A quick summary - It isn't this easy !
.
Coming up with new designs time after time for the hand-made jewelry sets sometimes can become quite time consuming, especially when you don't want to make anything exactly alike. Sometimes you get lucky and get it right on the first try.
.
First, you have to go find the various gemstones one wants to use. Finding gemstones is easy, deciding on what looks best, goes together and what will sell is a whole different story.
.
Second, you have your gemstones, no matter if tumbled, cut and polished or faceted, the basic idea of putting various stones together with the varying kinds of metals remains the same. Which goes together and which looks best. Sometime you also have to polish, cut or drill to get exactly what you want.
Third, getting the design. The specially designed boards that you can lay the stones out in plus give you sizes and lengths come in quite handy at this point. So you take the various kinds of gemstones and start laying them out. That is unless you have a idea or predetermined plan. You keep moving the stones around, even with pre-planned ideas, until something catches your eye that looks nice. At this point you do a temporary stringing to see how it will hang. You will note, as in the picture, at first you may have a single piece laid out with different design pattern to either side of the center.
.
.
Fourth, you bounce your final design off someone else (husbands are handy for this because they sometimes are the ones who buy presents for the wife, thus what catches their eye), but most of the time you revert back to what you think the gals will like because most women buy their own jewelry, except for special occassions.
.
Fifth, put it together. See if you like it. Give it to someone to handle to make sure everything is in place and tight.
.
One added comment. The main reason most of the time you do not see repeat designs in handmade gemstone jewelry is trying to find enough of the same gemstones to be able to make one piece, let alone several.
.
.
