One aspect of designing anything is not just the skill but the time,effort and creativity it takes to come up with a design. Some years ago, one young woman who came for one of my design workshops spent
a whole afternoon on just one pair of earrings. At the end of the design session, she whispered and said she would never again diss any designer!
So I thought it might be fun to share what my design processes were with this month's
Prima Bead challenge. If you're like me, the first idea you have is rarely the one which results in the final design! Along the way, there are some mini-experiments with all sorts of supplies. The work table is awash many bits and pieces!
There were some pendants in the supplies I received, so I chose 2 which I liked. The first was this lovely copper pendant. The antique copper chain was too light to bear the weight of the pendant singly. So maybe triple them up with some wired in crystals? Nope. Maybe add a black cord and a copper rolo chain and then whip them together with the light copper chain. Didn't work. 2 black cords and try and wrap them together like
thread wrapped jewelry? I couldn't get this idea to work. So finally I wrapped the chain around the double cord which dressed up the black element and tied it in more with the pendant.
The other pendant which caught my eye was a brass bird and peace symbol pendant. There was a fun lightweight large link chain with brass and gold tones from a while back which teamed up well with this pendant.
The first idea was to try and wire some beads but the big links made this difficult. Next I tried attaching beads on jump rings inside the links but this proved awkward. Finally, I just used large holed brass beads suspended on 18 G brass jump rings. I could have added the brass beads all around the necklace but choose to stay focused on the front.
This is just another way to dress up necklaces.
I also keep a design book - just a dollar store notebook - where I jot down ideas as they come but don't yet have time to land them.
How do you go about designing?
Before You Go: ______________________________
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