You know what....
Just as the beginning designer wonders where to start their journey, I sometimes wonder how do I begin to describe the process!
Money is tight, experimentation can be daunting, and there are so many roads to take.
I get letters...emails. Many ask. I feel a responsibility to them, but time is short. What do I say when they ask me:
Shall I begin with resin, pouring resin into bezels?
What about alcohol ink?
How do I wrap a stone?
I am on a very limited budget....I can't afford to make a lot of mistakes or buy lots of expensive tools.
Okay! I understand, and it goes like this:
Just like you, I'm on a limited budget, and it seems I always have been. Even though I have this whole warehouse of cool stuff at my fingertips, I can't just to raid it every time I get the notion. And just the same as you may feel overwhelmed by the variety of jewelry crafts products on the market, I have to keep up with them and learn to use them as well. Which do I bring in for sale at our website? Which do I keep for myself? Which new tool will I be able to afford to buy next...or...
Do I need to wait for awhile, wait til more funds are available? Or if funds are available, is it practical for what I do as an artist, and what I want to do as an artist?
AH......THAT........I just nailed it for you.
**WHAT I WANT TO DO AS AN ARTIST**
THAT!!! is where you start.
What do you want to do as an artist? What are your style sensibilities? What sort of jewelry, when you see it, attracts you the most? What do you feel your design type or vision can bring to THAT sort of jewelry?
Meditate on that, and when you feel you know the answer....do the research, and then you can begin. Otherwise you'll be confused, all over the place, having used precious resources to buy a myriad of products you will probably never use.
With out doing the preliminaries....the meditation to decide your path, and the research to decipher how you will accomplish your goals....you will be frustrated, and focus will elude you for years.
You will end up surviving on a dream and your personal drive. That's not a terrible thing! But how about coupling some jewelry making smarts---with the dream and the drive?
It just makes sense! And success will ensue.
Here's a learning list for you:
1. Go buy a nice journal, one that you will enjoy writing in. You might want to get on that has pockets in it, so that you can clip ideas from magazines and have them at the ready.
2. Subscribe to the main beading/jewelry making magazines. One thing I had to do, where those magazines are concerned, was to train myself NOT to be overwhelmed by them. Calm down, concentrate, don't just look at the picture, read the directions, consider them.
Many tell me how intimidated they are by what they see online and in magazines. The magazines can be your COLLEGE EDUCATION if you study them hard. Many have online submission guidelines. Read the submission guidelines, even if you are nowhere near ready to ever submit a design. EVEN IF you have never made a piece of jewelry!
The reason for reading submission guidelines is that it will help you get a handle on trend. It may well help you decision on the most prudent design style for your beginning efforts. It will also help you to sell your work, which may be quite important as many self-fund the process. Those sales will help you get more of the supplies and tools you need to take the next step, when it comes along.
3. Join an online jewelry making group or forum. Follow good blogs on the process, and center at first on ones that teach easy, beginning design.
Here are some good ones:
Beads and Books by Michelle Mach
Jewelry Making at About.Com, Moderated by Tammy Powley
B'sue Boutiques Creative Group
4. Find blogs you enjoy and follow them. If there are blog hops and challenges, don't be afraid to jump in and get your feet wet. Simple designs are fine. Sometimes, simple designs turn out to be the most successful!
5. Assemble a cachet of the correct tools. I can't live without:
round nose pliers
flat nose pliers
a good flush cutters
jump ring tool
stainless steel bench block
hammer
center punch
rivet setter
a good sturdy awl
a small drill
hole punches of various types
a really good pair of metal shears (I LOVE!!! these )
a nail reliefing block or fine steel wool
bail making pliers in large and small
a small torch
After that.....I would say it goes to what you want to do, as a jewelry artist. If you want to solder, read tutorials, take a class, look at You Tube....and buy the equipment.
If you want to fold form and forge metal, then you need to learn how to use a larger torch and possibly how to use the jeweler's saw (you will never see a video from me on that. I hate the jeweler's saw....but! I did take classes on it, I know how. It's just not the path I'm taking---so there you go. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO KNOW HOW TO DO EVERYTHING!)
If you want to work with resin, you need to watch some videos (we do have some at You Tube on resin work!) and then you need to buy some Ice Resin and fearlessly begin!
If you want to patina or colorize metal, then you will need to look up info on that, get the right paints, patinas, Gilder's Paste....and start! We also have a number of very easy to follow videos on Gilder's Paste
And so it goes.....
The upshot of it all is, you have to begin at the beginning....and you have to decide what your style is, what appeals to you most, then do the work to learn what you can. A class, whether online or in-person, is NEVER a bad idea if you can manage it. On the other hand, many are self-taught. I am. Nothing wrong with that.
SO...DIVE IN!
FEARLESSLY!
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