Hand-Made

Those of us who make and sell things for our living often talk among ourselves, and we laugh a lot about the descriptions used by people who are perhaps more affected than we are. 

I bought some "amber" chips from a supplier in the US last year, only to discover they were coloured glass. In fact they look like broken beer bottles that had been tumbled. A friend suggested I sell them as "upcycled" beer bottles. They'd probably sell too. But I would feel deceitful doing so, even though it's not actually wrong. 

This sort of thing bothers me, which is why I'll never be rich, but I sleep soundly at night. For me, business ethics includes not just honesty, but being realistic. 

Today I want to alert you to a common practice in marketing costume jewellery that isn't illegal, and not necessarily unethical, but caveat emptor, just be aware. 

A favourite term known to attract interest is "hand-made". All jewellery is hand made, with the sole exception of chain. Chain is made by machine these days (unless stated otherwise, when it becomes chainmail, and you can easily see the difference). 

Yes, the component parts are made by machine. Wire is drawn by machine, metal beads are stamped out, other beads are cut by machine, charms are made in moulds. I can even show you how earwires are made. Here's the gadget:

http://www.gossamerwingsdesigns.com/ear-wire-maker.htm

Of course there are bigger, semi-automatic versions of that.

So, here's the question, if a person uses that gadget, and makes them one at a time, but lots of them, are they hand-made or mass-produced? The answer is both, which really goes to show how useless these terms are.

Having been made by machine, large or small, one at a time or many, the components are assembled. There are certainly tools used, but every aspect of every design involves a human turning, threading, cutting, and most importantly selecting components to create a design.

The photo at the top (please click on it to enlarge it) shows the process involved in making a pair of dangly earrings. All the bits and pieces you see were made by machine. Even the crystals are cut by machine. But having created a design, I select the parts required, count them out and then put them together.

So, when does hand-made become mass-produced? Is it to do with quantity? Speed? I think that's a personal judgement. If I make six pairs at once that seems to be OK. If a girl sits in a factory in China making the same design for weeks on end, as fast as she can, maybe 3000 of the same design, is that NOT OK? Has the Chinese girl become a machine? Even if I only make one pair, what is the significant difference, why would that be hand-made and one of the 3000 not be? It's all assembled the same way. And I assure you, it is no different if she is supplying a dollar store or Calvin Klein.

Perhaps the care and attention to detail involved when I make a few at a time makes it different. It is the only difference I can think of.

When I describe something as hand-made it is because that is significant. For example I use glass beads that have been made by hand rather than in a machine, these are all unique, and rather interesting. Millefiori, lampwork, etc. Some are ceramic, painted by hand.

My daughter often makes her own clasps, to use on chainmail bracelets and necklaces. Again, these are different to those made by machine, and the description is significant.

But if you ever see anyone describe earrings as hand-made, that are assembled from parts that are not of themselves obviously hand-made, it's a good idea to ask yourself why. What are they trying to say? What other misleading information will they give you? How much extra are you being charged for a meaningless "quality" and are you going to allow yourself to be swayed by fancy words?

Anodized Aluminum

I'm here today to make a report on an unplanned experiment!

Last year, in September, if I recall correctly, Rhiannon made some chainmail Christmas Tree earrings and we put them up at eBay.

I took them outside to photograph them, as it was a nice sunny day and we always get better results taking photos in natural light, but as it was windy, I had to do this on the porch. So I used the wooden bench out there as the background. It worked well, I took photos of several other designs as well, and in moving things around I must have dropped one of the earrings. I wasn't aware of it at the time, but noticed I was one short when I went to sell the last pair. I had to get Rhiannon to quickly make me more.

Yesterday we were sitting out on the bench enjoying some sunshine, wrapped up well as it's still chilly here, and I saw something colourful lying in the snow. It was a Christmas Tree earring!

Despite being out in the cold and wet for 6 months, it had stood up rather well. We have never tested our earrings in this way on purpose. We rather expect people to keep them dry.

So we were not surprised that the earwire itself was damaged. They are rhodium-plated steel, and there were signs of rust. After 6 months in the snow, I fully expect this. The message here is don't leave your earrings out in the snow for 6 months, as rhodium-plate can't hold out in those conditions. But it's not expected to.

What was amazing however, was that the anodized aluminum chainmail rings had come to no harm whatsoever. Of course aluminum holds up well in bad conditions such as wet. It doesn't oxidize. But 6 months of snow and sunshine hadn't dulled the colours at all. This is performance beyond expectations, and is really quite exciting. What it means is that given the care one normally provides jewellery it will stay looking brand new for many decades. I think we can now safely consider anodized aluminum to be a "heritage" metal.