Here is a tip for calculating the cost of materials while working on a one of a kind or production prototype - for this 18k yellow gold pendant I took out my mini digital scale and weighed the metal I had cut from sheet. I then calculated the weight times the price of gold today (goldgrambars.com has a calculator for gold coinapps.com for silver) this method isn’t perfect as it doesn’t take into consideration that metal in certain forms (such as wires, bezel, decorative) are more expensive than just the cost of the gold. This gave me the ability to determine the cost of this element of the pendant which I then factor into my total cost when figuring out my price! Would love to know how people deal with the changing costs of metal. I know this can’t be the best tip out there on this but I figured I could get a conversation started! Would love to hear how you do it! If you have a particularly juicy tip please email me. Also this digital scale is the bomb! I use it to weigh waxes to determine what the cost will be when cast in various metals! I’ll throw it into my TOOLS highlights 😉
#sorryikeepshowingawesometools #metalsmithsociety #jewelrymakingtipoftheday
