I get a lot of requests for help from jewelry designers. I’m going to lay out a plan of attack to get the best possible results when seeking help in getting your product assembled and delivered. I’d like to lay out some steps to start sketching, which will lead to your tech pack and this will help both the established designer and newbie get their ideas understood and brought to life.
I have an idea….
Great! Now you need to get down on paper. Sketch it out, full size, since most jewelry pieces can fit on one sheet of 8 1/2” by 11” paper, a flat sketch. Draw it out and keep drawing it out until it shapes up to what you want. Just paper and pencil. It’s cheap, you can throw it out and start over. It’s the idea you want to get across, not the execution of the drawing. Keep it loose, let it flow, and watch it develop with each drawing. This is called the concept sketch. This is the time to explore ideas, question, suggest. It’s a good way to keep track of your original idea and how it has evolved. Using your family and friends as your focus group, see what they think of these drawings and ideas. Here’s an example of sketches:
Sketchbook
Jewelry Sketches
Jewelry Sketch Tutorial
Everyone loves it!
Now you need to get the details down. Start taking measurements, detail with notes, add necessary components. How long are the bracelets, necklaces and earrings? Take these drawings to a digital mock up or refine your line drawings with the final details: Measurements, materials used in the piece, the style numbers of the components, stringing materials used, prices, these are all known as the specs.
What’s it made of?
imgFResearch the materials needed to make the pieces and record them by style numbers, size and prices. Where are you going to source them from? Organize all these specifics on the drawings with your measurements. These specifics will go into your tech pack.
Now you can move on to early prototypes where you work out your kinks, fix the problems and do any necessary changes. This part can get expensive, producing each generation of a prototype, but it’s best to work out the problems before you get to the final prototype. It’s very important to not cut costs here. Mistakes made in the multi-thousands of an order is VERY expensive to fix.
I found out about this program from a designer recently. https://craftybase.com/
This along with these programs:
http://www.beading-software.com
http://www.bejeweledsoftware.com
will help out with organizing, keeping track of supplies, materials, inventory, labor, pricing, shipping, sales. Getting started in an organized manner will help you keep on track to create a thoughtful process in creating your jewelry business and thrive.