What do you think of this?
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Sun, 07-02-2006 - 10:36am |
I was thinking of started my own buisness of making mommy bracelets.
What do you think? I would personalize them with birthstones of your kids or for just one child, and then make ones where you could add a photo to the bracelet.
Hey, Mel. I'm a beader and actually have made these before. There is a good market for them. I suggest you buy your beads in bulk over the internet and you'll save a lot of money. Have you ever made beaded jewelry before? A lot of bead shops give lessons, which are a lot of fun. I say go for it!
Erin
Where do you suggest I buy them? I have looked on Ebay, but cannot find a good place to buy the letters.
Finding a good place to buy the letters is hard. I actually bought those from a bead shop a couple of suburbs away. The problem is that suppliers (shops and internet) are always running out of the more popular letters and it's really hard to get a feel for what the beads look like in person from the computer screen. The letter beads tend to have a lot of imperfections and I like to see and pick them out in person so I get the best ones. Also, if you've never worked with the letter beads, the holes tend to be very large and you have to buy round spacer beads to go in between the letter beads, which is much easier to do (the first time, anyway) if you go to a shop, as you can actually see how the bracelet comes together.
I used swarovski crystals and bought them on ebay. I bought from Vickie's Bead Boutique. She had a HUGE variety very well priced. I haven't bought via ebay for years, though, so she may not be there anymore. If you're shooting for best profit margin 5-6mm bicones worked best. I liked to use a variety of shapes and sizes, though. You have to be careful because there are beads out there that look a lot like swarovskis and I have been ripped off before. But if you are going to buy from a shop, you can save money by buying the lookalikes.
Be careful when buying findings, too. Crimps are especially important and you can get some really crappy ones from ebay. The 49 strand beadalon is the same no matter where you buy it so you might as well get that on line and save some money, if you're going to use it.
I quit beading to sell about 3 years ago. I was too picky about the quality and couldn't turn enough of a profit. Also, I got blaster worm from ebay. I won't even log on to ebay to look anymore, lol. Now I just make for myself and as gifs for family and friends. You'll do best if you come up with a basic design for the bracelet you want to sell and then find a supplier and buy in bulk (repeating myself, I know). You run into trouble when you try to personalize every bracelet or then branch out into other styles of jewelery. This is if your main goal is to make money. If you are doing it because you love it (which was my problem) then reducing your profit margin is actually fun.
Good Luck!
Erin