It happens to the best of us. You're sitting at your desk or workspace, and you're wondering what to make. You have inspirational photos, ideas, and a line to plan for the coming season or maybe just to increase the inventory in your shop. But try as you might, you can't seem to come up with an idea that doesn't feel like you're making a carbon copy of everything else you've made. In this situation, sometimes it helps to think of jewelry making like clothing. You don't want to wear the same outfit all the time, but taking clothes you have and layering them can make an entirely new outfit. Here's what I mean.
The Technique Tool Box
In my work as an artisan jeweler, I have this one particular technique that I love to use. I suppose you could call it beadweaving, but it's really just beading. It involves taking three strands and making them look like one larger strand. It's very popular, and so long as other aspects of the design change and evolve, I can pretty much use the same technique over and over across my line and not look like I'm creating the same piece. But sometimes, I want to branch out a bit.
Enter the Technique Tool Box. I think of all the techniques I know as tools in a tool box. Let's say you know how to do some beading, some beadweaving, and a few variations of wire wrapping. Each of those skills and techniques is a tool at your disposal. Challenge yourself to think of ways of layering these techniques in one piece to create a new look and feel without having to go take classes or spend money on books and such materials to get there.
Also, challenge yourself to take techniques you know in other areas of crafting that you may not consider jewelry skills, and apply them to your jewelry. Maybe you know how to knit. Why not knit some jewelry and create a fabric line?
Even if you're not ready to make that big of a leap, you can use what you have at your disposal in the realm of jewelry, and layer those techniques to make something gorgeous. Be creative! Often my best ideas in the creative world come from the question "What if...?" Don't be afraid to do something very different!
You Know More Than You Think
You already know more than you think you do when it comes to techniques. Learning to use techniques together to create new pieces, or to use the same technique on top of itself, can be a very vital portion of your creative process. Knitting is a perfect example of how a few techniques can be used for infinite projects. The knit and purl stitches are the basis (and sometimes the only stitches) used for a myriad of items and projects and patterns, all of which look different from each other. Do you love to create chains out of beads using eyepins? Why not layer that and create a multi-strand bracelet or necklace combining multiple chains you've beaded? Something that simple can create a bold new look for your inventory, and all it costs is some extra time.
Change The Other Design Components
Another way that you can add differentiation is to use the same technique, but to use totally different colors, textures, materials, or other design elements. It's amazing how the exact same technique used with glass, then gemstones, then a combination of both can create three pieces that look cohesive, but very unique, as well. This is a great way to add diversity to your line without having to learn anything new.
On that note, however, learning new techniques is worth while. I know sometimes we artisans can get into the "artistic freedom" mindset and not want to be taught that a technique is "correct" or "right," but there are established techniques out there that you can use to aid your own pieces by making them all your own. Just because you're learning a technique doesn't mean you're copying anybody. A technique is just a tool. What you build with it is all your own.
