Bunny Necklace

Please come on over to my new website:

Jewelry Making Journal

I've got lots cool new things for you there - including
my videos, a unique tutorial, and Jewelry Business Insider interviews.

See you there!

- Rena Klingenberg

Bunny Necklace

by Barbara MacDougall
(Princeton, Ontario, Canada)

Girl's Bunny Necklace - 1

Does anyone have any experience with making and selling jewellery for kids?

I get a fair number of little kids coming by my table at the local farmer's market pressing their noses up against the figurative glass window.

Unfortunately, like kids everywhere, they only have about 50 cents or a dollar to spend, and I'm hard put to come up with simple, inexpensive necklaces for them without sacrificing quality.

More Moms, Dads, Grandmas and Grandpas are asking about tween-size birthday and Christmas gifts (horse pendant for little girl? Easy-peasy and done).

This is my first foray into making simple, good-quality jewellery for little girls.

But what should they look like? That's the question.

I'm after the mini-fashionista - and oh, boy, do they exist! Yes, I've been polling kids (and adults) at my table but for the most part, the kids, especially boys, are so very shy or, like me, will know what they're looking for only when they see it.

Delicate pink, purple and white Cebu shell heishi, carved amethyst bunny with its own little sterling heart pendant, sterling heart clasp and findings.

The necklace is 12.5 inches long and comes with a 1-inch sterling extender chain. Delicate enough for dress-up, but it will look equally great with jeans and a t-shirt.

Thanks for any critique/info/advice!

Barbara MacDougall
Barabara MacDougall
artefaccio on etsy
*artefaccio on deviantart

Comments for
Bunny Necklace

Click here to add your own comments

Kids' Jewelry Ideas
by: Rena

Hi Barbara,

I think you've got a good thing going with bunnies and other animals, pink and purple, etc. for girls! Fairy- and princess-related things are also a big hit.

Your bunny necklace above is a nice piece - definitely one that an auntie or grandparent would buy.

In this post I wrote for Dawn's "Free Craft Fair" blog, I listed several suggestions for jewelry you can either make for kids, or sell as kits for children to make themselves:

Craft Show Jewelry Ideas for Kids

And as I mentioned in that post, a cool name for the jewelry can really boost your sales to / for kids!

Also, here's a related tip I'm copying-and-pasting from one of my newsletter back-issues:

Quick Tip:
Selling $1 Items for Kids

When I sell my jewelry at shows, I like having a few interesting things at my booth that children can afford to buy - or that their adults wouldn't hesitate to buy for them.

To source these treasures, I often go through the "clearance" or "bulk buy" sections of jewelry supply websites, which are great places to find interesting odds and ends.

I look for bargain bulk quantities of gemstone or crystal items that I can sort out into small lots and repackage for this purpose.

My strategy is to put about 50 cents worth of these treasures into individual mini-ziplock baggies, and price them at $1 each.

Now the fun starts. You'll need to give these items a name that will appeal to your intended junior customers! :o)

My "greatest hits" have been:

* Princess Hearts (little packets of half a dozen assorted gemstone mini-hearts - I make sure to put at least one pink heart in each packet).

* Mummy Scarabs (packets of three carved gemstone scarab beetles in various sizes and colors).

* Magical Crystals (individual small quartz crystals).

For displaying these tempting little treasures, I purchased three small, mysterious-looking trunks at Hobby Lobby (using a 50% off coupon I printed from their website).

I put each type of treasure (hearts, scarabs, crystals) into a separate trunk to make shopping through them easier.

Each trunk has an enticing sign in an appropriate font, announcing what's in it: "Princess Hearts - $1"; "Mummy Scarabs - $1"; "Magical Crystals - $1".

It's amazing how well these little goodies sell, and how thrilled kids (and sometimes grownups!) are to buy a little treasure packet for $1!

I hope these ideas help, Barbara!

thanks!
by: Barbara

Hi, Rena,

Thank you for your suggestions. I've given a lot of thought to exactly those ideas -- I have a friend who does a lot of kid events and she does really well with the little packages exactly as you've suggested. Right now, though, I'm so strapped for space, and in my town I'd be going head to head with Wal-Mart and the dollar stores anyway. I already have enough problems dealing with the adult mindset of cheap and only cheap being the way to go and both out of control kids and adults grabbing at everything in sight and throwing stuff around as if they were at the dollar store. One woman even put her FULL cup of coffee IN one of my jewellery boxes (holding a $100-plus silver necklace no less) so it was caught on the edge of the box and it was half-tipping over. I was speechless when I saw that.

I already offer inexpensive, colourful ribbon, black leather and plastic chokers for $1, as well as adjustable necklace cords (basically free with a pendant) and I have a selection of inexpensive pendants for $2 to $10 available for people to mix and match, but I really want to keep that to a very minor part of my stock. I also put out large hole beads, but again, have to keep that to a minimum with all the grabby hands. To get around that, if someone is interested, I invite them around to the back of the table so they can sit down and look through what I've brought.

Little boys are fascinated by shark's teeth, for example, but I haven't found them for less than $2 at the local rock and gem store -- and I have to buy $100 worth of stuff before I can get my 50% discount. The shark's teeth still have to be wrapped. I know of people who go to dollar stores, buy stuff for a buck and turn around and put it on their tables or in their souvenir stores for $10 and they clean up. I buy little seasonal display props at the dollar store and people want to buy them all the time. Sometimes I think I'm in the wrong business, because I do know how to pick desirable items!

I've sent out this page to some friends, and the consensus so far is to keep on making higher end stuff for kids, that they would happily spend the money up to a certain price point for things like weddings/flower girls, etc.

But that still leaves me with those little kids who want to buy something for themselves. I'll keep combing the wholesalers -- or suck it up and take a loss on certain items.

Thanks!
Barbara

Another idea
by: Rena

Barbara, I understand perfectly about not wanting to compete with Walmart or attract ill-mannered children and adults!

Here's another idea for a piece you can price higher - something that would be purchased by grandparents, godparents, and aunts for a special little girl.

(This is also copied-and-pasted from one of my newsletter back-issues; you can see the full article here: Jewelry Niche Market - Jewelry for Sentimental Occasions):

For several years one of my best-selling sentimental jewelry items was a simple necklace made from small white freshwater pearls, adjustable from 14" to 16" by an extender chain ending in a tiny pearl dangle.

Why would such a plain necklace be a sentimental best-seller? Because of the message on its pink tag, printed in a lovely script font, which I phrased to appeal to grandmothers, aunties, and godmothers.

The tag names the piece "Grow Up With Me Necklace", and expresses how a girl can wear this same pearl necklace for all her important occasions, from childhood through womanhood, by adjusting the necklace length as she grows up.

By combining the emotional tug of watching a beloved child grow up, along with a special keepsake that will be worn at all her special milestones, this simple pearl necklace design makes a lovely sentimental gift and eventual family heirloom.

But - notice that it's the message on the tag that gives this necklace its sentimental value. Without the tag, it's just an ordinary adjustable necklace.

I made and sold a ton of these, and if you buy strands of 3mm or 4mm freshwater pearls in bulk, you can make the necklaces quite cheaply but sell them quite profitably.

Pearls
by: Barbara

That's exactly what I've been working on -- great minds think alike. People LOVE pearls -- blows me away how popular they are -- and they glom on to whatever I've made. That Pretty in Pink, Purple and Pearl necklace and earring set was my first effort in this direction.

And that is also my intention with my idea of these young girl/tween necklaces, that they should be kept and added to with an even longer extension chain if necessary, but your idea of adding the tag -- in effect spelling it out -- is definitely a thing to do, that these are heirloom quality, to be kept and passed down.

Jewelry for $1
by: Caren - BeadedGarden.com

I make barrettes out of seed bead mixtures made from colors I don't have enough of to do anything with. I display them by clipping onto a length of ribbon. Kids like them and adults by them for kids that aren't with them.

Curious
by: Mary K.

Hi Barbara,

I had a children's clothing store here that wanted me to make little girl's jewelry. When I investigated almost all of the jewelry materials were labled not to be used by anyone 14 (or maybe 16) years old or younger. This even included sterling silver and plastic materials. There was very little available. I would like to know how others are avoiding this problem. If I could find suitable materials I could sell a lot of jewelry this way. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

jewellery for younger children
by: Barbara

Hunh, that's interesting. I've never seen labelling like that up here in Canada, other than on dollar store/craft store items intended for children that they weren't to be used by kids under three.

Not to mention, I've been following the recalls of consumer goods containing lead in particular.

All I've been concerned with is anything that a very small child could put in their mouth and choke on, and the fact that Swarovskis are lead crystal and not recommended to be used in jewellery for small children -- again this putting-everything-in-the-mouth business. On the other hand, I just had a customer return to me to some earrings because the grandkids had been throwing Grandma's jewellery around and one earring had never been recovered. So, yeah, these kids shouldn't have their own jewellery, but who's responsible for this type of thing?

I sold a bracelet to parents of a four-year-old kid - because she wanted exactly the same one that her big 7-yr-old sister had, and I expressed my doubts, but they insisted. I made the bracelet but warned them that they had to keep an eye on their kid. I even said to the girl that it was "big girl" jewellery and not a toy and she had to take care of it.

I think this is why on the one hand I'd rather use higher-end materials for more formal necklaces, where kids would be supervised a little more closely while wearing the items. Not to mention, I'm using high-quality materials from sources I trust, and for the most part I avoid using stones that have been dyed.

But at the same time, there are a lot of kids who'd like to have an inexpensive, simple leather or cord necklace and pendant and most of the bone stuff of course has been dyed with who knows what!

I'm looking forward to hearing what other people have to suggest and their experiences, because this is a really interesting topic.

necklaces for little girls
by: Joyce

Another idea: they love to have their names in beads on a string.
Beads with letters on them are available.

To Mary K.
by: Barbara

Where are you located? Because of your comment about jewellery materials in your area not being for kids under 14 or 16, I've been asking all my customers, and they don't see a problem at all letting their kids wear jewellery -- but to use a little common sense: in general, they think jewellery is fine for kids five or six and over, and warrants a sliding scale of supervision. They all agree that it depends on the individual kid's level of maturity and sense of responsibility, really, but that's the case with anything and at any age.

Yes, kids need to learn that jewellery isn't a toy, that you have to take care of it -- once they've broken something the first time and have to come in with Mom to get it fixed, they seem to get the idea that this isn't quite the same as ripping a hole in their jeans or getting their shoes muddy and oh, well.

Click here to add your own comments