Jewelry accessories collection

If you love jewelry, there is nothing more exhilarating than buying multiple pieces and trying them on to see if they look good on you. When you find the RIGHT combination or that one eye-catching piece, you will hold on to it for dear life. One of the great things about jewelry is that of the endless options that are available to you. This is especially true once you start matching certain pieces of jewelry with the rest of your clothing attire.

However, that is not enough for some people. Despite having multiple pieces available to them, they will still feel that pre-made pieces are not enough for them. The hardcore jewelry enthusiast will take it a step further and custom-design something that matches their tastes. If you are a business owner, you may find that custom-designing your jewelry will give you an edge over people who are merely reselling stand-alone pieces. 

When your jewelry piece is something that came out of your own hard work, you will feel that much more inspired to wear it. It will be a personal reflection of yourself and the things that you value most. Quite literally, nobody else will have a product that’s like yours! Nothing feels better than having a unique product that only YOU could have thought up.

The only problem with custom designs is that it can be an incredibly exhaustive process. It takes time to get all of the materials you need and to try out multiple designs. This is an inevitable part of the customization process, but gradually you will get used to it. In this guide, we are going to tell you about all the parts you can customize and how to put together a piece that you can be proud to show off to your friends and family!

You should also be aware of the fact that it can be more expensive to design your own jewelry from scratch because you are purchasing the individual parts instead of the entire package. Therefore, if you have any intentions of selling this product, you will have to charge more in order for you to make a profit from it.

If you are new to this, try to start off with affordable materials and see where that takes you instead of breaking the bank on your first try. Little steps will eventually take you to greater outcomes. 

Sketch Out Your Vision

Before you can even start customizing your jewelry pieces, you need an end goal that you want to achieve. The best way to do this is to sketch out what you want to create. Are you looking for a stylish necklace? Some bold new earrings to grab everybody’s attention? A bracelet to complement your favorite dress? You need to know exactly what you are going to create before you start spending your money on individual jewelry pieces.

This will require some serious thought and sketching. Look at other jewelry items, see which aspects fascinate you the most, and write them down. If you are having trouble, talk to a jeweler who can help you design the piece you want and give you an expert perspective on what can realistically be built. If you are lucky enough, they may be able to build it for you, provided that you supply the individual parts. 

Use Quality Materials

Before anything else, you want to make sure that the vendor you are hiring individual pieces from has a reputation for providing high-quality materials. If you are going to be building custom jewelry items, every single piece needs to be reliable. One weak link in the chain will ruin the entire product, and you will have to start over from scratch. This is why you will also want to opt for a vendor that offers a money-back guarantee for their products.

It does not matter too much whether you are getting your materials from a local vendor or an online store. This step is important because you will spend much more money re-buying materials if they keep breaking after repeated use. Invest well the first time and save your money over the long haul. 

Buy the Connecting Pieces

Based on the design of your custom jewelry item, you will need to purchase several connecting pieces in order to join everything together. Your best bet is to order slightly more than you need, because you may find that you either change your mind about the design during construction or you need better connectivity. It is better for you to be safe than sorry.

Your best bet is to try to stick with connecting pieces that are made of the same metal as the pieces you are connecting them to. Some metals do not mix well when in contact with one another, leading to the connectors and the individual pieces being ruined. You will want to talk to an expert about this if you are unsure about which metals work well with one another. 

Choose the Metal Base

Most custom jewelry is usually based around a “theme” – in other words, a metal that provides the foundation for the look. Whether it is gold or silver, you should know what will make up the majority of your custom-made jewelry. If you are new to the process of building your own jewelry, you should keep things simple and stick with just one.

Mixing metals is possible, but you will have to be more deliberate with the design. Metal combination results in extreme outcomes – the piece looks completely out of place or it shines like the brightest star.  This is especially true if you are planning to use individually bought beads that are connected to one another. 

Choose the Gemstone(s)

If you are simply intending on creating a jewelry item that is purely made of metal and nothing else, you do not need to read this section. However, most people usually like the idea of placing a few gemstones in their creations to add a “WOW” element to their design.

One of the great things about gemstones is the symbolic value that they have. Over the years, different cultures have assigned certain meanings to these stones. For example, certain gemstones are associated with certain times of the month. Certain gemstones like pearls are used as a symbol of status to represent wealth and class.

As discussed with the metals, stick to theming your jewelry around one gemstone if you are starting off. You will have to play around to get the right look if you are using multiple gemstones to build your item. Moreover, just like the metals, certain gemstones do not go well together when placed beside one another. The last things you want on your custom-made item are blemishes and unsightly scratches! 

Be Familiar with the Cleaning Process

If you are going to be using a wide array of metals and gemstones, you have to be familiar with how they are maintained for appearance and durability. You may be surprised to find that certain metals should not be paired with certain stones due to ease of scratching and other factors. In that kind of scenario, you would have to go back to the drawing board and re-design your custom piece.

Moreover, the cleaning process for each type of metal and each type of gemstone is different. It is possible that you would have to deconstruct your custom-made item, wash each one individually, and then put the items back together. It sounds like an unnecessary process, but this is the sacrifice you must make if you are going to be wearing your individual jewelry item. 

Engravings

Not everyone likes to have an engraving made on their jewelry items, but some feel that it really makes a difference in the look and feel of the final product. It is easy to do an engraving on a product that is already pre-made and being sold to you by someone else. The engraver is familiar with the material and what precautions need to be made.

With custom-made jewelry, this is not the case at all. You need to tell the engraver exactly what is on your custom piece before they start making any kind of engraving. Depending on the materials you have used, engraving may not even be possible due to negative effects that the engraving method would have on other materials within your item.

If your initial sketch mapped out an engraving on it, you would be well advised to speak to an engraver before you begin designing your item. Once it’s already designed, it will be too late for you to make changes. 

Putting It Together

Congratulations! You now have all of the materials needed and a detailed sketch that has been expert-approved. Now comes the challenging part – you have to build the thing from scratch and assemble the pieces. This is the part where it can be very frustrating, because some of the parts are minuscule in size and hard to manipulate.

The most important thing to remember is that you should not be discouraged at any point in this process. After you successfully build your very first piece, every other piece from that point on becomes easier to build.

If you are still struggling, and you really feel like giving up, ask an expert designer if they will be willing to let you watch them construct the item using your individual pieces. Some people are far more visual and learn better when  they see the process happening before their very own eyes. You can even go on YouTube and search up tutorials of other people building jewelry from scratch. If they can do it, then so can you!

Building custom jewelry from nothing but little pieces can be one of the most rewarding experiences ever. It can give you some great ideas on what your next purchase can be. If you have customers that are flocking toward it, you have uncovered a niche that no one else in the jewelry industry is exploiting. It will help you become more in sync with your personal preferences. Really, you do not have a lot to lose (except for the money spent on individual parts), and everything to gain!