This year I’ve been mostly making one of a kind, casted rings focused
around various hammer set gems. Since everything is mostly a one-off
creation, what popular sizes should I make the rings in to maximize
potential sales? For example, I recently had a person fall in love
with a ring that was two sizes too small. Most of the rings can be
resized but that is extra labor. For those experienced jewelry makers
out there, I’m curious to hear what your approach would be…
Rings and earrings make up 90% of my business. A few years ago I got
soexasperated at having to keep sizing rings up, that I decided the
majority of new rings was going to be sizes 8 to 10. For some
reason, the good folks in NH have really large fingers but not
necessary big bodies, while the well-dressed folks in MA have such
dainty hands and wrists. Must be all the wood chopping and hiking in
NH!
Anyways, when I make rings, they are pretty much on the large size.
Bracelets, now that’s another annoying topic. I’m at the point of
givingup bracelets for I can’t get that darn things just right, even
with bigclasps, extra jump rings, so forth.
Joy in warm but muggy NH (thankfully basement studio stays cool)
Hi Chris, This is a question I’ve been trying to figure out as well.
What I’ve done is make my most popular ladies ring designs in 7,8 and
9. The original models are size 8 and I resize some of the waxes
before casting. Much easier than resizing afterwards. I also make a
few in 6 and 10.If someone wants a ring in a size I don’t have I make
them a custom one. There will always be someone who wants this style
with that stone in a size 5 or 11, and sometimes I cannot accomodate
them, so I try to offer alternatives. It is important to have a
variety of sizes so that everyone can find something that fits them.
Making them all the same size would be a disaster for your sales and
time budget. You would end up resizing most of the ones that actually
sold and losing a lot of sales because most people will just walk
away if nothing fits them. As small scale producers of one of a kind
or limited edition rings it can be difficult to accommodate everyone
but I’ve found that just having most of my rings in the 7,8 and 9
range works fairly well. I hope this is helpful for you.
I sell a lot of rings, and I find that people with very large and
very small hands are very happy that I have rings to fit them. This
means that I have to make rings in a lot of sizes. I have a ring
stretcher, and anything with a plain back I can make bigger, to some
extent. But whenever I make a ring I have to ask myself what size
hand it will appeal to. I am often wrong and sometimes make two
rings in smaller and larger sizes. I am about to do an event where
there are many large men, so most of the rings I have just made are
sizes 10 to 13. We’ll see.
Casting rings in the maximised size assortments for women are 6, .5,
6.75- if you don’t want to do sizings as 6 to 7 is the most sized
orders I get in the US age is a factor the age group from 20-35 tend
to wear the 6 to 7’s, 7, 7.5, and 8 for women 36-late 60’s (then it
tends back down into the 6.5-7’s unless arthritis is an issue (in
which case i install an expanding/adjustable mechanism that allows
the piece to fit over knuckles inflamed one day and not swollen
next- they are popular but in the pre-fabricated types they tend to
come only in white or yellow 14 kt. and platinum so colour matching
can be an issue depending on the karat of the original ring shank,
and manufacturer if you use pre alloyed casting grain or buy
semi-mounts, ring blanks and/or setting strips) and for men/unisex
large fingers 8.5, 9, 9.5, 10 and 11 give you a wide range of sizes
that are accommodating to large fingers. Most buyers, male and female
that want to spend money in stores at shows, festivals, etc. are
often disappointed because people display to sell petite sizes, to
the point that often they don’t even look. All it takes is your
asking one big guy to try on a ring so buyers standing around can
observe it on a large hand. If it looks right other large boned
buyers will gather at your booth. I have seen it many times- it’s
part of salesmanship too…
If you don’t want to have twenty rings made up for a given venue for
some reason - (as rings sell best, second only to pendants or
brooches or a speciality that is none of those, like hollowware
etc…) sizing is an easy while- you- wait proposition in store, just
post or have a counter menu of labour prices with a minimum-
whatever yours may be (the going rate around here for sizing labour
is $32.00 an hour, with a minimum promise time of one hour plus
materials costs at whatever rate you choose, either triple key,
ordinary retail or spot plus x %…).Mine all beat any retail
establishment for miles and since it’s in house a maximum of same day
service beats any other independent retailer or chain, or department
store that all send their jobbing “out”. In fact the trend in
independent stores is towards focusing the clients attention to the
personal service they will get from your firm by seeing a central,
visible bench. akin to having a “chef’s table” in a restaurant for
foodies! Otherwise structuring your sizing jobbing is up to you. It
doesn’t ordinarily take more than 15-20 minutes with a "free cleaning
and polish, if appropriate or cleaning a matte finish if that’s what
you’ve designed…