Be sure to check out my Beading Basics instructions for advice on how to get started in jewelry making. This section is about designing a piece of jewelry from start to finish. There are no hard and fast rules, I thought it might be fun and educational to journey with me from the start of a design to its completion.

To jumpstart the creative process, find an "inspiration piece" - something that appeals to you, that speaks to you, that gives you an urge to get artistic! For me, sometimes, it is a "chance" arrangement of items on my beading table (I seem to work best in utter chaos). At other times, it's an idea that pops into my head, or a picture in a magazine, or a lovely flower or sunset or some other natural beautiful thing. I like to look at beading/jewelry magazines, like Beadwork or  Bead & Button as well as paper arts magazines such as Cloth, Paper, Scissors or Somerset Studio. I also enjoy magazines about archaeology, decorating, nature, travel and science. 

This piece began with an auction win from Cheryl's Art at JustBeads.com. My hubby made a lot of polyclay pieces, and I wanted him to make something similar to this pendant, but he never got around to it. So I was drawn to Cheryl's "Mauve Magic PolyDichroFusion" pendant because of this and because purple is my favorite color.

When I received the kit, I was amazed at how lovely everything was in person, but I felt it needed some additional polyclay components to make the design complete. So I contacted Cheryl with a request to make additional beads, some in a leaf style and some in a button style. Here is the mock up of my design request.

Along with making a pleasing bead arrangement, I also need to think about what kind of stringing material would work best, and what kind of clasp I'll need.

For more, see Jewelry Design 2.