Developing & Defining Your Own Jewelry Design Style (Video)
Jewelry and Coffee with Rena
by Rena Klingenberg.
Here are five simple things you can do to develop and define your unique jewelry making style:
Transcript of This Video:
If you want to develop or define your own unique jewelry design style, I have some simple tips for you:
Your Jewelry-Making Preferences
First, I believe that the things you most love about making jewelry should be part of your style.
For example, what sizes of jewelry do you love to make – big, small, long, short?
Think about your favorite components and details.
Which metals do you like best?
And do you prefer your metals to be shiny or antiqued or colored in some way?
If you work with beads – what kinds, sizes and shapes do you prefer?
Do all of your creations seem to have wire on them somewhere?
Do you gather all sorts of different items to create mixed-media jewelry?
Your jewelry-making preferences are the backbone of your style.
Your Non-Jewelry Interests
Now let’s look at your non-jewelry interests.
What other things do you create?
What music, sports, or activities interest you?
What are your favorite books and movies?
What are your favorite places?
Consider how your interests can influence your jewelry designs.
Your Personal Sense of What’s Beautiful
What are your aesthetic preferences?
Do you see beauty in things that are plain and simple, or fancy and ornate, or rugged and natural?
Or maybe you’re drawn to a combination of things – like fancy combined with rustic.
Or delicate combined with bold.
These preferences can be clues to your jewelry style.
Use Pinterest for Insights into Your Aesthetic
Here’s a fun activity for discovering more about your aesthetic taste.
Go to Pinterest – but NOT to look at jewelry photos.
Instead, find other images that make your heart sing – nature, interior design, architecture, art, shoes, whatever images make you go “Wow!” or “I love that!”.
Make a pinboard of the images that really resonate with you.
Now look at the board as a whole – what elements do the images have in common? Colors? Boldness? Elegance? Small details? Rounded shapes / angled shapes? Stark contrasts? A vintage feel? Flowers everywhere?
These visual elements can be important in your jewelry style.
What Do People Say About Your Jewelry?
What words do people use when they talk to you about your jewelry?
Those words are clues to the qualities other people see in your work – and they can give you important insights about your style.
Your Jewelry Style is Not a Commitment
And of course, you don’t have to have a specific style for your jewelry.
Or you can have more than one style.
And your style will probably evolve over time as you learn new techniques and have new inspirations.
Your customers will enjoy seeing and wearing your jewelry style as it evolves.
So by defining your style, you’re not making a permanent commitment to it. You’re honing in on what you want to create and explore.
I’d love to hear about your jewelry style – or the direction your jewelry art is going.
Thanks so much for joining me today. I’ll see you soon!
The Jewelry Rena’s Wearing
in This Video:
Necklace: by Kelly E. Marra – polymer clay butterfly, shell disks, chain.
Earrings: by Rena Klingenberg – faceted glass; 14k gf earwires from my Long Earwires tutorial.