Handcrafted Jewellery
Simply put: Handcrafted jewellery is jewellery made by hands, not machines.
This type of jewellery sounds pretty self-explanatory, doesn’t it? Believe it or not, there’s much more depth to handcrafted jewellery than just the use of hands to create exquisite pieces of jewellery art.
When jewellery was first recognized during ancient Egyptian times, obviously, electrical working machines weren’t yet invented – therefore, all jewellery was handcrafted by artisans as a trade. Over time, jewellery evolved from shells and pebbles, eventually becoming a career for artisans-turned-jewellers who continued taking jewellery design to a whole new level.
The great thing about handcrafted jewellery today is that it’s the one type of jewellery that still carries over ancient history all of these years later, albeit, in newer and more modernised fashions.
Modern or Art Deco, Boho, Modjewellery and Ethnic are just some of the newer titles given within handcrafted jewellery; all carrying some piece of history with them. Nowadays, creating handcrafted jewellery tends to fall under two main categories: Professional and hobby.
Professional jewellers have the artistic and dexterity skills required to incorporate gold, platinum and other precious metals along with pink diamonds, white diamonds and coloured gemstones into their handcrafted designs while people at home tend to use more cost-effective resources, such as, alternative metals like brass and copper wire, beads, polymer clay, wood, fabric and whatever other materials the designer may find attractive.
Because of this distinction, it puts the cost of handcrafted jewellery on opposite ends of the price spectrum. When professional jewellers create this type of jewellery, it falls into the class of being a one-of-a-kind type of custom designer jewellery, which in turn, makes it an expensive piece of jewellery.
People who make handcrafted jewellery as a home business or as a hobby use cheaper means and cheaper materials. It doesn’t mean their workmanship is cheap, it means the worth of their jewellery is lower than that of a professional jeweller.
Depending on personal style and budget, both hobby and professionally handcrafted jewellery have become an extremely popular choice when shopping for accessories.
The Popularity Of HOBBY Handcrafted Jewellery
Everyone loves jewellery – whether it’s a simple pendant necklace or a 5-carat diamond ring – but not everyone can afford valuable jewellery items. The next best thing to buying jewellery is making it or buying it from home, leading to the online craze of sites like Etsy.com, Rubylane.com and good, ole’ Ebay.com.
In fact, if you were to actually Google handcrafted jewellery, you’ll come across hundreds of how-to’s for starting your own jewellery business and personal websites selling these items. Very few websites touch on anything more about handcrafted jewellery, unless you just so happened to come across this blog, wink, wink!
The reason behind this hobby/home-business frenzy is the fact that handcrafted jewellery is perfectly fitted toward individual tastes, follows the latest fashion trend and it’s affordable for both parties – those who craft and those who buy.
Teenagers who want to become entrepreneurs, stay-at-home moms who are looking for some extra cash and people who want to one day become professional jewellers are the biggest contributors to the handcrafted jewellery hobby.
The great thing about making jewellery as a hobby is that it’s often a stepping stone towards becoming a fantastic jeweller!
The Popularity of PROFESSIONALLY Handcrafted Jewellery
Much like custom jewellery, handcrafted jewellery appeals to all people, especially women. Jewellery made by a person rather than duplicates made by machine is sure to make a woman stand out in a crowd – and who doesn’t want attention drawn to themselves after spending all that time glamorizing?
While pieces of jewellery made by home artisans are great for a night out, jewellery handcrafted by a professional jeweller are sure to add the WOW! factor for years of nights out, again and again! A jeweller who makes jewellery by hand is a sure sign that they’re not only extremely skilled but creative and artistic which leaves the guarantee of owning an enviable piece of jewellery.
Unlike home-business handcrafted jewellery, you won’t find plastic beading or fishing wire holding the necklace together from a professional jeweller. Instead, you’ll find completely original, valuable materials used such as semi-precious and precious stones, authentic crystals, glass beads, silk and precious metals amongst other uniquely, beautiful materials that are incorporated.
What makes handcrafted jewellery different than custom jewellery is that from the sizes, width, and colours all the way down to which metals and gemstones are used, it’s the customer who has complete control over the design, not the jeweller. What’s not to love about it?
Another great advantage of professionally handcrafted jewellery that most people aren’t aware of is that it’s the perfect way to refurbish heirlooms! More often than not, heirloom jewellery is handcrafted and made of precious jewels and metal before the 20th century when machines were not yet available.[i] Such immaculate designs cannot be remanufactured or redistributed which is exactly what makes this jewellery so priceless.
Perhaps your great, great, great, great grandmother’s diamond engagement ring has been sitting stowed away to keep it undamaged and out of harm’s way. Taking it to a professional jeweller (one you know well and trust) can either help you put the shine and lustre back into that ring or update it all together to recreate the heirloom to show off your heritage while still keeping it in the family line.
With all of these great advantages, handcrafted jewellery doesn’t only keep customers happy; handcrafting jewellery even has perks for jewellers! By not using machines, one handcrafted ring alone cuts gold or platinum loss by 5% meaning less recycling of gold or platinum, less refining and of course, more money saved which we can pass on to you![ii]
Making handcrafted jewellery is a wonderful part of every culture whether to hold a piece of history close by or invent a new fashion trend. Regardless of who does the designing or creating, handcrafted jewellery is vastly becoming the most popular selection because of its authenticity and never-ending choices of design.
Sam Kritsotakis
Eskae Private Jeweller
References:
[i] http://pagerankstudio.com/Blog/2010/09/jewelers-repairer-job-description-and-jewelry-repairer-job-description-education-and-training-requirements-career-salary-employment-%E2%80%93-definition-and-nature-work/
[ii] http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/nenam/Platinum-wedding-bands.htm
