Your first consideration is whether or not to choose earrings for pierced ears or the clip on kind. Many women and girls do not have their ears pierced. If you are making earrings to sell, try to come up with designs in which the findings can be swapped to make either pierced or clip on. If you are choosing a pair of earrings as a gift for someone else, you will need to know for sure if the ears are pierced or if the person prefers clip on style.
Allergic reactions is a huge consideration as many people are allergic to base metals. There are also individuals who can only wear real gold or silver. When making earrings for sale, it is a good idea to have earrings made with a variety of jewelry components to take into account the needs of people with allergies. I have allergies, but fortunate I am, not to any kind of earrings I have worn. When buying earrings as a gift, find out what the person can and cannot wear.
The weight of the beads and materials you use for making earrings is far more important than those used for bracelets or necklaces. You might consider using plastic or lightweight wood in some of your earring designs to accommodate those who have need to have extremely lightweight earrings. Gift giving earrings can be tricky here as well. Ask some questions about the earring weight your gift recipient might prefer.
For the most part, most of the earrings I make at the present time are fairly lightweight in my estimation. Yet, for someone else, they may not be. A variety of earrings made with plastic or lightweight wood might be a good idea for some jewelry artisans if you are making jewelry to maximize profits. I usually make what I would like to wear, so plastic or wood are not materials I normally use, however, I do use plastic flower beads which I think are cute.
When choosing earrings as a gift for someone else, be sure to question the person about the weight of the earrings they normally wear. The length is something you must also take into consideration when designing earrings or choosing them as a gift. Drops and studs are the easiest to wear for most people as they are not obtrusive and will not get tangled up in the wearer's hair.
There is some difference in drop earrings and dangle earrings. Drops are usually the shorter length and dangles are the longer lengths. Some dangle earrings can hang as long as 4 or more inches from the ear lobes and the weight can be quite a load to wear.
In fact, fashion now in the year of 2016 is it seems "bigger is better." I personally prefer much shorter dangles or what is termed "drop earrings," which generally hangs about 2 inches from the ear lobe, sometimes 3, but never any longer than this. Learn from your recipient of the gift what they prefer in length of their earrings.
The length of a woman's hair truly makes a difference in the type of earring she can wear while wearing her hair down. She might not be comfortable in a pair of chandelier earrings as these may get tangled in her hair.
Does the recipient of your gift wear glasses. Many women do not like to wear earrings that may clash with the style or color of their glasses. This is an important consideration when trying to decide upon a gift of earrings.
What about the shape of her face? An elongated face may look even longer while wearing very long dangle earrings. Large hoops may not look good on a woman with a round face. Consider the face shape of the recipient of your gift, but do not be limited by this. Some people enjoy wearing all styles. Do some questioning before you purchase.
Now earrings can be found almost everywhere - they are sold by street vendors, grocery stores, department stores, boutiques, and many online stores. And there are so many manufacturers of earrings, with several well-known brand names. But, why buy handmade earrings? Among the countless reasons for buying handmade, three of the reasons are quality, uniqueness and color.
Quality
You might be concerned that a pair of handmade earrings will lack quality.
A jewelry artist who is serious about his or her work, and who is concerned about the name behind the jewelry will make every piece with quality in mind. If each piece of jewelry doesn't meet a set of standards, the artist will work with the piece until it meets the standards or if necessary, the artist will scrap the piece and start again.
While you'll find a lot of silver-plated and gold-plated earrings in department stores, many jewelry artists only use quality earring findings and ear wires. If you are concerned about quality, look for handmade earrings that have sterling silver, gold or gold-filled earring findings; you'll find that the jewelry will last longer, too.
Remember to closely examine handmade earrings for quality. If you are shopping for earrings on the Internet, use the zoom-in feature on the picture of the earrings. If there is no zoom-in feature, or if you can't see the earrings clearly, look for other handmade jewelry websites that have clear pictures that can be viewed closely.
The return policy of the store often tells you if quality is a concern to the seller. If you're shopping in a store, ask about the return policy. If you're shopping online for handmade earrings, remember to read about the return policy.
Uniqueness
The handcrafted earrings that you buy will be different from anything you've seen in a department store. Handmade earrings are not mass-produced, so it is unusual for any two pairs of earrings to be exactly alike. Most jewelry artists pride themselves on producing different designs; it is their preference.
Adding to the uniqueness of handmade earrings is the fact that many jewelry artists make the elements or accents that they use for their earrings, or they use elements that are handmade by other artists. Do a web search for handmade or handcrafted earrings, and notice how different the designs are from one site to the next.
If you choose handmade earrings, you'll truly have a pair of unique earrings.
Color
Silver and gold, silver, gold and brass. That's mostly what you will see in a department store. But what if you want quality-not costume-earrings with color in them? Look for handcrafted earrings. The jewelry artist is just that-an artist who understands what you are looking for-quality and uniqueness with color.
Jewelry artists have access to so many colorful elements-quality-blown glass beads, ceramic beads, semi-precious stones, and a variety of beautiful natural elements that are made by artists from around the world.
The next time you are looking for earrings to accessorize your pink, purple, red, blue or yellow outfit, look for handmade earrings. If you are looking for earrings on the Internet, simplify your web search by including in your search terms the color or kind of earrings that you want, such as "handmade yellow stone earrings" or "handcrafted red dangle earrings." Take the time to look at several websites, or in several shops that feature handcrafted jewelry.