Silver V Silver plate?

[Pandanimal]

I have been looking at ways to try to make my jewellery cheaper.
And I have thought about using silver plate findings instead of the sterling or Fine silver ones I have been using up to now.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of silver plate over sterling, apart from the fact that they somehow just look cheap?
And why do I get the feeling I'm barking up the wrong tree/ heading in the wrong direction with this idea?

[mizgeorge]

I think you've already answered yourself!

SP is OK for costume jewellery (I suppose) and for cheap glass or acrylic beads. There's a place for everything in the marketplace, and people like Claires and Accessorise do very well with it.

I think lampwork beads and gemstones deserve better though! You're not making disposable jewellery at the end of the day.

Copper can be a nice option - as well as some brass - some of the vintaj stuff seems popular (not my style, but seems to be doing well).

I also love mixed media pieces, leather, silk, fabric, rubber etc can all keep the cost down a lot.

I think the real question is why do you want to make your jewellery cheaper? If you don't think it's worth the price you're selling it for, you'll never get your customers to believe it either.

[agent_44]

I agree with what George has said. Look at cheaper alternative materials but not plated metals.

[amazingbabe]

I think when you are able to say to a customer that the item is sterling silver rather than plated then that is what they want to hear, when you have spend your valuable time making a piece then i think it is worth while to use sterling xxxx

[Pandanimal]

I think I'm finding it hard to believe in myself at the moment. Business is slow and I just want to sell more! So I'm grasping at straws.

I do like copper. It has such a lovely glow to it. And I do often use other (not lampwork) types of beads in my pieces as I like to combine different textures.

My beads and jewellery are worth what I ask for them, probably worth more than I ask! And I care very much that what I make is as damn near perfect as I can make it.

Quality is very important to me.
I think we would all say the same wouldn't we?

[Boo]

I do a mix of materials and different price ranges. Some of my plated pieces sell consistently and well, but I also offer a Sterling upgrade option on many too and a proportion of those sales choose the upgrade. So there's clearly a market for a range of prices and I've found that I sell across the board, often different types of items in different markets. I generally sell more inexpensive items at craft fairs (I'd sell more good stuff if I can sort the credit card issue) and better stuff from my own site.

But I've reached a stage of confidence and workmanship now where I feel my efforts warrant better materials and I haven't found it's really impacted on sales, if people want quality, they'll pay for it. In the last week or so, everything has been silver - the week before that I sold almost exclusively copper.

So I've sort of settled on a policy of investing time on good materials and keeping costs down on other pieces that don't need so much time. I spend time away from home periodically and can't work at my bench, so I always have some inexpensive wire wrapped items on the go at such times and still find that these sell. When they stop selling, I'll stop making them. But if I'm going to spend more than an hour on something, I'll make it in silver. I haven't made any plated earrings for a while now (occasional promo give aways only) - the saving isn't worth the value in marketing items as silver.

[Solunar Silver Studio]

If you are fair to yourself you will be 'paying' yourself a good hourly rate when you are making your jewellery. Imagine that your jewellery was your only job and source of income. What hourly rate would you accept? If you do this honestly you will see that your time is the most valuable part of your jewellery. At the end of the day - silver plated wire and findings are only a little bit cheaper than sterling when you look at it on a cost per earring (or whatever) basis. It may make you gasp a bit if you buy it in bulk - but if you were to add the mark-up to your jewellery, I bet the customers wouldn't even notice a difference!

To give yourself a fair reward for your labour you deserve to use sterling and make the whole piece intrinsically valuable too. People are happier to pay a resonable price for precious metal but are more contempuous of non precious materials. And you are more likely to be able to compete in a pretty busy market if you are not trying to undercut uber-cheap plated imports...

[kymbi]

I agree with George's sentiments - nice lampies and gemstones deserve sterling silver.

Earlier this year I found that sales on my weekly craft market were a bit sluggish as tourists struggled with the costs of their trip and had less to spend on goodies, so I had a little review of my designs/costs. I work with sterling/fine silver with some gold-fill and only use gemstones and handmade lampwork. I refuse to comprise on the quality of the materials so I changed some of my designs a little - for example, instead of using a lot of Bali silver spacers I used small 3mm rounds of black onyx which were cheaper, or I substituted copper for gold-fill and used silk or leather to hang instead of sterling silver.

These small changes meant that some of my designs could be reduced in price without reducing the quality of the materials or radically changing the impact of the design and these sat well alongside more expensive pieces that obviously had more silver in them. I'm pleased to say that it worked and my sales were steady during the summer.

I would stick to your guns, make sure your customers understand that your work is handcrafted/handmade, made with quality materials and made to last. The market I work at has imported fashion jewellery and I've gave up trying to compete with them long ago - someone said they loved one of my designs and suggested I made it in plate to make it cheaper; I suggested she went to Primark.

I'll get off my soapbox now...

[The Bijou Dragon]

Yep, having started in Silver Plate I would say stay well away from it, as mentioned above, nice beads deserve Sterling... they just don't feel right on Plated wire, I know, I have just destroyed hundreds of pieces of my old jewellery to get the nice beads back that would look a hundred times better on Sterling Silver!

I personally don't like or wear plated as it goes green on me in a matter of days, there are lots of allergy aspects to it and people would rather buy a pair of nice Sterling earrings for example knowing that if they are buying it for a gift then their friends aren't going to get rashes etc

Sadly, business is slow all over and through many areas of retail. I've seen friends who were selling a couple of thousand pounds this time last year go down to less than a hundred this year...

Stick with quality would be my advice

[Petal]

I agree.

That's how I'm going to do things. As Geoff Burch says in his TV prog about selling jewellery and other things - don't reduce your prices in a recession, produce something of value.

All Over the Shop - Telegraph

Love
Jules x