Learn To Make Gorgeous Fork Jewelry

Having been an art jeweler for many years, I’m usually on the lookout for any new jewelry techniques. As an author, I’m also always on the lookout for ways for my readers to either enhance their skills or learn more about selling their work. Having also been a curator at art jewelry exhibits, it’s also obvious to me that no matter what kind of jewelry one makes, it needs to be original, unique or outstanding in order to survive changing market shifts. The bottom line for successful jewelry sales is obviously excellent hand skills and craftsmanship, originality of design tips the sales scales most favorably. Riding a trend like the recent one on art jewelry made from forks can give you an extra leg up in terms of increased sales. Have you considered trying to make jewelry from forks?

Since the jewelry industry is so fast moving, coming up with new designs is critical to your own success and sales. It’s also not easy to come up with new designs every few months (for the wholesale market) or to satisfy the needs of your collectors. As a standard rule of thumb, it just makes sense to add something completely new and fresh and different from you current jewelry line. Like jewelry made from forks perhaps.

When testing a new addition of jewelry to a line, it makes good sense to do it with an item that is production conscious and that doesn’t take too long to make. If you do that, you won’t have invested large amounts of your time before knowing if the new piece will sell. This is a strategy I used many times with considerable success. There’s nothing like the thrill of selling out of a new piece although it can also be frustrating since you haven’t more pieces to sell right then. But this is also a prudent business strategy and the best kind of market information you can possibly get.

Part of what’s driven my writing on selling jewelry in this economic climate is a recent review I did on Maryann Cherubino’s DVD on Making Fork Jewelry. To succeed in art jewelry, you need to think smart and focus on being cost effective as well as creative. By catching one of the latest trends in art jewelry, Ms. Cherubino is right on the mark with her timely and cost effective DVD on Making Fork Jewelry. She’s very market savvy and gives some excellent instruction on how to make both fork bracelets and necklaces.

This one hour DVD is sufficiently thorough that you could probably start making this unique jewelry right after watching the video. Ms. Cherubino takes you swiftly through each step of hammering, bending, polishing and grinding off any rough edges. Then you add your choice of stone or centerpiece and bend the bracelet into shape. Amazing!

To facilitate quick learning and absorption of the information, Ms. Cherubino then makes a second, slightly different, bracelet repeating all steps in the fabrication process. It’s hard to miss anything or any single step with the way she’s presented the instruction. The finishing section of the DVD shows you how to slightly alter the entire step by step process to make a necklace instead of a bracelet. A real asset for beginner in this video is that the entire process of making fork jewelry is done without needing to heat the fork.

It’s also hard to tell these stunning pieces of art jewelry are made from simple utensils. There’s a lot of room to add and inject your own creativity into these lovely pieces. For example, you can bend the tines of the fork in any direction you can think of. You can encircle your centerpiece stones any way you choose. Move the fork tines in either a linear or sinewy fashion. It’s easy to impose your own unique design sense onto this very appealing type of art jewelry.

Not only is making fork jewelry cost effective but it’s also surprisingly easy and quick to make. Hunting for and buying contemporary or antique forks allows you to be inspired by the all the gorgeous embellishments that are already done for you on the forks. Also, with the current high price of silver, finding inexpensive sterling forks is a real plus. After having watched this DVD on Making Fork Jewelry, I quickly realized that one could probably complete several of these pieces in a day and charge a decent price for them. It’s not that easy to find a unique type of jewelry that offers rapid production potential as well a decent price point.

If you find yourself interested in learning more about making fork jewelry, Ms. Cherubino has a quicky video on her site that’s good to watch for more detailed info on the entire process. The DVD, Making Fork Jewelry: How To Make Amazingly Unique Fork Bracelets and Necklaces is not only a timely product but also one that makes this jewelry very doable even for a complete beginner.