Ask the Experts Business Q&A

I am fairly new to jewelry making (3 yrs.). I have been learning by making items from magazines and books. These items were gifts for friends and family. I recently started creating my own items. In a recent trip to a bead store, the shop owner liked my bangle bracelet. When I told them it was my own creation, they wanted to buy my instructions and teach it at their shop. Should I do that? If I do, how do I put a value on instructions? What am I giving up by doing that? I don't have a business. I eagerly await your reply. Thanks.

- M.T.B.

Congratulations! What great news. You have a few options in deciding where to go from here. Selling your own jewelry design patterns/instructions can be quite lucrative. Once you create your own instructions, you can sell them as a PDF file on your website or on etsy, publish them in a magazine, make kits to sell at shows or on your website or sell them to bead shops. Prices per pattern/instruction vary from $2.00 - $29.00. If you offer the shop an exclusive, that means you will sell the design to that particular shop and can charge them a higher one-time fee.

If possible, always keep the design rights, which means you own your design/pattern/instructions and can use them for other purposes. Some contracts (particularly magazines) state once they pay you, they own the design and/or you cannot teach or publish it elsewhere.

Make sure you list basic copyright information on the bottom of each page stating that the instructions are yours and cannot be used without your consent.

Here's an example: Copyright 2012, Kristal Wick. Cannot be reproduced, taught or published without written permission from the author.

- Kristal Wick, Designer, Author and Jewelry-Making Expert