I posted this custom jewelry niche idea originally in my old blog about a year and a half ago.
Recently a jewelry artist wrote to ask me about it, since she remembered reading it but didn’t recall the details. So here it is:
Nearly everyone who loves earrings has at least one lone earring sitting in her jewelry box, whose mate has been somehow lost.
Unfortunately, it’s usually impossible to obtain a matching replacement for the lost earring, so the remaining earring sits, unwearable, in your jewelry box.
Here’s a great way to make a leftover dangle earring wearable, and offer a custom jewelry service that makes your customers very happy:
Just remove the earwire and you can often turn the dangle into a great necklace component that’s really fun to design around! Many times I’ve made necklaces for people, using their lone earring as a pendant or focal bead.
Last night I made two of these necklaces for a customer. One was made with a long silver dangle earring inlaid with abalone, which I used as a pendant on a strand of onyx, abalone, and amethyst beads. I love the way it turned out.
The other was a tiny silver, marcasite, and crystal dangle, which is now the pendant on a dainty choker of mini freshwater pearls highlighted with a few crystal beads.
My customer was absolutely thrilled with these two custom jewelry designs that “rehabilitated” some of her past favorite earrings.
People are delighted to be able to wear a beloved lone earring again, and this is a wonderful “jewelry recycling” service to offer.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi I had some earrings that were a present from my grandmother and I lost one of them and they were these really gorgeous pearl earrings. I found a website called premiumpearl.com and they had one that was very similar. Well after talking to them about my problem, they were able to take the left over earring and they came up with a new pair from the one earring. They are not the same earrings but I cherish them just as much because they are from the original earring. I love them!!!
Rena, I love your idea and have already done this for years, I love recycling broken or unmatching pieces. These parts are great for making a piece unique.
I mostly do wire work and use new supplies but I have actually done a trade with my customers and given a discount on a piece and they bring me a jar of unwanted and broken miss matched items. Most ladies have a jar like this and they love the idea. I also have remade a new piece out of something broken that they loved. I enjoyed the experience and so did my customer, I made them something totally different than the previous piece and got the biggest smile back.
This technique also gives the client a feeling of being special, and of having a personal jeweler . Most people that are not famous don’t get this kind of treat.
It is a win win!
I have just discovered your blog and want to thank you for your contribution to the artisan community.
Lauren Dalkin
Laurenscraft Designs
{ 1 trackback }