[ruby soho]

Hi everyone,

Please can you help me, I’m sick with worry. I have been making & selling resin plugs/earrings, mostly set inside steel tunnels, since February this year.

It has allowed me to give up my day job & all feedback (300+ sales) has been really positive….until now.

In the last 2 days, i have received 2 separate complaints that the resin has cracked & or layers have chipped off after only a few weeks of wear.

I’m petrified that there are more complaints to come & that my jewellery business, which I thought was built on quality products, simply won’t stand the test of time. I just can’t figure out why?! I have tested my pieces way beyond the levels of ‘normal’ wear & tear & they survived unscathed.

If it helps, after researching on this site when I first begun, I chose Envirotex Lite as it would allow me to build gradually in layers & also dome the surface of my finished pieces.

The damage has occurred to pieces containing dried flowers & metal inclusions. (Unsettling that the same issue has occurred with 2 very different materials)

I am trying to manage the 2 complaints as professionally as I can but I simply don’t have any answers as to why this has happened?! & absolutely DREADING checking my emails now in case of more unhappy customers.

Any advice/suggestions would be appreciated so, so much.

Many thanks in advance,

Hannah

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Hannah,

First let me say that anyone who has sold jewelry has gone through this, myself included. It has always taught me what I can do differently, even if it’s only to tell people what not to do when enjoying your jewelry.

I’m happy to reach out to the manufacturer on your behalf. Can I get a little more information first?

1. How much Envirotex Lite (Part A and Part B) are you mixing at once?
2. Do there appear to be any during problems?
3. Anything else in the resin besides metal or flowers?
4. What ‘testing’ have you done?
5. Have customers shared any pictures with you?
6. The metal plugs are made of what kind of metal?

I have never made metal ear plugs nor have I worn them. So that I’m clear, these plugs stay in all the time (including bathing swimming, etc.)?

[Hannah]

Goodness I’m soooo sorry Katherine!

Just came back to this site & saw that you replied……about 6 months ago! So sorry! I thought I’d not got any responses as I didn’t receive an email notification. You must have thought I’m really rude!

Thanks for your supportive reply: please allow me to answer your questions (if you’re still willing to advise 🙂

1: Mixing between 20-30ml of each (1:1 ratio) per pour. (It sets up too quickly to allow for manouverability of my inclusions if I mix much more than that amount at 1 time).
2: No problems throughout the production process that I can see (barring the odd bubbly mix if it’s humid).
3: Nope
4: Took a finished piece & basically tried to destroy it 🙂 submerged in water for days, hit with a hammer repeatedly, bounced off a tiled surface, ran through a cycle in the washing machine in a zipped pocket & left outdoors in direct sunlight & exposed to the elements for over 1 month. More recently, I took a razor blade to the domed resin part of the plug & tried to replicate the ‘chipping’ olks have complained about but all I managed was a shallow dent.
5: Yes, I’ll be more than happy to email them to you if you contact me directly.
6: Stainless steel.

I advise customers to remove the jewellery when bathing etc & to keep away from solvents.

Thanks so much again for taking the time to reply!

All the best,

Hannah

[Katherine Swift]

Hi Hannah,

Any additional complaints? I’m wondering if people are leaving these in while they shower or swim, which could in turn soften the resin.

[Hannah]

2 more since I last posted unfortunately. I do advise customers to avoid excessive moisture around the plugs but obviously have no way of knowing whether they have followed the care instructions. I can’t see any pattern to the complaints so wondering if this is just a standard complaint I will have to get used to dealing with? (The complaint frequency is less than 1% of total orders, however, I’d obviously prefer it to be o%!) Thanks for taking the trouble to reply!

[Katherine Swift]

Hmm. Don’t have a good explanation for you on this.

I am much like you and would want a customer complaint percentage of zero, but you may have to start preparing yourself for a few complaints. Even under best case scenarios, I have always found someone will do something undesirable with your jewelry that you never even considered that you will have to make good on.

[Hannah]

This is very true Katherine. Thanks for giving my issue some thought & taking the time to reply. I really appreciate your input. All the best & keep up the great website!

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