Feld because he noticed that beginner beaders didn’t always make the best choices when it came to quality.  Personally, I learned the hard way a long time ago that if I was going to put 40 hours or more into a bead embroidered necklace, I wasn’t going to skimp on the cabochons, beads, and metal findings!

Warren writes:
Over the years, I’ve found that people who bead and make jewelry have not necessarily learned how to make the best …read more

Sara Hardin, aka SoftFlexGirl, shared some stats that she found from CHA, the Craft & Hobby Association.  CHA conducts quarterly assessments of both attitude and behavior in the craft world, and the results of the June 30th posting are encouraging to say the least.  Check this out from the report:
The CHA A&U Study reports the U.S. craft industry is estimated to be $27 billion dollars, with 62 million households, or 56% of households, crafting in the past year. The A&U research provides attitudinal and behavioral information to guide decision-making, whether you are a manufacturer, designer, distributor or retailer.
The A&U results …read more

Here are a few random thoughts about jewelry and bead businesses that I’ve been collecting for awhile.  They don’t seem to fit anywhere else, so it made (some sort of sense) to just lump them all together!

Think long and hard before you commit to a name, a logo, or any kind of branding materials for your business.  Here’s why   I know that someone has recently corrected this over-simplified chart, and you can visit the new link if you’d like, but the point is still worth considering.  Consistency is important.
Aileen Wong has written a very thoughtful article on how …read more

The Question of the Month this time was how much do you follow fashion and trends when planning your designs.  I’d like to follow up on that a bit with some additional thoughts on this issue.

One thing that occurred to me about fashion is that once a season and a trend has fully matured, it’s pretty much too late for most of us to jump into it unless it’s something that we can do production style.  And really, most of us don’t really like working that way.  There are exceptions among you, but I find that most of my readers, …read more

Why am I devoting so many posts to business topics this spring and summer?  Well, my theory is that when the economy doesn’t favor a lot of discretionary spending, that’s exactly the right time to fine tune everything about our businesses, from our designs and lines to our knowledge of sales and marketing, and with some basic business and financial topics thrown in as well.  Use the down time to your advantage and you’ll be way ahead of the game when the conditions improve!

So here are some more fabulous artists and business people that you can learn from!
On The Land …read more

Spring seems to be a season when lots of people gather strength and energy, and launch into something new.  If that’s you, and if you’ve decided that the new thing this year is to make your jewelry-making hobby into a business, here are some excellent links with legal details for you.  PLEASE, do not expect any of these links to take the place of checking with your own Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, SCORE, or your lawyer.

At Modish Biz Tips, there’s a wonderful rundown on many of the steps you’ll need to take to make your new business …read more