Help for Making the Best Investments...
In addition to its online guides, MJSA offers both print and digital publications that can help with purchasing decisions. They include product and service profiles, vendor listings, and in-depth articles to guide buyers in asking the right questions, making proper comparisons among choices, and choosing a vendor that will best meet their needs.
MJSA Buyer's Guide
Print Edition
The 2024-25 print edition of the MJSA Buyer's Guide offers a handy way to source everything you need to design and make great jewelry: tools and equipment, beads and gemstones, chain and findings, packaging and display, metals, contractors, and even schools to help keep your skills sharp.
The Guide includes a full listing of MJSA members and the products they offer, as well as a selection of articles that show how jewelers have used their own recent purchases to best advantage. It also includes several articles to help readers make the best investments possible:
• Al Gilbertson, product manager of cut-research at GIA's Carlsbad Laboratory, shows to determine whether a piece of jewelry is "fit for purpose."
• Three award-winning designers describe their favorite gemstone purchases, and the creations that resulted.
• Le Vian's 2025 Trends Forecast offers a road map for developing inspired—and sought-after—designs and collections in the year ahead.
The 192-page guide is free to MJSA members and available to nonmembers for $35.
To order via the MJSA Store, click here, or contact Membership Director Betty Costa at 1-800-444-MJSA (6572), ext. 3050, or e-mail her.
The MJSA Guide to Subcontracting
Print & Digital Editions
There are many reasons why a jeweler might turn to a subcontractor, and the new digital book from MJSA Press can help to ensure you find the best fit. The MJSA Guide to Subcontracting unpacks the search and selection process to ensure nothing is overlooked, explores contract issues and other legal considerations, and offers advice for how to create working relationships that ... well, work.
MJSA Members: Click here to download a FREE digital edition (Member ID and password required)
Click here to order a print copy in the MJSA Store
Price: $18.95
Member Discount Price: $15.95.
Among the topics covered:
• How to determine when it's time to bring in a subcontractor.
• How to find and select one that will best meet your needs (and the questions you need to ask yourself before the search begins).
• The value of a non-disclosure agreement: what it can (and can't) do.
• When to cast your products and when to turn to tool and die.
• How to create lines of communication that help to avoid unpleasant surprises.