[Jewelry making - Article 00732] - Re: [Orchid] Purchasing scales

[Ken Ferrell]

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    Cherie, Unless you are doing contract casting or job shop work,
    trying to price your pieces by weight isn't a great Idea in my humble
    opinion, If you are doing fabrication work then the Silver is the
    least important factor in your price to a customer, Even at
    wholesale. Keep in mind that off shore, work can be bought for 35 to
    45 cents a gram, stones included. If your work is one of a kind or
    even limited production you have to figure out how much you want to
    make per hour, then figure out your shop costs even if it's at home
    you are using space, it has to be worth something, also figure out
    how many pieces like that or similar to that in a day. Then you can
    get a better idea of what you can make per hour for a wage, Even if
    you are doing this a hobby your supplies and other materials like the
    consumables cost money . as an Idea I used to cast and finish 150 to
    300 ounces of silver per week for a customer, at that time sterling
    casting grain was around 4.50 per OZ we were charging .65 cents a
    gram, these were all in Conchos and Belt Buckles very little stone
    setting involved but all of the pieces had to be polished and
    wrapped, after all expenses were subtracted I made 8-1/2 cents per
    gram. The silver was costing .145 to .16 cents per Gram; we actually
    lost the contract to a cheaper contractor. Now there are master metal
    smiths in Asia that work hard for 4.00 to 15.00 dollars per day and
    do some beautiful work their silver can be bought at .38 per gram in
    modest quantities. So don't try and compete by selling by weight.
    When I was last doing contract fabrication on a regular basis I
    figured my bench time at 22.50 per hour and added the cost of the
    silver at an average of 10.00 per OZ which covered the shipping
    charges from my suppliers. Now if I could have figured a way to
    actually keep 22.50 an hour I'd be a happy camper....And remember too
    that much of a products value can be determined by where it's
    presented, it's hard to get New York City prices in Manhattan Kansas.


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