I would love to have a lesson on using a loop to identify diamonds from CZs!
If you do jewelry, missing jump rings and things seem simple. But I think it’s like a simple wood (or other) repair if you do that medium. It seems simple. But folks outside of it, never mess with that medium, but actually are makery enough to overthink it 
and hesitate on right method or tool…
At the renfair where I sell wire jewelry, I actually do a crazy amount of simple repairs like jump rings, ear wires, and rounding out bent ring bands. Lots of bent ring bands. And polishing cloth quality time. Most things are so fast easy cheap I don’t charge. I might do a little if it took wire that wasn’t some scrap laying there or a finding like a clasp, but it’s minimal at most.
On ring bands, btw, I determine if it is likely base-metal or silver/gold. If I’m pretty sure it’s base metal I tell them I will be careful but there’s a chance it could crack. And I’m not responsible. In most cases they say go ahead (and I usually improve it even if not perfectly round again…if it feels tricky I’ll get it to “better” and see if they want to go on, or I’ll recommend not pushing it further just in case). Regardless I always say best effort, but not responsible if the ring does something weird. Then I just tap it with a rawhide mallet on a mandrel and fix or improve it. Folks are usually thrilled. Fwiw I haven’t actually cracked a cheap ring band yet, but…
The other common is busted chain. If it’s a link chain I can do jump ring or figure 8 so they can at least wear it again then they can go to jeweler if they want to pursue it.
Point is sometimes they don’t always want fancy or expensive, just serviceable. Fixed to original state is lovely but serviceable is appreciated and an improvement over busted and/or unwearable As long as you set expectations, folks are cool and grateful it’s wearable again.
I get regular requests for restringing broken things or new clasps. I’ll do the clasps but send them to another artist for restringing.
(Doubt this one is relevant, but just amuses me) Eyeglasses…I get several eyeglasses a season because folks come to the fair, lose a screw and want to see…there’s some funky wire fixes running around. But hey, it works until they get home
So if you got this far down the ramble, the key is setting expectations and don’t do anything you’re not confident of. Most of the time, folks are happy with serviceable and cheap or they’d already be at a jeweler or the value isn’t worth a jeweler.
But despite makery surrounding, some folks that don’t do jewelry are not confident of what would be simple easy fixes. And there’s lots of folks that have busted but favorite/sentimental costume jewelry. And better jewelry, refer them to an expert.
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Repairs I’m not really confident enough to do for other people. I’d be willing to do a jewelry cleaning on most items, except watches and timepieces.
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When Sue and I do shows, it is not uncommon for us to be asked to
do minor repairs like jump rings, broken clasps and such and in general
no or very ow charge I think I have traded a repair for a then getting me
a funnel cake!
Costume jewelry can have value to folk. a gift from a friend or and 'inherited
piece and me valuable
I have nothing to fix, but to comment on fixing things not being a priority among makers, I’m the opposite. Making things from scratch is what I do when I don’t have things to fix lol. Regardless, I’d be down to just come hang out and see what knowledge I could absorb.
Learning how to change out ear wires can be real usefull fo a lot
of folks, you get a set of cute holiday earrings fro your
secret Santa that you would love to wear, but they ar on cheap
earwires, being able to change them out is handy
I think a fix-it day would be a good idea. Would be happy to help if I am available (not at a show). If someone is wanting bead or pearl restringing, I do that but I charge for it. So I wouldn’t do it at DMS if this is a problem, but could do it on the side. I can also sometimes advise if vintage costume jewelry is collectible and so worth something. Changing out earwires might also have a cost - sterling wires run $1-2 per pair, depending on style. So we would need to know the parameters on money things.
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We had a previous discussion about charging for repairs and about DMS being a non-profit organization. An option was mentioned where we might ask for a donation. It was also discussed that a liability be involved if any jewelry was damaged or maybe even had existing damage that someone assumed was caused by us.
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