Mass Producing Earrings from Bed.

I recently came down with the Flu after a beautiful weekend and a wonderful 3-day convention at the beach.  With the Flu comes aches, fever and fatigue, but being the busy bee that I am, it was killing me to just sit around and do nothing.

Typically, I put a lot of time into designs, even earrings. But being out of commission with the flu, not being able to think creatively, and definitely not feeling up to sitting at my workstation for long periods of time, I needed to figure out something that I could do from my bed.  I knew my earring inventory was low, so I decided to take a different approach to designing several easy pieces from the comfort of my bed.  Even when making earrings, I’m usually in and out of component trays looking for the right findings or beads for the perfect pair, but my body wasn’t in favor of that this time.

I decided to focus on some economical pieces and color.  I started with my “green” drawer, and pulled out a few beads of each stone that I had in green, gathered some earring findings, and one style spacer bead and what I call my bead soup mix (left over bead stash).  I was able to create about 10 pair of monochromatic earrings in no time.  Next, I worked on blue, red and purple, creating another handful of earrings.  Getting a little tired, but not ready to put things up, I pulled out my crystal bin and made up a few more pairs with the left over beads, that I hadn’t used.  In two days, minus naps and rest, I was able to complete 74 new pair of earrings.

The best thing about the system I was using is that by working on one color pallet at a time, and going through my color bins, I was able to create a very good color variety. This is something that I’m not very good about doing, as I tend to focus in on what I like or what the season is, missing sales opportunity on certain colors that customers may be looking for at a show.   I was even able to create many color combination’s, by utilizing the left over beads from the previous color bins.  So instead of putting the red beads back that I didn’t use, I kept them out, and the same with the next bin. So, by the second day, I was able to go back through what was left, and begin creating some interesting and contrasting designs.

Having the Flu definitely wasn’t my planned idea of how I wanted to return from my trip, but it helped me to come up with a different approach to how I mass produce earrings, when I’m not duplicating a design such as I may do during the holidays.  It also allowed me to fill in some color gaps in my earring display, and last but not least, it allowed me to create some economical styles, just in time for the holiday.

Find more of Dee’s jewelry creations on her website at www.runakojewelry.com, also follow the day and life of Runako Designs and other great things with a cause on her blog at www.runakodesigns.blogspot.com.