If you've ever thought of making and selling glass beads, don't miss this interview with Sarah Moran of Z-Beads.

Along with mouth-watering photos of Sarah's incredible beads, this interview by "Bead Nerd" Lori Greenberg includes  lots of great tips and insights into what's involved in making and selling glass beads online.

She was tall, elegant, well-dressed, and well-spoken.

She never carried a weapon, broke into a store, or held anyone up.

But for five decades, Doris Payne made a career of stealing expensive jewelry from upscale stores.

She had a simple, effective strategy:  "Pick a nice store and look like you belong there. Make sure your well-cut outfit has deep pockets."

Once inside the store, Doris would have the clerk bring out several pieces of jewelry for her to try on.

When she decided which piece to steal, she would make sure the clerk first saw her wearing that piece, and then saw her without it.

In the confusion of having several pieces of jewelry out, it was easy for Doris to slip the chosen piece into one  of her deep pockets.

As a jewelry artist who has had my own jewelry shoplifted once at a show, Doris' story fascinates me.

I also think it's a good cautionary tale about the need for vigilance for anyone who sells jewelry by any method.

You can read Doris' full story in this Los Angeles Times article:  Too Elegant to Be a Jewelry Thief.

I also highly recommend visiting the Jewelers' Security Alliance website.  It has lots of helpful info on jewelry crime, including videos of actual jewelry thefts.

For hundreds of years Taxco, Mexico has been world-renowned for its rich veins of silver and skilled silversmiths.

On a visit to Mexico a few years ago, Catherine D'Arcy was impressed with the craftsmanship of the Taxco silversmiths.

She requested a custom silver bracelet and necklace set - and a week later, she was surprised to receive 10 beautifully handmade sets of the same design instead of just one.

Catherine says,

"It was my fault, with my terrible Spanish, so I bought them and started thinking about what to do next."

Find out how this misunderstanding led to the birth of a silver jewellery business called Corazon Latino in Catherine's story, The Accidental Jewelry Business.

Recently jewelry artist Barb Macy of Accent Yourself served on a craft fair jury.

Read about her fascinating experience of reviewing artists' applications and photos - and her tips for applying to juried shows - in her article, An Inside Look at a Craft Fair Jury.

Mendy Ouzillou of Trezora Glass Jewelry and Art Glass says:

"Choosing my jewelry business name was very likely the most demanding of all the challenging tasks I have had to engage in. I obsessed, I lost sleep, I got mad and I got frustrated, but in the end the name I created was a winner."

Don't miss Mendy's success strategy for choosing a winning jewelry business name.

The June 17 deadline for entries to the Halstead Bead Jewelry Business Development Grant competition is rapidly approaching.

The third annual award to a new American designer entering the bridge jewelry trade will include $6,000 in cash and merchandise as well as other benefits. Interested candidates are encouraged to Read more

When Janice Lam of Creations by Janice added jewelry making kits and tutorials to her website alongside her finished jewelry, she added a successful new stream of income to her jewelry business.

Janice says:

"This has opened up a whole new avenue for sales for me - the want-to-be jewelry artisan.

"So now I sell handcrafted jewelry to those customers who want my one-of-a-kind jewelry, and I sell kits to customers who want to learn to make their own jewelry."

In Jewelry Kits and Tutorials - Another Way to Profit from Your Jewelry Business Janice tells how she got started with making and selling her jewelry kits and tutorials.

Christy Perry of Community Insurance Center is a jewelry-making insurance executive.

So when she talks about jewelry business insurance, she's more knowledgeable about it than most other agents would be because of her understanding of our niche.

Christy says of insuring her own jewelry business:

"As an insurance executive, I understand the risks and the need for adequate protection. But my business was small! It was only generating a profit of a few hundred dollars a year, and I didn't want to have to spend the entire profit on insurance."

In Jewelry Business Insurance:  How Not To Lose Your Home-Based Jewelry Business Christy explains in simple terms three insurance policy options to consider for your home jewelry business.

I highly recommend reading her article, even if you don't think you need insurance coverage.

It's always good to know your options, and Christy's article is the best quick-and-easy explanation you'll find.

Then, after reading her article, you'll enjoy the entertaining side of insurance (did you know there is one?!) in Homeowners Insurance and The Spiderwick Chronicles.

By the way, Christy adds that all of her jewelry customers are well protected, and all of her insurance clients are well-accessorized.

Now that's customer care! 

Kari Anderson of Kari Pearls was surprised by an email she received from one of her customers.

Kari recalls, "She said she was in a new stage in life and was selling out all her fabric crafting equipment….would I be interested?  And by the way, she added, I'd be willing to barter for your pearls".

Find out what happened next in Kari's new article, Bartering Jewelry.

Also visit Kari Pearls for a true education in pearls - including jewelry, images, and lots of fascinating information!

A few years ago I started exploring social networking on the Internet, to see if it could bring more traffic to my websites.

At first I just dabbled here and there on a few social networking sites, testing various strategies to see what brought me more visitors and what didn't.

I already had a fair amount of traffic before I started these experiments - but during the first six months of playing around with social networking, the traffic and sales for my websites tripled. And they haven't let up.

So I've spent the past couple of years learning everything I could about all kinds of social marketing - especially how to use it to promote an online jewelry business.

If you've tried to sell your jewelry online, you know that no matter what kind of online storefront you have for selling your jewelry - whether you sell via Etsy, eBay, your blog, your own website, etc. - you have to do your own marketing if you want to sell your jewelry.

And if you want to have control over your own traffic and bring interested customers to your online jewelry business, social websites are the "power tools" you need to be using.

I've found out which social sites really help you connect with potential customers, and some simple but effective strategies for using them to build your online jewelry business.

I've laid it all out for you to follow, step-by-step, in my new book, "Social Networking: Sell Your Jewelry Online the New Way".

This book will be available beginning at midnight (U.S. Eastern time) tonight.

At midnight you should be able to click on the book cover image over at the top of the right-hand column of this blog, and it will take you to the page where you can access the book.

It's the complete guide to selling more of your jewelry on the Internet in this exciting new way.