Buying handmade is seeing quite a revival these days. I’ve been asked by friends and customers alike “What is handcrafted jewellery?” or “What makes jewellery handcrafted?” Part of what makes defining handicrafts challenging now is many jewellery-makers mix their techniques and materials, there’s a lot of overlap. Handcrafted has become a blanket term, and is being used to encompass many methods of creating jewellery.
Hand tools vs. machines
The simplest answer of course is handcrafted means ‘made by hand’, but it also means not created using large machines. Simple mechanical devices are sometimes used, but hand tools are used most of the time. When an artisan makes two necklaces of the same design there are slight variations between them, making each unique. If a large machine was used instead there would be no discernible difference between them. Cast jewellery made from molds is often not considered handcrafted, and neither is an assembly line of people making jewellery by hand. Handcrafted refers to there being only one or two makers (a collaboration), but not several people.
Handcrafted vs. hand-assembled
Jewellery artisans use as many raw materials as possible, and as few manufactured parts as possible to make their handcrafted jewellery. They forge, shape, and cut materials. A few cut gemstones or make beads. Most aren’t mining and refining precious metals of course. Metals are mostly purchased in sheets and as wire. Because of time and cost many artisans don’t make 100% handmade jewellery, but even creating mostly handcrafted pieces is time consuming and take many hours or days to complete. The end product is almost completely hand-fabricated.
Crafters purchase ready-made or mass-manufactured supplies from stores, and assemble the parts by hand. This allows them to be creative without having to make the jewellery components and chains themselves. Some crafters get involved with reworking jewellery. For example a necklace will be taken apart and redesigned, it may be put back together in a new arrangement with the same or fewer elements. Sometimes more elements can be added such as new beads, vintage beads, recycled or found objects. Up-cycling makes use of only recycled, vintage, and found objects to create new jewellery.
So how do you tell the difference between them? Jewellery making techniques can be a selling feature, artisans often market this information. Price is a good indicator of how the jewellery was made. It occasionally happens that people over or under price their work, if in doubt you can ask how they make their jewellery. Most jewellery-makers enjoy talking about their goods, so it’s not too difficult to learn about how they do their work. I encourage you to ask questions, you never know, the answer could be an interesting story.
That special connection
When there’s a real person behind the making of an item, who leaves behind tell-tale signs in their work that can’t be found anywhere else, that makes a piece of jewellery handcrafted.
