Say it with Chain

Think about some of your favorite jewelry pieces and the story they hold. Does it represent a gift from a friend, a sentiment from someone special or something you purchased for yourself because of the way it made you feel? It is this emotional connection to jewelry that makes jewelry-making and gifting handmade jewelry so magical.

Storytelling is a valuable art that boosts our feelings of trust, compassion and empathy and sharing stories builds connections. Anytime you create, there's a thought that leads to the design, a reason, a mood or a meaning behind your work.

All handmade jewelry has a story and telling it doesn’t have to be complicated. Start with a style of chain, for example: is it chunky or petite, gold or silver, smooth or textured? What option best speaks to the feeling of the story you’re about to create?

Their Own Story to Tell

What you choose to add to a simple chain illustrates the story that makes it special to friends, family and your customers. The possibilities are endless with charms, drops and pendants and other embellishments.

Charities and Causes

Many jewelry artists design jewelry or source supplies to support a charity or cause that is near and dear to them. Making chain jewelry for a cause or donating a percent of sales gives others the opportunity to learn about what's important to you and can help to make a difference.

Affirmations and Words of Encouragement

People are naturally drawn to words of affirmation that offer emotional support or encouragement and pieces that offer spiritual meaning. Many jewelry purchases are used as gifts to share words of encouragement, joy and happiness through jewelry. Make your own meaningful affirmation jewelry with finished chain and charms.

Spiritual and Metaphysical Meanings

Sharing the meaning and metaphysical properties of the stones in your chain jewelry can encourage customers to interact with your designs. Easily discover the metaphysical properties of gemstones by using the Fire Mountain Gems and Beads' Gem Notes online at firemountaingems.com.

Religious Symbols

Connect with customers by offering religious-themed chain jewelry. For example, cross pendant jewelry, St. Christopher necklaces, rosaries and Star of David designs for a spiritual style.

Personalization

Offer sentimental value for customers through personalization and customized jewelry. Examples include stamping letters, names, words or phrases into charms to add to chain. Let customers create their own color schemes and choose stones that are meaningful to them. We're seeing Morse code jewelry, birthstone creations, astrological themes, longitude/latitude designs, thumbprint jewelry and photos being added to lockets for emotionally driven style.

Vintage/Eco-Friendly

Adding vintage elements and components to jewelry designs gives a OOAK story to designs that people can connect with. You can also set yourself apart by using eco-friendly materials and sharing the process.

Make it Personal

Make gifting and selling jewelry a more personal experience by sharing something about yourself. For example, why did you started making jewelry and what drives you? Do you make jewelry to help you relax? How did you learn to make jewelry? Are you creating jewelry to help support a cause that's near and dear to your heart?

Share who you are and why you make jewelry so people can build a relationship with you and your work.

Share Your Design Process

Talk about why you design your pieces and what they mean to you. Are you selecting specific gemstones based on metaphysical properties? Do certain stones, chains or metals speak to you? Do they represent something special to you? Sharing the story of your creative journey allows customers to emotionally connect with your jewelry.

Do you create in a home workshop, your kitchen table, an office space? Do you have a dog or a cat as an assistant? Kids that like to help? Did you travel somewhere to find some of the pieces, were you influenced by a faraway place or vacation, do you use locally sourced materials, did something inspire you to choose certain stones or is there a vintage or upcycled element to the design? Relatable stories about your life and work make you and your creations more memorable.

There's no right or wrong way to tell a story through creating jewelry because it's just that…YOUR story. Use the power of storytelling to build relationships and emotionally connect with others for jewelry-making success. We'd love to hear your stories--please share with us on social media!