There will be occasions where you might need a letter of recommendation. You might be applying for a grant or some other source of funding. You might be trying to get your pieces into a gallery or high-end boutique. You might be submitting a piece to a juried competition. You might be searching for a partnership or collaboration or guidance.
You might request this letter from a mentor, a colleague, someone familiar with your work, or a gallery or boutique owner.
You want that person, in the context of that letter, to refer to your competitive advantage. That is how you differentiate yourself from other jewelry designers. It suggests that taking a risk on showing/selling your works is worthwhile. Some examples of describing your competitive advantages:
1. innovative, originality, differentiation
2. sells well, clear and predictable client base
3. experimenting with new materials, techniques or technologies
4. responsible, always timely, communicates well with client during process
5. open and willing to learn, adaptable, flexible
You want to clearly explain to that person, before they write that letter of recommendation, what you personally want to get from the opportunity. It might include such things as new clients, more sales, representation, becoming a part of an agency, test out new ideas, and such.
If the person you are requesting your letter from has never written one before, feel free to show them this template👇
I am very familiar with [your name’s] jewelry design pieces, and I know you will be as excited with them as I am. In discussions over the years with [your name], I have seen (her/him) grow and develop as a designer. I have watched (her/him) explore, investigate and experiment with colors, compositions and techniques. We have discussed various opportunities and their pros and cons for [sales, exhibits, demonstrations, whatever you want to happen at the other end.]
[Your name’s] pieces generate a great interest among [her/his] clients. [She/he] shows an intuitive sense of color and composition, meeting goals both of appeal as well as functionality. [Her/his pieces sell well / are original / other competitive advantage]. [Her/his] workmanship is impeccable. [She or he seeks from the target audience what outcome.] [Working with you / achieving funding / other outcome] would be incredibly beneficial to [her/him], and make a great different in [her/his] continued development as a jewelry designer.
For more articles about CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE, click over to our Jewelry Designers’ Hub
I have been designing jewelry and teaching classes for over 38 years now.
What excites me is finding answers to such questions as:
What does it mean to be fluent and literate in design?
What are the implications for defining jewelry as an “object” versus as an “intent”?
Why does some jewelry draw your attention, and others do not?
How does jewelry design take you beyond art or craft?
How do you judge a piece as finished and successful?
Why is disciplinary literacy in design important for introducing your works publicly, as well as selling your works in the creative marketplace?
My ideas have developed and evolved over time. These are ideas about jewelry, its design, and the necessary tradeoffs between appeal and functionality. These are ideas which express the why and the how jewelry design differs from art or craft. These are ideas which are embedded in and emerge from the special disciplinary and literacy requirements all jewelry designers need to learn so that they can think and speak and work like designers. These are ideas about how to introduce jewelry into the creative marketplace. These ideas center on fluency, flexibility and originality. And that’s what you want to be as a jewelry designer: fluent, flexible and original.
I teach classes in jewelry design and applications.
I want my students to learn the mechanics of various techniques. This is obvious. But I want them to go beyond the basic mechanics. I want them to be able to have a great degree of management control over the interplay of aesthetic elements. I also want them to have a great degree of insight, strategy and “smartness” in how things get constructed architecturally. Last, I want them, and this is important, to understand and recognize and incorporate into their designs how and why people desire things — why they want to wear things and why they want to buy things and why they want to tell all their friends about the things they are wearing and buying.
Literacy involves all these things: craft, art, design, context. Teaching a disciplinary literacy specific to jewelry design is a lot like teaching literacy in reading and writing. We want our students to comprehend. We want them to be able to be self-directed in organizing and implementing their basic tasks. We want them to be able to function in unfamiliar situations and respond when problems arise. We want them to develop an originality in their work — originality in the sense that they can differentiate themselves from other jewelry designers. We want them to anticipate the shared understandings their various audiences have about whether a piece is inhabitable — that is, finished and successful for them. We want them to think like designers. And, we want a high level of automaticity in all this. The basic jewelry design curriculum does not accomplish this. There is an absence of strategy and strategic thinking.
Hence this book and guide for anyone who wants to become a successful jewelry designer. This book is for someone who wants to develop that strategic kind of thinking and speaking and doing which underly their discipline we call Jewelry Design.
For more articles about Fluency in Design, click over to our Jewelry Designers’ Hub
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.
But when you think jewelry and speak jewelry and work jewelry, this is what you become.
Yes, jewelry making has aspects of craft to it. But it is so much more. It is art. It is architecture. It is communicative and interactive. It is reflective of the jewelry designer’s hand. And it defines or reaffirms the self- and social-identities of everyone who wears it, views it, buys it, exhibits it, collects it, talks about it.
To go beyond craft as a jewelry designer, you need to become literate in this discipline called jewelry design. As a person literate in jewelry design, you become your authentic, creative self, someone who is fluent, flexible and original. You gain the skills necessary to design jewelry whether the situation is familiar or not. You are a jewelry designer.
The literate jewelry designer grasps the differences between jewelry as object and jewelry as intent. That is, you recognize how a piece of jewelry needs to be orchestrated from many angles. How jewelry making involves more than following a set of steps. How jewelry, without design, is just sculpture. How jewelry is a very communicative, public and interactive work of art and design. How jewelry focuses attention. How true design enhances the dignity of the person wearing it. And how the success of a jewelry designer, and associated practice or business, comes down to what’s happening at the boundary between the jewelry and the body – that is, jewelry is art only as it is worn.
Read more articles about becoming Fluent in Jewelry Design on our Jewelry Designers’ Hub.
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.
“Asheville and its surrounding area in Western North Carolina boast a strong history with the arts. Penland School of Craft was founded in 1929, the Southern Highland Craft Guild started in 1930, Black Mountain College thrived from 1933 to 1957, and the Asheville Art Museum opened in 1948. More recently, Asheville’s River Arts District (RAD) began to develop in the 1990s, growing dramatically in the 2010s. Until late September 2024, it comprised more than two dozen old brick buildings and warehouses—mostly remnants of its time as an industrial hub—painted with bright murals and filled with vibrant studios, galleries, restaurants, and bars. With this rich artistic presence (which had a $3 billion economic contribution to Buncombe County in 2023), it is not surprising that, even amidst the shocking destruction and loss of life caused by Hurricane Helene, the impact on the arts community is keenly felt and widely acknowledged, even by the New York Times and Wall Street Journal. “
“I think the artists will suffer a lot of economic uncertainty. But on the other side of that I think a lot of art inspiration will come out of something so deeply felt by the artists.” —Jessica Blissett
“I feel like a small river pebble being worn round by a constant current of change. And I’m so beyond grateful for all the hugs, and prayers and folks putting in orders on my shop even though I don’t have a studio right now.” —Alice Scott
“While the waters and winds of Hurricane Helene ravaged studios and stalled practices that artists have spent their entire careers building, the tight social networks and a sense of hope remain. Artists have set up online fundraisers and raffles for friends, served meals through the World Central Kitchen (Deb Karash has helped serve tens of thousands of hot meals in downtown Asheville), and shoveled a lot of dirt and debris out of art spaces. Many are expressing optimism and sharing heart-warming experiences of fellow artists supporting one another. Blissett, for example, observed, “Those less affected at their homes donned hazmat suits and threw themselves into the cleanup. Those who lost so much still kept at the tasks at hand.” Foundation Studios conveyed the pervasive feeling of loss mixed with promise, posting on social media, “In the grand scheme of things we are lucky. This is an art gallery & studios, not a home (though it felt like it). These are things, not lives (though souls were put into them). If there’s one thing artists will do, it’s make more art!” “
Treats Studios in Spruce Pine provides a list of artists affected with links to make direct donations or support through direct sales: www.treatsstudios.org/artist-support-helene
Instagram is trying to phase out the use of hashtags.
Artist, social media influencer, and faculty expert Dina Brodsky recommends not focusing too much time on hashtags when you post.
“Honestly, they’re not really a thing anymore and it’s something that Instagram is trying to phase out.”
Unless it is a branded hashtag (when you specifically want a publication, gallery, or brand to see you), or you’re using your own: it doesn’t really matter.
3. Meet the world’s rarest mineral. It was only found once!
A single gemstone from Myanmar holds the title of Earth’s rarest mineral, kyawthuite.
“The kyawthuite crystal was discovered in 2010 by sapphire hunters in the Chaung Gyi Valley, near Mogok, Myanmar. Initially mistaken for an ordinary gem, it was later identified as unique by Dr. Kyaw Thu, a prominent mineralogist. After extensive analysis, the International Mineralogical Association (IMA) officially recognized kyawthuite as a new mineral in 2015. Today, the sole specimen resides in the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, where it is safeguarded as a geological treasure.”
4. Pewter. A Most Misunderstood Metal by Ana LopezFrom an article in Metalsmith Magazine 44(3):
“Now that pewter alloys are lead-free, a surprising number of artists are revisiting pewter’s unique qualities and complex history. Pewter is a tin-based alloy. Since tin is brittle, it is combined with other metals to improve its durability and working properties. And because it alloys easily and has a very low melting temperature, it can form a eutectic mixture with other metals, reducing the melting temperatures of each component. For metalsmiths, the nightmare scenario is heating silver that unbeknownst to them has been in contact with pewter, which leads to a meltdown in every sense.”
“Conversely, fans of pewter rave about its accessibility and forgiving nature. For example, welded pewter joints provide a seamless construction without being brittle. Pewter can be formed with wood tools, and can be melted with just a small butane torch. Since no amount of hammering, rolling, or forming will cause it to stiffen, there is no need to stop and anneal the metal. And since it’s a poor conductor, pewtersmiths can hold elements in place with masking tape while soldering with a torch. It can be liqueified in a saucepan on a hotplate and cast into a silicone mold. Scrap metal can be endlessly melted down for reuse, so nothing goes to waste. Finally, it is food safe— and considerably less expensive than silver.”
5. At the shop, I went through 3 pearl knotting instructors, and was never satisfied. Not only could their students not do a consistently good job, particularly when they tried to repeat what they learned after their classes, but also these instructors could not do a consistently good job themselves. So, after a lot of research, I wrote this book: PEARL KNOTTING…Warren’s Way.
Classic Elegance! Timeless! Architectural Perfection! Learn a simple Pearl Knotting technique anyone can do. No special tools. Beautiful. Durable. Wearable.
PEARL KNOTTING Doesn’t Need To Be Hard
In this very detailed book, with thoroughly-explained instructions and pictures, you are taught a non-traditional Pearl Knotting technique which is very easy for anyone to learn and do. Does not use special tools. Goes slowly step-by-step. Presents a simple way to tie knots and position the knots to securely abut the bead. Anticipates both appeal and functionality. Shows clearly how to attach your clasp and finish off your cords. And achieves that timeless, architectural perfection we want in our pearl knotted pieces.
Most traditional techniques are very frustrating. These can get overly complicated and awkward. They rely on tools for making and positioning the knots. When attempting to follow traditional techniques, people often find they cannot tie the knots, make good knots, get the knots close enough to the beads, nor centered between them. How to attach the piece to the clasp gets simplified or glossed over. Fortunately, Pearl Knotting doesn’t need to be this hard.
Pearl Knotting…Warren’s Way teaches you how to: • Hand-knot without tools • Select stringing materials • Begin and finish pieces by (1) attaching directly to the clasp, (2) using French wire bullion, (3), using clam shell bead tips, or, (4) making a continuous piece without a clasp • Add cord • Buy pearls, care for them, string and restring them, store them
By the end of this book, you will have mastered hand-knotting pearls.
Not comfortable showing prices online? Publish a private page.
Create a website page that is only accessible via private link, in which you feature the prices of the pieces you have on sale.
Next to your product information and image, add an INQUIRE Button.
Whenever an interested buyer asks about the prices of certain pieces, send them the private/exclusive link so they can see the works.
Also, include them immediately in your email database. Flag them as more likely to be interested in your work, because they have taken the effort to click on the INQUIRE button.
I was burnt out in my job as Director of a non-profit, health care organization when I met Jayden at a local bar. I was so bored in my job. Bored with the people I worked with. Bored with the tasks. Bored with the goals. I felt so disconnected from the field of health care. I wanted to stop the world and jump off. But into what, I had no idea.
I so much yearned for some creative spark. Some creative excitement. Something that challenged me, was artistic, was fun. And someone to do these things with. And, in 1987, I met Jayden. Jayden epitomizes creativity.
Soon after we met, Jayden moved to Nashville. But she was having difficulty finding a job. There was a recession going on at the time. At one point, I asked her what she could do, and she said that she could make jewelry. I thought we could build a business around that.
And so we did. Land of Odds was born.
Initially the business was oriented around Jayden’s design work. She made all kinds of jewelry from beads to wire to silver fabrication to lampwork. And at first, I had little interest in actually making or designing jewelry. But gradually, very gradually, I began learning the various techniques and the different kinds of materials and components. We took in a lot of repairs. I found it intellectually challenging to figure out why something broke — construction, technique, something about the wearing. I began to formalize some ideas and hypotheses into rules and principles.
Around 1998, Jayden and I wanted to offer jewelry making classes in our shop. But we did not want to repeat and replicate the types of classes already offered at other craft and bead shops in town. We did not want to do the Step-by-Step paint-by-number approach to jewelry making. We wanted to integrate architectural considerations with those of art. While we recognize that all jewelry making has some aspect of craft to it, we wanted to inspire our students to go beyond this. Jewelry beyond craft.
Over the next couple of years, with the help and guidance from many local artisans and craft teachers, we developed an educational curriculum embedded within what is called the Design Perspective. That is, our classes would teach students how to manage both beauty and functionality, and how to make the necessary tradeoffs between these within their finished pieces. Our classes would guide students in developing a literacy and fluency in jewelry design.
Eventually Jayden retired and our business began to revolve around my own designs and my developing understanding of the Design Perspective. After 35+ years in the business, I came away with some strong beliefs about what jewelry designers should be taught and how they should be taught. I’ve encapsulated all this within this text So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer and its companion book Conquering The Creative Marketplace.
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees. But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity. This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3-4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on myPatreon 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was burnt out in my job as Director of a non-profit, health care organization when I met Jayden at a local bar. I was so bored in my job. Bored with the people I worked with. Bored with the tasks. Bored with the goals. I felt so disconnected from the field of health care. I wanted to stop the world and jump off. But into what, I had no idea.
I so much yearned for some creative spark. Some creative excitement. Something that challenged me, was artistic, was fun. And someone to do these things with. And, in 1987, I met Jayden. Jayden epitomizes creativity.
Soon after we met, Jayden moved to Nashville. But she was having difficulty finding a job. There was a recession going on at the time. At one point, I asked her what she could do, and she said that she could make jewelry. I thought we could build a business around that.
And so we did. Land of Odds was born.
Initially the business was oriented around Jayden’s design work. She made all kinds of jewelry from beads to wire to silver fabrication to lampwork. And at first, I had little interest in actually making or designing jewelry. But gradually, very gradually, I began learning the various techniques and the different kinds of materials and components. We took in a lot of repairs. I found it intellectually challenging to figure out why something broke — construction, technique, something about the wearing. I began to formalize some ideas and hypotheses into rules and principles.
Around 1998, Jayden and I wanted to offer jewelry making classes in our shop. But we did not want to repeat and replicate the types of classes already offered at other craft and bead shops in town. We did not want to do the Step-by-Step paint-by-number approach to jewelry making. We wanted to integrate architectural considerations with those of art. While we recognize that all jewelry making has some aspect of craft to it, we wanted to inspire our students to go beyond this. Jewelry beyond craft.
Over the next couple of years, with the help and guidance from many local artisans and craft teachers, we developed an educational curriculum embedded within what is called the Design Perspective. That is, our classes would teach students how to manage both beauty and functionality, and how to make the necessary tradeoffs between these within their finished pieces. Our classes would guide students in developing a literacy and fluency in jewelry design.
Eventually Jayden retired and our business began to revolve around my own designs and my developing understanding of the Design Perspective. After 35+ years in the business, I came away with some strong beliefs about what jewelry designers should be taught and how they should be taught. I’ve encapsulated all this within this text So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer and its companion book Conquering The Creative Marketplace.
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.
Join my community of jewelry designers on myPatreon hub From Warren and Land of Odds Use December’s Discount Code For Extra 25% Off @Land of Odds: DECEMBER25 www.landofodds.comDecember 1, 2024Hi everyone, Some Updates and Things Happening. (Please share this newsletter)
Did the people closest to you, your family and friends, encourage or discourage your pursuit of art as a profession? Share your experiences or thoughts on the influence friends or family have had on your pursuit of your art and/or jewelry designing.
2. I have always tried to push my jewelry making students to see themselves as professionals providing a service to others. I wrote my first book — SO YOU WANT TO BE A JEWELRY DESIGNER — with this foremost in my mind. If I were teaching an undergraduate college class in jewelry design, this would be my textbook.
Jewelry making has aspects of craft to it, but it is so much more. It is art. It is architecture. It is communicative and interactive. It moves with the person wearing it. It is reflective of the jewelry designer’s hand. And it defines and reaffirms the narrative stories of everyone who wears it, views it, buys it, exhibits it, collects it, talks about it.
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.
Craft and art techniques and theories are of little help. These do not show how to make trade-offs between beauty and functionality. Nor how to introduce pieces publicly. These provide weak rules for determining when a piece of jewelry is finished and successful. Often, the desires and motivations of wearers, viewers and buyers are minimized or ignored.
So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer reinterprets craft techniques, modifies art theories, and introduces architectural, socio-cultural and perceptual-cognitive considerations so that jewelry makers are better prepared to approach design.
By the end of So You Want To Be A Jewelry Designer, established jewelry artisan Warren Feld teaches you how to • Select materials, techniques and technologies • Choose, compose, construct and manipulate jewelry design elements • Anticipate expectations, perceptions, values and desires of client audiences • Develop those soft skills of creativity, inspiration, aspiration and passion
Warren Feld examines with you all those things which lead to your success as a jewelry designer, and your associated design practice or business.
This book is for someone who wants to develop that strategic kind of thinking and speaking and doing which underly their discipline we call Jewelry Design. TABLE OF CONTENTS
Why I wrote this book and acknowledgements AN INTRODUCTION
1. JEWELRY BEYOND CRAFT: GAINING A DISCIPLINARY LITERACY AND FLUENCY IN DESIGN
2. GETTING STARTED 2a. BECOMING THE BEAD ARTIST AND JEWELRY DESIGNER: The Ongoing Tensions Between Inspiration and Form 2b. BECOMING THE BEAD ARTIST AND JEWELRY DESIGNER: 5 Essential Questions Every Jewelry Designer Should Have An Answer For 2c. GETTING STARTED: CHANNELING YOUR EXCITEMENT 2d. GETTING STARTED: DEVELOPING YOUR PASSION 2e. GETTING STARTED: CULTIVATING YOUR PRACTICE
3. WHAT IS JEWELRY, Really?
4. MATERIALS, TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES 4a. MATERIALS: Knowing What To Know 4b. TECHNIQUES AND TECHNOLOGIES: Knowing What To Do 4c. MIXED MEDIA / MIXED TECHNIQUES
5. RULES OF COMPOSITION, CONSTRUCTION, AND MANIPULATION 5a. JEWELRY DESIGN COMPOSITION: PLAYING WITH BUILDING BLOCKS CALLED DESIGN ELEMENTS 5b. THE JEWELRY DESIGNER’S APPROACH TO COLOR 5c. POINT, LINE, PLANE, SHAPE, FORM, THEME: Creating Something Out Of Nothing 5d. JEWELRY DESIGN PRINCIPLES: COMPOSING, CONSTRUCTING, MANIPULATING 5e. HOW TO DESIGN AN UGLY NECKLACE: The Ultimate Designer’s Challenge / You Be The Judge 5f. ARCHITECTURAL BASICS OF JEWELRY DESIGN: Building In The Necessary Support and Structure 5g. ARCHITECTURAL BASICS OF JEWELRY DESIGN: Anatomy of a Necklace 5h. ARCHITECTURAL BASICS OF JEWELRY DESIGN: Sizing
6. DESIGN MANAGEMENT 6a. THE PROFICIENT DESIGNER: The Path To Resonance 6b. JEWELRY DESIGN: A Managed Process 6c. COMPONENT BASED DESIGN SYSTEMS: Building Both Efficiency As Well As Effectiveness Into Your Jewelry Designs
7. INTRODUCING YOUR DESIGNS PUBLICLY 7a. SHARED UNDERSTANDINGS AND DESIRES: THE CONVERSATION CENTERED WITHIN A DESIGN 7b. “BACKWARD-DESIGN” IS FORWARDS THINKING
8. DEVELOPING THOSE INTUITIVE SKILLS WITHIN 8a. CREATIVITY ISN’T FOUND, IT’S DEVELOPED 8b. INSPIRATION AND ASPIRATION 8c. YOUR PASSION FOR DESIGN: Finding It, Developing It, and Embedding It In Your Designs
9. JEWELRY IN CONTEXT 9a. CONTEMPORARY JEWELRY IS NOT A “LOOK” — IT’S A WAY OF “THINKING” 9b. CONTEMPORIZING TRADITIONAL JEWELRY: Transitioning From Conformity To Individuality 9c. Fashion-Style-Taste-Art-Design: Coordinating Aesthetics With Pleasure 9d. Designing With The Brain In Mind: Perception, Cognition, Sexuality 9e. SELF CARE
10. TEACHING DISCIPLINARY LITERACY: Strategic Learning in Jewelry Design
SOME FINAL WORDS BY WARREN FELD ABOUT WARREN FELD OTHER ARTICLES AND TUTORIALS BY WARREN FELD
3. If you’re lacking confidence when pricing your art… Set a price at which you’ll sell the maximum number of pieces, and achieve the maximum profit for your business. Your goal: a consistent and steady level of sales (the price can’t prohibit most interested buyers from buying). Flipside: don’t price it so low that you’re not generating profit for yourself (or any gallery you apply to). “To do this, start by understanding your baselines: what does it cost to produce? What is the framing cost? Time?”
4. “Is my art good enough to be in boutiques and galleries?”
There is always a boutique or gallery out there in which you can show your jewelry.
Just like there are jewelry designers at every phase of development & progression, the same is true for boutiques and galleries (at every level of development).
As the boutique or gallery becomes more established and grows, they will become able to be more selective and assertive.
“Our job, especially in the early phases, is to show our work to as many boutiques and galleries as possible. Find those that are interested in your work, and grow right along with your galleries.”
5. It’s approaching the end of the year. You might have some excess inventory that you need to sell, and want to take advantage of the season to promote a sale.
Feel free to use or adapt either of these two images (my copyright so you have full permission) in your marketing:
6. People are often hesitant about signing up for coaching services. One thing we don’t think about as much when it comes to finding the motivation to be consistent with your jewelry designing is something I talk about a lot in other contexts: Know Thyself.
This is something I work on with designers when coaching them. When I’m struggling with consistency, it’s not the same mayhem necessarily that you’re working with. Our remedies are going to be different potions. We have to do the work to know who we are, to look honestly and as objectively as possible at our patterns, and to understand why we struggle with certain things.
If you’re getting pummeled by procrastination, what’s behind it? Fear? What are you afraid of? Why?
Is your tendency toward perfectionism? Where’s that rooted?
Wondering why you’re not getting the sales you anticipated?
Got shiny object syndrome? Always looking for the next thing to pull you in and not letting yourself mature into something remarkable? What part of you thinks it’s being nourished by that pattern?
There’s a lot we can do to motivate and channel creative effort, but it’s all going to be short-lived if we don’t get to the root of our patterns. So who are you and what are your actions and mindsets that are in the way of your motivation?
I hope you’ll give yourself some time to consider these questions. If you’re ready for support in this critical exploration, review my COACHING services. Book your coaching session now.
— Warren
7. People are always wondering what types of jewelry I make. This is how I describe my personal jewelry making style.
My Personal Style My personal style centers on a few key elements. I like to…
– Mix colors in unexpected ways, particularly colors you would not ordinarily assume would complement one another
– Use a lot of what are called “grays”, such as black diamond, montana blue, colorado topaz, alexandrite, and other “simultaneity effects”
– Combine both bead weaving, bead stringing, and wire-working techniques within the same piece, but typically the emphasis is on bead weaving techniques.
– Modify traditional weaving and stringing techniques or come up with my own new ones– I’m very experimental
– Define and play with forms and themes, and thresholds, frames and transitions from one form to the next
– Have pieces that emphasize the sensual and sexual
– Create unusual, unexpected placement of shapes, such as using curved tubes where you might expect a straight tube instead, or using a cube where you would expect a flat rondelle
– Add dimensionality, curvature, and interlocking forms, where I can, to make my pieces both fashionable and contemporary
– Add a sense of movement and move-ability, wherever possible, and likewise, anticipate the aesthetic and functional impacts and effects which come from movement when worn
– Push the limits of, and experiment with, the materials and techniques I am using
– Organize my pieces into Series I call “Collections.” For each Collection, I study a particular culture or technique or design theory, and play with what I’ve learned. How can I adopt what I’ve learned to my individual style and approach? Each Collection, then, is a personal challenge of expression and expressiveness.
– Consider that both the art (appeal) and architecture (function) goals both must be satisfied to the fullest, which most often requires making tradeoffs in design,
– Believe that jewelry can be judged as art only as it is worn, thus, designed in anticipation of this principle.
8. Some Quick Notes a. Added 70 new colors, size 11/0 Miyuki seed beads to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
b. Added 130 new colors, delicas (size 11/0) to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
c. Added 159 new colors, size 8/0 Miyuki seed beads to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
d. Added 202 new colors, size 6/0 Miyuki seed beads to Land of Odds catalog. Shop here.
“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.” / Georgia O’Keeffe
WARREN FELD JEWELRY (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com) Custom Design, Workshops, Video Tutorials, Webinars, Coaching, Kits, Group Activities, Repairs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Join our community of jewelry designers on myPatreon 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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some Updates and Things Happening. (Please share this newsletter)
1. I have been participating with the Columbia TN Arts Council over the last several months. Their major tasks are to develop a sense of community among artists (broadly defined), and a sense of place in a several block area off the downtown identified as the Columbia Arts District. I wrote a visioning plan for this District which I want to share, and welcome any feedback and ideas for programs, and community and economic development.
The Columbia ARTS DISTRICT (CAD) was created to provide a haven for artists to live and work. The CAD is located a few blocks from Downtown Columbia in the South Garden/High Street area. The City has established historic zoning overlays to protect historic and cultural assets that include distinct neighborhoods like the ARTS DISTRICT. The area currently comprises several blocks of old warehouses, old houses (some historically significant), mobile homes and manufactured homes, and vacant lots. One warehouse building was turned into a multi-story mix of artist studios, retail spaces, coffee house, some office space. There are some restaurants and specialty shops in the District, but not many. Columbia is a small town of about 45,000 residents, growing 2–3% annually, and is located about 45 miles south of Nashville.
The BIG question for me was whether you can create a community-based Arts District, where the focus and energy emerge from how the community interacts with and finds meaningful experiences within the space, rather than focusing on physical design per se.
My SECONDARY question was whether a District designed to bring artists to live, work and play together can remain competitively viable over time, or will the community either lose interest or will the area become so attractive that gentrification negates its original reason for being. Time will tell, … as will smart thinking, planning, and cooperative partnering.
What makes a space into a place? Placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public realm in order to maximize shared value. More than just promoting better urban design, placemaking facilitates creative patterns of use, paying particular attention to the physical, cultural, and social identities that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.
Great public spaces are those places where celebrations are held, social and economic exchanges occur, friends run into each other, and cultures mix. They are the “front porches” of our public institutions — libraries, field houses, schools — where we interact with each other and government. When these spaces work well, they serve as the stage for our public lives.
3. I encourage you to take advantage of the very low prices of delica beads on the Land of Odds website.
Compare Our Prices To What You Are Paying:
In this monthly newsletter, occasionally, like in this newsletter, you will find a discount coupon code that you can use on the Land of Odds website.
You can also become a paid subscribing member on our Jewelry Designers’ Patreon Hub, which entitles you to a 25% discount as long as you maintain your subscription.
4. If you have the resources, I strongly suggest you look into furthering your jewelry design education by attending a degree program. Here are the top 30 jewelry design programs in the United States:
Here are some of the leading jewelry design programs in the United States, known for their specialized curriculums, faculty expertise, and facilities. While specific rankings can vary by source, these schools are widely regarded as some of the best for jewelry design.
1. Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) — Providence, RI
Offers a strong focus on metalwork, traditional jewelry techniques, and contemporary design principles.
2. Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) — Savannah, GA
Provides a comprehensive approach with state-of-the-art facilities and focuses on various facets of jewelry design and business.
3. Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) — New York, NY
Known for hands-on learning and access to New York City’s fashion and jewelry industry.
4. California College of the Arts (CCA) — San Francisco, CA
Emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches and sustainable design practices.
5. Parsons School of Design — New York, NY
Offers access to an extensive network in the fashion and luxury sectors, with an emphasis on innovative design.
6. Pratt Institute — Brooklyn, NY
Known for a strong arts program and a metal/jewelry design program focused on both technical skills and creativity.
7. Cranbrook Academy of Art — Bloomfield Hills, MI
Known for a small student body and intensive, personalized instruction.
8. University of the Arts — Philadelphia, PA
Offers a jewelry and metals program that includes contemporary jewelry, metalsmithing, and interdisciplinary work.
9. School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) — Chicago, IL
Known for an experimental approach that blends traditional and digital techniques.
10. Temple University’s Tyler School of Art — Philadelphia, PA
Focuses on combining creative expression with technical skill development.
11. University of Washington — Seattle, WA
Known for a broad curriculum that includes both traditional metalworking and experimental materials.
12. Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) — Richmond, VA
Offers a BFA in Craft and Material Studies with a focus on metals and jewelry.
13. SUNY New Paltz — New Paltz, NY
Known for its Metal/Jewelry Design program that integrates both artistic development and technical skill.
14. Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) — Boston, MA
Offers a program with a focus on metalsmithing, jewelry, and art history.
15. University of Oregon — Eugene, OR
Known for a jewelry program that encourages both traditional and experimental methods.
16. California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) — Long Beach, CA
Offers a BFA in 3D Media focusing on metal and jewelry arts.
17. University of Georgia — Athens, GA
Strong focus on craftsmanship and a broad approach to metal and jewelry design.
18. University of Kansas — Lawrence, KS
The jewelry and metals program is known for its commitment to traditional techniques and design principles.
19. Texas State University — San Marcos, TX
Offers a BFA with a concentration in Metals and Jewelry, focusing on both technique and conceptual development.
20. Indiana University Bloomington — Bloomington, IN
Known for its craft-focused metalsmithing program, including traditional and contemporary approaches.
21. North Bennet Street School — Boston, MA
Provides a specialized training program in jewelry-making with a focus on bench skills and craftsmanship.
22. College for Creative Studies (CCS) — Detroit, MI
Focuses on both jewelry and metalsmithing, providing a solid technical foundation.
23. Kent State University — Kent, OH
Offers a jewelry/metals concentration that emphasizes craftsmanship and innovative design.
24. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign — Champaign, IL
Known for an interdisciplinary approach, blending jewelry design with broader art and design disciplines.
25. Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) — Rochester, NY
The School for American Crafts at RIT is highly regarded for its jewelry and metals programs.
26. Appalachian State University — Boone, NC
Offers a focused jewelry and metals concentration that emphasizes skill development and conceptual work.
27. University of North Texas (UNT) — Denton, TX
Known for a metals and jewelry program that encourages experimentation and craftsmanship.
28. University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) — Milwaukee, WI
Provides a curriculum that emphasizes both skill and design in jewelry-making.
29. Arizona State University (ASU) — Tempe, AZ
Offers a robust jewelry program as part of its larger art program, with access to a variety of tools and techniques.
30. Oregon College of Art and Craft (OCAC) — Portland, OR
Although it closed in 2019, its legacy remains influential, and several of its faculty and alumni continue to contribute to the field.
Each program has unique strengths, from technical skills to conceptual approaches and connections to the industry.
5. I wanted to share this email I received from Miguel Mayher at the Professional Artists Assn. We were beginning to discuss the need to be consistent in using Instagram and Emails to promote our businesses. I had brought up that it was difficult to maintain my motivation, especially given the time it takes to use social media.
Hi warren feld,
Yesterday, we talked about feeling overwhelmed.
Overwhelmed by the amount of energy and time that seems required to stay up to date on Instagram & your Email Newsletters.
And how that can hold you back from getting the consistent art income you desire.
Today, I want to dive deeper into why this feeling is SO COMMON in artists and what’s actually causing it.
📱 There are over *2 billion* monthly active users on Instagram. 🤯 And when you open the feed, it can be overwhelming. 🙅🏻♀️ It’s enough to make an established artist yell “nope!”…
…and close the app immediately, never to open it again.
Avoiding Instagram & Email doesn’t just stop you from using the tools, it also affects your entire “sharing your journey” workflow.
Some artists hold their cards close to their chest, but then expect strangers to buy the finished artwork at first glance.
Because when you’re opposed to these tools (and yes, they are just tools), you’re left waiting until you finish every artwork before you share it.
Or even worse — waiting for your next “show” to announce it to the world.
Then your audience doesn’t feel like they were part of that creative process… …they are not invested in your artist journey… …because you are not sharing it with them.
And so surprise, surprise… they are not “bought in”.
Maybe you do end up sending that jam-packed newsletter with a smorgasbord of updates about the last 6 months…
….not QUITE what you wanted, but you settle, “good enough I guess…”.
And a whole world of steady monthly direct sales seems out of reach for you.
Here’s the truth though… it’s not your fault:
Instagram is a hungry beast and the algorithm does reward consistency.
Emails are easy for writers, using WORDS, but not for most visual artists.
So without a good framework to simplify all this, it’s natural to get lost.
The big problem is the time and energy required to keep the Instagram & Email wheels turning…
👨👩👧👦 Competes with your family time 🎨 Competes with your studio time 🤹♀️ Competes with “life’s demands” time
And so how can you justify investing your precious time and energy in them?
You don’t have a simple system to navigate the sea of online art marketing.
If you had a clear system, it’d be hard to get lost, even if you’re an introvert.
I have an amazingly simple framework to share with you at the end of this week, but for now, here’s some encouragement…
❌ You DON’T need to POST EVERY DAY. ❌ You DON’T need to EMAIL EVERY WEEK.
And most importantly… stop thinking of your newsletters as NEWS.
Start thinking of them as Letters, or even better, POSTCARDS.
They are a casual conversation. Ideally one single topic per email. And they either share your journey… or give an opportunity to buy from you.
No middle ground.
I know even this is a lot easier said than done, but don’t worry, over the next few days I’ll be holding your hand and helping you out.
In tomorrow’s email, I’ll share a simple framework that will help you look at your online marketing as an enjoyable documenting of your journey.
Even if you are not a writer.
Talk soon,
Miguel
Director of Education The Professional Artist Association ProfessionalArtist.com P.S. Remember, feeling overwhelmed is normal, but it doesn’t have to stop you.
6. I’ve added additional articles to my collection HOW TO BEAD A ROGUE ELEPHANT. Check these out:
TRANSITIONS A piece of jewelry is a series of sections, each integral to the piece, which must flow together visually and functionally. For example, transitioning from the strap to the centerpiece. How the jewelry designer manages the transitions between each section will determine to a great degree the success of the piece.
DOUBT / SELF-DOUBT For the novice, all that excitement at the beginning, when thinking about making jewelry and making some pieces, sometimes collides with a wall of developing self-doubt. It’s not easy to quiet a doubt. Doubt may hold you back, but it can also be seen as an opportunity.
But the artist appeals to that part of our being which is not dependent on wisdom, to that in us which is a gift and not an acquisition- and, therefore, more permanently enduring. He speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, and beauty, and pain; to the latent feeling of fellowship with all creation- and to the subtle but invincible conviction of solidarity that knits together the loneliness of innumerable hearts, to the solidarity in dreams, in joy, in sorrow, in aspirations, in illusions, in hope, in fear, which binds men to each other, which binds together all humanity- the dead to the living and the living to the unborn. / Joseph Conrad
8. Now is a good time to begin planning for enrichment travel and skills development opportunities you might take advantage of in 2025. Here are some ideas:
Here are 20 jewelry-related travel and learning opportunities in 2025, perfect for designers and enthusiasts who want hands-on experience, cultural immersion, and networking:
Tucson Gem and Mineral Show — This iconic show offers a variety of workshops in jewelry making and design (Feb 8–11, Tucson, AZ). More information: Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.
Colors of the Stone — Held in Tucson alongside the Gem Show, with classes in bead making, metal clay, enameling, and more (Feb 1–8, 2025). Details: Colors of the Stone
Santa Fe Symposium — An annual jewelry technology conference, ideal for designers interested in advanced techniques and business insights (Santa Fe, NM). Find details at Santa Fe Symposium.
Pasadena Bead & Design Show — Featuring jewelry making and design workshops, Pasadena’s show offers a space for artists and buyers (Jan 17–19, 2025). Learn more: Bead & Design Shows
Studio di Mare — Sogni d’Oro — In Italy, join immersive jewelry retreats that blend cultural exploration with expert-led classes in enameling and stone setting (Summer 2025, San Mango Piemonte). More info: Studio di Mare
Great Bead Escape Retreat — A jewelry workshop retreat in Florida offering classes by skilled instructors, suitable for beginners and experienced crafters alike (April 23–27, 2025, Live Oak, FL). Explore more: The Great Bead Escape
Marin Arts & Crafts Show — A blend of jewelry and fine arts workshops in a scenic setting, ideal for creatives (Mar 7–9, 2025, San Rafael, CA). Details at Marin Arts & Crafts Show.
Jewelry Arts Academy — Florence — Offers jewelry design and goldsmithing programs with Italian artisans in Florence. Contact them at Jewelry Arts Academy.
SNAG Conference — Society of North American Goldsmiths hosts its annual conference with workshops and talks on metalsmithing and jewelry (Spring 2025, Location TBA). Info: SNAG Conference.
Ecole des Arts Joailliers — A prestigious Parisian school offering workshops and courses on traditional French jewelry techniques. Check out L’École Van Cleef & Arpels.
Penland School of Craft — Located in North Carolina, Penland offers workshops in metalworking and jewelry design throughout the year. Discover more: Penland School.
Istanbul Jewelry Show — Workshops and networking in a historic jewelry hub, with thousands of international jewelers (March 2025, Istanbul, Turkey). Info at Istanbul Jewelry Show.
John C. Campbell Folk School — This school in North Carolina provides jewelry and metalsmithing workshops year-round in a peaceful, rural setting. See John C. Campbell Folk School.
Munich Jewellery Week — An annual celebration of contemporary jewelry art in Munich, Germany, with exhibitions, talks, and workshops (March 2025). Visit Munich Jewellery Week.
Craft in America Jewelry Residency — A Los Angeles residency offering workshops, talks, and mentorship for emerging jewelers. Find out more at Craft in America.
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts — Tennessee-based school offers multi-day workshops in metals and jewelry design. Learn more: Arrowmont.
American Jewelry Design Council Workshop — A one-day workshop for emerging jewelry artists in the U.S. More details: AJDC.
Jewelry Studies International — Offers annual workshops in Austin, Texas, on topics like CAD jewelry design and hand engraving. See Jewelry Studies International.
Walnut Creek Bead & Design Show — A bead and jewelry show with classes in techniques like chainmaille and wire wrapping (Mar 21–23, 2025). Details: Bead & Design Shows
Jewelry Design Lab NYC — Based in New York City, this lab offers short-term and seasonal classes in modern jewelry-making techniques. Find out more at Jewelry Design Lab NYC.
These programs provide a diverse range of learning, travel, and cultural experiences to enhance skills and deepen your appreciation of jewelry design worldwide.
Some more ideas:
1. Gemstone Mining Experience in Sri Lanka
Travel to Sri Lanka to visit traditional sapphire mines, learn about sourcing gemstones, and attend workshops on stone cutting and polishing.
2. Jewelry Design Retreat in Bali
Join a retreat focused on traditional Balinese silversmithing techniques, including hands-on workshops with local artisans.
3. Italian Goldsmithing Tour in Florence, Italy
Explore Florence’s historic goldsmithing district, including visits to renowned ateliers and classes on classic Italian jewelry techniques.
4. Diamond District Tour in Antwerp, Belgium
Gain exclusive insights into the diamond trade with a behind-the-scenes tour of Antwerp’s Diamond District and attend a masterclass on diamond grading.
5. Native American Jewelry Workshop in Santa Fe, New Mexico
Discover Native American jewelry traditions with workshops led by expert artisans in silver and turquoise jewelry.
6. Gemstone Safari in Tanzania
Participate in a guided tour of Tanzanian tanzanite mines, with sessions on gem selection, sourcing ethics, and jewelry design.
7. Paris Jewelry Week
Attend Paris Jewelry Week, featuring exhibitions, workshops, and networking events with prominent European designers and jewelry houses.
8. Jewelry Design Masterclass in Jaipur, India
Study Indian jewelry design, from enameling to intricate gemstone settings, with local artisans in the “Pink City,” Jaipur.
9. Silversmithing Workshop in Taxco, Mexico
Taxco is famous for silver. Join a workshop to learn silver jewelry crafting techniques from skilled Mexican artisans.
10. Luxury Jewelry Show Tour in Dubai
Tour Dubai’s high-end jewelry markets, attend the International Jewellery Show, and visit the Gold Souk for an insider look at the luxury jewelry industry.
11. Art Deco Jewelry Tour in New York City
A guided tour through New York’s Art Deco landmarks and workshops focusing on jewelry inspired by this iconic style.
12. Lapidary Arts Course in Idar-Oberstein, Germany
Idar-Oberstein is known for its gem-cutting industry. Attend a course on lapidary arts and gem faceting techniques.
13. Pearl Cultivation Workshop in Okinawa, Japan
Learn about pearl farming in Okinawa with tours of pearl farms, plus hands-on sessions in pearl grading and jewelry design.
14. Scandinavian Design Tour in Copenhagen, Denmark
A guided tour focusing on Scandinavian jewelry design, featuring visits to design museums, workshops, and jewelry houses.
15. Thai Gold and Gemstone Tour in Bangkok, Thailand
Explore Bangkok’s gem and gold markets, attend workshops on Thai goldsmithing, and learn about local jewelry design traditions.
16. Russian Enameling and Filigree Workshop in St. Petersburg
Learn traditional Russian techniques of enameling and filigree in a workshop setting in historic St. Petersburg.
17. Artisanal Gold Mining Tour in Colombia
Visit artisanal gold mines in Colombia and attend workshops focused on sustainable and ethical jewelry sourcing.
18. Swiss Watchmaking and Jewelry Workshop in Geneva, Switzerland
Discover Swiss craftsmanship with a combination of jewelry-making and watchmaking workshops and factory tours.
19. African Beadwork and Jewelry Design Tour in Ghana
Join a cultural tour and workshop on traditional African beadwork and jewelry-making in Ghana’s artisan villages.
20. Modern Jewelry Design Course in Barcelona, Spain
Attend a design-intensive course focusing on modern techniques, including 3D jewelry design, hosted in Barcelona.
These trips offer unique learning experiences, hands-on practice, and exposure to global jewelry design techniques and cultures.
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
SOME POSTS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED:
(1) HOLD THEIR ATTENTION WITH TEXT HOOKS 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.
(3) How To Bead A Rogue Elephant: DOUBT AND SELF-DOUBT For the novice, all that excitement at the beginning, when thinking about making jewelry and making some pieces, sometimes collides with a wall of developing self-doubt. It’s not easy to quiet a doubt. Doubt may hold you back, but it can also be seen as an opportunity.
(4) How To Bead A Rogue Elephant: TRANSITIONS A piece of jewelry is a series of sections, each integral to the piece, which must flow together visually and functionally. For example, transitioning from the strap to the centerpiece. How the jewelry designer manages the transitions between each section will determine to a great degree the success of the piece.
(6) COLUMBIA ARTS DISTRICT: CASE STUDIES There are many approaches various towns and cities have taken when finding that mix of art and planning necessary for revitalization, and community and economic development.
(7) COLUMBIA TENNESSEE ARTS DISTRICT VISIONING PLAN Establishing an arts identity can take many directions. A vibrant arts scene no longer means a street lined with art galleries. It can include a broader segment of the creative community — theatre, music, writing, crafts, fashion, media arts, applied arts and graphic design, interior design. The specific arts identity for any community is shaped by those arts for which a community has a special affinity for, as well as the types of assets available to support those arts.
Feature your jewelry Here next week In This Newsletter, as well as, on our Jewelry Designer’s Hub!
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees.
But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity.
“Our story is rooted in the personal testimony of our founder, B. Batson-Paculabo, which tells of how she overcame a low season of adversity with a God encounter and answered prayers that led to liberation and unlocking gifts from within.”
This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3–4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Access an ever-expanding library of articles, videos, podcast episodes, charts, and graphs available 24/7. Whether you’re interested in the latest trends in jewelry design and techniques or problem-solving at the bench, we have a wealth of information ready to help you learn, grow, and thrive.
Tons of info about jewelry and every kind of technique of jewelry making.
b. The 2024 Summer Design Challenge Winning Design
Matthew Piorkowski’s winning piece, “Interstellar”, features a stunning fantasy-cut octagon ametrine showcased in a custom yellow-gold pendant setting. Centered on the bail is a brilliant square-shaped diamond with sixteen accenting diamonds along the left side of the pendant mounting, creating visual interest along the path of the diamonds.
Rio Grande runs a seasonal challenge called For the Love of Jewelers Design Challenge. They haven’t announced winter or spring submissions rules yet. Check on their website: www.riogrande.com
In the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, the ability to create photorealistic images has become a groundbreaking achievement. ChatAI‘s Image Generator, powered by advanced Stable Diffusion models, offers users the tools to create images that blur the line between reality and AI-generated art. This article will guide you through the 7 steps to create photorealistic images with Stable Diffusion, focusing on the art of prompting. We’ll start by explaining what photorealistic images are, delve into the concept of Stable Diffusion, and then provide a step-by-step guide to crafting effective prompts. At the end, we will share 15 example prompts to inspire your creativity.
3. I encourage you to take advantage of the very low prices of delica beads on the Land of Odds website.
Compare Our Prices To What You Are Paying:
In this monthly newsletter, occasionally, like in this newsletter, you will find a discount coupon code that you can use on the Land of Odds website.
You can also become a paid subscribing member on our Jewelry Designers’ Patreon Hub, which entitles you to a 25% discount as long as you maintain your subscription.
4. 🎭 As a jewelry designer, it is important to identify your direction, voice, & identity.
Direction is understanding what work you want to make, and why you are making it (your emotional response to your work).
Voice is your unique take on your work’s descriptions and your unique way of portraying messages within your work.
Identity is about what you have experienced: what makes you you, including aspects like your family or where you grew up.
5. I’m always faulting craft show vendors for not having good enough signage for their booths. Recently, I came across this sign, and liked it.
6. What does jewelry sound like, I, for no particular reason, asked myself the other day, so I went to take a look.
To my surprise, there are thousands of jewelry sound effects. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone wears it. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone makes it.
7. Sometimes, as jewelry designers, we feel we don’t have the luxury of great access to resources — support, money, materials. There are opportunities available to you. Read the first of what will be a series of articles about this here.
NOTE: The word “artist” is often used in these opportunities, but in most cases, you should take this to be broadly defined, to include jewelry makers and fine craftspersons,
“Often burdened with a bad reputation, an artist’s career is not the easiest path.
It’s true, that unstable income is not particularly reassuring in a world increasingly governed by financial power. After graduation, many young artists leave behind the schools where they had access to resources, mentorship, and time to create, often needing to fully realize how valuable that support was. This transition into the professional world can be daunting as they face the challenge of establishing themselves in a competitive industry.
With this in mind, we have created a series specifically dedicated to programs, grants, residencies and incubators, all aimed at supporting artists in research. This includes selected open calls, formative meetings, articles, and interviews published on Klimt02 to help artists better understand these opportunities and confidently use them as valuable resources to expand and communicate their creative practice.
This series will be continually updated to reflect the latest opportunities, ensuring you, the readers, have access to the most current information and resources published on Klimt02.”
8. Are you wondering if working with me as a coach would be a good fit?
Not sure if you’re ready or if you’re at the right place in your jewelry design journey? But you’re thinking that you want to do something powerful to bring more meaning to your art and start to actually make the pieces your soul is craving (maybe silently, maybe4 LOUDLY) to express?
Jewelry Design is not a simple, easy path. It is full of incredible challenges, and those are different for every designer. You will be confronted with struggle, obstacles will be placed at your feet, you’ll be bowled over by tedium, and frustrated by setbacks, befuddled when introducing your work publicly. Most things you will learn come from the art world or craft world, and don’t fit perfectly with what it means to design jewelry. The thing to remember is that those challenges are yours. They belong to you because you stepped into that world we call design. You have that desire to find and explore what all that means.
So often that first step in working deciding to work with a coach is the most difficult. But it is all about having the right guide through all the barriers and dilemmas and vagaries when designing jewelry.
I’m here to talk if you’re feeling stuck and curious about what it would be like to have the support of my mentorship program with you on the journey. Go ahead and schedule a free consultation to talk about your jewelry and problem solve some ways to jump start your creativity. This is a completely no-pressure opportunity to talk about your work and see if we can bring fresh energy, more meaning, and bitter impact to your art.
I’m here to offer guidance and if you think it’s a good fit to work together moving forward, that is great.
But really, this is a free opportunity, no pressure, absolutely no obligation. Let’s talk about where you’re at.
The easiest way to begin the process is to sign up here: COACHING WITH WARREN FELD You can review what coaching entails. You can submit a form on this web page. When I receive it, I’ll schedule our free initial consultation. Beginning the process does not obligate you to anything.
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.
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees.
But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity.
This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3–4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
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! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Access an ever-expanding library of articles, videos, podcast episodes, charts, and graphs available 24/7. Whether you’re interested in the latest trends in jewelry design and techniques or problem-solving at the bench, we have a wealth of information ready to help you learn, grow, and thrive.
Tons of info about jewelry and every kind of technique of jewelry making.
b. The 2024 Summer Design Challenge Winning Design
Matthew Piorkowski’s winning piece, “Interstellar”, features a stunning fantasy-cut octagon ametrine showcased in a custom yellow-gold pendant setting. Centered on the bail is a brilliant square-shaped diamond with sixteen accenting diamonds along the left side of the pendant mounting, creating visual interest along the path of the diamonds.
Rio Grande runs a seasonal challenge called For the Love of Jewelers Design Challenge. They haven’t announced winter or spring submissions rules yet. Check on their website: www.riogrande.com
In the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence, the ability to create photorealistic images has become a groundbreaking achievement. ChatAI‘s Image Generator, powered by advanced Stable Diffusion models, offers users the tools to create images that blur the line between reality and AI-generated art. This article will guide you through the 7 steps to create photorealistic images with Stable Diffusion, focusing on the art of prompting. We’ll start by explaining what photorealistic images are, delve into the concept of Stable Diffusion, and then provide a step-by-step guide to crafting effective prompts. At the end, we will share 15 example prompts to inspire your creativity.
3. I encourage you to take advantage of the very low prices of delica beads on the Land of Odds website.
Compare Our Prices To What You Are Paying:
In this monthly newsletter, occasionally, like in this newsletter, you will find a discount coupon code that you can use on the Land of Odds website.
You can also become a paid subscribing member on our Jewelry Designers’ Patreon Hub, which entitles you to a 25% discount as long as you maintain your subscription.
4. 🎭 As a jewelry designer, it is important to identify your direction, voice, & identity.
Direction is understanding what work you want to make, and why you are making it (your emotional response to your work).
Voice is your unique take on your work’s descriptions and your unique way of portraying messages within your work.
Identity is about what you have experienced: what makes you you, including aspects like your family or where you grew up.
5. I’m always faulting craft show vendors for not having good enough signage for their booths. Recently, I came across this sign, and liked it.
6. What does jewelry sound like, I, for no particular reason, asked myself the other day, so I went to take a look.
To my surprise, there are thousands of jewelry sound effects. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone wears it. There are sounds the jewelry makes when someone makes it.
7. Sometimes, as jewelry designers, we feel we don’t have the luxury of great access to resources — support, money, materials. There are opportunities available to you. Read the first of what will be a series of articles about this here.
NOTE: The word “artist” is often used in these opportunities, but in most cases, you should take this to be broadly defined, to include jewelry makers and fine craftspersons,
“Often burdened with a bad reputation, an artist’s career is not the easiest path.
It’s true, that unstable income is not particularly reassuring in a world increasingly governed by financial power. After graduation, many young artists leave behind the schools where they had access to resources, mentorship, and time to create, often needing to fully realize how valuable that support was. This transition into the professional world can be daunting as they face the challenge of establishing themselves in a competitive industry.
With this in mind, we have created a series specifically dedicated to programs, grants, residencies and incubators, all aimed at supporting artists in research. This includes selected open calls, formative meetings, articles, and interviews published on Klimt02 to help artists better understand these opportunities and confidently use them as valuable resources to expand and communicate their creative practice.
This series will be continually updated to reflect the latest opportunities, ensuring you, the readers, have access to the most current information and resources published on Klimt02.”
8. Are you wondering if working with me as a coach would be a good fit?
Not sure if you’re ready or if you’re at the right place in your jewelry design journey? But you’re thinking that you want to do something powerful to bring more meaning to your art and start to actually make the pieces your soul is craving (maybe silently, maybe4 LOUDLY) to express?
Jewelry Design is not a simple, easy path. It is full of incredible challenges, and those are different for every designer. You will be confronted with struggle, obstacles will be placed at your feet, you’ll be bowled over by tedium, and frustrated by setbacks, befuddled when introducing your work publicly. Most things you will learn come from the art world or craft world, and don’t fit perfectly with what it means to design jewelry. The thing to remember is that those challenges are yours. They belong to you because you stepped into that world we call design. You have that desire to find and explore what all that means.
So often that first step in working deciding to work with a coach is the most difficult. But it is all about having the right guide through all the barriers and dilemmas and vagaries when designing jewelry.
I’m here to talk if you’re feeling stuck and curious about what it would be like to have the support of my mentorship program with you on the journey. Go ahead and schedule a free consultation to talk about your jewelry and problem solve some ways to jump start your creativity. This is a completely no-pressure opportunity to talk about your work and see if we can bring fresh energy, more meaning, and bitter impact to your art.
I’m here to offer guidance and if you think it’s a good fit to work together moving forward, that is great.
But really, this is a free opportunity, no pressure, absolutely no obligation. Let’s talk about where you’re at.
The easiest way to begin the process is to sign up here: COACHING WITH WARREN FELD You can review what coaching entails. You can submit a form on this web page. When I receive it, I’ll schedule our free initial consultation. Beginning the process does not obligate you to anything.
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.
Promote your current projects, promotional copy, News & Views, videos, reels, tutorials, instructions, social media posts online in this newsletter and on our jewelry designers’ Patreon hub.
No deadlines! Opportunity available all the time. No fees.
But don’t wait to take advantage of this opportunity.
This copyrighted material is published here with permission of the author(s) as noted, or with Land of Odds or Warren Feld Jewelry. All rights reserved.
Repairs Stumping You? Let Me Take A Look
I take in a lot of jewelry repairs. People either bring them to me in Columbia, TN, or, I pick them up and deliver them back in Nashville. I am in Nashville at least once a week. It’s been convenient for most people to meet me at Green Hills Mall. But if not, I can come to your workplace or your home. This is perfectly fine for me. My turnaround time typically is 3–4 weeks.
I do most repairs, but I do not do any soldering. I also do not repair watches. These are the kinds of repairs I do:
o Beaded jewelry o Pearl knotting, hand knotting o Size/Length adjustment o Re-stringing o Wire work/weave/wrap o Micro macrame o Broken clasp replacfement o Earring repair o Replace lost rhinestones or gemstones o Stone setting o Stretchy bracelet o Metal working which does not involve soldering o Bead woven jewelry and purses o Beaded clothing o Custom jewelry design
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
A jewelry designer is not born with an inherent essence of being a designer. Rather, they become a designer, and exist as a designer, through the act of designing. The essence with which each jewelry designer conveys when existing as a jewelry designer is some blend of artistic expression, craftsmanship, emotional resonance, and functional ability, and, in some cases, business acumen.
The question we get asked over and over again, and we ask ourselves over and over again, is: Who Are You? / Who Am I?
The obvious answer is You are who you are. Or, You are what you do. You exist.
But, how do you become?
You weren’t born into jewelry design. Jewelry designing may or may not have been on your horizon as you grew up, began some kind of work, and lived your life. At some point, you became a jewelry designer.
Was there a point in time where you felt in your gut that you not only were making jewelry, but you had become a jewelry designer?
Perhaps not. In this case, you might have felt that anyone might make jewelry at any point in time. You made it, you sold it, you gave it away. If we merely exist to make jewelry, then we are a technician. An automaton. Interchangeable with a machine. Easily replaceable and duplicated. The results of our work are repeatable. Universal. Mass appeal. Same ole, same ole. We haven’t become a jewelry designer. We merely implement designs.
Yet, perhaps there is a point in time where we, not only be and do, but become. After all, in this case, not just anyone can design jewelry. A machine can be given instructions on how to design jewelry. But it cannot be inspired. It cannot, on its own, inspire others. It cannot build in meaning and content and power and edginess. It cannot evoke emotions. It cannot, on its own, find that point of conversation between designer and client where both believe the jewelry is finished and successful. It cannot, on its own, understand desire and its driving forces for both designer and client. Nor, where their desires overlap and where they conflict. All these cannots suggest that one more likely becomes a jewelry designer. At some point.
So, how do you become? How do you become a jewelry designer?
And once you become, how do you know you are one?
And, finally, what does it mean to exist as one?
Existence
The idea of existence can sound so pejorative in some ways. A sense of nothingness, an as “is”. Something mechanical that may or may not be self-perpetuating. A tree holding up the sky for no particular reason, but that it does.
I can prefix the idea of existence with one of essence. This sounds a little sexier. The jewelry designer cannot exist as a jewelry designer without some sense of exuding some essence. It is not a smell or perfume. It is not some particular set of tools or techniques. It is more than an idea or fantasy or wish fulfillment.
The essence with which each jewelry designer conveys when existing as a jewelry designer is some blend of artistic expression, craftsmanship, emotional resonance, and functional ability, and, in some cases, business acumen. It is not beauty or functionality, but beauty and functionality. It is not object or intent, but object and intent. It is not mechanically constructed or symbolically constructed, but mechanically constructed and symbolically constructed. It is not the assumptions, expectations, perceptions, values and desires of the designer or the client, but both of designer and client in a shared dialogue about understandings.
The existence of the jewelry designer is one of telling stories. Stories evoke meanings. Meanings lead to emotional and resonant responses. Emotional and resonant responses often lead to public expression. Public expression might lead to contagion or rejection.
To exist as a jewelry designer means encapsulating all these things. Together. At once. But piecemeal, too. Integrated, but contradictory, too. Coherent, yet incoherent concurrently, too. Existence as a jewelry designer takes on multi-faceted meanings. Existence is shaped by creativity, influenced by materials and techniques, affected by someone’s relationship to beauty, oftentimes jarred by architectural issues of functionality, stresses and strains, softened by the impact their pieces have on the client and the situations the client, wearing their works, finds themselves in.
Jewelry design is a process, and the cycle repeats with each new piece. But the essence is the same. The existence has, indeed requires, the same essential parameters.
You Know It When You Know It
I do some coaching from time to time with students who want to exist as jewelry designers, but not sure if they do, if they do yet, and how to know when it happens. It could result from difficulty with a technique. Or the application of art and design principles of composition, construction and manipulation. Or how to make some success in business.
A lot of the coaching boils down to the same thing: the essence of existence.
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.
You want to influence someone to establish a 1 to 1 relationship with you, when that someone is not familiar with you and your work. Think about what might motivate them. That thing is your lead magnet.
These days, a lot of business marketing and branding activities occurs through and on the computer. One core aspect of your business depends on attracting “eyeballs”. You might be expanding your email contact list. You might be trying to accumulate fans and followers. You might be trying to expand readers, customers, members and subscribers.
Towards these ends, one of the primary things you will do is expand your email contacts list. One of the most productive and successful ways of doing this is to offer a lead magnet. A lead (pronounced ‘leed’) magnet is a tangible thing you promise to deliver to your audience if and when they register their email address with you.
Crafting The Lead Magnet
Your lead magnet should be concrete, focused and actionable. The less abstract it is, the better.
It should be easy to consume. You do not want to overload the target customer with information.
It should have a recognizable value. Do not be cheap here; do not feel you are giving away secrets.
It should trigger and reconfirm a great impression of you and your work.
Again, make it a clear thing. It could be things like:
· Checklist of supplies and tools to have on hand in your studio
· An e-book, such as jewelry silhouettes vis-à-vis body and face shapes, or guide to getting started on Instagram
· A tutorial or project instructions
· A downloadable
· A ticket to access something else, such as getting into a private showing of your work
· A voucher, like a discount coupon for a piece of jewelry you have made
· A short how-to video
A physical lead magnet will work better than something nonphysical.
Give your benefit a name. The name should confirm that the benefit is a physical thing of value that the customer will get, thus rewarding the customer for sharing their email address with you (or registering on your website).
#’s, capital letters, symbols in messages catch attention.
Be A Generous Giver
You want to influence someone to establish a 1 to 1 relationship with you, when that someone is not familiar with you and your work. Think about what might motivate them. That thing is your lead magnet. Think about the best way to leverage your lead magnet in order to asset your influence.
You establish a sense of reciprocity. Be generous and they will trust you.
Keep their work simple. Ask them to make a micro-commitment — simple to get, little work for them, but a big asset for you.
Build In A Contingency
You can set some kinds of limits to heighten the customer’s motivation to follow through. Create a sense of urgency to comply with your call to action. For example,
· Your ‘benefit’ runs out in 30 days
· If you are the first 10 to sign up, you get a 2nd benefit
Examples of lead magnets:
· Free mini-lesson, ebook or guide on a technique or project or how to get started making jewelry
· Discount coupon for classes, supplies, pieces of jewelry
· Tutorial videos
· Jewelry making supply list, curated favorite jewelry making supplies, and how to use them
· Exclusive access to a webinar
· Printable color wheels
· Exclusive piece of jewelry, like a stretchy bracelet
· Live preview of new pieces you have made (before showing them to the public)
· Jewelry appreciation guide — techniques, materials, history
· Behind the scenes content so that they can see your creative process
· Personalize jewelry recommendations
· Survey their tastes so you can match these to your jewelry pieces which are currently available
· Collector’s guide: how to get started, caring for jewelry, how to determine value
· Jewelry-themed desk top wallpaper; mobile wallpaper: perhaps featuring your work
· Virtual jewelry show ticket — showcase your latest work
· Local Art and craft show calendar, particularly if you will be showing at these
· Various checklists
· Article about how to buy gemstones
· Invite to ZOOM or chat session for a Q&A about jewelry making or problem solving
Delivering Your Lead Magnet
As a jewelry designer, you want to convert exposure into prospects. This means you want to deliver your lead magnets everywhere you think you can get exposure to the types of people you want to stay in touch with you.
You might list it as your E-signature on emails, or on your business cards, in your social media profiles, on your website.
Example: In your Instagram bio: DM me “LIST” to get my upcoming materials checklist when it is ready. Then in response to their DM, return with, “Which email address should I sent it to when ready?”
If you are directly someone to a form for collecting email addresses, instead of heading that form: Join My Email List, focus on the lead magnet. For instance, you might write: Get my free guide to …
If you are creating videos and reels, your last slide my be that call to action: Get my free guide to…
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***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.
Engage with a community. Benefit from its collective power — insights, reactions, feedback, foresight, and directing you to opportunities.
Never miss an update. You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new article of interest, and announcements about kits, workshops and webinars, chat group, feedback session, and special promotions, goes directly to your inbox.
I have found Instagram the best social media site for promoting your jewelry sales, and their algorithm has changed for the better for us
Before, Instagram would show new posts to 1% of your followers first and, depending on the response, share further.
This favored accounts with a large following, such as influencers or jewelry designers with especially large followings, since their 1% is a lot more than the 1% of a small account.
Now, every new post will be shown to a random group of users, usually ones with a shared interest in the kind of posts you create. Think: followers of your followers who don’t yet follow you will get prioritized. Aggregators accounts, like influencers, will get diminished a bit. In a similar vein, co-occurring is this situation: If you post an image on your own feed as well as with an influencer’s feed, that image will only appear on your own feed, not on the influencer’s. Instagram’s goal is to reward originality and the creator.
This is great news for smaller accounts: it widens the funnel of potential engagement with each post.
Reels are still important, but they’re no longer the only ones.
Focus on posting a mix of Reels, still images, and carousels. Should NOT be all reels all the time. The important factor is that you are giving your followers value. Make them feel like you are giving them something.
Give people something to read (in the post or the caption)
Provide an insider point of view to your jewelry-making process
Choose an eye-catching cover image for all posts (hook them)
Better lighting often solves many issues of gaining and keeping attention. Also bring people in close to the elements in the image. Focus on a a section of the piece. Show them your hands at work. Don’t pull back for that wide shot of everything necessarily.
Bring people in close, show them what you’re doing.
Give viewers a reason to watch your entire Reel.
NO’s: Instead of simply showing your work, using captions such as:
❌ “Here’s my latest piece of jewelry…”
❌ “I have an event coming…”
❌ “My website is now live…”
YES’s: Capture their attention first, and then make your announcement:
✅ “Here’s how I turned this run-of-the-mill necklace into an exciting one..” finishing with “This piece is now available”
✅ “You won’t believe how this piece turned out…” followed by “Come see this piece live at my next show.”
WARNINGs: Less time-lapse of showing each step after it has been completed, and more showing something actionable, like implementing each step.
Come up with something that will make people hang out until the interesting part. Come up with things to make people stick around. Bring them close-in to the action. Be sure they see you sometime in the images. Be sure, at the end or towards the end, they see the outcome, such as the finished piece or section of the piece, or completed step.
End with a CALL TO ACTION. Such as, direct them to your website where they can purchase the finished piece, or to your website where they can sign up for your newletters.
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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.
There are so many different kinds of things you can do business-wise to promote your jewelry designs. Post on every social media site. Conduct several email campaigns. Take out ads. Create websites. However, all these can get overwhelming and begin to impede on your time and energy for creating jewelry. To prevent this, it is important to be organized. It is important to rely on more limited, predictable, easily accessible, repeatable systems of things you need to do to sustain both your jewelry designing and your business.
Some key business-related goals involve:
(1) Impression management
(2) Mentoring
(3) Audience recruitment and retention
(4) Networking and Partnering
(5) Selling
Some caveats:
(a) To create that manageability’ you want to do as much as you can from your computer
(b) In reality, selling actual pieces of jewelry, on average, only covers about 1/3 of your sustainability needs. You may have to take on additional work, and it makes the most sense that the work relate to jewelry designing.
(c) You are in the trust-creating business. You must be able to establish instant trust about the value of your work and the desirability of your work for your core buying audience.
Impression management
What impression does someone get from interacting with you, either online or in-person or through some other point-of-sale? To what degree can you influence and control this impression? Key things to consider:
o Website
o Email Etiquette
o Cold Calling
o Follow Through
Website. You want a professional website. This website will showcase your products. It will be home to lots of well-organized and accessible information, including: your bio, your art statement, your portfolio, testimonials, links to articles you have written, perhaps a creative-focused resume, and images of your work.
It might showcase shorter videos showing you at work, or delving into a particular work.
It will have links to your various social media pages. The layout, design and information presentation across social media sites needs to be very consistent across all your platforms. You should maintain separate pages for each social media for business vs. personal. You do not want anything personal to come up in your business page feed.
It may or may not have a shopping cart system attached. If not, then you need to make clear other alternatives for how people can buy your products from you.
It will have a FAQ page detailing contact information, purchasing and return policies, payment methods, any privacy concerns.
It will have a clear way for people to add their names to your mailing list.
Email Etiquette. It is critical to generate an email list of customers/potential customers. You want them to very formally and visibly opt-in to the list. You can generate sign-up sheets, online forms, and the like towards this end. You can also segment your list into smaller, targeted groups.
Email will be your best, primary and most powerful networking tool.
You can run your own email campaigns, or use an email client like MAILCHIMP (https://mailchimp.com) or CONSTANT CONTACT (https://www.constantcontact.com). I would suggest using an email client. This will prevent your own email address from getting blocked by the internet-powers-that-be as spam.
Each time you get someone’s email address to add to your list, send them a special email, thanking them. Also direct them to your website or online presence, such as on social media, with an active link.
A monthly contact is reasonable.
Caution: many anti-spam programs reject email addresses that begin with Info, Contact, Shop, Store, Help and other very generic terms.
In writing and tone, be professional. Don’t use the kind of quick texts or posts you might use on social media.
You do not want your email to appear that it is wasting anyone’s time. Use a polite greeting and closing. In your first sentence or two be very clear in conveying why you are writing this email specifically to them. Don’t ramble. Get to your points quickly. Don’t use long blocks of texts. Segment/section things and use subheadings throughout. You want the email to be scannable. Don’t use any or many images. None to two images would be more than enough. Wait to share images until after someone requests to see them. Do, however, include an active link to where they might find images of your works online.
To the best you can, personalize things as much as possible. Direct the email to a named person. Make things sound as if you are not sending out the same email to a long list of contacts.
Some examples of personalized phrasing:
o I visited your shop recently, and
o So and so suggested I contact you,
o I visited your website,
o I read about you in such-and-such magazine,
Cold Calling. With cold calling, you have two basic strategies: (a) Shoehorn, or (b) Direct. Whatever approach you use, be sure to have done some research about your target store/gallery, the designers they represent, a sense of preferred style and looks, and the characteristics of their primary customer audience.
With a shoehorn strategy, you begin to ease yourself into the world and universe of a particular store or gallery. You visit as a customer and ask questions. You contact and talk with other artists represented in the store. You participate in open houses and other events. You add your name to their emailing list. You begin to have more and longer conversations with the owner. Gradually you introduce the idea of having your jewelry represented in their venue. Always wear one or more pieces of your jewelry.
With a direct approach, you come into the store unannounced. Hopefully the owner is there then; otherwise, ask the staff when the best time to return is. Always wear one or more pieces of your jewelry. Be prepared with about 20 pieces, nicely organized and displayed in trays, that, if you are making headway, you can bring into the venue with you. It is also OK, if you have the inventory, to have even more pieces in your car that you can bring in, if it seems the owner is interested in purchasing some things.
If you are unable to visit in person, then send a letter. Don’t phone first. It is too easy for the store to ignore you. In your letter, keep it short and to the point. Establish your credibility as a designer, and clearly identify the fit between your work and their customer base. Sound authentic, not sales’y. Write about,
o Who you are
o Your style and design sense
o Why you think your jewelry would be a good fit for their customer base
o The materials and techniques you typically use
o Your previous experience selling your pieces
o Some sheets showing inventory, description, pricing
o End with a phrase like, “I’d like to get together with you to show my work in person. I will call you to set up an appointment, if interested.”
o Add links to your website of places which show your jewelry.
Follow Through. Be very clear about this: You are not an information-sharer. Rather, you are a relationship builder. Sending out emails, posting on line, targeting letters, cold calling are all tools you use to build relationships. Relationships are built up by sharing understandings, not necessarily tid-bits of information. These understandings have to do with values, desires, assumptions, expectations, and perceptions. The more you establish shared understandings — and that does not mean having to have the same opinions — the tighter and more productive these relationships get.
If you are wanting a response to something from someone, and it’s not forthcoming in a reasonable time, follow up with that person.
If you have visited a store/gallery and had some conversation with someone there, follow up with a thank you note or some note that continues something about your conversation.
If someone sends you a comment about you or your work, send them a thank you note.
In your follow-ups, repeat the name of the person you are following up with.
Provide additional valuable information in your follow-up conversations.
Mentoring
Share your art/designer skills for a fee. You can teach classes or one-on-one. You can create instructional projects or tutorials. You can write articles. You can curate shows. You can become a coach. You can conduct online webinars.
Things have synergistic effects — they amplify other things you are doing. Mentoring will result in a larger, more targeted email list. Students will look for all the mentoring activities you do. Students often will buy your pieces. Mentoring will increase the number of topics you can talk about when networking.
Keep your initial goal simple: Aim to attract 5 students, interacting with them 1–4x each month, encouraging them to spend $50–250/student per month on your mentoring activities and product sales.
Audience recruitment and retention
What is most important about recruiting and retaining audience members is not the numbers of contacts, but the quality of your engagement with your contacts. Again, success is a matter of forming and sustaining one-on-one relationships. When you have relationships, it becomes much easier to ask for favors. On a regular basis, you can create content, for free, shared through emails, which helps you connect and form relationships with your core audience.
You don’t necessarily need 1000’s of people in your core audience. More likely, having 30–100 regular buyers of your work would suffice. This allows keeping connected and creating connections with your core audience much more attainable. Know what this limited group of buyers is looking for. Know where they hang out and where to find them. Offer them opportunities to interact with you and your jewelry, such as offering them a first look, or a time to watch you and learn a few design techniques as you work. Turn these buyers into true fans.
Think about:
o What does this core buyer care about?
o What does this buyer read?
o Where do you find this buyer?
o What resonates with this buyer?
Answers to these questions could help you shape your marketing message when explaining how your jewelry could elevate this buyer’s life. Inspiring your buyer. Building trust. Note: you are not creating jewelry for this buyer per se; rather, given the jewelry you are creating and want to create, this assists you in finding that audience who might share your values and understandings as expressed within your designs and by you as an authentic jewelry designer.
Networking and Partnering
When networking and partnering, you uncover more opportunities at less risk and cost to yourself, your creative energy, and your business fundamentals. There’s less effort to find opportunities. Less effort to put plans and projects into effect. Less effort to get visibility. Less effort to make a sale.
It might be useful to set a goal as making 3 networking contacts per week. Use your network to get help in creating these pitches. Make them shared pitches. Use the shared pitches to introduce yourself to their audiences, and conversely their products to your own audience.
Caveat: Always direct people to specific webpages relevant to any pitch. Do not direct them to your home page on your website.
Selling
As a jewelry designer, your self-concept is most likely one as an artist. But when you are in business, you need to expand this a bit and see yourself as both an artist and a salesperson. If this makes you feel a bit uncomfortable, it’s understandable, but you need to get over it. Jewelry doesn’t sell itself.
You want to always have on hand 15–20 coherent pieces available for sale. They need to feel as if they are part of a line of jewelry, with a similar emotional appeal to a defined target audience.
You want to have a list of about 50 places you could approach to carry your jewelry. Then you work the list, perhaps 3 contacts a week. Prioritize your contacts. Begin your process with your lower priority contacts so that you can gain some experience in presenting yourself and your products before approaching your most desired sites.
You do not close a sale. Keeping with a key theme of advice: You create a relationship. You are not selling a product. You are guiding someone, in a caring way, to come to understand how your jewelry might enhance and enrich their lives. You want them to make a buying decision that will be good for themselves. You are not trying to get something from them; rather, you are trying to give them something which will positively impact their lives. Your key skill here when selling is empathy.
Be bold and confident when introducing yourself.
Always ask the person you are talking with what their name is; repeat their name several times while speaking with them.
Ask a lot of questions; show interest in the client or customer. Get them talking about themselves. You should be talking about 25% of the time and your client/customer should be talking about 75% of the time.
A great story about your jewelry will sell it. They are especially interested in your inspiration, as well as your process for creating jewelry.
Don’t let your client/customer get away without at least asking them if they have any interested in purchasing your jewelry. Even if that person says No!, you would be in a better position than if you had not asked.
Final Words
Don’t let the business aspects of succeeding in jewelry design kill your creative spark. Instead, make each broad business goal into a set series of systematic, repeatable activities.
As you can see, much of all this effort can be done from your studio on your computer. This will save you vast amounts of time which you can devote to the creative side of your life. Less time jewelry marketing. More time jewelry making. The end results of these activities should be increased exposure, relationships and engagements.
The most successful designers have
o Step-by-step plans
o Associations with expertise
o Become a part of a peer audience and community
Make your jewelry design journey flourish. Take ownership over it — how you spend your time, energy and the use of resources around you. Put everything to best use to attain your own highest values.
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I was 4th place finalist, Swarovski jewelry competition
I highly recommend entering many art and jewelry design competitions each and every year. This is a good way to
· Raise your visibility
· Practice your self-promotion skills
· Get feedback on your work
· Gain more legitimacy and credibility
· Promote your value
· Keep aware of current trends and expectations in jewelry design
· Further inspire your clients
Competitions can supercharge your jewelry design growth and career.
The First Competition I Entered
In 2004, I submitted an entry (see image above) to the Swarovski Be Naturally Inspired jewelry design competition. I downloaded a copy of the rules and set to work. The project had to be at least 75% Swarovski Austrian crystal beads, stones, or other components. You had to submit an image of your final piece, an image of your inspiration, an artist bio, and an artist statement about your piece and how you translated your inspiration into the finished piece.
This image of the Grand Canyon at sunrise was my inspiration:
Grand Canyon Sunrise
I set out to work. Created the general design, selected the technique I wanted to use, and with determination and a lot of trial and error, created the finished piece. In the process, I discovered that different Austrian crystal colors, when used together, tended to blur boundaries and lose some of that distinct color sense that I wanted. I had to solve that problem, which I did, by using black 1.8mm delica beads between each crystal bead. This helped create sharper boundaries.
Up until that point, I had not written any kind of bio or artist statement. I was uneasy about how to describe the finished piece, such as what to call attention to. I had to do several drafts of each. Was a great exercise.
Submitted the piece. Heard back that I was a finalist. Then I had to send them the original piece. I had trouble letting go and saying goodbye. I found one package to use, then rejected it. Then another package, and rejected that. The fifth packaging idea was finally satisfying. Then I held onto the ready-to-ship package for almost a week before taking it over to the UPS shop. I had to insure it. The value was priceless to me. But I had to pick a number. And I prayed that the package would not get lost or damaging.
Swarovski emailed me that it had arrived safely.
I was invited to the awards ceremony they held in their offices in New York City.
And said goodbye again to my piece which was headed for their museum in Innsbruck Austria.
You Are Always A Winner
Whether you win or lose, you are, in fact, experiencing a rich source of inspiration and learning. There never really is a setback.
At the very least, you most likely will be included in a publicly presented list of submitters. You have already increased your visibility.
If your submission is accepted, you have something to list on your resume or list of achievements. You can use this as talking points when selling to a client, store or gallery. You can add this information to wherever you showcase the submitted work. You can embellish your descriptions with information from the materials you submitted for contest entry.
You can generate press releases, social media posts, special email announcements. You can send out updates as your submission progresses through the competition process, such as should you become a semifinalist.
As you do these kinds of things to increase your visibility, this builds credibility and brand awareness. Many store and gallery owners watch these contests closely, often making note of the better pieces and their designers, often following the designers over their career.
Whether The Feedback Is Positive or Negative — It Always Gives You A Better Understanding of Yourself As a Designer
Feedback provides clues to why your jewelry has VALUE to them. What do they want to know about it? How does the design help them solve a problem? What key attributes of VALUE should you promote to your clients?
Participating in competitions gives you a great opportunity to practice speaking about yourself and your jewelry, and seeing how others react.
Competitions provide many clues about what is relevant in the moment. They force you to figure out how to relate you and your design sense to a set of competition rules and expectations.
All this public visibility will actually inspire some people to spread the message about you. Generating word-of-mouth is often the most successful type of marketing.
Competitions Are Juried
Periodically do online searches for jewelry and art competitions. If the active link is a newsletter or mailing list of some sort, give them your email address. Some art competitions will allow submissions of jewelry; others will not.
Not sure how I got this way. I can remember when I was 10 or 11 years old, my friend Gary and I, and sometimes Ira, who was sometimes a friend, sometimes someone we bullied, used to set fires, and then try to put them out. We would set fire to this field behind the Ford dealership on Rt. 22. We would set fire to homes and businesses under construction. We would set fires, let them burn awhile and then try to put them out by stamping them with our feet, putting blankets over them, pouring water on them.
We set fires until we were caught. By the police. Punished severely by our parents who could not figure out why we were setting fires. The word because was insufficient for them. We did it because we could. The fields and buildings were there waiting to be used. We used them the way we knew how. That gave us some fun. A feeling of power. And that was that.
That was that for Gary and Ira. Actually, not for me. I became mesmerized. The colors. The contrasts. The saturation and vibrancy. The interplay. The movement and rapid color changes. The certainty when it was all over.
My gaze locked in, never wavering, staring as the light tans and beiges of the tall field grasses, very still, began undulating with reds and oranges, some blues, some maroons, the fiery colors taking over, first a small area, then more and more, until the colors were more powerful than the heat generated by the fire. Once the fire was put out, I literally felt the strong juxtaposition between charcoal and beige, at once listless and lifeless, yet exuding a powerful finality.
Color is such a powerful influencer. I never set fires again, but, at the same time, I had no one to share my very personal, very emotional, very primal color experiences with until I was in my late 20’s. In school, I was always tracked with the more intelligent kids. This meant rewards for math and science, and some put downs for art and music. My parents did not want to hear about anything else besides lawyer and doctor.
Soon after Gary and Ira and I were caught, I moved away.
But I doubt color was in their forethoughts as we set fires to things.
The Jewelry Designer Colors Differently Than The Artist
You cannot paint with beads and other jewelry components.
I am going to repeat this: You cannot paint with beads and other jewelry components.
When you take color class after color class rooted in art, they are teaching you how to paint. You can’t do this with jewelry and beads.
I give this warning to all my students. I repeat it frequently in the articles I write. I follow it carefully when designing my own pieces. I have been challenged frequently by people who make jewelry and consider themselves artists. But to create successful jewelry takes you beyond art, its ideas, constructs and precepts. Jewelry has some roots in art, which is true. But it also has roots in craft. It is very comparable to architecture. Its product — the outcome — plays a different role and must conform to different social and physical tensions than paintings and sculptures. I repeat: You cannot paint with beads.
As frustrating as this can be, you cannot ignore the fact that Color is the single most important Design Element. Colors, their selection, use and arrangement, are believed to have universal powers to get people to see things as harmonious and appealing. Color attracts attention. A great use of color within an object, not only makes that object more coherent, it can make it more contagious, as well. Using colors that do not work well together, or using too many colors or not enough colors, or using colors which look good on paper but distort in reality can put people off.
Jewelry Designers can learn the artistic basics of Color concepts and theories. They can reference this visual language of color to influence how they go about making choices, including those about picking and using colors. However, jewelry artists who are fluent in design will be very aware of the limitations this artistic, painterly language imposes on them. They will have to learn how to decode, adjust and leverage their thinking to anticipate how the bead and other related and integrated materials assert their needs for color, and how to strategically compose, construct and manipulate them.
Jewelry, unlike painting or sculpture, has certain characteristics and requirements which rely on the management and control of color, its sensation and its variability with a slightly different emphasis than learned in a traditional art class. Jewelry is a 3-dimensional object, composed of a range of materials. Jewelry situates, moves and adjusts in relation to the human body and what that body is doing at the moment.
To get the attention their jewelry deserves, jewelry artists must become fluent with color selection and application from their own disciplinary perspective. We must understand color in jewelry as the jewelry is worn, and worn in a particular context or situation. Ever-changing directions and intensities of light and shadow, reflection, absorption and refraction. The observation that color may be present, even projected (the color shadow), outside the boundaries of the bead or jewelry component itself.
Beads [here I use ‘beads’ as a stand-in for all the component parts and stringing and canvas materials used in a piece of jewelry] are curved or faceted or otherwise shaped, and the shape and texture and material and dimensionality and even the hole through it affect the color, its variation and its placement and movement on the bead’s surface. They affect how light reflects and refracts, so depending on the angle at which you are standing, and how you are looking at the bead, you get some unexpected, unanticipated, sometimes unwanted colors in your piece of jewelry.
Additionally, you need to anticipate how the bead, when worn, can alter its color, depending on the source and positioning of light, the type and pace of movement of the wearer, and how the eye interacts with the bead at any point of time or positioning. There are many more color tensions that come from the interrelationships between positive and negative spaces. There are many gaps of light between each pair of beads, and you can’t paint these in. The colors don’t blend, don’t merge, don’t spill over, don’t integrate. You can’t create the millions of subtle color variations that you can with paint.
I’m not suggesting that beaders and jewelry makers be afraid of colors. Rather, they should embrace them. They should learn insights into understanding colors. They should be inspired by colors. They should express their artistic and creative selves through color. They should use color palettes to their fullest. They should recognize how their various audiences see and claim and interact with color.
It is most important that jewelry designers understand color, its use and application from their own disciplinary standpoint. In some sense, however, the approaches of most bead artists and jewelry designers too often remain somewhat painterly — too rooted in the Art Model.
The Art Model ignores things about functionality and context. The Art Model does not anticipate all the additional management and control issues which arise with jewelry creation and how /where / when it is worn. The Art Model diminishes how the individuality of the designer, and the subjective responses of the wearer and viewer affect each other. In many respects, these are synergetic, mutually dependent and reciprocal. The Art Model understands the success of jewelry only as if the jewelry were sitting on an easel, not as it is worn. When jewelry is treated as an inanimate object, apart from when it is worn, then traditional art color theories would suffice and apply.
As a result, when the use of color is solely dictated by art theory, then color theories get oversimplified for the jewelry artist. “Value” is barely differentiated from “Intensity”. Color selection focuses too much on harmony and variety, and too little on resonance and edginess. Color training too often steers jewelry designers towards a step-by-step, paint-by-number sort of approach to color selection and application. Color theory seeks to explain the universal, and paintings, given that they are immobile, hung on a wall, give time and space for the viewer to experience these universals.
Jewelry, on the other hand, requires an understanding of how color can be adapted to more subjective experiences. It does not stay in the same place. It is not desired in the same way across individuals who view it and wear it. As such, the co-dependent relationship between Color and other Jewelry Design Elements is downplayed and glossed over. This is a major disservice.
Designers need to think of colors as building blocks, and the process of using colors, as one of Creative Construction. Creative Construction requires focusing on how color (and multiple co-existing colors) is (are) sensed, and sensed by various audiences which include the artist him- or herself, and the wearer and the viewer, and the exhibitor, collector, and the seller, if need be. Creative Construction also requires anticipating how color is sensed within those context(s) and situation(s) the jewelry will be worn. Creative Construction includes an ability to anticipate how the various audiences of the designer use color to assume, perceive, understand, express, value and desire jewelry within any context.
All jewelry designers, including myself, are challenged with tasks like controlling the presentation of color(s) along a jewelry object’s silhouette. Or in blending colors among fixed physical objects awkwardly aligning or misaligning within some positive and negative spaces. Or having two or more colors co-exist within the same space or form which may or may not harmonize, given the reality that beads and other jewelry objects do not come in every possible and desirable color, nor consistently express any particular color over their entire surface.
I have found the use of simultaneity effects especially useful here. The one I use the most is that of grays. Gray takes on the colors around it. If I line up an orange bead, then a gray bead, then a blue bead, the middle gray bead will create the perception of a blended orange to blue form. Any bead with an underlying gray or black tone, strategically placed, will accomplish some color blending otherwise problematic.
I often play with other simultaneity effects. Some colors in combination emphasize warmth, and others cold. A sense of temperature (for example a red square embedded within a white square vs. that same red square embedded within a black square) can sometimes be used to divert the mind’s attention from whether the colors correctly harmonize.
In a similar way, some colors in combination (example a yellow square within a black square vs. within a white square) can create the illusion of either projecting or receding, and this too can be used to divert the mind’s attention from whether the colors correctly harmonize.
In my pieces, you will often find colors which, if not used strategically in combination and placement, would not seem to go together. They don’t fit a color scheme. They do not perfectly conform to a mathematical algorithm. They might even clash. More often, however, they just seem off in some way. But by smartly using simultaneity effects, they feel whole, consistent, coherent, right in some way. But also intriguing as the viewer’s mind tries to make sense of them. The colors resonate and are edgy in some way, yet feel harmonious, and the viewers can never figure out why. I intentionally create an object which lacks inherent meaning in order to trap the viewer into trying to find inherent meaning. Fun stuff. And something which often draws the viewer’s attention to my pieces, and keeps their attention there.
I like to play with color proportions. There are ideal proportions of the presence of any two or more colors. Red should appear in equal proportions to green. There should be one orange for any two blues. In art, we would strive to achieve the perfect proportions. In jewelry design, however, I would want to play with imperfections in proportions to give an edginess to my piece. This edginess, if not gone too far, enhances how the jewelry resonates emotionally for the wearer or buyer. We want our jewelry to have a little bit of edginess, or else it may feel harmonious yet boring and banal.
I believe the jewelry designer needs to be able to apply the careful of consideration of color with the goal of evoking resonance in the viewer. Something beyond harmony. Something represented by the difference of the viewer saying I like it, from the viewer saying I want to wear it, or I want to buy it. The designer is here to perhaps emphasize a little bit of the absurdity in life, some playfulness, some inquisitiveness which result from tensions between order and chaos, meaning and meaninglessness.
The designer is there, in part, to challenge the viewer’s subjective interpretations. This is especially true as the jewelry is worn and the wearer moves from different situations, contexts, and lighting. The use of color in jewelry designer often fails when the designer merely tries to duplicate a perfect color scheme, given perfect lighting and no movement. Jewelry is not a painting or sculpture to be displayed in fixed position. It’s much more. Using color from the designer’s viewpoint, rather than of the artist, is a very useful tool.
All these and similar color tricks I use as a jewelry designer contribute to how my jewelry expresses and reflects my authenticity. They add the cachet to my pieces as contemporary. Uninhibited by social norms encapsulated in art theory rules for the use of color. Creating more of a sense of freedom in my pieces, a sense which affects the feelings of freedom the wearer has. Transcendence. A re-imagining. Revelation, connection, awakening.
That’s what my Rogue Elephant needs, wants, demands. In this chaotic and indifferent universe, that rogue-ness could not have it any other way.
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