Jewelry Design Mentor

Introduction & a step-by-step explanation of the jewelry design process Preview 17:24

1. JEWELRY DESIGN IDEAS

• Do some background research on your idea to make sure it’s unique.

• Come up with a brand name and make sure no one is using it or has trademarked it.

• Have a clear idea of your designs. Sketch them to the best of your abilities and make notes. Thoroughly prepare before meeting with the 3D CAD designer.

• Understand the sizes of your jewelry designs by using right jewelry measuring tools: Ring Sizer , Millimeter gauge: Pocket Gauge , Digital Gauge , Professional Digital Caliper - Mitutoyo .

• Get peace of mind and protect your designs and ideas by having a NDA agreement signed by all parties and services you will be working with. 
  

2. CAD DESIGN

• CAD Design – This is one of the first and most important steps of the production process for your jewelry, where the 3D CAD Designer implements your idea and design into a 3D computer model file.

3. WAX PRINTING

• Wax Printing – This is the next step of the production process after you’ve designed your 3D model: you now can print it in wax. In most cases, you will need to provide the printing house with .STL or .3DM files.

• When printing your jewelry design models, make sure they are printed on 3D jewelry printers with a high resolution: 25 to 65 microns.

• The most popular 3D printers used in jewelry industry are SolidScape, EnvisionTec and 3DSystems.

4. CASTING, MASTER MODEL and MOLD

• Casting – You are looking for lost wax casting to cast from your 3D printed wax model.

• Master model – Your jewelry design in most cases is casted in silver, cleaned and prepared for rubber or silicon molding.

• Mold – A silicon or rubber mold is used to reproduce jewelry in bigger quantities for future mass production.

5. GET READY FOR PRODUCTION

• For mass production of your jewelry designs, you’ll need to find a production house and provide them with 3D files, or with rubber or silicone molds of your design.

6. FIRST PROTOTYPE

• Before starting mass production of your jewelry, it’s important to have the production house create a jewelry prototype/sample first.

Helpful tips on design ideas and where to find inspiration Preview 04:48

• Create your design within the current trends or be the trendsetter.

Design within the trends

Pros: The trend is already popular, so you’ll spend less money on marketing your product.

Cons: More competition.

Be the trendsetter

Pros: Being the first! Creating a new jewelry subcategory and becoming a leader in it in the long run.

Cons: A bigger budget for marketing and longer time for brand establishment.

• Look for successful and established designers who have created similar jewelry collections to yours. Take cues from their path to success.

How can I design if I can’t draw? Preview 01:30

• Find a freelance artist to sketch your designs or do it to the best of your drawing abilities with references from the internet, magazines etc.

Do I need to know how to make jewelry to start designing? Preview 01:36

• If you don’t have a background in jewelry making, don’t waste time trying to figure it out by yourself. Find a mentor or professional jeweler as an adviser to help you design your jewelry.

Concept and design Preview 02:36

• Be sure to come up with recognizable elements of your brand identity and designs, which will help you stand out and be easily recognized by consumers.

Should I learn CAD, or just find a CAD designer to work on my designs? Preview 10:36

• Learn how to create CAD designs on your own.

Pros: You will save money on 3D CAD design services, and have the flexibility to design anything that’s in your head. It’s a great long-term investment in yourself.

Cons: It takes a long time to learn, and you must already understand the jewelry-making process.

• Use 3D CAD Design Services: Freelancers or CAD Design Studios.

Pros: Using professional 3D design services for building your 3d models will help you save time, build your collection faster and start selling.

Cons: Will cost more money.

• The most popular and widely used CAD design programs: Rhinoceros 3D LINK, Rhinoceros - 3d Preview on iPhone, iPad LINK,Gemvision Matrix LINK, SolidWorks LINK, KeyShot - 3D Rendering and Animation LINK. You have to remember that each of these programs have their own file formatting in which you can go back and edit that specific 3D model. The editing would require you to use the same type of program, yet all the final files can be save as .stl format for future printing.

3D wax printing, and wax carving Preview 12:44

• When printing your jewelry design models, make sure they are printed on 3D jewelry printers with high resolution 25 to 65 microns.

• The most popular 3d printers used in jewelry industry are SolidScape LINK, EnvisionTec LINK and 3DSystems LINK.

• You should know there are different types of printing wax all used for different purposes, such as castable/non-castable wax and moldable/non-moldable wax.

Casting process Preview 16:02

• Finding a large capacity casting house will improve the quality of the casting.

• Casting house price breakdown: metal price + labor price. Each casting house will have about the same price for the metal but the price for labor will vary.

• When the casting is ready to be picked up, double-check each piece for porosity and make sure all unnecessary sprues are cut off, or you can cut them off yourself and bring it back for credit.

• Try to build a relationship with the owner of the casting house and consult on your projects and casting strategies.

• Different types of molds are used for different purposes: regular rubber mold, silicone mold, and high-definition clear mold. These molds have different shrinkage points and lifetimes.

How to find jewelry suppliers and services Preview 11:38

• Use the internet to start searching for jewelry suppliers and read their reviews. Call them, get pricings and compare.

• Ask your existing suppliers or friends in the jewelry business for referrals.

• When you’re ready to go see a jewelry supplier or place your order over the phone, you should have all the necessary sizes with you. Don’t forget to mention that you’re in the business and get wholesale pricings also to be tax-exempt.

• Try using one of the biggest jewelry suppliers on the market for findings, gemstones and tools: Stuller and QGold.

Tips on negotiation with suppliers, services and their terms Preview 08:19

• You can get your services and supplies on terms of credit.

• Establish your name in the jewelry industry and get terms.

• Usual terms for credit in the jewelry industry are 30, 60, and 90 days.

• Almost every supplier can give you some price break on large quantities of work, as well as some terms to pay them off.

• Negotiate prices, get terms.

Jewelry shops and production houses. One stop shop or run around Preview 16:51

Three ways of handling the production process for your jewelry collection:

1. Do it yourself and be in full control. Be ready to invest time and energy running around from service to service to accomplish your finished product.

2. Delegate your production process to a professional in-house jewelry shop. Save time by communicating with just one jewelry shop instead of dealing and communicating with different services and shops.

3. Take your production overseas. There will be cheaper prices on mass production, yet lack of communication. It’s better to create your model and first prototype before sending it overseas. Overseas should be for mass production only.

Interview with Marco Delano, one of the most successful polisher in New York Preview 12:43

Things to do after your piece is casted:

• Take off the sprues and clean it.

• Tumble your jewelry pieces in a tumbling machine to get it nice and clean. This will help you save labor and time. Tumbling machines LINK

• Pre-polish your jewelry and get it ready for assembly or stone setting.

• Final polishing after your jewelry is set and assembled. (The million dollar look!)

Polishing is the process with all the necessary steps referred to above.

Marco Delano Fine Jewelry Polishing 
71 W 47th St, Suite #608 
New York, NY 10036 
(212) 354-4173 

Interview with owner of one of the largest casting houses in New York Preview 18:28

• Make sure your wax model is built correctly for future casting and you’ll be able to cast with no imperfections.

• When making molds, you need to understand the shrinkage amount of each different type of mold structure (rubber mold, silicone mold)

• The biggest mistake is making the walls on the model too thin, so in future casting, those walls cannot cast. Remember that there is also a casting shrinkage as well.

• Advice: Don’t hesitate to ask questions and talk about your project with casting house professionals.

Taba Casting moved to: 
Daniel Jewelry Casting
17 W 45 St. Suite #900
New York, NY 10036
Tel: (212)201-0765

Brand name and building brand awareness Preview 20:00

• Naming your brand after yourself: Be ready to become a face for your brand as well as a public figure and an influencer. This takes more time and money if you’re not already a public figure with following.

• Choosing a brand name: Try and come up with a name that is fashionable, easy to remember and on the shorter side. Try and associate the name with your jewelry designs.

• Come up with at least 10 brand names for your company and get feedback by letting your friends choose the favorite ones.

• Online business name generators can help you find ideas for your brand. 

• Corporate names, brand names and domain names can be different from one another so don’t struggle and waste your time if the names aren’t uniformly the same.

• When coming up with the name, do some online research first to make sure it’s not taken by anyone else.

• The final stage of brand name development is trademarking it. LegalZoom 

The importance of packaging Preview 07:36

• Packaging is one of the first things customers see after receiving your jewelry in the mail, which means your packaging is the first impression of your brand. You want that impression to be: WOW!

• Using companies that sell pre-made jewelry boxes on which they can stamp or hot print your logo is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to do this.

• Making your jewelry packaging custom is more expensive and takes longer. In most cases, there will be a minimum order of at least 100 pcs, but: custom packaging is better quality and has a moreimpressive presentation. The best place to start looking for your custom packaging is on Alibaba.com

• The packaging can include: tissue paper, paper bags, ribbons, an outer paper box, the actual jewelry box, a certificate of authenticity, a warranty card and -- if you want to make it special -- send them a sticker with your company’s slogan or logo.

How to price your jewelry and your time Preview 12:57

• When pricing your jewelry, make sure you have all the service prices and component information available so you can calculate the exact cost for your product.

• Product Cost Components:

1. 1. The production cost: Casting, assembling, diamonds or gemstones, stone setting, polishing, your labor and time.

   2. The cost of packaging

   3. The shop and administrative expenses for each piece produced.

   4. The marketing and customer acquisition cost.

• Average profit margin for jewelry is 30-50% and up.

• Check your competitors before pricing your collection to be price-competitive.

• Make sure your price has room for future discounts.

• Selling your collection: Retail vs Wholesale. The wholesale approach means selling to other retailers: smaller profit margins with a bigger scale, and being able to work on terms. The retail approach means personal distribution of the product, online and in your branded boutique. There are bigger profit margins and a smaller scale.

Selling your jewelry online vs. retail Preview 14:28

• Selling online is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to start selling your product and get feedback on it while investing very little money.

• Selling wholesale will give you a bigger spread in sales yet you will receive less of the profit. It also means a lot of investments and being able to work on terms and give credit to retail locations that you will be selling to.

• Selling retail means bigger profits, yet a large overhead and a money investment in stock.

Testing things out, and getting feedback. “PERFECT IS THE ENEMY OF GOOD” Preview 14:55

• Talk about your design ideas with your friends and see what they think. This should help you determine if your idea is good and ready to start going into production.

• Come up with some first prototypes, no more than 5 different items (even one should be good enough for a trial run). Try to sell it on different internet platforms (Amazon, eBay, Etsy etc) as well as flea markets. Another great way of getting dome feedback on your product is by posting on social media platforms and monitoring the engagement.

• Don’t make the mistakes that a lot of designers make when starting out. Don’t quit your day job, don’t rent an office space or shop, don’t build a big inventory of product, don’t spend months or years to make your product perfect without first getting positive feedback and some consistent sales growth.

• Remember: your product needs to be just good enough when starting out. Once you start getting sales, as well some real feedback from your customers, you can apply necessary changes and make your product better.

Opening a corporation and choosing a business name. NDA, Trademark and Copyright Preview 11:46

• Corporation. Don’t open a corporation unless your sales are steady and you have sustainable growth.

• NDA. Sign a NDA agreement that includes all the services that will be involved in your project. 

• Trademark. Trademark a brand name to make sure no one else can use this name to do business. Legalzoom LINK, Uspto.gov LINK

• Copyright. Copyrighting your design will help you protect your product in a scenario with people who steal your designs or ideas; you can go after them and get compensation. Legalzoom , Copyright.gov

Most popular platforms for selling online. eBay, Amazon etc Preview 14:19

• eBay is a great platform with millions of potential buyers. It’s perfect for cheap merchandise and to scale on quantity rather than quality. Your prices should be comparable with other sellers like you. We don’t recommend eBay for designers just starting out with high-end or high quality jewelry. The hosting fee is about 13% (ebay + paypal).

• Amazon is the biggest-selling platform with immense consumer-buying power. When selling on Amazon, you will need to keep prices down yet give a lot of value in order to keep your customers happy and coming back. You may make a great scale on amazon if you’re ready to work for lower profits. Fee approx. 20%+.

• Initially Etsy was created mostly for handmade jewelry and all DIY designers. Now the platform has become too overcrowded and is overstocked with all sorts of merchandise. It’s quite tough to get in and start making money on Etsy for a new designer. However, if you can distinguish yourself with a unique product at a competitive price, you can make it in Etsy. Fees are about 7%.

• Based on experiences with all of the above, most selling platforms are useful for getting feedback on your product and pricing. They can be a great source for designers just starting out. Designers need to remember that when using these platforms, you’ll need to follow the company rules. They’re sticklers for customer feedback, and due to a few negative reviews you could get your account closed and lose all your business. Customers can be quite picky and know that they will be supported by these big platforms who think that ‘The Customer is Always Right.’

Most efficient way to build your website, even with limited web design skills. Preview 17:40

• Squarespace and Shopify are considered the two best platforms for your ecommerce website. Both of these platforms have their own shopping carts, hosting, SSL, inventory management systems etc integrated within the platform. They are very user-friendly with an easy to use setup. Their different website templates can allow you to quickly and efficiently upload your product and start selling.

• Remember: a website with no marketing means no sales. In order for you to drive people onto the website, you’ll need to advertise and market your website as well as your product. There are a few very efficient ways of doing that.

• Facebook Ads are the most low-budget and effective way of advertising your product -- but in order for the Facebook ads to start bringing you traffic, you’ll need to correctly set up your paid campaigns. Make a few different campaigns and test their efficiency. FB Ads Video Course LINK

• Pinterest Ads are a great and effective platform for paid campaigns. Remember that it will take time for your ad to start bringing in people onto your website due to the structure of Pinterest community.

• Solo Ads is one of the new and very successful marketing strategies. Promote your product by showing it to followers of established Instagram accounts.

The importance of quality product pictures and video Preview 09:48

• Remember that pictures and videos of the products are one of the most important factors that will determine whether your product will be sellable or not. The more pictures you have of your product, the better chances you have of getting that item sold. Also, you’ll want to have pictures and video of the jewelry displayed on your hand (or arm, ankle etc). These will help the customer understand the size and the real life looks of the product that you are selling. Having enough pictures and videos of your product will help you minimize your returns.

• Realistic 3D jewelry renderings are now commonly used by many designers and websites. Realistic 3D renderings are created from your 3D CAD files that you use to create your jewelry. You may also create a 3D high-resolution video using 3D CAD files. 3D realistic images will help you create the images of your product without spending your money on expensive photoshoots. It also will help you create realistic images without actually building the piece of jewelry.

5 biggest mistakes designers make Preview 16:44

1. FEEDBACK. It’s very important to get feedback throughout each and every step of the brand-building, design and production processes. Feedback will help you create the right product, build a recognizable brand, start getting some sales and ultimately be successful!

2. GET CONSULTANTS / MENTORS. Get help from professionals who’ve been doing it for many years. This will save you both time and money, and help you avoid making unnecessary mistakes. Better to pay a mentor or consultant than paying for your mistakes and wasting a lot of time on missteps. There is a good reason why most successful people in the world have mentors and consultants.

3. PRICING. Correctly pricing your product and any time spent on building of your product will determine whether you’ll be successful in the future. Most of the time, it’s because of incorrectly priced products that designers are not able to see any profits or become successful.

4. MARKETING. Marketing is one of the most important aspects of your sales. No matter how good or beautiful your product is, it means nothing without marketing. Successful marketing is what will help your product to start selling now and in the future. Successful marketing will achieve substantial brand awareness, and successful marketing will be what ultimately makes your product popular, trendy and in demand. After your product is built and your website is up and running, you should spend no less than 80% of your time on marketing your brand and your product.

5. CONSISTENCY. Consistency is last-- but one of the most important factors of the success of your collection. If you aren’t consistent with your ideas, there will be no collection. If you aren’t consistent with your production, there will be no great jewelry made by you, if you aren’t consistent with your marketing, there will be no sales. If you aren’t consistent in general, there will be no success. Consistency is one of the biggest and most important keys to your success and to the success to your brand.