Resources
-
How do you oxidize mixed metal jewelry?
Use liver of sulfur to oxidize your jewelry at home!Yes. Yes I have seen those videos showing how to oxidize silver with an egg, but considering how expensive eggs are at the moment (greetings from early 2023) and how I am generally opposed to wasting food, I’d like to recommend using a good professional tool…
-
Your small business owner starting-the-year checklist
Starting off your business year with simple tasks Every day as an entrepreneur feels like a never-ending list of tasks. Personally, I like doing the easy tasks first. I get a spark of excitement when I check a small tasks off of my list because look! I checked a box! I used to think that…
-
What we get wrong about resilience
Small business owners are resilient by nature. Adaptability is our middle name. We adapt a lot. Think about the past two and a half years: You have to close, now you can open, you can open, but we don’t have extra funding to help you do it safely. We have money for you but we…
-
The whys and hows of being productive in your jewelry business
Because what we as jewelry makers do is enjoyable (bending metal! Using fire! Hammers hammers hammers!) it is easy to think of what we do as “not work”, but is there anything else in your life that you’d like to make space for? Friendships? Family? Social lives? Travel? Exercise? Time to sit and stare out…
-
Why Does Platinum Jewelry Cost More Than Gold Jewelry?
Platinum is less expensive than gold, so what gives?This is a question that I get a lot. And I get it – you can clearly see if you check metal prices online that platinum is currently less expensive than gold, and yet you go to buy jewelry and the platinum pieces cost more. The answer…
-
What the Kimberley Process Doesn’t Want You To Know
The Kimberley Process is BrokenWhen a Summer of 2021 meeting of the Kimberley Process (KP) turned contentious, I found hope.
-
Conflict-Free – Does it Mean What you Think It Means? Great Question
Conflict-free. It sounds so nice, doesn’t it? “This diamond is free of conflict” “these minerals are free of conflict” “this ring is free of conflict” They sound like peaceful, tranquil ephemera; drifting along, never encountering conflict. Just free as a bird or a hot air balloon – floating away from and above all of the…
-
How Do You Decide Which Jewelry Sources are Ethical? Part 2 – The Roundup
Does it ever feel to you like others are operating with information that is either over your head, or speaking like their information is common knowledge? Me too! And I read and consume lots of news about ethics in the jewelry industry on a daily basis.
-
Why choose Fairmined gold over recycled gold?
Making any changes to your supply chain when you make jewelry comes with a series of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure style options. If you decide to change the materials you use, your story changes – different materials can change your pricing, your tools, your process, and your marketing.
-
Why is my skin turning black under my rings?
A few years ago, I thought I was developing an allergy to silver and gold. Almost overnight, my skin was turning black underneath my rings and I couldn’t explain it. The answer? Science!