What do you (or will you) say to people who ask you what you do for a living? When you say, “Jewelry Designer”, you probably get a “That’s nice” or “Oh, you make jewelry,” and perhaps a far-away look. Most people can’t imagine exactly what you do. Their images and experiences with jewelry and what it can look like, the materials available to use, the techniques applied are somewhat limited. Not everyone knows you can craft jewelry by hand, not just by machine.
It can be difficult to define the scope of jewelry design. There’s your inspiration and intent. The availability and knowledge about materials and techniques. There are the perceptions and desires of your various audiences. What you do as an artist and designer may involve several different kinds of tasks. Your process may be conventional or unconventional. And it’s not just the “What do you do” aspect of the question, but the concurrently implied “Can you make a living at this” aspect of the question, as well. It’s almost as if they are about to say, “What do you really do?”
The response you want to come up with is your personal understanding and recognition about your passion for design, and all the things that drive this passion. Your excitement in telling your story will become infectious, and, while they still might not comprehend everything you do or the how and why you do it, they will certainly see that you are a jewelry designer, one who is intent on achieving some level of success within the profession.
Your Practice, and how you define and live and succeed in it depends on gaining some clarity in terms of…,
(1) Having a definition of what Success as a designer means to you
(2) Developing a production (and marketing) Routine
(3) Creating a Consistent and Coherent body of work
(4) Being very Organized
(5) If selling or exhibiting, taking a Multi-Venue Approach
(6) Developing a Criticality where you are reflecting, evaluating, validating, legitimizing, being very metacognitive
(7) Self-Care and finding balance in your life
(1) Defining Success
Not every designer is going to define success in the same way. In fact, there will be dramatic differences. …
Crafts enhance people’s self esteem. This is good.
You make a piece of jewelry. People like it, and express this to you.
However, sometimes people let the craft substitute for their personal identities. Friends and family praise the jewelry, thus praise the jewelry maker. It’s nice to have your ego stroked. But you need to remember that there is more to you than the pieces you have made.
And you don’t want to put yourself into a tightly bounded box, where you shy away from risks. You don’t want to find yourself making the same piece over and over again, afraid to try something else, should someone not like it. You also don’t want to find yourself making kit after kit after kit, without any personalizing of someone else’s creativity, or better yet, without venturing off to create your own patterns and ideas.
The primary source of “self-esteem” should come from within you. Not external to you. When someone says they don’t like your design, or they don’t like your choice of colors, they are not saying they don’t like you. They like you, or they wouldn’t express an honest opinion about your work.
The true Artist and Designer come from this inner place. They are able to bring their integral sense of self-esteem, a part of their very being, to the fore, when designing and constructing a piece of jewelry as art.
Their choices are informed by a sense of self. And that sense of self is self-validated within each piece of jewelry they create. No matter what anyone else thinks — good, bad or indifferent.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
Finishing Off The Piece. We always need to step back and reflect whether the piece as designed and implemented will be judged as finished and successful by each of the myriad audiences we hope to please. Will their judgments confirm or reject our philosophy of the particular technique(s) we used?
It is the challenge for the designer not to make the piece under-done or over-done. Each and every material and component part should be integral to the piece as a whole. In fact, the sensation of the piece as a whole should be greater than the sensation of any of its individual parts.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
Jewelry design is an ongoing process of finding how to merge your artistic voice and inspiration with form. As you become more fluent and comfortable with all the vocabulary and materials and techniques, you take on more and more challenges.
Jewelry design is a conversation. It is a quiet conversation between what you come to feel and understand as inspiration, and what logical options you might bring to bear on translating that inspiration into a design. It is a conversation between you the designer and someone else as the wearer. It might also be a conversation between you the maker with someone else as the viewer, buyer, seller, exhibiter or collector.
The conversation is never done. It is a dialog. It is a back-and-forth process of refining, questioning and translating your feelings, impressions, ideas, influences into a visual grammar, forms and arrangements, and content, intent and meanings. Everything comes into play, and everything matters.
Some of the conversation is inward, and some of the conversation is very interactional. Part of the conversation focuses on generating a lot of possibilities. Another part concentrates on narrowing down those possibilities. During all this iteration, your artistic voice gets closer and closer to merging with that final jewelry form.
As your fluency in jewelry design grows, you find that all this conversation and all divergence and convergence of ideas and feelings and choices, gets reflected and sensed within your jewelry designs. This is how you develop and channel your excitement and passion.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
A Multi-Venue Approach Towards The Creative Marketplace
Successful jewelry designers are able to get the visibility and legitimacy they want and deserve. They know what to expect when exposing their work publicly within the creative marketplace.
They are good at communicating their ideas and their value, when approaching art and craft show vendors, stores and boutiques, galleries, and buyers and collectors, or applying for art grants or doing demonstrations. They are able to get articles written about them in blogs, newspapers, magazines and jewelry editorials. And, very importantly, they use a multi-venue approach (diversification) when introducing their jewelry into the marketplace. At a minimum, this multi-venue approach will include both an on-line strategy and a bricks-and-mortar strategy.
Many people learn beadwork and jewelry-making in order to sell the pieces they make. Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I want to address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I want to share with you the kinds of things (specifically, a business mindset and confidence) it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you. I want to help you plan your road map.
I will explore answers to such questions as: How does someone get started marketing and selling their pieces? What business fundamentals need to be brought to the fore? How do you measure risk and return on investment? How does the creative person develop and maintain a passion for business? To what extent should business decisions affect artistic choices? What similar traits to successful jewelry designers do those in business share? How do you protect your intellectual property?
The major topics covered include,
1. Integrating Business With Design
2. Getting Started
3. Financial Management
4. Product Development, Creating Your Line, and Pricing
5. Marketing, Promotion, Branding
6. Selling
7. Professional Responsibilities and Strategic Planning
8. Professional Responsibilities and Gallery / Boutique Representation
9. Professional Responsibilities and Creating Your Necessary Written Documents
Question 1: Should BEADWORK and JEWELRY MAKING be considered ART or CRAFT or DESIGN?
The jewelry designer confronts a world which is unsure whether jewelry is “craft” or “art” or its own special thing I’ll call “design”. This can get very confusing and unsettling. Each approach has its own separate ideas about how the designer should think, speak, work, and how he or she should be judged.
CRAFT: When defined as “craft,” jewelry is seen as something that anyone can do — no special powers are needed to be a jewelry designer. Design is seen as a step-by-step process, almost like paint-by-number. Designers color within the lines. The craft piece or project has functional value but limited aesthetic value. As “craft”, there is somewhat of a pejorative meaning — it’s looked down upon, thought of as something less than art.
If following the Craft Approach, the designer would learn a lot of techniques and applications in a step-by-step fashion. The designer, based on their professional socialization into Craft, would assume that:
a) The outlines and the goals of any piece or project can be specified in a clear, defined way.
b) Anyone can do these techniques.
c) There is no specialized knowledge that a designer needs to know beyond how to do these step-by-step techniques and applications.
d) If a particular designer has a strong sense of design, this is something innate and cannot be learned or taught.
e) There is little need to vary or adapt these techniques and applications.
f) The primary goal is functionality.
g) There are no consequences if you have followed the steps correctly.
As “craft”, we still recognize the interplay of the artist’s hand with the piece and the storytelling underlying it. We honor the technical prowess. People love to bring art into their personal worlds, and the craftsperson offers them functional objects which have some artistic sensibilities.
ART: When defined as “art”, jewelry is seen as something which transcends itself and its design. It is not something that anyone can do without special insights and training. The goal of any project would be harmony with a little variety, and some satisfaction and approval.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
The fluent jewelry designer is able to think like a designer. The jewelry designer is more than a craftsperson and more than an artist. The jewelry designer must learn a specialized language, and specialized way of balancing the needs for appeal with the needs for functionality. The jewelry designer must intimately recognize and understand the roles jewelry plays for individuals as well as the society as a whole. The designer must learn how art, architecture, physical mechanics, engineering, sociology, psychology, context, even party planning, all must come together and get expressed at the point where jewelry meets the boundary of the person, that is, as the jewelry is worn.
And to gain that fluency, the designer must commit to learning a lot of vocabulary, ideas and terms, and how these imply content and meaning through expression. The designer will need to be very aware of personal thoughts and thinking as these get reflected in all the choices made in design. The designer will have to be good at anticipating the understandings and judgements of many different audiences, including the wearer, viewer, seller, buyer, exhibitor, client, collector, teacher and student.
With fluency comes empowerment. The empowered designer has a confidence that whatever needs to be done, or whatever must come next, the designer can get through it. Empowerment is about making and managing choices. These choices could be as simple as whether to finish a piece or not. Or whether to begin a second piece. Or which materials or techniques should be used. The designer will make choices about how to draw someone’s attention to the piece, or present the piece to a larger audience. She or he may decide to submit the piece to a magazine or contest. She or he may want to sell the piece and market it. The designer will make choices about how a piece might be worn, or who might wear it, or when it might be worn, in what context.
And for all these choices, the jewelry designer might need to overcome a sense of fear, boredom, or resistance. The designer might need to overcome anxiety, a sense of giving up, having designer’s block, feeling unchallenged, and even laziness.
In order to make better artistic and design choices, the Fluent and Empowered Jewelry Designer should have answers to 5 critical questions.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
Some Bottom-Line Advice For The Newly Emerging Jewelry Designer
Always keep working and working hard. Set up a routine, and do at least one thing every day.
Find a comfortable place to work in your home or apartment. If at all possible, find separate spaces for creative work, business stuff, and reflection.
Develop strategies for organizing your projects, your supplies and your tools, and for keeping things generally organized over time. But don’t overdue the organizing thing. A little chaos can be OK, and even, sometimes, trigger new ideas.
Give yourself permission to play, experiment, go down many paths. Everything you work on doesn’t have to meet the criterion of perfection, be cool, or become the next Rembrandt. A key part of the learning process is trial and error, hypothesis, test, and conclusion. This helps you develop fix-it strategies so that you can overcome unfamiliar or problematic situations, enhancing your skills as a designer.
Don’t let self-doubt and any sense of impending failure take over you, and paralyze you. Designer’s block, while it may happen occasionally, should be temporary. Jewelry projects usually evolve, and involve some give and take, change and rearrangement. Often the time to complete a project can be lengthy, and you have to maintain your interest and inspiration over this extended time period.
Don’t get stuck in a rut. Try new materials. Try new colors. Try new designs. Try new styles. Try to add variation, new arrangements, smart embellishments. Learn new techniques and technologies.
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
Developing yourself as a jewelry designer has several challenging moments. Learning. Recognizing. Getting Inspired. Creating. Organizing. Constructing. Managing. Presenting. Marketing. Selling. You want to maintain high expectations and goals for yourself, and see these all these challenging moments through.
Some challenging moments include the following:
1. Learning your craft and continually growing and developing within your profession
2. Recognizing how jewelry design goes beyond basic mechanics and aesthetics, thus, differs from craft and differs from art, and then learning and working accordingly.
3. Getting Inspired
4. Translating Inspiration into a design
5. Implementing that design both artistically and architecturally by finding that balance between beauty (must look good) and functionality (must wear well)
6. Organizing your work space and all your stuff
7. Managing a design process
8. Introducing your pieces publicly, and anticipating how others (wearer, viewer, seller, marketer, exhibitor, collector, teacher, student, for example) will desire your pieces, as well as judge your pieces as finished (parsimonious) and successful (resonant)
9. Infusing your pieces with a sense of yourself, your values, your aesthetics, your originality
10. Developing a fluency and flexibility when working with new materials, new techniques and technologies, and new design expectations, including well-established ideas about fix-it strategies when confronted with unfamiliar situations
11. Differentiating your jewelry and yourself from other jewelry designers
12. If selling your pieces, then linking up to and connecting with those who will market and buy your pieces
SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER Merging Your Voice With Form
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets how to apply techniques and modify art theories from the Jewelry Designer’s perspective. To go beyond craft, the jewelry designer needs to become literate in this discipline called Jewelry Design. Literacy means understanding how to answer the question: Why do some pieces of jewelry draw your attention, and others do not? How to develop the authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. How to gain the necessary design skills and be able to apply them, whether the situation is familiar or not.
Some Updates and Things Happening. (Please share this newsletter)
In this Issue: 1. HANDWORK & DESIGN 2025 in Munich this March — take a look! 2. I recently was a guest on a webinar sponsored by the Bead Society of Northern California 3. Clamshells fascinate a Greek jeweler 4. Aging new beads to match old beads 5. To keep your artist statement evolving as you evolve 6. Art Blend — a community of creatives in Columbia, TN 7. Find a great source of bead weaving tutorials from Jill Wiseman 8. Some jewelry galleries of note — must sees on your travels Some articles you may have missed Featured
1. HANDWORK & DESIGN 2025 in Munich this March — take a look!
HANDWORK & DESIGN is an annual international trade fair for crafts of all kinds. It highlights new techniques, award winning designs and new designers.
At the event, masterful technical execution meets a pronounced awareness of good design. Individually, and sustainably produced in local small businesses, the artisanal products incorporate the latest ideas and innovations. Here you can discover things that are not found in any catalogue.
Humans are makers: we have always designed our environment according to our own needs and it is never solely about functionality, it is always equally about beautyorg. The focus of «Handwerk & Design» is entirely on this creative aspect of craftsmanship. Once a year, creators from Germany and abroad showcase their art here. Metal-free unique furniture that relies entirely on centuries-old wood joints, handmade lamps made of glass, fountain pens made of wood, headdresses made of straw or “Suiddys” made of high-quality woollen fabrics, a mixture of jacket and hoody for men: «Handwerk & Design» offers 11,000 square metres full of perfection in craftsmanship and design!
Jewellery is traditionally particularly well represented at «Handwerk & Design». Whether unusual one-off pieces for everyday wear, jewellery made of precious metals and precious stones, or artistic jewellery that tells stories. From personal memories to political statements: there is nothing that cannot be expressed with jewellery. Traditional and contemporary techniques and materials go hand in hand. Unk Kraus makes colourful brooches out of corn starch, Christine Demmel creates delicate flowers out of hand-painted parchment, and Christoph Straube’s illusionist enamel painting is so deceptively real that you can hardly believe your eyes.
GOALS: Understanding the differences between traditional jewelry and contemporary jewelry. Exploring why people feel connected to traditional jewelry. Comparing a traditional Etruscan necklace design with my attempts to contemporize it. Discussing why developing skills for “contemporizing” is important for jewelry designers.
Guiding Questions (1) How do you marry personal artistic intent with traditional ideas, keeping the jewelry design essential and alive for today’s audience? (2) Why do so many people draw inspiration from traditional pieces? (3) How is contemporary jewelry different from traditional jewelry? (4) To what degree should the contemporary piece reference the traditional piece which inspired it? (5) If the wearer does not feel a connection between the jewelry and society, culture or history, can the piece of jewelry still be successful? (6) What would be considered “good” contemporary jewelry design, and does this conflict with ideas and goals for contemporizing traditional jewelry?
ABSTRACT: Many people, jewelry designers among them, draw inspirations from traditional jewelry styles. One thing they seek to create through jewelry is a feeling of connectedness, coupled with a desire to feel connected. Traditional jewelry provides clear clues about what society and culture consider appropriate, good and even necessary ideas about connectedness.
But the core issue for jewelry designers today is how to achieve jewelry design which is more contemporary than merely a replay or reworking of traditional preferences and styles, that is, how to contemporize it. How to construct ideas into objects, challenge history and culture, produce that which typically ignores (or even is in opposition to) socio-cultural norms, standardization and monotony.
Contemporizing Traditional Jewelry has to do with how designers take these particular traditional forms and techniques, and by substituting their personal values for traditional socio-cultural ones, bring into being jewelry more connected and relevant to today’s sense of fashion, style, individuality and personal expression. The challenge for the designer, when contemporizing traditional jewelry, is how to marry personal artistic intent with traditional ideas, keeping jewelry design essential and alive for today’s audience. What helps here is understanding contemporary jewelry as a way of thinking through the design process, rather than something representative of a particular look.
The purplish shells of quahogs, treasured in the past by Native Americans, now appear alongside gold, mother-of-pearl and onyx.
“For centuries Native Americans treasured quahog shells, the purplish hard coverings of clams found along North Atlantic shores, which they fashioned into beads called wampum to adorn ceremonial garments and, later, to use as currency.
Today, however, quahogs are primarily a food source, often found in clam chowders, and their shells are discarded.
Melanie Georgacopoulos, a jewelry designer known for her unconventional use of pearls and shells, had never even heard of quahogs before she began work on her new Katina collection.
“When I saw them, I fell in love with the shells,” said Ms. Georgacopoulos, who was born in Greece and now works in London and Hamburg, Germany. “At first, I was drawn to its beautiful purple color, but after researching, I realized it has a significant history and carries a people’s culture.”
She learned about them when Brendan Breen, an entrepreneur in Boston who has had a lifelong fascination with quahogs, asked if she wanted to buy some shells.”
4. Over the years, I have gotten asked about aging new beads to look like old beads.
Often, someone has an old beaded dress or wedding dress, with a lot of beads missing. Usually these beads are crystal silver lined. The older beads have faded and darkened somewhat. The new beads are very shiny.
Here are some things that you can do: The goal is to slightly darken or tarnish the silver lining inside the beads without damaging the glass exterior.
1. Ammonia Vapor Method (I always try this first. Darkens things slowly).
Spray the beads with Windex with ammonia
Place the beads in a small, sealed container with a few drops of ammonia on a cotton ball (do not let them touch).
Leave them for a few hours or overnight, checking periodically.
This method can give a slightly aged, yellowed effect without darkening too much.
2. Sulfur Exposure (Safe Patina) (Can darken things too quickly).
Place the new beads in a sealed container with a hard-boiled egg (shell removed and mashed) for 24–48 hours. The sulfur in the egg will oxidize the silver lining and darken it. If resorting to sulfur, I’d start with the hard boiled eggs before going to liquid of sulfur.
Check periodically to avoid over-darkening.
Rinse the beads thoroughly and dry them completely before use. You can stop the darkening process at any point by dumping the beads into a bowl of water that has 1 tbsp baking soda in it. But then immediately was the beads in regular water.
3. Liver of Sulfur (Stronger Patina)
Mix a very diluted solution of liver of sulfur (LOS) with warm water. You can used a Liver of Sulfur gel. Put the solution in the microwave for 1 minute. You want the temperature of the solution to be different than the temperature of the beads. The greater the difference, the faster the darkening.
Submerge the beads briefly (10–30 seconds), then rinse immediately. I actually like to put them into a solution of water and 1 tbsp baking soda. This stops the darkening process, and then rinse them in plain water.
If necessary, repeat for a deeper patina.
Buff the exterior glass gently with a soft cloth to remove any residue. You can use a paper towel or 0000 steel wool.
4. Tea or Coffee Staining (Subtle Tinting)
Soak the beads in strongly brewed black tea or coffee for a few hours to add a slight antique warmth.
This won’t tarnish the silver lining but may subtly warm the color of the glass. The resulting color is pretty but brownish, so probably won’t match the older beads in the dress.
5. Diluted Paint or Ink Wash (For Controlled Aging)
Mix a very diluted wash of brown, black, or sepia acrylic paint or alcohol ink.
Apply lightly with a fine brush or dip quickly and wipe off excess.
This can create an aged appearance without chemical reactions.
I have never tried this, but I’m thinking, but do not know, that this will leave a glossy finish on the outside glass of the beads, as if they were painted with clear nail polish.
5. To keep your artist statement evolving as you evolve
📝 To keep your artist statement clear and relevant…
Your statement should evolve alongside your artistic practice. Review it periodically to ensure it reflects your current work.
Even if you’ve explored different mediums, highlight what connects your past work to your present practice. Ex.: “My past work with acrylics taught me blending techniques that I now apply in my current series.”
Keep your biography separate — your statement focuses on your work and process, while your bio should include education and background details.
Review and Revise to keep your content clear, concise and consistent…
Focus on clarity and intentionality. Every sentence should serve a purpose, whether describing your artistic process, inspirations, or themes.
Reinforce a central thread throughout your statement. If you begin with a theme, weave it into the conclusion to create cohesion.
If a word is commonly used in an artistic context, consider if it truly adds value or if a more precise term would be better. Be mindful of overused words.
If your statement already feels focused and intentional, small edits — such as removing a concluding sentence that doesn’t add depth — can make it even more powerful.
Keep the focus on YOU and not your Viewer…
Keep the focus on your experience and process — avoid phrases like “I hope the viewer will feel.” Allow the viewer to find their own connection to your pieces.
Highlight tangible aspects (e.g., techniques, materials) to create a connection between words and visuals.
Maintain a concise and engaging statement; quality matters more than length.
Expand only if something essential feels missing, not just for comparison to others.
6. Art Blend — a community of creatives in Columbia, TN
I had the recent opportunity to attend the monthly get-together of Art Blend — a community, grass-roots group of creatives in Columbia, TN. It was exciting. Lots of synergy in the room.
First, they define ARTISTS very broadly to include all creatives. Visual artists, theater folks, crafters, jewelry designers, wood workers, cake decorators, writers, interior designers, musicians.
They hold their events at local coffee shops, restaurants, and pubs. The first part of the mixer was open-ended. Then, the core of their program was show-and-tell. Visual artists presented one or more of their works and talked about their inspirations, their journey as an artist, their hopes and fears. Musicians and song writers sang songs their wrote. Writers read from pieces they were working on.
The broad representation put an emphasis on commonalities, particularly in terms of the prospects and struggles of tapping into your personal creative spark and translating that into something creative to share with others. It also clearly was a significant support system.
The last part of the evening was time to walk around and view many of the works close-up and talking with each creative. Getting more of the story. Learning more of the insights. Feeling a part of someone’s journey.
7. Find a great source of bead weaving video tutorials from Jill Wiseman
Jill wiseman is a prominent bead weaving author and instructor. On her YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@JillWisemanDesigns) , you will find many free instructional videos on how-to do various bead weaving techniques. She has many free pattern tutorials for projects you can work on. You even documents some of her bead weaving experiences and travels.
8. Some jewelry galleries of note — must sees on your travels
Pistachios is a contemporary art jewelry and objects gallery in downtown Chicago, curating the most talented and cutting edge artists from around the world.
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on my Patreon hub Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. One free downloadable Mini-Lesson of your choice for all new members! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One way of keeping and holding someone’s attention is to use what is called a text hook or verbal hook at the beginning — literally within the first 2 seconds.
So, you have created a reel or a video or a slide show, and you want your viewers to take the time to view the entire piece from beginning to end. In our day and age, people spend about 2 seconds on something, then move onto the next. One way of keeping and holding their attention is to use what is called a text hook or verbal hook at the beginning — literally within the first 2 seconds. These hooks are designed to pique curiosity, make the viewer feel like they’ll gain something valuable, and create a sense of anticipation for what comes next.
Some examples for you:
“What if I told you this one trick can improve your jewelry design instantly?”
“In just 5 minutes, you’ll see how this technique changes everything.”
“Ever wonder how pros create stunning jewelry? Keep watching.”
“This one jewelry making hack saved me hours of frustration.”
“By the end of this video, you’ll master this powerful jewelry making skill.”
“I bet you’ve never seen this jewelry making technique before!”
“Get ready to unlock a new level of creativity.”
“Stick around for my #1 secret to creating impactful jewelry.”
“Here’s what no one tells you about improving your jewelry designs.”
“If you’re struggling with (jewelry making technique), this is for you.”
“You’ll be surprised at how simple this pro technique really is.”
“I’m going to reveal how I overcame this major jewelry making block.”
“Watch until the end to see the transformation of this piece.”
“This one tool will change the way you approach your jewelry making forever.”
“The difference between good and great jewelry? I’ll show you.”
“Want to create jewelry which stands out? Don’t skip this video.”
“By the end of this video, your perspective on jewelry will shift.”
“I used to struggle with this, but then I discovered this simple fix.”
“Stay with me — this final step ties the entire piece together.”
“If you’ve ever felt stuck as a jewelry artisan, this is what you need.”
“Are you ready to take your jewelry to the next level?”
“Let me show you how this one technique will transform your work.”
“Have you ever wondered how to make your jewelry more dynamic?”
“This is something I wish I knew when I first started out.”
“What if I told you that you can master this technique today?”
“I’m about to show you something that changed the way I create jewelry.”
“Stay with me — this tip could save you hours in the studio.”
“Here’s how I achieved this effect with just a few simple steps.”
“You’re not going to believe how easy this technique is.”
“If you stick around, I’ll reveal the secret to my process.”
Watch until the end to see the final result
Here’s how to …(example/subject) achieve this (result)
This is what 30 hours of beading looks like.
Here are the materials I used to (technique used)
Here’s what I did to (final result)
This technique changed my life as a jewelry designer.
Thanks for being here. I look forward to sharing more resources, tips, sources of inspiration and insights with you.
I have set up a space for our community of jewelry designers — Warren Feld Jewelry’s PATREON HUB — to learn, to interact, and to provide and/or get feedback on what they are working on. Please join here.
Be part of a community of jewelry designers who recognize that we have a different way of thinking and doing than other types of crafters or artists. Access more articles and other resources not included in my medium.com site.
CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Between the Fickleness of Business and the Pursuit of Design
This guidebook is a must-have for anyone serious about making money selling jewelry. I focus on straightforward, workable strategies for integrating business practices with the creative design process. These strategies make balancing your creative self with your productive self easier and more fluid.
Based both on the creation and development of my own jewelry design business, as well as teaching countless students over the past 35+ years about business and craft, I address what should be some of your key concerns and uncertainties. I help you plan your road map.
Whether you are a hobbyist or a self-supporting business, success as a jewelry designer involves many things to think about, know and do. I share with you the kinds of things it takes to start your own jewelry business, run it, anticipate risks and rewards, and lead it to a level of success you feel is right for you, including
· Marketing, Promoting, Branding: competitor analysis, developing message, establishing emotional connections to your products, social media marketing
· Selling: linking product to buyer among many venues, such as store, department store, online, trunk show, home show, trade show, sales reps and showrooms, catalogs, TV shopping, galleries, advertising, cold calling, making the pitch
· Resiliency: building business, professional and psychological resiliency
· Professional Responsibilities: preparing artist statement, portfolio, look book, resume, biographical sketch, profile, FAQ, self-care
