People love to watch jewelry-making demonstrations.

They're fascinated with your tools and how you use them - and how your raw materials evolve into a finished piece of jewelry.

"Demonstrating your craft can be very rewarding. Not only will you be sharing your love of jewelry making, you will also be promoting your business and gaining valuable exposure," says Mary Harvey in her recent jewelry business newsletter article, Demonstrating Your Craft (scroll down the newsletter issue slightly to see the article)

I've discovered that having a "work in progress" that people can watch me work on boosts my sales tremendously at shows.

(Of course, if I'm demonstrating, it's best if I have someone helping me out at my booth.)

If you can't do a live demonstration at a jewelry show or party, consider creating a slideshow you can display in an electronic picture frame, so people can still see the process from the tools-and-supplies stage step by step until the finished piece is created.

You can learn more ways to demonstrate your jewelry making and educate customers on your work in my archived newsletter article, "Sell More Jewelry by Educating Customers about Your Art" - go to Issue #34 of my newsletter, and scroll down to the bottom half of the issue for the article.

Holly Edwards found a neat way to get design ideas for Cloisonne and other similar styles:

"When creating faux Cloisonne jewellery and in need of inspiration, I found that looking at stained glass designs is really helpful.

You can also look at simplistic line art, or find designs you can simplify (but only if they are royalty free!).

Essentially you are looking for line and color patterns…even stencil patterns will do!"

Dover Publications is one good source of copyright-free stained glass designs.

Scott from JC Jewelry shares this great bead storage tip:

Upon starting our own business with customized bead jewelry one thing began to make itself clear:  Bead storage is a major issue.

We looked at everything from tackle boxes to craft organizers - however, with the amount of inventory that we needed these items became expensive very quickly.

We had to come up with something cheap and effective for our beads, thus we came up with this idea: Photo tubes.

These are actually FREE, imagine that, if you just ask for them at your local photo shop.

They can hold up to around a 16" strand of 8mm beads.

If you go to a higher bead size, you can just place the beads in two tubes instead of one.

We have taken the idea even further and purchased a three-drawer storage unit at Wal-Mart and placed the tubes with the beads in it.

They fit perfectly and this keeps the tubes stable.

You can also use the lids if you choose although we do not.

Hope this helps another fellow designer as I know I hate reinventing the wheel.

A tip for storing larger mm beads, such as nuggets:  The plastic baby containers work magically, and you can see through them.

Scott also shares art/craft show photos and more at his JC Jewelry blog.

"Many of my students who have jewelry businesses and were primarily beading have found that their metal clay pieces sell faster and better, and draw a lot of attention at shows and other venues," says Lis-el Crowley of Art & Soul Gallery / Studio.

If you've been tempted to try your hand at the fascinating jewelry medium of metal clay, see Lis'el's article Getting Started with Silver Clay before you shop for supplies.

She's a certified Art Clay Silver instructor who creates gorgeous fantasy pieces - have a peek at the jewelry in her Heart of the Fire Etsy shop.

I love making chain maille jewelry. I've made hundreds of pieces over the past few years and have learned a lot about how to make it more pleasurable.

1. Use good tools. Your hands will thank you for it. I use Lindstrom brand but there are lots of other good ones out there.
2. Take care of your hands. They are your most valuable tool. Take frequent rest breaks. Stretch and exercise your fingers and wrists. If you start having trouble with your hands, see a hand specialist or physical therapist for some specific exercises.
3. Practice, practice, practice.
4. Work with a variety of materials (aluminum, brass, copper, stainless steel, sterling silver) so you can see how each reacts in different weaves, how they work in your hands, and whether they give the look you want.
5. If at all possible, don't mix rings from different suppliers in the same project. This is especially true if they are the same metal.
6. If you can't figure out a weave from one set of instructions, try it with another set. Every teacher has their own way of writing instructions and many times a different way of looking at the weave makes all the difference.
7. Have a second set of eyes look over your finished work. They might find errors that you can't see.
8. Invest in a tumbler and stainless steel shot to finish your work.  You will not believe difference in the appearance of your finished work after it is tumbled. It is breathtaking.

Note from Rena:

See a variety of interesting jewelry tools, jewelry supplies, and more in Charlene's Purveyor of All Things Creative storefront!

If you're a jewelry artist with small children, you can relate to Laurie Davis' experience.

She says,

"It seems like as soon as I sit down to start a project, I'm interrupted…the baby is screaming because she's hungry, my son wants cartoons on, I didn't get the right kind of fruit snacks at the grocery store, when is Daddy getting home, etc."

But then Laurie hit on two solutions - a way to involve a small child in her jewelry business, and some jewelry-related activities that can keep children happily occupied.

She shares these great ideas in her new article, Mixing Jewelry Business with Kids.

Be sure to also visit Laurie's Lulu Jewelry Boutique.

1)  Delegate as much as possible around the house. My husband is a great grocery shopper…he finds bargains, uses coupons, and does a far better job than I do. (He recently purchased 40 boxes of Kleenex at our local supermarket for 20 cents a box versus the regular price of about $1.25 - we won't run out for a while and we saved a lot of money). Guess who is responsible for keeping the fridge and pantry filled? Not me. I have more time to make jewelry.

2)  Have projects lined up so when you finish one you'll have another one ready to go. I use small altoid-sized tins to set up projects in advance. I usually have about a dozen going at once. Spending the time to set up projects in advance will save time when you can sit down to work. It's also great for traveling as you can just pick up a tin and go.

3)  Make sure you always have a good supply of the basics that use you on a regular basis. Nothing is more frustrating than running out of something simple, like crimps, when you are ready to work on a project. As you start running low on a regular item, order more.

4)  Put away tools, equipment and supplies when you are finished with them. Have a regular place for everything. You'll save time if you know your pliers are always in the top drawer of your workbench rather than hunting all over the house for them.

5)  Try listening to audible books while working so you kill two birds with one stone - reading and beading! Audible.com is a great source for audible books. I love to read but can't bead and read at the same time (though I can knit and read at the same time) so I use audible books to get my reading fix. I play them on my iPod while I work.

6)  The last but most important tip is to learn to say NO! Don't commit to anything unless you truly want to do it. Don't bake cookies for school unless you really want to. Don't volunteer for that committee unless it is really important to you. Eveything you say yes to means less time for jewelry making. A friend taught me years ago to say to myself "what part of no don't you understand: N or O"?

Note from Rena:

Thanks, Charlene!  These are great ideas for very do-able things that can make a huge difference in creating more time.

I use plastic stacking jewelry trays to keep separate projects organized and ready to work on (although without some sort of cover they're not portable for traveling).

I like the Altoid tin idea.  It's a great way to recycle these nifty little containers too!

Many jewelry designers feel that they aren't true "artists" unless they design and produce only one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces.

However, it can be difficult to sell one-of-a-kind items and still make a profit - much less make a living.

Gloria Browne discusses the pros and cons of producing one-of-a-kind pieces, production pieces, and limited number editions - and how to decide which production strategies work best for your jewelry business:

Designing Unique Jewelry - One-of-a-Kind vs. Production Pieces - a new article by Gloria Browne of Beading Design Jewelry.

Charlene Anderson, who recently gave us 10 great reasons to love beading, now shares some equally convincing reasons for loving chain maille:

1. It takes very little equipment (2 pairs of pliers) and some jump rings to make beautiful jewelry.
2. Chain maille is easy to carry around and work on while watching TV, visiting family and friends, while waiting in the car, at the doctor, on lunch breaks—any time you have a few minutes.
3. Once you have learned the basics it is easy and fun to develop your own patterns. Chain maille is the perfect "what if?" art form.
4. There are always new patterns to learn if you don't feel like experimenting on your own.
5. Chain maille is very much like knitting (which I love); knitting is one stitch at a time, chain maille is one ring at a time.
6. Trying weaves in different metals (copper, aluminum, silver, brass, etc.) is exciting as the same weave can look very different in a different metal.
7. Chain maille is not messy like painting or dyeing. I don't like messy. Yes, rings get caught in the carpet but they don't stain.
8. Chain maille can be masculine or feminine, depending on the pattern, ring size and material chosen to weave with.
9. Chain maille impresses people; many weaves look very intricate and that is always impressive.
10. Fewer people do chain maille than "mainstream" jewelry so it always attracts more attention at fairs and shows (and when you are wearing it).

And to cap off Charlene's excellent list, I'll add an 11th reason to love chain maille:

It looks fabulous on knights! 

What are your reasons?

10 Reasons to Love Beading and Jewelry Making:

1. I can have earrings to match every item in my closet without breaking the bank.
2. If I get tired of a piece of jewelry I can take it apart and remake it.
3. I love getting . . .

. . . To read the other 7.5 reasons, see 10 Reasons I Love Beading and Jewelry Making by Charlene Anderson.