Why buy handcrafted jewelry instead of mass produced?
In the article 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Handmade Jewelry, Uncommon Goods says:
“The next time you consider purchasing a handmade piece of jewelry, remember that even though the piece may be an investment, you are supporting something even bigger. You should feel really good about your purchase knowing that you have a special piece of the artist in your jewelry collection.”
That is exactly how we feel about our handcrafted items. With each piece of jewelry and each wand or plaque, a bit of us is with it.
In my case with making a necklace:
- I browse through our supplier’s online catalog.
- Sometimes I come up with ideas of things I’d like to make before purchasing the supplies. This was the case with my Pink Rhodonite Heart Necklace.
- If I’m making what I thought of before purchasing, I collect all the materials needed.
- From there, I roughly measure out the beads or stone chips to nearly the size I’m going for.
- Get the pendant or focal point of my choosing ready.
- I then string the materials, check on length, and check to make sure that it’s what I want it to look like.
- Lastly, I place wire guards, crimp the wire, add the clasp.
Sometimes I purchase materials with no plan. This happens more often than it should.
- In the case of no plan, I pull out the materials that I think would be a good fit.
- I spend 30 minutes, sometimes more, thinking of what I’d like to make. Usually there are a couple different things that I choose from.
- Once I have an idea of what I’d like to do, I lay out the materials for that piece only. This was the case for my Black & Grey Raven Skull Necklace.
- Then I take the same steps as above for creating and finishing the piece.
In Kent’s case with the wands:
- He selects the wood.
- Does he want to add a crystal?
- From there, he places it on the lathe.
- Once on the lathe, he “zones out” and just goes with what happens. This is why we say they were made with intuition and that each piece is truly unique.
- Once he feels as though the wand is finished being shaped, he sands it.
- Then he chooses whether or not to stain it.
- If a crystal was chosen for the wand, he then sets it.
- Once dry, he then finishes it. Usually with beeswax unless otherwise specified.
You can see finished wands that are ready to ship here.
Our time, effort, and love of what we do goes into each item we make. We hope that you’ll enjoy and love them as much as we did making them for you.
