If I purchased any of these tiny casted designed pieces to add to a ring or earrings… am I unable to call my piece handmade? I have never bought any before but kind of want to to add on to some pieces. Just wondering what peoples thoughts are on this
This can be a sensitive subject, and I’m sure there’s no shortage of opinions on what qualifies as handmade. So, take this simply as my perspective.
The key word you used was ‘add.’ I would consider a piece handmade as long as there’s significant hands-on involvement and pre-cast components don’t dominate the piece. If a jeweler assembles, alters, or finishes cast pieces by hand, the piece can still be considered handmade, especially when the artistry lies in the design and detailed craftsmanship.
If you were to just take that triangle sun as is and add a jump ring at the top and attach some ear wires. I would not consider that handmade.
Many jewelers incorporate cast elements, such as clasps, settings, or ornamental details, alongside hand-fabricated parts, stone-setting, engraving, and other techniques. The degree to which a piece is regarded as handmade ultimately depends on the artisan’s involvement in creating and finishing the jewelry.
I hope this helps.
2 Likes
I wouldn’t worry about it. We add manufactured clasps to chains, stamped bezel cups, stones and beads that we haven’t made, not to mention metal that was formed into wire and sheet by someone else. The list goes on. You can buy shot plates that will allow you to make pieces probably identical to the one that you are asking about out of scrap, but that doesn’t mean that you have to, to call it handmade. There is probably some legal definition of handmade somewhere that uses language like 90% of the product has to be made by the maker. You can even buy a stamp to stamp your pieces “handmade” that is made by a machine. Make your jewelry and have some fun. Just be honest with your customers or whomever you give the piece to about how it was made. Good luck…Rob
7 Likes
I’m with Rob. Don’t stress too hard on that too much. Make jewelry you love and hopefully make money too!
3 Likes
People tend to use the term hand-crafted rather than hand-made because ‘hand-made’ has a legal definition your adding a cast piece to your work would violate. I set the relevant section below to bold.
"§ 23.3 Misuse of the terms “hand-made,” “hand-polished,” etc.
(a) It is unfair or deceptive to represent, directly or by implication, that any industry product is hand-made or hand-wrought unless the entire shaping and forming of such product from raw materials and its finishing and decoration were accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control and vary the construction, shape, design, and finish of each part of each individual product.
Note to paragraph (a): As used herein, “raw materials” include bulk sheet, strip, wire, and similar items that have not been cut, shaped, or formed into jewelry parts, semi-finished parts, or blanks.
(b) It is unfair or deceptive to represent, directly or by implication, that any industry product is hand-forged, hand-engraved, hand-finished, or hand-polished, or has been otherwise hand-processed, unless the operation described was accomplished by hand labor and manually-controlled methods which permit the maker to control and vary the type, amount, and effect of such operation on each part of each individual product.
…"
As to whether or not you’d get in trouble for saying ‘hand-made’, the FTC does not police people. Someone would have to make a complaint with them.
Neil A
Neil…Thanks for the clarification. I would assume that this language applies only if you use the term “handmade” in your description (verbal or written) of the piece or you stamp the piece “homemade”…Rob
If what you are adding, the pre-made and not your own design, is the main design element of your piece, even if it was hand case by someone (other than you), it is important in your description of your final piece, that you make note of the fact that you did not make that part of your piece. If you are doing the casting, it is then totally handmade by you. If not. . . well, you get my point. If you didn’t make it, it isn’t totally hand made. Period. If you’re not selling it or using it to apply to exhibitions, books, competitions, shows, you want to be absolutely clear that parts of your piece(s) are not made, but only used, by you. If you’re making your pieces for you or as gifts and not selling the pieces, it really doesn’t matter how or who made the piece(s).
Rob, to the best of my knowledge (not being a lawyer among many other things) the law is what the law says and no more. The FTC specified exact terms, “hand-made”, “hand-wrought”… and did not add “and similar terms”.
‘Hand-crafted’ seems to be in wide use, unchallenged. ‘Homemade’ sounds perfectly honest and fine if made in one’s home.
But unless a customer or a competitor makes a complaint to the FTC one is probably safe either way. The FTC has much bigger fish to fry. Like Google for example.
I wonder, is a shop also a home? While I could use a “handmade” stamp because I make my own bezel wire and cut my own stones, everything else is made from raw material (wire or sheet), some of which I make from scrap, I don’t use handmade or homemade in my descriptions or stamping. It never seemed necessary…Rob
1 Like
I took some wax lion’s head designs to a commercial jeweler for investment, burn out and casting as I did fabrication and not casting… got the castings back and soldered them to a bracelet. the clasp and rest of the bracelets was hand made… how does that fall into the legal definition of hand made or added- hand crafted? What about using premade commercial prongs for setting stones? The strict definition of hand made, as you mentioned would exclude the use of these items…
The strict definition I copied & pasted is the law. The law does exclude using commercial findings and then claiming a piece is ‘hand-made’. The cited purpose is to avoid deceiving the buyer.
The OP asked if adding a manufactured component to a piece can it stll be called hand-made, and the law clearly says no.
A question to ask (or answer) is why use a term such as ‘hand-made’ to start with? I don’t see the best goldsmiths or others who do creative work bothering with claiming their work is ‘hand-made’.
If you need to make it clear the piece you are selling is not from a factory then calling it ‘Hand-crafted’ or ‘fabricated by [maker’s name]’ or other non-deceptive phrasing is allowed.
Neil A
1 Like
To me the use of the terms “Handmade” “Homemade” or whatever you can come up with to try and set your work apart from someone else is just a gimmick. Describe your piece in words or text that accurately describes what you have made and leave it at that. I struggle with the fact that my simple hand engravings can be done easily, over and over, with a laser. A laser or CNC router can also do a lot of the work that can be done by hand to engrave many 3D pieces. I can cut a piece of 16 gauge steel making a pancake die that I can then use to make hundreds of identical copies of the same shape. Where does my unique artistic creativity start and stop? I would argue that figuring out how to use some form of new technology to create a piece that you couldn’t otherwise create is an artistic, creative, handmade, homemade or whatever you want to call it, process that, at least for the moment, is unique to you. It all goes on and on. Regardless of what the law says, for me, as long as I tell the truth about how I made a piece when I am presenting it to someone to buy, then I am doing what is right for me and my potential customer. My $.02…Rob
4 Likes
thanks for the clarification, it relevant to home studio work… further question: “hand made” by strict definition could apply to commerical jewerlry makers… Black Hills Gold is a trade mark for multicolored gold leaves (red, green, yellow gold alloys) soldered to a ring shank. The leaves are stamped out of alloy sheets. Shanks are also stamped. Workers in an assembly line solder one colored leaf, pass it on to the next worker who solders on another colored leaf, with black painted highlights added by yet another worker… Because the factory assymbles manufactured parts made by machinery from scratch and assymbles them by hand, is it still hand made?.. We can do the same thing in our own studios but on a piece by piece scale…
I visited one of their operations a long time ago when they also were selling sheet gold and silver, gold and silver wires to home hobbyists, The supervisor took me on a short tour of their manufacturing operation…it was impressive. a couple of dozen workers were doing one task repetitively and passing it on the the next…
1 Like
So I’m curious… Who are the Hand made police and will they arrest me if I put a lobster claw on a hand made chain?
2 Likes
What until after next Tuesday to see…Rob
1 Like
That’s really interesting because Etsy and Amazon have their own rules about qualifies as “handmade”, and it’s much more encompassing than what is pasted from the FTC. You’d think huge corporations like that would be more concerned about straying from the legal definition.
When I started doing craft and art fairs I chose to do only highly juried shows with one exception. The shows I do require hand made goods with very few exceptions. In jewelry they have been clutches, ear wires, pin stems and catches. Things that are not connected to the art of things. I tend to make everything if I can. With my messed up fingers it is very hard to work small. I buy pin backs and clutches but I can make ear wires and I do.
I don’t know what other people do so I wouldn’t have an issue with added components I don’t think. It takes a talent to put things together in an artful way. The musician doesn’t invent a note but he arranges them in a composition. I suppose an atractive composition of beads on a string based on shape and color is just as artful as a woven wall hanging.
I guess it all just depends.
Don Meixner
???
huh?
agree with you on this. I doubt that most consumers care about splitting hairs over handmade, homemade or handcrafted when they are buying something of real beauty. I brought up the point about black hills gold being hand made… by strict definition, it is, despite machine tools being used to mass produce commercial jewelry… the machine tools do stamping, which is the same process we with dies. the only difference is one of scale.