Please note: This Gift Guide For Jewelers contains some affiliate links, all are products I have personally used, love and wanted to share.  This is my fifth annual holiday gift guide for jewelers, and I really look forward to putting this list together every year! Whether you have a loved one who is a professional jeweler or hobbyist or you are looking for something to splurge on for yourself this list should provide some awesome ideas! THE PERFECT SOLDER PICK I was absolutely delighted when GreenLion introduced the SolderWand this year! They come in a variety of bright, easy-to-find on ..read more

If you've found this article after googling "how to photograph jewelry to sell online", WELCOME! As someone who handles every aspect of my jewelry business from the benchwork, social media, website and marketing I know how important photography is! Gorgeous pictures will give you the content you need for your Instagram, online shop and emails. If you are like me and you're wearing all the hats I know your time is precious so I wanted to give my top tips to help you get fabulous pics. Cameras Investing in a quality smart phone, or better yet a DSLR with a macro lens is a tax write off and total ..read more

Setting up your jewelry studio can seem like a daunting task, if you are fortunate to have a bit of space where should everything go? How do you make the space efficient? In this article I wanted to share my top tips for setting up your jewelry studio and layout considerations. Whether your jewelry making studio is an entire room, or perhaps you only have a small space that fits a single bench. Let's dive in! SETTING UP A SINGLE BENCH AS A JEWELRY MAKING SPACE I used to live in NYC and as you can imagine my various apartments were very small. At different times I have had a bench in my already ..read more

Please note: This Gift Guide For Jewelers contains some affiliate links, all are products I have personally used, love and wanted to share. This is my fourth annual holiday gift guide for jewelers, and I really look forward to putting this list together every year! Whether you have a loved one who is a professional jeweler or hobbyist or you are looking for something to splurge on for yourself this list should provide some awesome ideas! The first item on my list is my book, Metalsmith Society's Guide To Jewelry Making. Not only is this book an excellent gift for anyone from teens to retirees ..read more

If you've found this article you may be on the hunt to find a caster to help with your jewelry making. At the bottom of the page I will list casters recommended by community members to hopefully help you locate someone. I can't personally vouch for these casters as I haven't used most of them but just like a hair stylist you have to find someone who is a good fit for what you need done. First let's talk a little bit about what a caster does. Jewelry casting is an art form that has been used for a very, very long time. Like the 3rd Millenium BC (it's okay if you have to google that, I did!) Th ..read more

Starting an email list can seem daunting. I often talk to jewelers (and other makers) who want to start an email list because they know it will benefit their business but they are overwhelmed and don't know where to start. So I'm going to lay out the steps I would take to get started today so you can start increasing your sales and engagement on your website. STEP 1 Go sign up right now for Flodesk using THIS LINK. It is going to give you 50% off your first year of Flodesk which amounts to $19 a month with the discount, $228 for that first year. One of the things I love about Flodesk is even ..read more

These days we have the amazing ability as small businesses to sell our jewelry directly to customers, using Instagram, Pinterest, TikTok, YouTube and some other cool platforms I probably don't even know about to market ourselves. I have been almost exclusively selling my jewelry this way for the past few years. When someone makes a purchase from my online shop a package shows up at their door (exciting) and the unwrapping of said package is an important part of my customer's overall experience! Before we even discuss packaging options let's first talk about a logo. Hiring a designer to create ..read more

Please note: This post contains some affiliate links, all are products I enjoy and wanted to share. This is my holiday gift guide for jewelers. Whether you have a loved one who is a jeweler or hobbyist or you are looking for something to splurge on for yourself this list should provide some awesome ideas! The Hyperice Hypervolt GO is a small massage gun that I use to relieve my shoulders, chest, neck and forearms when I'm doing repetitive motions in the studio. It's a luxury item but if you can invest it's fantastic! Retails for $199 Theragun is another great brand of massage tool ..read more

Whether you are just taking your first classes in metal work or have been making jewelry for decades, if you are working in silver and gold it is important to save every piece of dust you can! Refining not only your clean scraps but also "dirty" scraps which I will get into below, can put hundred even thousands of dollars back into pocket annually. *I am referring to precious metal scraps throughout the article, not base metals like copper and brass. YOUR STUDIO GARBAGE IS WORTH MONEY! Did you know some companies will take items like spent sandpaper, flex shaft bits and dirty paper ..read more

Every week on Metalsmith Society I explore a different tool used in jewelry making for #tooltalktuesday! It has been a wonderful opportunity to deep dive into different tools and discuss with members of our community! Some of these posts are sponsored, without this support the page would not continue to run daily. So thank to all of the sponsors in 2020, when you purchase from them you are supporting the page! Here is my list of the top nine #tooltalktuesday posts of 2020: Custom John Frei Bench From Otto Frei My John Frei Custom Workbench which was created for me, by @ottofrei193 ..read more