I need your help writing an article – beginning as a jewelry artist/designer
Posted by learntobead on April 18, 2024
Hi everyone,
I need your help.
I am writing an article about how jewelry designers began their careers/hobbies/avocations.
I would be interested in you sharing your stories.
Some of the questions I want to explore in my article:
1) How did you get started making jewelry? motivations, intentions, whether the start was very dramatic or mundane, whether you thought it was fate, destiny, luck, personal choice. Was there a particular point in time, or some kind of evolution?
2) What was your first moment of validation like? Not when you started making jewelry per se, but when you started telling people and feeling like an ‘artist’ or ‘designer’. It might have been a quiet admission, coming out to yourself as an artist. It might have been something public, like selling a piece, exhibiting it, some reaction from a client. It might have been some kind of break-through or finding newness or inspiration. It might have been a feeling of originality. A lot of people make jewelry, and can be very talented at it, but do not consider themselves as ‘artists’ or ‘designers’.
3) To what extent did beginning as a jewelry artist/designer feel like a response to society or family or local culture? Art doesn’t exist only because of feelings and emotions. There is a complex infrastructure within which the jewelry designer needs in order to survive. How would you describe this infrastructure within which you work and because of it you can survive. To what extent does it help you to enhance your work and vocation? To what extent does it impede you?
4) Were there special circumstances that were critical in your beginning and development as a jewelry artist/designer? Were there specific excitements, anxieties, challenges you faced?
5) For you, was there a beginning, and then a beginning again? Describe how difficult it was to begin again. How did it feel/seem to question or know whether you could create again?
6) What kinds of things have enabled you to keep going as a jewelry artist/designer? What contributed to your ability to survive your creative life?
I may or may not reference what you share in my final article. Unless you specifically tell me it’s OK, I will not use anyone’s real name in my article.
I appreciate you taking the time to share. I know a lot of jewelry designers and would-be jewelry designers can learn a lot from your experiences.
Warren
warren@landofodds.com
That’s it for now! There is a lot of creative expression all around the world right now. Hope you get to experience a lot of it, either first hand, or through social media online.
WSF
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Kathy Vorenberg said
I had just finished the fourth draft of my novel, Tierra Red, and was waiting for my editor to edit the manuscript. Needed something to keep me busy as I knew it would probably be about four to six months before the final edit was completed. So, I decided to enter the beaded doll 2007 competition while learning to do bead embroidery. Many beads, crystals, bent needles, and hundreds of yards of thread later, I submitted my Galilea doll and became a finalist. That beaded doll was my very first attempt at a complicated piece of bead embroidery — I learned a great deal from that project and continued to gain more experience in off-loom bead weaving and bead embroidery over the ensuing years. Your contest was the impetus in learning and enjoying the art of beading which continues to this day.
Kathy Vorenberg
Las Cruces, NM
warren feld said
4/20/24
Kathy,
Thank you so much for sharing. Actually brought tears to my eyes.
Warren
jenft4@aol.com said
 Hi Warren – Here is my story of how I began my career as a jewelry artist/ designer. I hope I can be of help to you.  Janice Metz      Â
learntobead said
Janice, nothing came through with your comment. Please email your story to me directly: warren@landofodds.com Thanks.