For instance, I bought an amazing sterling silver and crystal skull clasp at On A String a while back. It is cleverly constructed, gorgeous, edgy and was (for me at least) a splurge. It also reminds me of Alexander McQueen’s work which makes me love it even more. But it is put away, wrapped in tissue paper. Why not pull it out and design a piece for it?

And what about my collection of Depression Glass? Why is it upstairs packed in boxes in a closet? What would happen if I unpacked it? Maybe I should even (gasp!) use it as my dinnerware.

Jennifer L. Scott’s Daily Connoisseur video on using your best things, has inspired me to reevaluate not only what I keep but what I do with it.

If you aren’t familiar with Jennifer, she has a book “Lessons from Madame Chic: The Top 20 Things I Learned While Living in Paris” and a blog “The Daily Connoisseur“. I bought the Kindle version of the book on Amazon and am thoroughly enjoying it.

The mentor for Korea, Professor Kan Ho-sup, gave advice that stuck with me when I think about designing jewelry. Granted, I was reading subtitles but I hope they were close to what he said. I wrote down,

“A collection should show progression”
“Be compact”
“Connect, connect, connect” and
“Boldly throw out the things that need to be thrown out”

I thought I needed to work more like a fashion designer and create a mood board or inspiration board. I gathered up items that caught my eye recently because they fit ideas I’ve been sketching or thinking about. I’ll be honest. I usually throw stuff like this in a folder and never look at it again. This time,  I taped them to a piece of black gatorboard I had laying around. I used the blue painter’s tape so I can easily reuse the board. And voilà, my Fall/Winter 2011 Mood Board:

It took a lot longer to make than I thought it would. Plus, I was in the middle of prepping for a garage sale. (Garage sales apparently also take a lot longer than you think they will to get ready for.) I’ve stood my mood board on the back of my work table to use as a reference. I hope it will help me over the next few weeks. By placing some constraints on my designs, I think it will make it easier to get started. In any case, I’m excited about working on this collection now.

Next step > Consolidate and finalize the sketches I have in about 30 different places!

This was my first attempt at a “real” ring and my first bezel set cabochon. I have been aching to learn how to bezel set a stone for years! I’ve read numerous books explaining the technique. But I was too nervous about it to try it on my own. I had enough trouble just soldering jump rings.

This was the fourth project I made in Dan’s class. I did a pair of soldered earrings and two different soldered bracelets before attempting this. Since I am an admitted beginner, I needed to learn to solder properly prior to trying a bezel.  One of the things I appreciate about Dan is that he selects the projects you do based on your skill level and interests.

I am so happy with the way this turned out. Plus, it’s a beautiful piece of amber.

The pendant at right was the first piece Dan had us co-design a bit. He gave us some parameters: bezel set a much larger stone (lucky me, he had another amber cabochon!), create a swing bail and attach the bezel cup to the piece with wire solder (we had been using paste). It was up to us how to design in the two pieces of hefty sterling wire that make up the base of the piece. He provided us with a few sample designs for inspiration and asked us to sketch.

I had the top of the piece designed in a way I liked but couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with the bottom. I decided to figure it out later (not always the smartest way to work but paid off in this case). I bezel set the cabochon, attached it, completed the swing bail and left the bottom of the piece unfinished for several weeks. I kept doing sketches and looking at the darn pendant. Nothing worked. I was digging through my jewelry box one morning and found a pair of earrings I never wear any more. I thought the dangles on them would be perfect with this pendant! I took one of the earrings apart, cleaned it up a bit and reworked it slightly. All I had to do to the pendant was trim and attach a ring for the dangle at the bottom. Voilà! It’s now one of my favorite pieces.

This “Ballerina Ring” started well, got complicated in the middle (my fault, not Dan’s), was thrown in the scrap bin for a few days, grabbed back out, taken apart, re-soldered, patina-ed about six times and finally declared finished.

It looks nothing like Dan’s sample and I used a stone that was too small for the prong setting (the original one didn’t work with the patina). That said, I learned the techniques he asked us to and a valuable lesson – don’t give up on a design that isn’t going well. You need to understand the rules and learn each technique. But you also need to figure out how to pick yourself up and dust yourself off when you fall down a deep, dark design hole.

I was so distraught when I threw this ring in the scrap. Part of it was feeling like a failure and part was anger at wasting this much silver. The top of the ring was quite scratched up (scars from all the drama). A little liver of sulfur and steel wool fixed that right up. And I love the sort of gunmetal on the top and silver on the bottom look. I wear this ring a lot.

Finally, here’s a Swing Bezel Tongue Pendant. I love, love, LOVE this piece of crazy lace agate. It is breathtaking. I would have been happy just to have it to look at. I wish I could say this one was easy. I can’t. It was another difficult piece for me. It had the dreaded firestain – my fault. I overheated it an knew better. I tried polishing it out. I polished so much that I wore the metal away in places. I had to ask Dan for more bezel wire at the next class. Took it home, tried it again and was successful. This one taught me to err on the side of “it might not be completely soldered” instead of the “I’m going to heat this until I’m SURE it’s soldered”.  Dan tells you many, many times not to overheat. I had to learn it the hard way.

These are just a few of the things I’m learning from Dan. He will be teaching at the William Holland School of Lapidary Arts in Young Harris, Georgia again this year. I’m planning to take his Silver II course there. I need to get in A LOT more practice pieces at home before that starts. I’m nervous and thrilled about going though. Plus, it’s in the mountains. Can it get any better?