Experienced jewellery makers will know: a pile of beads does not a beautiful necklace make. There’s much more to the creation of a lovely piece than stringing beads on some thread, especially if you are hoping to sell it or give it away as a gift.

Making your jewellery look more professional and at the same time rendering it more ‘wearable’ takes patience, talent and a few more purchases – namely of the humble finding.

Findings are the insignificant but vital part of any item of jewellery: the clasp, the wire, the butterfly, the parts which are necessary for secure completion. If you are using precious metal clay or semi-precious stones, using silver or gold findings will enhance the item and add to its worth.

Those new to jewellery making may not be aware that such a wide variety of findings are available, thus enabling you to extend your range of products. Make rings using ring clips and claw bezels to hold a precious stone or quirky bead in place, or copy Tiffany’s style by using a ring and toggle clasp on a bracelet.

Perhaps you could branch out into men’s accessories using cuff link fittings, tie tacks and tie slides. You could even create a sovereign ring or medallion using the specially designed findings.

Gold and silver findings finish the look off beautifully. Bead caps can make cheap beads look expensive, crimp beads can hide defects like knots in thread and using bails rather than jump rings can make a pendant necklace look shop-bought, not hand made.

Using precious metal clasps, mounts, bezels and fittings, over plastic ones or, god forbid, simply knotting leather thongs, will ensure that

your piece lasts longer and can be shown off more frequently, possibly becoming ‘classic’.

Having spent all that time designing and creating your piece, using gold and silver findings finishes jewellery off expertly.

News came home today that as the market continues to recover after last years economic downturn, people are slowing down when it comes to the question of whether to buy or sell silver.

As people rode unemployment and continued increases in food, petrol and cigarettes, they were selling their silver and gold as and when possible just to surive. However as the market recovers, jobs are coming back leading to more people being employed, and a down turn in those selling silver.  As this happens, people that want to sell silver will find it harder to get a good price as the market is not as competitive.

You dont have to fret just yet though, as thanks to sell silver, some silver buyers are still maintaining excellent rate payouts for silver products. This is somethign that cant last forever though so if you are thinking of getting those silver airlooms that are lingering and looking to sell silver, you better hurry up and act now!

As Easter weekend approaches, many uk consumers have been spending on chocolate easter eggs to give to loves ones, aswell as various presents to share on Easter Sunday. This Easter sees the UK average spend increase on last year by 33.4%, as the market recovers from a damaging recession which shook the nation.

As the market continues to recover and people once again start spending, its anticipated that people will start to buy and sell silver more as the number of people buying presents increases. One of the biggest speculations is of the number of Wedding Gifts that will be purchased for this years wedding season, as many couples finally decide to tie the knot now that they have survived the recession and managed to stay afloat.

Im not sure about you, but even if many couples will be getting wed this year, I certainly wont!