A jewelry artist named Joan shares her lovely tips for naming handcrafted jewelry pieces. She says:
Finding names for each jewelry creation can be a daunting task. I choose names in several ways:
1) I may honor a friend by naming a piece of jewelry after her. Note: an unexpected by-product of this idea has even resulted in sales to the very people whose names I have used!
2) Sometimes I name a collection of similar pieces of jewelry with a friend’s name, and then each piece in that collection gets a number – ex: Lydia Collection: Lydia #1, Lydia #2, etc.
3) I will also derive names from the components of a jewelry item. Ex: If I make a bracelet that contains shells, pearls, beach glass, etc. I might name the piece “By the Sea”, or something related to the bracelet’s content.
4) Sometimes I choose a name that expresses how I feel about a piece of jewelry. Ex: I made a necklace that I thought was fabulous, so that’s what I named it: ”Fabulous!”
5) I also use a Thesaurus, either the one on my computer or a book, and I will glance through it searching for words that best describe what I have just made. When I find the word I like, that becomes my jewelry item’s name.
I do not like to assign just numbers to my jewelry pieces, because I feel it’s too impersonal.
I make jewelry from my soul, and my soul is filled with wonderful images, words, and feelings.
That’s what I like the viewer or the purchaser of my pieces to see and understand!
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This is something I also struggle with, but I’m working on it, thanks for the great tips!
I struggled with this a bit when trying to use names related to the piece and finally changed to using women’s names. I try to pick a name that seems to suit the piece and this has been working much better for me.
I struggle with this too. Sometimes its easy to come up with a name. But sometimes I draw a blank !
I name everything I make. I usually base it on the spiritual lore of the stones or what the crystals relate to.
Good ideas. I really like the idea of naming a piece after a friend. There are a few things I do to help with the naming, too.
I love quotations, so I have managed to collect hundreds of quotes that are meaningful to me. Often, there is a phrase that just jumps out, and seems to fit perfectly. When that happens, I include the quote in my description online.
I keep a file of titles of books, movies, names of Crayola colors, names of nail polish or paint colors,etc. that can also be jumping off points for names of pieces.
I have found that naming my pieces is a great marketing strategy. When I am at a show, the names help to spark a conversation with the customer, especially if it is a bit quirky.
What I find that helps me name a piece is….
What I love! I named all of my earring collection (so far) after places in england that I have visited and each piece has qualities of the Hamlet, Village, Town or City that I name it after.
From “Mousehole to London!
I haven’t named jewelry in the past, but your ideas are fantastic. Now I am thinking about naming all my pieces of jewelry.
Thank You so much for the idea.
I try to name every piece of jewelry I make. It makes a personal statement about the piece and sometimes there is an actual story to go along with it. I take my inspiration from many of sources mentioned above–the materials used, my feelings, friends’ names, or a word that describes what the finished piece looks like (food names word great for this!).
I found personal success with using song titles/lyrics, names of tv/movie/book characters, and (surprisingly) cocktails. But it has to be something really obscure or out of the ordinary. If a customer recognizes it, there’s an instant connection, like we shared a secret, and I’m almost guaranteed a sale!
How lovely! I have never ‘named’ the jewellery I make before, I usually just title the pieces using ‘keywords’ in the hope of achieveing higher positions in search engines…but I think naming pieces is something I may adopt in the future as it creates a sense of narrative.
When I first started naming my jewelry I was trying to come up with nice, basic names that discribed the piece. Then I got real plain with the names because I thought it would look cheesy if I gave it more creative names. After reading about all the artist that name their pieces I think I’ll put more thought into the names of my pieces and have some fun with it!
Thanks for the great inspiration!
I also find naming my jewelry from experiences and places that I have traveled. I have been on numerous Missions Trips. The people and even foods can be very helpful. For Instance Pache means “peace” in Romanian. I have a beautiful necklace that I have named Pache. Pronounced pah chey.
I spent a lot of time trying to name the turquoise beaded necklace styles that I sell. I ended up taking inspiration from the beautifully earthy green and blue colors of the beads to create nature-inspired names. For my more sleek designs, I drew inspiration from the necklace styles when creating names. I think going with a theme helps give collections a personality that can boost marketing effectiveness.
Figuring out names for jewelry can be a struggle but at the sametime, can be very fun! You definitely seem to have a creative way on naming your handmade jewelry.