Now For The Fun Part!

You may be wondering why it has been 3 full weeks since my last blog post.

Since identifying the people I serve, I have been hard at work creating some standards for my jewelry lines and any jewelry sold here at jewelrycapable.com.

Here is what I came up with after countless hours of work:

How Jewelry Capable selects jewelry and assistive tools that it would be proud to offer to guests with differing abilities:

1. It must be durable ~ We will always inquire about the creation process of jewelry or tools and compare processes to industry standards in order to ensure the longevity of things that our guests will truly treasure. ~ We reserve the right to "Field Test" jewelry or tools from time to time if it is not obviously durable during the initial application or review. ~ Examples: If your work includes stone-setting of any sort, the stone should be reasonably secured to ensure that it doesn't fall out of its setting. The quality of string or cord used should be able to withstand getting tugged on especially if it is used in an adjustable design.

2. Jewelry work must look clean ~ We will only include jewelry with clean work. ~ Example: jewelry with sloppy exposed glue, poorly tied string/cord, and lumpy solder work will not be included.

3. Completed jewelry or tools must be safe to wear and use ~ Please do not leave sharp edges on ring bands and make sure that prongs or designs with pointy sections are not easy to catch on fabric. ~Tools that require excessive hand strength in their function will not be conducive to the needs of our community. ~ Jewelry that is excessively heavy will be painful for some in our community to use and will not be included.

4. Your work must be well suited for people in one or more of the following categories: ~ People with arthritis whose knuckles swell to the point where rings don't fit or just spin around on the main part of their finger and who experience pain when they try to make use of a standard clasp. ~ People with fine motor skill impairments and/or tremors who experience difficulty getting clasp ends to match up and would rather not have to grab small things in general. ~ People with nerve damage who have difficulty feeling the pressure they are trying to apply to their jewelry in order for it to function properly. Sometimes they are even afraid to apply too much pressure because it may risk damaging their treasured jewelry. ~ People with metal allergies, including rare allergies to typically safe metals. These people are afraid to wear any metals because most jewelry metals are alloyed with allergy inducing things like nickel and copper. (Sterling silver and most varieties of steel have copper and/or nickel content and are not considered safe) ~ People with limited range of motion who have difficulty reaching their hands behind their neck or head in order to put a necklace on. They may also have difficulty reaching to add toe rings and anklets.

5. Your Jewelry or tool should be your original design. ~ We do not accept knock-offs.

6. The creator of any jewelry should consider that we are also serving people who are outside of standard sizes

~ Please be able to make either a slightly larger than average, smaller than average, or adjustable version of the work. (Example: We need some rings to cover sizes 3-9 and other designs to cover 8-16+)

7. The functionality of jewelry or tools should be fairly intuitive

to use or come with clearly defined instructions.

8. Jewelry and tools should not be overly gaudy or garish We align with designs that are reasonably classic or relatable. We promote some new features of designs as they improve accessibility but we want a majority of our community to feel that our jewelry is relatable to them.

That Being Said...

My vision is to have clearly identified categories for jewelry and walk guests through the process of deciding which jewelry will work best for them in an automated fashion.