To inventory handmade jewelry, keep two lists: materials and finished pieces. Count materials in the unit you use them in, not the unit you buy them in: chain and wire by the inch, findings and stones by the piece, so a design's parts list can take them off. Count finished pieces by design, with a code for each, and by where they are: the studio, each shop that stocks you, the market box. Tiny findings are fastest counted by weight. In the example below, a small sea glass jewelry line holds about $199 of materials and 54 finished pieces across four places, and one pair of earrings goes missing at a market, which only shows because the market box is counted out and back. Below is how to set up both lists, count them, and keep them right.
The short version
- Two lists: materials, and finished pieces.
- Materials: record how you buy them and how you use them, and count in the unit you use.
- Finished pieces: a code per design, and a count per place they're kept.
- A one-of-a-kind piece gets its own code.
- Count tiny findings by weight: weigh 100 once, then weigh the bag.
- Count the market box out and back, and each shop's stock at every visit.
- TaroStack takes each design's parts off stock as you make it, and tracks pieces at every place. More below.
The materials list
Windward Roots, the made-up taro business I use in these examples, adds a small line of sterling silver and sea glass jewelry. Its materials, counted at month end:
| Material | Bought as | Use unit | Cost per use unit | On hand | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sterling chain, 1.5 mm | 25 ft spool at $45 | inch | $0.15 | 440 in | $66.00 |
| Sterling wire, 20 gauge | 10 ft coil at $11 | inch | $0.092 | 85 in | $7.79 |
| Sterling ear wires | 25 pairs at $22.50 | pair | $0.90 | 32 pairs | $28.80 |
| Sterling jump rings, 5 mm | 100 at $15 | each | $0.15 | 140 | $21.00 |
| Lobster clasps | 10 at $12 | each | $1.20 | 13 | $15.60 |
| Sea glass, earring size | Lot of 100 at $50 | each | $0.50 | 86 | $43.00 |
| Sea glass, pendant size | Lot of 40 at $30 | each | $0.75 | 22 | $16.50 |
| Total | $198.69 |
Silver prices move, so the cost per inch of chain should come from what you paid for the spool on the shelf, not from a price you looked up once. What raw materials count as, and how they're valued, is in raw materials inventory example.
Each design's parts
| Sea glass drop earrings | Quantity | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Sea glass, earring size | 2 | $1.00 |
| Ear wires | 1 pair | $0.90 |
| Wire | 6 in | $0.55 |
| Jump rings | 2 | $0.30 |
| Materials | $2.75 |
The pendant necklace takes 18 inches of chain, a clasp, two jump rings, a pendant-size piece of sea glass and 4 inches of wire: $5.32 of materials. With a parts list per design, making five pairs of earrings tells you exactly what came off the shelf, and the materials list stays right without a recount. How to turn the parts cost into a price is in how to price handmade items for wholesale.
Finished pieces, by place
| Design | Code | Studio | Corner Market | Harbor Gallery | Market box | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sea glass drop earrings | SG-EAR-01 | 14 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 34 |
| Sea glass pendant necklace | SG-NEC-01 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 19 |
| Blue sea glass cuff, one of a kind | OOAK-0012 | 1 | 1 | |||
| Total | 23 | 9 | 6 | 16 | 54 |
The two shops have the jewelry on consignment, so it's still yours until it sells, and it belongs in your count. How to settle a consignment shop's month is in consignment inventory example.
Counting
Tiny findings, by weight. Weigh 100 jump rings once: say 12.0 g, so 0.12 g each. At the count, weigh the bag (17.4 g), take off the empty bag (0.6 g), and divide: 16.8 g ÷ 0.12 g = 140 rings, in ten seconds. A scale that reads to 0.1 g is enough.
Chain and wire, by length. Measure what's off the spool, and count full spools as their length.
The market box, out and back. Count it before a market and after. Out: 10 earrings and 6 necklaces. Sold: 5 earrings and 2 necklaces. Back: 4 earrings and 4 necklaces. One pair of earrings is missing, and without both counts you'd never know. Small, valuable pieces walk; count every time.
Each shop, at every visit. Count the shop's stock, compare with what you delivered and what they report sold, and settle the difference. How to work out how accurate your counts are is in inventory accuracy formula.
Get the spreadsheet
Download the jewelry inventory spreadsheet. The Materials sheet works out the cost per use unit from how you buy each material, the value on hand and what needs reordering; the Designs sheet costs each design from its parts; the Pieces sheet counts finished pieces by place; and the Count by weight sheet turns a bag's weight into a count. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The spreadsheet is right the day you count. Then you make twelve pairs of earrings and forget to take the ear wires off, a shop sells three necklaces and reports them next month, and the market box comes home and goes straight in the cupboard. By the next count, the materials list says you have ear wires you don't, and the order you place is a week too late for the holiday market.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps the materials and the finished pieces right between counts, wherever they are.
Materials in the unit you use. Each material records how you buy it and how you use it: buy chain by the 25 ft spool, use it by the inch, and TaroStack does the math. Each design is a recipe, so making five pairs of earrings is a batch that takes the sea glass, ear wires, wire and jump rings off stock at what you paid for them, and costs each pair as silver prices move. A price-creep report per supplier shows who's raising prices.
Pieces at every place. Your studio, each consignment shop and the market box can each be a site, and taking stock to one is a transfer, so you always know what's where. Count on a phone, even at a market with no signal, and TaroStack shows what each difference is worth before you post it. A missing pair is recorded with its reason, so losses show by item and by place. If your tags carry barcodes, count by scanning them with the phone's camera.
And you reorder in time. The reorder list shows ear wires, clasps and chain in days of cover at the rate you really use them, with a red line where an order placed today would arrive too late, rounded up to the supplier's pack. A one-of-a-kind piece can be its own item, with a quantity of one. Connect your Shopify store, and we set it up with you.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Materials used | Taken off by hand, sometimes | Taken off by each batch |
| What's at each shop | Delivered minus reported | Stock at each site |
| The market box | Counted, maybe | Out and back as transfers, counted on a phone |
| When to reorder findings | When the bag is empty | Days of cover, before you run out |
Stock, counts, the reorder list and a Shopify or Square connection are on every plan, from $49 a month; designs as recipes, batches, and more than one site are on Standard at $99. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.