I’ve just updated my personal jewelry website, Rena-Jewelry.

It was loooooong overdue for a fresh look!

I did a complete re-design on it from scratch this weekend, coding the entire thing in HTML in a text editor.

My goal for this site was a feeling of simplicity and tranquility, with the focus being the jewelry images.

I’m especially fond of how the home page turned out!

If you notice any errors, please let me know.

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How do you decide on a color scheme when you’re designing a new piece of jewelry?

Are you inspired by the colors that appear together in

• a scattering of beads on your work table?
• a painting, pottery, stained glass, or other art?
• the interior design of a room?
• a view of nature?
• the upcoming season’s trend forecast?

I’ve noticed that many of my jewelry customers buy my pieces based on color.

On custom orders, the customer nearly always starts out by mentioning the color (”Could you make me something like this, only in red?”).

If they’re just browsing through my display, they’re sometimes captivated by a certain color or color scheme, and finally decide they can’t leave without it.

Or they may be purposefully shopping for a color that goes with something in their wardrobe (”I need a pair of black earrings to go with a new dress.”).

And if my customers are shopping for a gift for someone else, color is usually the main factor in their choice (”My niece’s favorite color is purple.”).

If I’m selling to a shop, the owner nearly always buys based on color (”We’ve been selling a lot of blue lately - can you bring in a selection of whatever you have in blue?”)

So as much as possible, I’ve always displayed my jewelry organized by color, to make it easier for my customers to find what they’re looking for.

That system also helps me see at a glance what colors I need to concentrate on when I sit down to make more pieces for my inventory.

Color is also a major factor when I shop for jewelry supplies.

I have to make a conscious effort to buy cabochons and beads in colors that aren’t necessarily my own favorites, so I can have something for every color preference.

Even so, about half of my bead and cab supply is somehow my favorite lovely shades of green!

Have you ever experienced what I call the Fugly Color Phenomenon when selling your work?

Nearly every time I design a piece with an experimental color scheme that comes out looking so hideously ugly that I almost don’t put the piece on display - it’s the first thing that sells!

In fact, it seems to draw people to my booth like a beacon!

I have no idea why.  There must be a mysterious, subliminal force in the chemistry of ugly color combinations.

I’d love to hear about your own experiences with color in creating and selling your jewelry!

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What makes some jewelry photographs truly breathtaking?

It’s more than pretty jewels, good lighting, and sharp focus.

It’s an additional, special “somethin’ somethin’” that really elevates some jewelry photos to the level of extraordinary.

After studying thousands of jewelry images over the past several years, I’ve decided that the magic occurs when the photo itself is a work of art.

It’s in the photographer’s sense of artistry - apart from the artistry in the piece of jewelry that’s being photographed.

It’s expressed in the dozens of small decisions the photographer makes when setting up the photo; decisions like

• the exact tilt of a ring
• the purposeful use of white space around the jewelry
• the line a necklace makes when it’s laid out
• the angle of the camera in relation to the jewelry
• the careful design of a non-competing background
• the area on the piece of jewelry the photo attracts your eye to
• the skilled use of asymmetry.

Although not all of the jewelry images in these links are “extraordinary” (to me), they do provide some excellent pointers for designing your own jewelry photo shoots:

Holly Sisson Photography -
Notice the use of standard jewelry displays in many of the shots, and also the artistically blurry backgrounds.

Red Envelope -
Examples of various backgrounds and props that don’t distract customers from the jewelry itself.

Michael Cuiccio -
Beautiful examples of how jewelry photos and text can work together artistically in the same frame or on the same page.

Coldwater Creek -
Because they’re all photographed on a plain white background, some of these images can give you good ideas for arranging your jewelry and using the white space in your photos.

Hap Sakwa Photography -
Take a close look at the outstanding examples of jewelry photographed standing up instead of lying in its side (you can temporarily use a dab of modeling clay or hot glue under a piece of your jewelry to make rings, cuff bracelets, etc. stand up for photos).

Sundance Jewelry -
Creative ideas for photographing artisan jewelry.

AzadPhoto -
Lovely professional photography of all kinds of jewelry, mostly on black, white, or gray backgrounds.

And if you’re interested in simple shortcuts for getting professional-looking photos of your jewelry, visit my guide to photographing jewelry.

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Nancy Sathre-Vogel is a jewelry artist who gathers beads in her travels around the globe.

Currently Nancy, her husband and their twin boys are bicycling the entire length of Pan American Highway, from northern Alaska to the tip of South America.

You can keep up with their current journey on their Family on Bikes website.

“Vietnamese Wisdom” necklace by Nancy Sathre-Vogel,
made with seed beads and a carving
she purchased in Vietnam.

Nancy says she “willingly lugs a couple pounds of beads around the world” on her bike so she can create jewelry as she travels.

The pieces she creates are one-of-a-kind works of art, evolving from the story of her journeys, the history of each bead, and Nancy’s artistry.

I love how she creates the life of her dreams by combining her passions for family, traveling the world, bicycling, and beading.

See more of Nancy’s jewelry at Designs by Nancy.

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Keys have become one of the hottest jewelry components.

Vintage keys tend to be the most popular for use in jewelry designs, but any key that isn’t too heavy to wear is fair game for this purpose!

Multi-talented crafter-artist Kim Newberg of Art and Images by Kim has put together a very inspirational Squidoo lens for those of us who have a thing for using keys in jewelry:

Embellished Altered Keys Tutorial.

It shows step-by-step how to achieve a fascinating variety of key alterations, like these:

Altered, embellished keys by Kim Newberg

Start gathering up your discarded house keys, car keys, etc. - because you’re going to want to start altering and embellishing them as soon as you see Kim’s tutorial!

More on altered, embellished keys:

Embellished keys on Flickr

Altered keys on Flickr

Altered art key tin

Altered book: keys and keyholes

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Irma Pretorius of Wire to Jewelry has a nifty wire-gauge calculator that you can add to your own blog, website, social networking profiles, etc.

Irma says of her Wire Gauge Calculator Widget:

“The wire gauge calculator converts

• millimeter to inch and gauge
• inch to gauge and millimeter
• gauge to millimeter and inch.

At first I thought this calculator would only be of use to jewelry designers / makers using the metric system (like me), who need to translate inch or gauge to millimeter.

(By the way, who is using the metric system? According to Wikipedia - “Until recently Myanmar, Liberia and the United States didn’t use the metric system”. The rest of the world uses the metric system.)

As time went by, I realized that it is not just metric system users who will find the wire gauge calculator useful.

For instance, anybody with international customers (or who wants to attract international customers) can use it to describe their jewelry in all of the measuring systems.

This includes anybody with a website who sells jewelry, tutorials, or materials.

I use the calculator when I set up tutorials and describe my jewelry for my website.

I always mention the gauge, millimeter and inch when I give wire measurements, because the visitors to my website are from all over the world.

It is important to me that they understand what I am explaining and not get stuck with conversions in order to follow what I am writing.

Want to take this handy tool with you?

You are welcome to use the Wire Gauge Calculator-Converter here and bookmark the page.

Or even better, you can take it with you - just click on the “get widget” button at the bottom of the calculator, and follow the instructions to take the widget to your own blog, website, favorite social networking website… iGoogle, Blogger, TypePad, etc.

That way you’ll know where to find it next time you need it!”

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Irma Pretorius is the creator of the wire gauge calculator widget.

She also shares her jewelry ideas and instructions on her Wire to Jewelry website.

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Peter Brusaschi of Opal Mine and the Opal Experts blog shares a bit of fascinating lore, an interesting personal story - and gorgeous photos - of Opal, possibly the most unique gemstone in the world:

Like most  of the world’s gemstones, Opal has had a long history.

Raw opal specimen

Treasured greatly in Europe 2000 years ago, the stone was well described by Pliny the elder, an ancient historian who shared the Roman emperors’ fascination for opals.

Opal combines the glories of the most precious gems - the fire of the ruby, the rich purple of the amethyst, the sea green of the emerald, the blue of the sapphire - all glittering together in union indescribable.

How an opal changes color was a mystery for thousands of years, until [click to continue…]

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Jewelry artists often contact me to ask about metal jewelry tags.

These professional-looking tags can be attached to various pieces of jewelry to clearly identify the designer’s name, initials or logo:

Metal tags can be stamped with the artist’s mark,
and attached to jewelry with a jump ring.

Typically an artist has a stamp custom made with their chosen mark, and then stamps this mark onto individual blank jewelry tags by hand.

Infinity Stamps has just announced a new line of blank metal jewelry tags that are designed for better marking.

From their press release:

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Infinity Stamps, Inc., makers of the popular TagMate Jewelry Tag Marking System, announces the launch of a new line of jewelry tags, called the Diamond Series.

These new Sterling Silver jewelry tags are an improvement over the standard tags in a variety of ways.

They are thicker than most tags available, 23 gauge (compared to the standard 24 gauge thickness).

The extra thickness allows for a deeper impression - and thus a more defined mark - without the tag bending as it might with thinner tags.

Infinity Stamps’ engineering team says these tags are “produced to higher standards, resulting in better and more symmetrically shaped tags”.

Because of reduced overhead costs the new Diamond Series tags are expected to cost less than most metal jewelry tags on the market.

The new tags are expected to be released in time for Infinity Stamps’ Spring Jewelry Artist Sale (March 1 through April 1, 2009).

The sale will offer a significant discount on the new Diamond Series tags, as well as on Infinity Stamps’ unique TagMate tag-marking tool.

For more information, call Bryan Faragher of Infinity Stamps at 818-576-1188, or email bryan@infinitystamps.com.

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Dita Basu of Bead-Z-Mommys-Business shares her fascinating discovery regarding the color of jade:

Recently I had a unique opportunity to visit a jade factory in Beijing, China - where I learned an important lesson about distinguishing the real jade from the fake.

I was stranded in Beijing for three days on my way home to San Francisco from India, so I took advantage to visit this workshop.

Though in my untrained eye I knew only the various green hues as acceptable real jade, I found that people in the Far East value pure white, pale peach, a mellow yellow or a beautiful violet shade as precious colors for this gemstone. 

I also learned that there are four main tests that are done on jade:

1. The scratch test
2. The hot pin test
3. The density or specific gravity test
4. The color test to find out the fake from the real one.

We learned about jadeite and nephrites, which are also commonly referred to as jade, but they are not at all the same things.

Learn more about Dita’s jade discoveries in Jade - Real or Fake - Can You Tell the Difference?

Also be sure to visit Dita’s Alankarshilpa blog.

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