Homemade jewellery

[penguingorl]

Hi all, I've been off sick from work since January and getting increasingly worried about ever returning, mainly down to having hardly any income. I've always been a crafter and love making things. So with being off work and self isolating I decided I should try and set up a little handmade business. I've attached some pictures of a cat pendant and earrings set, and would love some honest opinions, no matter how brutal! I also do lots of other shapes, moons, stars, sakura flowers, gem type shapes and so on. I've also been making brooches and fridge magnets and little rainbows in bottles. I'm struggling with knowing how to price things, and how to get my things out there. Instagram has been great but most of the people I've interacted with are other people with their own handmade items. Sorry, I know that's lots of different issues! Any advice or feedback would be really appreciated!

I dont think the chain goes with the style of the cat face. The chain is old fashioned and something for a grown up necklace but the cat face looks too funky and childish.

Who is your target market with this?

Have a look at etsy.

As it is I would pay £2-£5 with the upper end if the chain is different and boxed nicely for a little girl. I hope that the earrings are nickle free? Thats an issue as some people are allergic.

Maybe this galaxy glittery material would look better in star, moon, planets shape? I think a cat face key ring would look cute... have you seen the stuff Smiggles sell? Something like that...perhaps with initials.

I think handmade jewelery that takes off is one with more technical skills like metal, precious materials, glass.

You could list it on ebay and see what you get?

Would you be interested in making headbands, sliders, bracelets perhaps ones with charms like your mini earring cat face? Totally ripping off pandoras bracelet idea

Are these pieces you've bought and strung together, or do you make the cat shapes from scratch yourself?

Oh dear, I don't know whether to laugh or cry If they're only worth £2-£5 I would lose money! Target market is difficult, I don't have one as such but I'm sure that would help. It's basically fun jewellery made with love (I genuinely love making this stuff and put a lot of thought/time in to it so was hoping I might be ready to try selling, a possibly deluded idea that came from family and friends "loving" their presents!) Aimed at people who like colour and sparkle I guess?! All of the fixings I use are silver plated, no nickel or lead or anything sketchy/allergy inducing. I had no idea snake chains were old fashioned I have got some sterling silver chains that I could use for those with super sensitive skin (like me!) I also have different coloured cords, faux suede and silk type 'chains', and it's all interchangeable as I have different sized jump rings. I basically brought a couple of everything from UK sellers to try different looks and offer options. I also have some bits to make keyrings so that's an idea. I don't know Smiggles, will have a look. Can definitely make charms!

The cats themselves are made from resin, these ones have food grade purple mica powder and glitter in to get the sparkly purple. (I use moulds for the different shapes)

Thanks so so much for the responses and feedback/ideas, I really appreciate it.

A moon, a sakura flower and a little cat brooch, all also resin with various pigments and glitters. Maybe still all a bit childish? 😳

You need to do market research rather than asking for individual opinions on here, which are always going to be widely varying.

Etsy is probably the best place to start - see what others are doing and how much they sell for, and then work out a proper business plan around that.

For what it's worth - I also see these as terribly childlike, I can't really see an adult market or price point for these - but that is obviously only one opinion.

I can't see an adult market for these either, but maybe your USP could be making jewellery for children?

I love colour and sparkle but I don't think they'd be for me. Sorry.

If you can make moulds from resin, I’d think you could charge more if you made more designs for adults.

But....there may be a market for expensive jewellery for children and I’m not well off so ....

I used to make jewellery and a few friends asked me for pieces made to spec - silver wire and crystals etc. Casting in resin must be a great skill and hard work but I think you need to refine/change the shapes.

How much did you want to charge?

Love the cat brooch

I would say there could be an adult market for these.
There are lots of pages on Facebook and etsy selling jewellery that is “childlike" in style. They seem pretty popular.

If you look at Popsy dresses for example with dinosaurs, dogs, fairies, unicorns etc on. A lot of those women like to wear matching jewellery to go with them.

I think the trouble is they look like cheap plastic stuff my DD would have bought from Primark when she was 7 so unfortunately I wouldn't pay more than a few pounds for them and expect them to be worn a few times then forgotten about.

I also agree that, at first glance, this appears to be items that I'd buy for younger children possibly aged around 6-11. That could be a good target audience to start your research. Good luck. It would be nice if you could make money from something you enjoy.

The moon is far more grown up if you are looking to sell to adults (an£ adult prices). But obs tatty Devine did very well with “childish” jewellery - but you’d definitely need good marketing for this sort of approach.

I do like the idea of individually cast or moulded resin jewellery and would pay a premium for it, but I’d be looking for abstract geometric shapes or delicate ones more along the lines of your moon (or E.g. naturalistic cherry blossom rather than the flower shape pictured).

You do need to work out who your target audience is though - I appreciate it may well not be me at all!

I am going to be very honest, you won't sell these for more than peanuts. The handmade jewellery market is saturated already. There is no money to be made without having some amazing skills and a very high marketing budget. There are nearly 38,000 listings on Etsy for a cat necklace that you can buy for delivery to the UK.

Thanks so much everyone, for both the nice comments and the honest feedback and suggestions
I had a good look at Etsy and it would seem that botanical themed items and more 'edgy' stuff such as coffins with embedded insects, is the way forward! That was just from a search around resin and a few other words.
I love tatty devine, it's gonna be a few years before anything I make is that good! I love a lot of the acrylic jewellery but start up costs are much higher. Resin isn't exactly cheap but it is something that you can use in your tiny spare room (with the windows open!) I do agree that the hand made jewellery market is saturated so I need to really work on finding my niche.

@Luckingfovely the prices on Etsy are kind of all over the place. I think that if I do go for it I'll need to undersell myself (as in charge for materials then maybe half nmw for my time) to hopefully get a few sales and nice reviews in order to be taken 'seriously' and be able to earn nmw further down the line!
@LilacTree1 Crystal type shapes are definitely on my list of moulds to make, will definitely try that, thank you! I'm on a waiting list to do a course with a local silversmith, when such things are possible again! I really want to make all of my own fixings. At the moment, to make it worthwhile I'd like to charge around £8 for a pendant.
Thank you very much @LaurieFairyCake ☺️
@RightOnTheEdge thank you, I will check out popsy, sounds like it will look similar to my IG feed!
@HollyBollyBooBoo maybe I need to work on my photography skills 😳
Thanks @Alexsay ☺️
Thanks @Honeywort I will try and figure out some more marketable designs and then try and find my people!
@delilahbucket in that case I may try and step away from the cats, I'm not sure that it's possible but I can but try... 😹

Good luck penguingorl 😊

Thanks so much @RightOnTheEdge Although, just to let you know, I had to forceably remove myself from the popsy site, I could've spent ££! Perhaps I'll treat myself to a hummingbird dress if I ever sell a piece of jewellery to someone I'm not related to 😹

Hi OP, I work in a gallery/retail shop which sells handmade jewellery and what goes well for us in the resin line, is some of the more outrageous/larger pieces.

Drag inspired pieces too...RuPaul's Drag Race is huge and people are interested in buying pieces like their fave drag queens wear.

Big lips, eyes, 80s themed stuff with those typical 80s motifs and colours.

But also, clear resin pieces with real flowers caught inside.

If you do carry on, look at your tags and ensure that any more niche pieces are well tagged.

The problem with plastics/resins is that unless you go niche, you're competing with the Chinese market which sells pieces like yours for a pound a go.

Sad but true.

You need to re-think your entire design concept and try to appeal to the Goths and the drag queens.

@FortunesFave oh, wow, that is actually music to my ears! Not sure if you'd realised but my user name is drag race inspired! I'm also a massive Goth! I made myself a piece yesterday which is one of my absolute faves, will attach below. On my list of things to try I have 'drag race related words/slogans' ie werk, yass! grrrl etc! I have been doing botanical stuff as it's lovely to work with flowers and fun to experiment with drying them in different ways, but the tiny bubbles are SOO hard to eliminate completely!
Thank you so much for the super helpful post 🐱

I'm basically sitting in the dark with a thumping headache so please excuse the horrific phone/flash photography! This will have a chain attached to the ears and will look much nice than the photo suggests 🤦😹

Please use a proper background for your pieces. I know someone who does lovely stuff but her photos make conditions look dirty - it's no wonder it doesnt sell (and yes, I have told her). A few pieces of velvet in different colours so you can make the item stand out on a contrasting one is a great and inexpensive start.

@Binglebong Thanks for your comment. What do you mean by proper background? None of the above are meant to be 'professional' shots, they were literally just to give examples of what I've made. I've literally just read an advice thread on photography and one of the overwhelming pieces of advice was to include lifestyle shots. So I thought some of the ones of things being 'worn' by my dressmaking mannequin may be suitable?! Although I do get that photos on an actual human would be much better so of course won't be showing any like that on here

(I have just checked on my laptop and can see the dragonfly jumper needs an iron and a lint roller!)