Basic Memorial Supplies Bundle

Description

Basic Memorial Supplies Bundle to help you on the right track to start your keepsake business. The basic package includes a selection of items available from Keepsaker Supplies with a recommended retail price of over £600! It’s ideal for new starters, people taking our Advanced Memorial Jewellery Course and those attending our Studio Training Sessions! Here’s a spreadsheet with the business startup packages in comparison (coming soon).

It’s enough to make at least thirteen pieces straight away – three beads, three rings, and seven necklaces or dangle charms. Make as many variations as you can and take lots of photos, sell some to friends and family before ordering, to pay for the kit, then use the photos on social media to get more orders. You will use the tools and moulds in the kit moving forward, buying settings as needed when your clients order.

Step one, watch Nikki’s entire playlist on YouTube here (click)! Then purchase this Basic Supplies Bundle

Memorial Kit Includes

• • Moulds – 2x medium bead moulds, 1x8mm round duo, 1x 10x8mm oval duo, 1x 16mm round duo, 1x 18mm heart duo and 1x 11mm sphere mould
  • Rings – a selection of 3 rings (handmade silver bezel rings) with any bezel cups, your choice of style and size (UK, US or EU sizes)*
  • Necklace and dangle charm settings – 1x 18mm crown heart, 1x 10mm heart bezel, 1x 8mm round bezel, 1x 16mm round bezel, 1x 8x6mm teardrop bezel (ideal for necklaces and dangle charms) and 1x 13x9mm teardrop bezel, 1x silver 6mm domed headpin, 2x necklace chains in your choice of lengths**, 2x mini dangle charm bails for Chamilia and Pandora style bracelets and  2x 11mm carabiner clasps for Links of London and Thomas Sabo style bracelets.
  • Bead cores – 1x Forever In My Heart, 1x Always With Me, and 1x Blank core
  • Consumables – an Ultra Fine Black Sharpie, 5x resin sparkle mix 5ml refills, 60g UV resin, some sandpaper, 1x white tack, 10x dust masks, label backing paper, 1x Town Talk polishing cloth, 200x cocktail sticks, 120x sending pots, 5x sparkle applicators, 5x 5ml spoons
  • Tools – 1x tiny measuring spoon, 2x pestle and mortar, a silicone spatula, 1x jump ring opener, 2x hairdressing scissors, one pair of lock of hair tweezers, 1x plastic ring sizer set and 1x UV pen light
  • Downloads – access to all of our stock images, sending instruction templates, premium downloads and the pricing calculator
  • UK customer exclusive – special discounts and advice on insurance and accountancy. The insurance provider we work with provides discounts from many supplies you will use as a jeweller and small business
  • You can arrange two free 15min video or phone calls with Nikki to set some business goals and troubleshoot later on
  • We will send you some donated preserved dried milk to practice with
  • practice cremation ashes from a horse, plus cat fur and human hair

These are the tools and settings we have used at Tree of Opals for the past 6 years from suppliers we trust and items made in-house. For advice on making keepsake and memorial jewellery see our blogs here. The silver keepsake business startup kit is suitable for breastmilk and baby keepsake (breastmilk jewellery, first curl, placenta and umbilical, baby teeth and Christening flowers etc) but also as a memorial for your clients (cremation ashes jewellery, hair and fur, funeral flowers) and all other occasions and elements such as wedding dresses, wrapscraps, petals, earth, sand etc.

Please note, this kit doesn’t contain any breastmilk preservation powder or Breastfed With Love cores, breastmilk resin sparkle mix or milk tubes but these can be purchased separately if you’d like to offer breastmilk jewellery too or you can order our Basic Breastmilk Supplies Bundle which contains them all, but lower quantities of other items you will need for memorial work (in bold on the list).

You’re welcome to make swaps, within reason. Please discuss prior to ordering!

Worldwide Sourcing Guides

We provide the basic personal protective equipment or PPE (vinyl gloves and dust masks) but highly recommend that you invest in some more heavy duty equipment such as safety goggles. You can find links to buy these items in our country specific Worldwide Sourcing Guides here – including the UK, USA, Australia and Canada (more countries coming soon). You can find all the items you need to send your clients a kit for their ashes/hair/cord/breastmilk, which is something we highly recommend. The sourcing guides also give examples of office equipment such as printers and label makers, and packaging items like polishing cloths, jewellery boxes, business cards.

Basic Memorial Supplies Bundle Startup Kit Extras

You will need to provide the following yourself, these are items many people already own:

• • PPE (see above)
  • sending kit components (see above) such as stamps
  • order packaging supplies such as jewellery boxes
  • a logo, social media accounts and website (Etsy do not allow breastmilk jewellery, they do allow hair and cremation ashes pieces but only for pets, not humans)
  • moulds for other items you wish to sell, such as findings you purchase elsewhere
  • tools

Stock Images

You can download the stock images after your order has been paid in full. They’re royalty-free and Creative Commons 00 so you’re free to edit and use for your own purposes but we ask you to let your clients know in the image description that they do not necessarily reflect your own work and are for guidance only. You can Photoshop in your own work if you know how. More coming soon – feel free to submit your own royalty-free CC00 images to benefit the community, so long as you are happy with no attribution required, which means that someone using the images doesn’t have to credit you for the photo.

925 Sterling EcoSilver

The silver in these settings is a minimum of 925 solid sterling EcoSilver (recycled) and up to 935, 940 or 999 quality silver depending on the piece. All solid silver pieces can be sold as sterling silver. We often use 940 Argentium silver for ring bands, which is tarnish-resistant or anti-tarnish, but not tarnish proof. Please see our blog on Types of Solid Silver which explains the care instructions for the silver and the metal content and PLEASE give clients the care instructions for the silver and the resin.

Pro tip – at Tree of Opals we like to make the client two charm beads or cabochons with their elements (ashes, hair etc) at the same time. Remove both from the moulds and send the client a photo to check they’re happy and offer them a choice. Let the clients know that you will return the second one free of charge as a spare, and set their favourite with a core. Over half of our clients ask for the second charm to be set, which you may charge £20 for doing. So it’s always worth buying an extra core just in case, even though you have some included in the Basic Supplies Bundle!

Costing Keepsake Jewellery with Basic Supplies Bundle

Over at Tree of Opals we sell charm beads with hair for around £70 (80EUR/85USD/120CAD/130AUD appx) and sets of them down to around £50, plus occasionally up to 30% off for large family orders, wholesale (funeral homes and crematoria, I used to do 30% off for 10 pieces or more for a breastfeeding group) or black Friday deals etc. The very cheapest I would sell a charm bead for would be £25 as a mystery piece/mystery order addon or for someone who wanted a second charm bead set when you’ve already made two. The profit margin on that is high enough to cover my overheads (websites, payment processing fees, my admin manager, moulds etc) and support my family.

Of course, you can sell charms for £15, and I have seen them that low, but only with silver plated cores (not included in the Basic Memorial Supplies Bundle). Clients will happily pay extra for a solid silver setting on any piece. We also sell glue-in charm inserts and a set is a little less expensive but they do not fit all the way through the core and will need to be glued in. This will take longer and occasionally they can fall out. These cores provide the most professional option and will set your business above others using glue-ins.

Use the free pricing calculator to work out the prices you need to charge. You may wish to employ an accountant or you can download our free UK tax

RRP Prices are a guide and correct at the point of publishing!

*Please note, if you do not supply ring requirements we will guess for you with popular band styles, bezel cups and sizes. If you are in the UK, we will supply UK ring sizes, USA will be US sizes. EU sizes on request!
**Please note, if you do not supply necklace chain lengths we will send you an 18″ and a 20″ chain