Loki The Crow

style, animal/ spirit animal, song, meme/ silly photo, quote, aesthetic, part of nature, character, and random

What a fun question! I look for a few different things:

Clean quality! If a necklace pendant is visibly chipped or scratched, that's not something I'd feel confident photographing and advertising in my shop. If I'm looking at a necklace made of metal beads, are they irreparably smudged or dented? Chances are I'd set that necklace right back down and move on to a better one.

Potential! Just because an earring is an earring doesn't mean it can't be used for something else, such as a small necklace pendant! If the paint is peeling off of some beads, I consider whether they'll look better if I soak them in soap or nail polish remover to remove the paint altogether, giving them a fresh start. Sometimes I come across some peeling old beads and discover they're actually a lovely pure shell underneath that cheap coloring!

Color! I LOVE COLOR! And so I consider what beads would pair nicely with the beads on the sale shelf. Maybe this nice, rich black glass would pair with the neon magenta rounds in my box, or maybe these forest-green rondelles would sparkle beautifully with the soft off-white pearls I have in my drawer.

The ratio of amount/price! Do I want to pay fifteen dollars for a small bracelet with a few nice glass rounds? Maybe. Depends on how cool they look, or if I'd have fun turning them into earrings. If I pay fifteen dollars, but I can turn this bracelet into four ten-dollar pairs of earrings for a total profit of $25, that's an okay idea.

But, do I want to pay fifteen dollars for a nice long necklace made entirely of simple white spacers? YES!! Because those will last me a long while, and I can have fun making numerous pieces of jewelry with that! I'll happily fill up a space in my inventory for that price, because the outcome will be worth it.