Jewelry Software - Bead Manager Pro

Whether you already enjoy making jewelry, or just want to learn how, your first stop should be at a bead store. You can visit a local bead store or find one online. Just make sure you have plenty of time to browse.

Beads come in hundreds of shapes, sizes and colors. Beads can be made of glass, metal, bone, plastic and even paper. Some beads are made from expensive gemstones, while others are common wood. Seeds, shells and found objects are also items that bead store might make into beads. Glass and acrylic beads mix with Swarovski crystal and Czech crystal.

Along with beads, one of these stores usually carries findings, clasps, watch faces and other components for creating beautiful jewelry. If you are lucky, your bead store will also offer classes in jewelry making, beading on a loom, and beading on cloth. You may learn to bead for fun or even profit.

You should look through your supplies and make a list of items that you need, or want before visiting a bead store. If you are looking for a particular bead, take a sample of it with you to the bead store. Think about what projects you have planned. Add any special beads or findings that you will need to your list. Carry a backpack purse so that both of your hands are free to look through beads.

Ask the sales clerk if there are any specials or sales going on. Also ask if they give discounts to members of bead societies. It may be worth joining if you enjoy beads. If you bead, or make jewelry for profit, and have a tax id number let the salesperson know before they ring up your sale. Remember to bring a copy of your tax certificate if you have one. This allows you to purchase beads and other supplies from a bead store at wholesale instead of retail cost.

After you get home sort your beads. A good desk lamp will help you identify patterns and colors more easily. Most people sort by color, shape and size. Uniformity may also be a factor to consider. If you are like most people that visit a bead store, you have more beads than you need, just because they caught your eye. Part of the fun is coming up with new projects to use up the beads that you find at the bead store.

Follow designs in books, online, or that you have previously made. Come up with new designs of your own. Use up the beads that you bought. Then it is time for another visit to the bead store.

Jennifer Thoden shares her love of beads and creativity with beginner beaders and jewelry designers. Her love of color and unique design shows in her bead patterns. Find her bead patterns and tutorials at http://www.beadpatternsonline.com

The handcrafted jewelry business provides fun and excitement with an opportunity of earning high profits. With its high customer demand for handmade jewelry and the potential for constant growth, and the right business strategies, enthusiastic jewelry makers can reap considerable rewards by re-making their hobby into a home-based jewelry business!

Whether you make some of everything or specialize in a certain genre, such as Native American or Eastern Indian designs, just rings or coordinated sets or jewelry, you can create your own place in the jewelry business world. Find what fits your talent and ambitions, and go for it!

Use your favorite Internet search engine to find leads for wholesale suppliers and comparison shop until you find the one with the best prices and goods for you. You may also opt to buy directly from manufacturers of crafting supplies, especially if you have contacts in countries where they are made. Never buy retail supplies unless you are out of something you need right away and can’t wait for a warehouse order to arrive. Sell your jewelry at retail markup sufficient to cover the costs of materials, tools and your time and labor. This strategy will minimize your costs while maximizing your profits.
For businesses that don’t create their own jewelry, joining as an affiliate of an existing virtual jewelry company is an excellent strategy for newcomers to the jewelry business. You use the company’s web site, eliminate the need for physical inventory, and hold no responsibility for providing and shipping the product. This method is easy, low-risk, and a good way to break into the business.

It takes a special type of person to be successful in an MLM business, so it may not be the right choice for you. Even if it is workable for you, carefully research any MLM with which you may decide to become associated.

If you are an experienced and talented jewelry maker, you can market your wares from home, on the Internet. Yahoo and e-bay both provide online auctions and shops where you can sell your items to a ready-made buyer base, and backed by the solid reputations of Internet giants. If you want something more personal, try home jewelry parties. You can host them yourself or ask an acquaintance to host one for you. The intimate setting provides a friendly environment that has proven successful for so many newcomers to the jewelry industry.

Your success in the jewelry business ultimately lies with you. Work full-time or part-time, but learn all you can about your area of the business, and keep up with marketing trends. Start with a simple business strategy and work your way up!

What do all these multi-million-dollar corporations have in common: Tupperware; Mary Kay Cosmetics; Sarah Coventry Jewelry; Especially Lingerie? They all started out in home party sales! There are many other companies whose success is founded in home party sales, but these are the ones that first come to mind. They are proof that home jewelry parties are a fantastic business strategy for marketing and selling your hand-made jewelry!

Plan your home party! Take inventory of your jewelry to make sure you have enough to merit a home party. Have at least five different designs of bracelets, earrings, necklaces, rings, that can be sold as sets or individually. Toe rings and belly-button pieces are enormously popular with younger people today, so if you have them, add them to your sales collection! It’s not a bad idea to have a few one-of-kind pieces to appeal to those who like unique jewelry, but the majority of your stock should include several pieces of each design.

Usually a friend, family member or co-worker is willing to host a home party for you. After you determine how long it will take you to make the additional pieces you need to fill out your sales inventory, you and your host can schedule the date and time for your party. If no one is available to host a home party, invite other area crafters to join you in a home party cooperative, selling their work along with yours for a small commission. Along with posting business cards and flyers on community bulletin boards (free advertising!), send a press release to local newspapers and TV stations to be displayed on their community events calendars.

Discuss with your hostess what refreshments will be served and how they will be provided, as well as seating for the guests, on what you will set your displays and how they will be arranged. Keep your displays simple, but attractive and easily accessible for browsing. Work up short presentations for pieces or sets you want to highlight, and pass them around so guests can get a good look at them. For more expensive pieces, or for special orders, have a small catalogue of high quality photos. If you have an Internet web site, be sure the URL is on your business cards, and pass them out to the guests. Have inexpensive, but nice, door prizes for the guests to win, or better yet, have a Grab Bag or play the “Trading Game” so no guest leaves empty-handed. Lastly, be sure to take the names and contact information of guests who would like to host a home jewelry party.

Show your appreciation for your host’s hospitality and work with a gift of jewelry, presented toward the end of the party, You may let him or her select a piece from your jewelry collection, or create graduated-cost pieces with the choice of gift based upon the amount of sales. If you know the host well, create a special item of jewelry just for them, inspired by their preferences.

You can still sell your jewelry at customary venues, such as crafts fairs, flea markets and on e-bay; after all, revenue is revenue! Still, establishing you’re your connection with local customers by having home jewelry parties is a great way to build a local following of loyal customers!

For the holidays, nothing’s easier than decorating gift boxes, wreaths, your tree and doors with beaded snow flakes. Learn how to make a super fast and easy beaded snow flake.

It’s amazing how something so simple can add a ton of elegance to any holiday decorating project.

You will need:

1. Snowflake ornament wire form
2. Assortment of brilliant beads (crystals, rhinestones, metals)
3. Clear rubber earring backs
4. Organza ribbon

Instructions:

Slide your beads onto the form. Starting with a 4mm bicone works best and creates a shiny center.

Cap off the ends with the clear earring backs. You can of course end your wires with any wire technique.

Wrap organza ribbon around one point and hang! Wasn’t that simple. Just imagine beautiful beaded snowflakes all over your home. Give as gifts. Hang on wine bottles. In front of mirrors. Have fun and happy beading!

Happy Beading!

Jennifer Thoden shares her love of beads and creativity with beginner beaders and jewelry designers. Her love of color and unique design shows in her bead patterns. Find her bead patterns and tutorials at http://www.beadpatternsonline.com

If you’re a beginner, it can be overwhelming with all the choices presented before you to make a piece of jewelry… or any bead project! One of the things you need to know to have a successful project is the type of wire to use for your beading projects.

Here are few tips to help you make the right decision:

Use 14 to 16 gauge wire (very thick and heavy) if you are going to make a bracelet, free-form shapes, neckwires, lampshade forms, and napkin rings.

Use 18 gauge wire (thick) if you are going to make your own clasps, string ethnic glass beads and other large bone, wood, or ceramic beads with large holes or wire wrapping candlesticks and chainmaking.

Use 20 gauge wire (Medium) if you are going to make earwires, headpins and small wire clasps and stringing glass beads. Most base metal headpins and earwires are made from 20 gauge wire.

Use 22 gauge wire (medium thin) when 20-guage is too thick. It is good for stringing Crystals or transparent semi-precious beads including amethyst, quartz and fluorite.

Use a 24 gauge wire (thin) when you are wire wrapping smaller crystals, semi-precious beads and freshwater pearls to chain. You’re going to want to use a wire straightening plier with this wire when it gets kinks, which it has a tendency to do.

Use a 26 gauge wire (very thin) when you are going to wire wrap beads to tiaras and in wire projects where 24 gauge wire is just too heavy for the beads. In order for this wire to maintain a loop, loops must be wire wrapped closed. Tools with very fine tips should be used with this wire.

Use 28, 30 gauge wire (very, very fine) when wire weaving, crocheting and free form wire wrapping using small beads You should use tools with very fine tips. Also, this wire kinks easily and a wire straightening plier is required for use with this size wire.

And… to “”wire wrap”" this series up… remember that the higher the number the thinner the wire. So a 26 gauge wire is thinner than a 20 gauge wire. And if you have a spool of unlabeled wire, use a wire gauge to measure it.

Happy Beading!

Jennifer Thoden shares her love of beads and creativity with beginner beaders and jewelry designers. Her love of color and unique design shows in her bead patterns. Find her bead patterns and tutorials at http://www.beadpatternsonline.com

Looking for a simple beading project to get you warmed up?

Try making a simple toggle necklace. A toggle necklace is a beaded necklace that has the toggle in the front of the piece as a dramatic focal point. Follow these easy step by step instructions to make a beautiful glass beaded toggle necklace.

MATERIALS NEEDED:

1. Glass Beads
2. bead stringing wire
3. toggle clasp set
4. crimp beads
5. head pins or eye pins
6. jump rings
7. needle-nose pliers
8. wire cutters

INSTRUCTIONS:

Start with a length of bead stringing wire that is approximately six inches longer than the piece of jewelry you intend to make.

Slide on a crimp bead, then the loop end of the toggle.

Bend approximately two inches of the wire, going back through the crimp bead, and draw it snug against the clasp.

Use your needle-nose pliers to flatten the crimp bead against the clasp so that it cannot slide up or down.

String all of the beads onto the wire (the first few beads should be strung over both thicknesses of wire).

Slide the second crimp bead onto the wire, then the other half of the clasp, then go back through the crimp bead and several other beads.

Pull the wire until all of the beads are snug against each other.

Then, flatten the crimp bead.

Use a pair of wire cutters to cut off the remaining wire as close to the beads as possible.

Happy Beading!

Jennifer Thoden shares her love of beads and creativity with beginner beaders and jewelry designers. Her love of color and unique design shows in her bead patterns. Find her bead patterns and tutorials at http://www.beadpatternsonline.com

Trying to find a beading project that requires no wire wrapping and as little crimping as possible? Learn how to make a beautiful slip-on beaded bracelet with Stretch Magic. Easy, beautiful and a perfect gift.

This bracelet project can be as simple or as elegant as your skill and imagination allows. If you want to make a beautiful gift, consider crystals and marcasite. If it’s for a child, consider pony beads.

When you’re ready…

What you need:
–> 1 Pack of Stretch Magic
–> Assortment of 6mm and 4mm beads (crystal, marcasite, bicones)
–> 2×2 Sterling Silver Crimp
–> Crimping pliers
–> Wire cutter

Instructions:

1. Decide on the length of your slip-on bracelet.
2. Add approximately four inches on both ends of your desired length.
3. * Use the wire cutters to cut the Stretch Magic.
4. Slide on all of your beads in the desired bead pattern.
5. Slide on the crimp bead
6. Center the crimp bead on your finger and pull the Stretch Magic tight to make it thinner inside of the crimp bead
7. Slip the other end of the Stretch Magic through the crimp head in the opposite direction
8. Pull both ends of the Stretch Magic so that there are no gaps between the beads
9. Place the crimp into the inner jaw of the crimping pliers.
10. Use the inner jaw of the crimping pliers to form the “”lip”" shape and close the crimp.
11. Place the crimp into the outer jaw of the crimping pliers.
12. Use the outer jaw of the crimping pliers to continue folding the “”lip”" shape in half. It will form an oval.
13. Trim the Stretch Magic close to the crimp bead and your done!

Now you have a gorgeous bracelet that is original, easy to wear and a perfect gift.

Happy Beading!

Jennifer Thoden shares her love of beads and creativity with beginner beaders and jewelry designers. Her love of color and unique design shows in her bead patterns. Find her bead patterns and tutorials at http://www.beadpatternsonline.com

The most daunting task for many home-based business owners is managing business finances. Poor financial management can wreck any size of business, with Enron being the best-known example. Without a sound financial management plan, even the best selection of home-based businesses has a high risk of failure. Before you do anything else for your business, take the essential steps to managing the money end of your business and you have a far better chance that your business will be a profitable one.

Paying overdraft charges is one of the most humiliating and funds-eating part of mismanaging money, but keeping your personal and business funds in a single account raises your risk of accidentally overdrawing on the account. It can be avoided by keeping separate accounts for your business. By separating the accounts, it is easier to control your spending and keep track of your business cash flow. You’ll also have an easier time at tax time because your business taxes are figured and paid separately from your personal income taxes.

Having more than one business account is both highly beneficial and recommended by owners of successful businesses. At the very least, you should open two accounts: one for receiving income and one for paying expenses. Determine a set percentage of your monthly income to be deposited into your expenses account, and specify how much should be set aside for each debt. With these two accounts, you will see from whom your funds are coming in and to whom expenses are being paid, making your accounting jobs easier and less time consuming. Include a set monthly wage for yourself in your business expenses; you work hard for your business and deserve a reasonable wage! Just be certain you don’t give in to the temptation to withdraw more money than your salary for personal use. Although it is your business, it is still a business, and you would fire an employee who stole money from your business!

Manage your business finances as conscientiously as possible. Throughout the year, keep your business funds for business use, and at the end of the year, you may pay yourself a well-earned bonus!

Jewelry making often starts as a hobby, but people with talent and a flair for salesmanship often switch from hobbyist to home-based business owner. However, because you make and sell jewelry from your home, doesn’t mean that you made the crossover from hobbyist to businessperson. The successful home-based business person realizes that they are no longer making jewelry just for fun. Instead, they own and operate a business, and treat it as a business, with their studio as their place of business. This doesn’t automatically happen when you hang your shingle. Instead, you must discipline yourself, and often friends and family to the fact that you are running a business and are no longer a hobbyist.

Having the right business attitude will show others how serious you are about it and help them realize that making jewelry is no longer just a hobby. Explain to family and friends that you need certain hours each day during which you can work undisturbed in your studio, but you will still have time for them and your home life. You now have a business to support, and you can no longer afford to be distracted from you set work time by household chores, people dropping by or calling just to visit. At the same time, you need to keep open communication with all your people, including your children, and let them know that you still want to spend time with them, but only when you aren’t working.

Setting and maintaining a dedicated work schedule is another facet of treating your business as a business. Your productivity is the life’s blood of your business, and if you are unable to commit to a set production schedule, your business will suffer for it. Here are a few suggestions to help you work at your peak performance.

• Set up your workspace so you will have enough privacy to work undisturbed
• Create a weekly work schedule and post it outside your workspace so your family will know when you are working.
• Allow time in your work schedule for checking your e-mail and making phone calls, preferably at the beginning and end of each work period.
• Schedule set days for doing paperwork, such as bookkeeping, ordering supplies, paying bills.
• Set a time limit within which to complete each project
• Discipline yourself to keep your schedule!

When you treat your jewelry making as a business, so will others. Eventually everyone will become accustomed to the changes you make to accommodate your new business schedule, and honoring your work time will become part of the daily routine. As your business grows, you almost certainly will need to readjust your work schedule to keep up with the demand for your jewelry, but if you worked outside your home before turning your hobby into a business, it will be like going back to a former routine, and won’t seem such a drastic change to your family.

They glitter and gleam, sparkle and shine. Some are delicately hand-painted; some are created from nature’s palette, and some could have fallen out of a rainbow. Beads of all sizes, shapes and colors can be rendered into intricately crafted earrings and necklaces, fun stringed jewelry, or amazing pieces of home décor. What you can make with beads depends upon your budget, skills and imagination. Whether it’s simple jewelry for children, or a complicated Native American Medicine Wheel, it’s a sure bet that you’re in for hours of pure pleasure!

Throughout history, beads have been an important part of almost every culture in the world. They have been used as trade goods and currency, household décor, and to adorn the most resplendent clothing, from the wedding dresses of Native American Princesses to Princess Diana’s wedding gown. Today, we use craft beads in similar ways. For instance, it’s almost impossible to not see teens sporting beaded jackets and jeans at malls. Delicately beaded trinket and music boxes make lovely birthday and wedding gifts. Beaded home décor items, such as macramé planters and wall hangings, Native American Dream Catchers, Medicine Wheels and pottery are perfect for Southwestern and other décor themes.

For working with craft beads, beginners need only a few simple tools. Your tool kit will need both round-nosed and flat-nosed pliers, wire cutters, several sizes of tweezers, and a pair of wire cutters. You can use various types of wire, such as jeweler’s wire, or nylon or synthetic threads, or the beautiful silk threads that come in a rainbow of colors. A crimping too will come in handy for attaching clasps and other fasteners to your beaded creations.

It’s best to buy all the beads, threads and other supplies you need for any given project at the same time. This ensures that you won’t have to set aside your project while you run out to buy more beads or required tools, or waiting for delivery from a beading supply warehouse. Buying ahead eliminates the chance that your store or supplier won’t have what you need in stock. Purchasing supplies from a wholesale crafts or beading warehouse, either online or by catalog, is both cost and time efficient. You can buy everything you need at one place, without leaving your home, and possibly get in on some great sale discounts!

For your workspace, you need a flat surface that is large enough to give you plenty of room to work and hold your supplies. Good lighting is especially important to ease eyestrain. Use seal able, labeled trays, containers or drawers for bead and supplies storage; this keeps them organized and within easy reach. Choose a chair that is comfortable, yet provides the support you need to avoid muscle strain. A beading board anchors your bead strands and has rulers for easy measuring. Some even have small trays in which to keep the beads you’re using right at your fingertips!