Jewelry Design 101: Organize Your Supplies in a Jiffy

You’ve got a ton of jewelry-making paraphernalia laying around, don’t you? Admit it. The beads, the wiring, the yard, the string, the baubles. They’re taking up space on your table. You need a way to neatly organize them without making them disappear completely. Here’s how to do that. 

Use Tupperware

Tupperware is your friend, when it comes to sorting and organizing. Figure out a few basic things like how many “categories” of stuff you have. So, for example, if you have 10 different colors of beads, you would need 10 different tupperware containers. If you have cabochon, briolettes, or focals that you don’t want stuffed into a container, go to the local crafts store and pick up some padding to protect them.

You can still use tupperware, or some other kind of plastic container-like material. You just need something that’s a bit more protective inside them is all.

Get A Label Maker

Get yourself a label-maker, like the Dymo Label writer 450 turbo. It will be a lifesaver. Making labels for everything, of course, saves you the frustration of digging through questionably translucent containers for that one special clip or pin that you need to complete your project. 

Making labels also lets you organize and sort everything on a shelf so that you can find the container you need quickly. When choosing a label-maker, there are a few things to look for. First, how much does the label roll cost? 

If you have a lot of containers, and you plan on updating the contents, and you think you might need refills or additional rolls, you don’t want to get hit in the wallet with overpriced labels. At the same time, you want to look for a decent-quality label-maker that will give you strong prints and a good adhesive so that labels don’t fall off after a month. 

Destroy Some Coat Hangers 

This is where the fun begins. If you have a lot of jewelry already made up, if you keep a lot of wiring, string, fiber, cloth, or anything that doesn’t belong in a box, here’s how you organize that stuff: destroy some wire coat hangers.

You can bend those things into amazing shapes, cut and reshape them, and customize them in endless ways so that they will hold all of your goodies. 

The best thing about this little hack is that coat hangers are cheap, they look good, and they’re easy to sort. You can either put them in an open closet, hang them on nails on the wall, hang them on pegs on a pegboard, or hang them over a door. 

You can even buy one of those over-the-door kitchen organizers and use it as a makeshift organizer for your repurposed coat hangers. 

They don’t take labels well, but, you probably don’t need to label them anyway since you have a visual cue there about what’s on them. Just make sure you file down any rough edges that you cut or you’ll be in for a nasty surprise. 

Selina Aumiller is a busy mom and small business owner. When she gets the time, she likes to share what works for her with others who could use some tips. Look for her helpful articles on many business websites today.