Do You Have a Jewelry Making Tip for Us?
Want to submit a jewelry making tip to Metalsmith Society? You’re in the right place. On February 3rd, 2018, I started posting a jewelry making tip over on the Metalsmith Society Instagram page, and for five years, with the help of our community, I shared a new tip every single day. While I no longer post a tip daily, tips from our community are still what keeps Metalsmith Society going. We’ve now shared thousands of them, and most come from members of our community of over 260,000 jewelers, metalsmiths, and makers. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to submit a tip (or multiple tips :) Here is my simple guide on how to best submit a tip!
TL;DR: How to Submit a Jewelry Making Tip
- Email your tip to TIPS@METALSMITHSOCIETY.COM
- Send 1 to 10 pictures and/or videos
- A 9:16 ratio is ideal for videos
- Please skip text overlay on images and don’t record yourself speaking in videos
- Write a caption that explains your tip or technique
- Include your Instagram handle so I can credit you
What Kind of Images to Send
In order to share your ideas with the community, I will need at least one picture (but more is typically better). Your images should clearly convey the context of your tip. Ideally, someone shouldn’t need the caption to make sense of what they are seeing in the post.
- Send images that belong to you, not ones borrowed from a Google search or Pinterest.
- I prefer images without text overlay. I like the explanation of the tip to live in the caption, which can be translated via the Instagram app.
- Please consider the lighting and clarity of your images. I’m hesitant to share blurry pictures because they can make a tip hard to understand.
- A 1:1 (square) or 4:5 (portrait) ratio is what we use on Instagram. If you can, take your photos with a little extra room around your subject, because Instagram crops the edges on our profile grid.
Sharing Videos
We LOVE videos! They get some of the best engagement and can really help beginners understand how to use a tool or technique. Ideally a video is 4 to 59 seconds long. Instagram has a maximum length of 1 minute for videos in a post, so clips under a minute are best, and they are easy to attach in an email.
I like to share videos without someone speaking and explaining. If someone needs closed captioning or doesn’t speak English, they can still get the same explanation from the caption as everyone else and not miss out on any crucial info. A 9:16 ratio is ideal for videos!
Sending Reels
Reels are currently having a moment on Instagram. If you made an educational reel that shares a jewelry making tip, you can download it and email the video to me!
Don’t Have a Video? That’s Okay!
I know reels seem like they are super important, but I recently realized that reels are helpful for new accounts discovering Metalsmith Society, while regular posts are still very important for engaging with our active community. So if you want to share some beautiful images of a tip, please send them over!
Writing a Caption for Your Tip
An Instagram post has a character limit of 2,200. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to edit down a 3,000 character post 😂 so please be mindful of that when you write your caption. Typically short and sweet is best.
If you are showing a tip with a tool, mention what that tool is. Some members of our community are very new to jewelry making, and every post is a learning opportunity! Have fun with it. Emojis are encouraged! ⚒
How to Submit a Jewelry Making Tip by Email
The best way to send me your tip is to email me at TIPS@METALSMITHSOCIETY.COM with a subject line describing the tip. It’s very important that you share your Instagram handle, because I always want to give you full credit.
Sometimes I am unable to write back right away. Please don’t hesitate to send a follow-up email after a month if you don’t hear from me. I get hundreds of emails a week and sometimes a tip can slip by, so don’t be shy!
Can I Send a DM Instead?
It’s not ideal to send a tip through a DM, simply because it will easily get lost. I get a hundred DMs a day at times, which I always appreciate, but it is simply impossible to see and respond to them all. On the same note, if you need my help, have a question about an order from the Society Shop, or just reaaaaaallly need to get in touch, email me!
What Types of Jewelry Making Tips to Send
I am open to sharing your tips and techniques about basically everything related to jewelry making and metalsmithing, as long as you are not sharing proprietary information that would allow someone to copy your designs! Some favorites:
- Studio organization tips for your space, materials, tools, and finished work (always a hit)
- Soldering tips
- Stone setting tips
- Fabrication tips
- Enameling tips
- Wax carving tips
- Metal clay tips
- Casting tips
- Engraving tips
- Polishing and finishing tips
- Wire work and chain making tips
- DIY tools, or modifications you made to a tool
- Ways you saved time in production or streamlined a technique
- Jewelry studio safety tips
- Business tips and jewelry photography tips
...the list goes on and on! If you are curious whether we have shared a tip in the past, you can look it up on the Tip Search Page. This is a search engine created just for us (thanks to my Patreons!) where you can search a term like “dental floss” and see any tip we have shared that mentions floss in the caption.
What if You Already Shared a Tip About That?
Even if you see I’ve already shared a tip on a topic, it does not mean I won’t share it again, so go ahead and send it! Only about 5% of our 260,000 community members see any single tip, so I love to revisit an idea with new pictures, a new caption, and a new perspective!
Thank You for Keeping Metalsmith Society Going
I can’t tell you enough how grateful I am to all of you. If it weren’t for everyone being so generous with sharing their knowledge, there would be no Metalsmith Society! Every tip shared keeps the community going another day. If you are looking to support the page further, please visit the Society Shop or consider becoming a Patreon member.Keep Exploring Metalsmith Society
Not ready to send a tip just yet? Here are a few other ways to get involved:
- Browse the Tip Search Page to see if your idea has been shared before (and get inspired by thousands of tips from our community).
- Follow Metalsmith Society on Instagram to see a new jewelry making tip every day.
- Read my book, Metalsmith Society’s Guide to Jewelry Making, for step-by-step projects and techniques.
- Browse more jewelry making articles on the blog.
Ready to share your tip? Email it to TIPS@METALSMITHSOCIETY.COM and don’t forget your Instagram handle!
Thanks for reading!
x
Corkie
