Adventures in Handmade Jewelry

Branding is important. Having a consistent look and feel to your work, your identity as an artist and in how you present your work is part of having your own business. It can be a little tough, but once you've got your logo and colors and associated motifs, that's enough, right? Maybe. Lately I've been trying to develop a routine with my business - to do at least one thing a day to promote or create or interact with other people in craft or home businesses. The other day I decided to work on packaging since what I had was running low and I wanted something more distinctive. That led me down a tangent, let me tell you! Part of what I need are stickers and while looking at my current logo documents, I did a bit of a refresh. Nothing too drastic, but definitely an improvement. Check it out! became  It's subtle, but I think it's important and I didn't catch it in my first go-round with logo design. A professional probably would have, but 'wh...

Adventures in Handmade Jewelry is right. Here's my latest and what I learned from it. Design is very important, but like all good designs it must work. It must function well and enhance the time you spend using it. I bought these cute little wooden cubes recently and had a design all done and finished. I loved it. Isn't it cute? I even had a name for it picked out (no, not Jeff). Then I tried to put it on. And realized I couldn't. It wouldn't bend enough to do up the clasp easily. Take a look - The most flexible part of the design is where the flattest part of your wrist is. Uh. Wrong. The bendiest part should be at the sides of the wrist. Right where I put those cute little cubes. Cute, but not bendy. Not comfortable all that much either. What happens to jewelry that's difficult to put on or wear? It sits in the drawer and collects dust. Or it gets tossed away if you're the letting go type. So back to the bench. This design works much ...

Yesterday I was all set to post about three bracelets I made. Here they are - That's the shot I took today. You can't tell I had to rework the one on the top right can you? Actually I had to restring it 3 times. 3 times!! Not a big deal, but it took me many extra minutes. Wasted materials. And made me frustrated and annoyed with myself. All because I didn't check my work. See how they were when I thought I was good to go? Can you spot my mistake? Gah!!! So the lesson here is to check your work. Before you finish the step that completes your project, give it a good once over. By tinkering on the same piece for a while, you can expect to see it a certain way even if it isn't. Kind of a confirmation bias if you follow. You need to step back and evaluate what you've done. Really be sure you have it right before you commit. A few extra seconds can save you a lot of heartache!