Jewelry Material Cost Calculator

Add up the metals, findings and stones in one piece of jewellery from quantity and unit price, and work out the cost per gram of wire or sheet.

Jewelry Making

The material cost of a piece is a shopping list, not an estimate. This calculator adds the wire or sheet, the findings and the stones line by line from the quantity you used and the price you paid, then shows the same total as a cost per gram so you can price the next piece without redoing the sums. It is the figure that feeds the pricing calculator.

At a glance

What you enter: Wire or sheet used, Metal price per gram, Findings used, Findings price each, Stones or beads used, Stone price each, Other materials, Weight bought, Price paid for that weight, Waste allowance
What you get: Total material cost, Cost per gram of metal, Waste allowance included
Formula shown: Yes, every step, right below your results.
Cost and privacy: Free, no account needed, and nothing you type is stored.

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Wire or sheet used g

Weigh the piece of metal that goes into the design.

Metal price per gram USD/g

From your last invoice, including shipping. Sterling silver and gold filled are priced per troy ounce or per gram and the spot price moves.

Findings used pieces

Clasps, jump rings, ear wires, crimps and chain links.

Findings price each USD

Stones or beads used pieces

Stone price each USD

Other materials USD

Cord, solder, patina, polishing compound and anything else consumed by this piece.

Weight bought g

Optional. Use this with the next line to check your true cost per gram.

Price paid for that weight USD

Waste allowance %

Covers offcuts, filing loss and the occasional ruined loop.

Reset

Results are estimates for general information only, always verify with a professional or official source before acting on them.

How to use the Jewelry Material Cost Calculator

1 Enter Wire or sheet used (g), Weigh the piece of metal that goes into the design.
2 Enter Metal price per gram (USD/g), From your last invoice, including shipping. Sterling silver and gold filled are priced per troy ounce or per gram and the spot price moves.
3 Enter Findings used (pieces), Clasps, jump rings, ear wires, crimps and chain links.
4 Enter Findings price each (USD)
5 Enter Stones or beads used (pieces)
6 Enter Stone price each (USD)
7 Enter Other materials (USD), Cord, solder, patina, polishing compound and anything else consumed by this piece.
8 Enter Weight bought (g), Optional. Use this with the next line to check your true cost per gram.
9 Enter Price paid for that weight (USD)
10 Enter Waste allowance (%), Covers offcuts, filing loss and the occasional ruined loop.
11 Press Calculate. You get Total material cost, Cost per gram of metal, Waste allowance included, and every intermediate step stays visible under "How is this calculated?"
12 Change one number at a time to see what moves the result, that is usually the most useful thing a calculator can tell you.

Worked examples

Real numbers run through this calculator. Open any example to load it into the form above and change it.

Silver pendant with a cabochon

Six grams of sterling silver at 1.10 per gram, four findings at 25 cents, three stones at 1.50 and a fifteen percent waste allowance.

You enter

Wire or sheet used: 6 g
Metal price per gram: $1.10
Findings used: 4
Findings price each: $0.25
Stones or beads used: 3
Stone price each: $1.50
Other materials: $0.00
Weight bought: 0 g
Price paid for that weight: $0.00
Waste allowance: 15%

You get

Total material cost: $13.92
Cost per gram of metal: $0.00
Waste allowance included: $1.82

About 15 dollars of material, with the silver doing most of the work.

Open this example in the calculator →

Beaded bracelet from a bulk order

Two grams of wire at 0.35 per gram, eight findings at 8 cents and twenty two beads at 6 cents.

You enter

Wire or sheet used: 2 g
Metal price per gram: $0.35
Findings used: 8
Findings price each: $0.08
Stones or beads used: 22
Stone price each: $0.06
Other materials: $0.00
Weight bought: 100 g
Price paid for that weight: $35.00
Waste allowance: 10%

You get

Total material cost: $2.93
Cost per gram of metal: $0.35
Waste allowance included: $0.27

Bulk beads are where the per gram figure really earns its keep.

Open this example in the calculator →

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Frequently asked questions

How do I work out the cost of silver wire per gram?

Divide what you paid by the weight you received, including postage. A ten gram coil that cost eleven dollars plus three dollars of postage is 1.40 per gram. That per gram figure is what makes the next piece quick to price, and it also lets you see immediately when a supplier price rise has eaten into your margin.

Why does the metal price change so often?

Silver, gold and copper are traded commodities, so the raw metal price moves daily and suppliers reprice their stock accordingly. Gold filled and sterling silver findings follow the same market with a manufacturing premium on top. That is why this calculator asks for what you paid rather than carrying a price of its own, and why a material cost from last year is not a safe basis for this year's prices.

Should I include packaging in the material cost?

Keep it separate if you sell the same design in different packaging, because a gift box can change the cost of a piece by several dollars. The pricing calculator has its own packaging line for exactly that reason. If you always ship the same way, adding it here is also fine as long as you do not then add it twice.

How much waste should I allow for?

About fifteen percent for a piece with wrapped loops or a lot of measuring and cutting, because every loop has a tail and every mistake is metal you cannot un-cut. For a simple strung piece where you cut one length of cord, five percent is closer to reality. If you are making twenty identical pieces, weigh the metal bought and the metal used and let the difference tell you your own real figure.

Terms used here

Short, plain-language definitions of the words this calculator uses.

Findings The small metal components that hold a piece of jewellery together: jump rings, clasps, ear wires, head pins, eye pins, crimp beads and bead caps.Findings are usually a small... Troy ounce The unit precious metals are priced in, equal to about 31.1 grams. Wire gauge The thickness of jewellery wire, quoted in the American Wire Gauge system where a HIGHER number means a THINNER wire.

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