More Changes

My last 2 posts have been about change.  The first was a change I made for a customer which turned out well.  The second was a change I refused to make.

Well, another post on change just sort of fell into my lap.

 Last fall a customer purchased this bracelet from me at a show.

She asked that I make a  necklace to match it.  She liked the design of another necklace that I had displayed with 3 cabochons. So I based the new necklace on that.

This is what it looked like when I sent the finished picture to her for her approval.

Now this is why special orders are so hard.  What you envision as perfect is sometimes not at all what the customer has in mind.  It is understandable- but frustrating.

She thought about it for a couple of days, then emailed me back that there was a problem.  She was tactful, but said that every time she looked at the picture, she saw a surprised face- with 2 eyes and an open mouth!  This has happened to me with jewelry in the past- in fact- that may be a future blog post!  People sometimes see something in a necklace that I never saw- then after they point it out- that's all I can see when I look at it!!

I told her it was OK if she wanted to cancel the order, I would be able to sell this necklace and it would be fine.  She was very nice, and said that she still wanted the necklace, but could I make some sketches of some ways it could be altered, and was willing to pay me for the extra time spent.

Well, you don't want to see my sketches.  Maybe I can bead- but sketch...not so much.  And I really did not want to spend the time tearing apart the necklace when I was not sure that it would be what she wanted.  So I came up with an idea.  Photoshop!!  I just made 1 extra small component and photographed it- then photoshop did the rest!!!   What a time saver.  I know these pictures are crude, but they were good enough to give her an idea of which one she preferred.

 






She picked the picture she liked and I altered the piece just one time.

So below is a picture of the finished piece.  I must agree, I like it better than the way it was at first.  And the face is gone.  The customer said how much the mock ups helped.  I will definitely use this technique again in the future!

She also sent me a picture of her wearing the finished piece. She loves it!

So,a happy ending!!  Another example of improving upon a design by listening to a customer.

Using Leftovers

I use my leftovers.  Well, I admit, sometimes they get lost in the back of the refrigerator until they turn green and have to be thrown out. But I'm talking beads here!

 I hate wasting things, and that includes my time.  So, sometimes when experiments go wrong, I am able to salvage parts to be used in another project.  I am not talking about using parts of vintage jewelry and old beads here. (although I do plenty of that!)  I am talking about using a leftover component that didn't work in one design, or was just leftover from one piece, and using it in another.

 For example:  This was a leftover component from a large piece I am making for a FMG contest.  It is composed of a bunch of these smaller pieces, and I got carried away and made way too many.  So this little necklace used up one of those components.

This one is a special order necklace I recently made.  I made the neckchain and decided it was a little clunky for the size of the pendant.  So I made this chain instead.  It's a little hard to tell in the picture, but it has smaller beads.

 Which left me with an extra neckchain.  So I decided to use the first one in a little bit bigger necklace.  Turns out, the customer preferred the second one and purchased it!

This necklace was all about leftovers.  I had all these little cabochons and over the course of about 5 years I would make a few more and set them aside.  I wasn't quite sure what I would ever do with them, until I brought them out and played with them a bit.

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Then of course I had a few pieces leftover, so I made a bracelet!! (but there weren't enough for earrings!)

Last year I entered this piece in a contest.

The large polymer piece was my second attempt.  The first attempt was leftover....so I made a necklace of course!

Do you remember the "Australian Wedding Piece"? (no, she never sent pictures!!)  I used a lot of leftovers from that!  Most of them were experimental components that didn't pan out in the original piece.

Here are a few of the leftover pieces- there actually are lots more!

So, save your leftovers- you never know how you will be able to use them.  And the good thing is, they have a really long shelf life!  I have never had to throw one out because it was growing a nice crop of mold!!

Using a clasp as inspiration

Recently I was approached by The Beadsmith to be a participating designer to showcase their new line of "Elegant Elements" clasps.  The idea was that each of us would receive 2 clasps (we even got to pick them out ourselves), and we would design a piece of jewelry around them.  Then they would use them in their promotional materials.  Sounded like a win/win to me!  I picked out 2 and before I knew it, the beautiful clasps arrived (along with a bonus clasp!)

It was harder than I thought it would be. I always try to match the clasp to the jewelry design, most often beading my own.  I have to say this is the first time I created a piece of jewelry around the clasp!!

The first clasp I chose was very simple.  I chose it mainly because of it's size.  It is very substantial and would work well for big cuff bracelets.  So that's what I started with.

First, a picture of the clasp I chose:

I decided I wanted the beading to reflect the swirls in the clasp.  I didn’t want to make something really “girly” since the other clasps I chose were gold with crystals and I figured that would be the direction I would go with those.

So I settled on a red and black color scheme with silver accents- a color combo I rarely use, but is very dramatic.  I added the rhinestone chain for an added sparkle.

 The bead spacing on the swirls was a bit tricky (read trial and error!), but in the end I was happy with the effect.  The only thing left to do was to photograph it.  I needed to have the clasp front and center on the pics- but in that case it was hard to show the rest of the bracelet.  The only solution was to just show only ½ of the clasp.

 So the first piece was done- on to the next one!  This next one is definitely girly!! (next blog)

Here is the site where the pieces created for this “project” are showcased.  Check it out- they are all really amazing!! I am so honored to have been included in this group.

Be Elegant! pieces featuring Elegant Elements clasps