Organizing projects and beads

I received the following email from M.D.:
"I remember clearly that I read somewhere you had back problems and had to stay in bed because of that. Nevertheless it didn't keep you from making jewelry. I am facing the same situation. I am not looking forward to it but the worst thing is ... I can't do without making jewelry! Do you have any ANY suggestions for me concerning how you organized your stuff so you could keep working? "

Here is an excerpt of my answer:
This is how I organize my beads: I have hundreds of tiny plastic containers to stash my beads (about 1 to 2 inches wide). Each type of bead goes into one little box. Then I organize all the boxes by bead color into shallow drawers.






This helped me when I was ill because it allowed me to select a bunch of tiny bead boxes I needed for a specific project, and put them with wire and pliers in a small plastic flat tray or tool box. This box went with me to bed. I literally made jewelry flat on my back.

After I recovered, I kept the habit: before starting a project, I place a few pliers, cutter, a few rolls of wire and bunch of tiny boxes of beads in a small plastic tool box. I can then take this with to the beach or to a coffee shop, or even to a waiting room, at a doctor's appt or car wash. It's a type of portability that I like very much.

Any tiny pieces of wire or leftover beads go straight into the tool box. When I'm ready to start a new project, just use the leftover wires from the previous project and switch the little tiny boxes for different ones. After two or three projects, I clean up the tool box, removing any wires too small to be used again.

As you can see, I also label each box with a sticker including the cost of each strand, the cost of an individual bead, day of purchase and supplier. That makes it also very easy to calculate the cost of a piece of jewelry.
You can find these tiny boxes at Gary Packaging.

Inspiration...?

I received the following question by email:

“Do you design a piece first and then buy stone and embellishments to fit the vision...or do you study the cache of stones and let them inspire the design...I struggle with getting started on any piece. I am artistic by nature so I am not without talent, but… etc. “


The answer lies somewhere in between: since gemstones always come in different shapes and sizes, I usually first look at the cache of stones I have at hand and let them bring some inspiration. With that said, after a while of working with the same suppliers of stones and beads, you come to know what you will be able to find in your personal cache and even at your favorite bead supplier, therefore you CAN design first and then go shopping for the items of your vision, as long as you respect the limitations of what you already know will be available.

Think about it, isn't it always that way with any other form of art? Doesn't any good designer need to be familiar with the materials available so that the designs are not impossible to execute?

I would recommend that any jewelry artist study the market of supplies a little and become more familiar with sizes, colors and types of stones and beads. This will make the designer more secure about the possibilities AND will start the gears turning: "what if this particular stone were combined with this other bead" or "what if this stone were used with wire in a certain technique".

Keeping a creative journal with ideas and designs is also a very good idea. I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having a good journal to just pour ideas into. Every time inspiration happens, (by a stone, a vision or anything else) the idea is registered in the journal. When time comes to develop a piece, I only have to flip through the journal and pick one. This creates an endless source of ideas readily available, especially for those times when the muse doesn't seem to want to work overtime. :-)

Individual Mentoring FAQ

I recently reinstated the Individual Mentoring program for Jewelry Makers. This online class was introduced in August 2003, but was not active during most of 2006 for personal reasons. Now it's back! During 4 months, we work together in whatever area of jewelry making the student wishes to address.

I received the following set of questions from Sandra, asking for more information on the how this class works:

1) Can you tell me more about what I should expect from this program?
Answer: The individual studies are tailored for each person, according to their preferences. When we start the mentoring, your first assignment will be to select 2 to 10 of my tutorials you wish to work on, and I'll organize them in logical order, and add other assignments which will allow you to prepare to complete those tutorials. These assignments could be as simple as doing research on the web, or hands-on practical projects for you to complete. You may need to repeat a practical assignment a couple of times until you can work on a new one (practice makes perfect).
We also establish at the very beginning your goal for our time together. Some people want to know more about business, others want to explore personal style in design and others just want to work on their technique.

2) How many emails do you typical trade with your students per week?
Answer: It largely depends on you. I have one student right now who sends me 3 or 4 emails per day because she quickly finishes her assignments and has lots of questions, while I have another who send me one email per week at the most. Most students send me 3 to 5 emails per week, because they need time to finish their assignments before they are allowed to start a new one. Normally I answer emails once or twice a day, once in the morning and once at night and I take a break on the weekends. The only exception is if I'm out of town -- then we can have several hours of work planned for you until I come back.

3) How many projects do students typically complete in the four months?
Answer: Again, it depends on your own speed and your own personal goals. Some students have finished dozens of projects by the end of 4 months, some finished 10 at the most. Some students work on more difficult tasks, such as developing style, in which case the goal is not really to complete several projects, but yet to produce ONE good and very unique piece at the end of a certain period of time. Also, the assignments will sometimes involve exercises such as drawing, if you are so inclined, or researching material on the web, or even practicing how to do related tasks such as oxidizing pieces or learning how to photograph properly -- in which case you are not producing pieces, but yet working on supporting activities.

4) Roughly how many hours per week your students spend working?
Answer: I would say that it averages about 10 hours, but once more, I follow your lead. I highly RECOMMEND that you allow time to work on the projects on a continuous flow -- continuity and practice are the only way to guarantee your success. You should allow at least 1 hour per day, at the very least. Recommended is two or three hours per day, in an ideal situation.

If you have any other questions to add to this FAQ, then contact Eni!
To sign up for the Mentoring class, click here:
Individual Mentoring for Jewelry makers.

YOJ 2007 Week 32 - Spiral Pendant

I finally managed to catch up with the YOJ!!! This pendant was made in goldfilled wire, with vermeil beads and some luxurious gemmy beads: apatite, topaz in baby blue and london blue. This pendant was constructed with a spiral understructure and yes, there is a tutorial for it: Spiral Pendant.

Interesting enough, several other pendants that I have worked on follow almost identical structure:

Can you see the spiral structure in these? :-)

YOJ 2007 Week 31 - Triangular Pendant

My American father is a rock hound and loves to tumble rocks for me. This stone he found in Canada, in a little shop. I can only guess that it is chalcedony and it's a perfect little triangle. I trapped it in a simple netted bezel and strung the pendant on a delicate goldfilled/vermeil bead necklace. To see other pictures, go to the page Triangular Pendant.

How your Majesty was built

My latest entry at the gallery is a necklace I called Your Majesty the Queen, because it looks simply rega to me. However, the construction of the piece was not too difficult -- just VERY time consuming.

The pendant was constructed almost exactly as the Gold and Purple Flower Pendant. The only difference is the center: instead of a cluster of beads in the very center, I added a bead cap and rondelle. The tutorial for this pendant can be foun here: Gold and Purple Flower Pendant Tutorial.

The neckpiece is a modified version of the Coiled Bangle. Instead of one small bead place at the in-betweens, I added two small bead caps, back to back. This made them flare out. I also eliminated any beads on the edges of the coiled frame and added some bead caps over the rubies. To make the neckpiece curved, I shaped it as I was working (not after completing it). A tutorial on how to make the bangle can be found here: Coiled Bangle tutorial.

What makes this piece so great is the sheer amount of precious materials used in it, and also the time it took to build. A VERY long time... :-)

To see more pictures of the final piece, go here: Your Majesty the Queen Necklace

YOJ 2007 Week 30 - Abalone pearl necklace

This pendant was created almost the same way as the one created for week 18 Abalone Netted Pendant, however, the results turned out quite different. The abalone piece was much lighter and had softer colors than the original, so I combined it with white potato pearls and moonstone. A much softer and sweeter piece, in my opinion. See more pictures at the page Abalone Pearl necklace.