Birthdays are just once a year, for them rightly you give a perfect gift for people that your love. But how do you start? How do you make a piece of jewelry that you can feel confident someone else will wear and enjoy? While there are no guarantees, there are steps you can take to design the perfect gift.
ü Analyze the Person
Whenever you create a piece of jewelry for a gift, you first think about who you are making it for and analyze that person. Does she wear a lot of jewelry, a little, or none at all? If she does wear jewelry, does she tend to wear large or small pieces? What colors does she wear most often? What is her birthstone? Does she wear gold or silver?
These questions are a good place to start in order to determine what type of jewelry a person prefers.
ü Pick an Item
Once you have answered these questions, you start to think about the type of item you will make.
If it’s someone you know pretty well like one of your sisters, you feel comfortable making them a bracelet, for example, because you know they have about the same size wrist as you do.
If it’s someone you don’t know as well, you usually find it safer to make earrings, a memory wire bracelet, or a Y necklace.
If it’s a man’s gift, and he doesn't wear jewelry (which often seems to be the case), then there are always key chains or tie clips.
ü Sketch an Idea
If it a very special gift and you don’t have some lightening bolt of inspiration hit you, you will often take a few minutes to sketch out your design ideas on paper. This way you can add or erase parts and pieces as you think out the design. Also, this allows you to put it down and look at it the next day to see what you think about it.
If you are making a gift that someone else is giving, you show him/her the sketches and work with him/her on incorporating what he/she likes about the different ideas into one design.
ü Make a Prototype
If the design is new to you and you have never done anything like it before, you make a prototype. You may not use the best materials to create this example. You are just trying to get an idea of how you should make the piece and how it will look when it’s finished.
If it’s a piece you have made before (such as a wire and bead necklace) and you are just using a different color scheme for example, then you will take the materials you plan to use and simulate the piece or even just set the materials up next to each other to see how they look together. You do this a lot when working with beads and find a bead board very helpful.
I hope these tips help you create the perfect gift for your friends and family. Though most people appreciate your jewelry making efforts, it’s always nice to feel that you’ve matched the gift to the person.
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