Sharma Designs - Behind the Scenes of a Handmade Jewelry Business

Studio Friday: Artist's Block

This week's topic for Friday September 1st suggested by Gabi: ARTIST'S BLOCK.

"You've heard of 'writer's block'. Well as an artist, I sometimes suffer from "Artist's block". What is this you ask? It's when you sit and sit and can't come up with anything. This can go on for hours, days, weeks even months sometimes. I want to know how you break free of Artist's block! "

Well, I call it Beader's Block.  Beader's Block is when I sit down to make jewelry and for the life of me I cannot come up with one good piece of jewelry.  Now, normally, the ideas are flowing.  I sit down to make one thing and end up making 10 new pieces of jewelry.  So needless to say, when I get the dreaded Beader's Block I am quite distressed.

I used to think it happened when I was tired but I am always tired and I am not always blocked so that's not it.  I honestly think it is a combination of stress, tiredness and burnout.  If I have a lot of stressful things on my mind my creativity is zapped. 

What's my solution?  Well, I have learned not to work through it.  I end up making pieces that I hate and take apart later.  For me, the best thing to do is to walk away.  I take a few days off and spend time with my family, work on other aspects of the business (There are a million aren't there?) and I peruse other non jewelry sites for inspiration.  I like to look at fabric sites.  I always find some really great color combinations.  Once I made a necklace inspired by one of Carrie's fabulous handbags (that I later bought).  Pictures of nature, especially flowers, also prove to be great for my creativity.

Hope you all have a great creative weekend!

See more Studio Friday entries here

My New Home

I'm so compulsive.  I have been wanting to switch to Typepad for awhile, especially after setting it up for Rare Bird.  It is so much more reliable and the design just looks better.  I also like the category feature.  Organization is good.

Anyway, I had decided to wait to switch but after walking Carrie through the switch the other day and seeing how nice her blog looked I just couldn't stop thinking about it.  So here I am.

I still have a lot of work to do.  The old posts can all be seen in the archives and some in the categories but I have to finish organizing all of them.  I also have to move over the pictures.  I did a month's worth and then called it quits (for tonight).

If you see anything quirky please let me know.  Please update your subscriptions in bloglines or my yahoo or whatever you use.

And if you have a blog and would like to exchange links let me know.  I want to build up my links to other blogs and vice versa.

Not to worry...I have been working on jewelry too.  After all, I need pretty pictures for my nice new blog right?

A-ha the Assymetrical Necklace is Getting Lots of Press!

I get a lot of mixed reactions with my assymetrical necklaces. Most of the necklaces I have made for myself lately have been assymetrical and when people stop to admire I either get an "Ooooohhh!" or a "Well, that's interesting (as they squint their eyes and kinda tilt their head)".

As I have said before, my sister groans and rolls her eyes when she sees the assymetrical ones (She needs things to be neat and tidy) and even my husband has given me an "Another assymetrical one?".

That's okay though because there is apparently people like me who appreciate things that are a little different. I just found out that I was a Daily Pick at AZ Central. What did they feature?

An assymetrical necklace.

My Latest Custom Bridal Jewelry Project

As I mentioned yesterday, I am working on some wedding jewelry for a friend of mine. Actually she is my favorite hair stylist. Definitely someone you want to please. I want my hair looking fabulous right?

When I start a custom bridal jewelry project I like to meet with the person if all possible. I really like to get a feel of what they are envisioning so that I can create the perfect jewelry for them. The fewer times I have to revise something - the better for both of us.

This wedding is going to have a vintage feel to it. I got involved when my friend was..suprise suprise..doing my hair and was complaining that she couldn't find exactly what she was looking for. It always feels like you see something in every store..until you actually need it right?

At first it was just going to be the bridesmaids I was making jewelry for. She wasn't sure whether or not she wanted earrings or a necklace for the dress.

After talking it over, we decided to just do earrings. She wanted to use dark metal and I felt that with the silver of the flower brooch, a dark necklace wouldn't look right (although the company that makes the dress obviously disagrees). We chose to do earrings. She basically told me that she trusted me and to do whatever I thought would look good. This is what I came up with.

The girls are wearing their hair up and I think the earrings will look great. They have a vintage feel to them without being totally unwearable for everyday.

She also asked me to make her earrings. She told me to think "Beyonce" That cracked me up. One thing I love about doing custom projects is that I get to make different styles of jewelry. I have my own style for the jewelry for my site. Obviously I can make other styles but I don't want my jewelry to be all over the place design-wise. So when I get a project like this where I get an opportunity to make "Diva" jewelry I love it.

Her dress is strapless and has a lot of sparkly beading all over it. It's gorgeous. In this situation there really is no choice besides the obvious...swarovski crystals. The pictures really don't do them justice as they sparkle like CRAZY. They look like mini chandeliers. I almost want a pair for myself. I have no idea where I would wear them (besides around the house..admiring them in every mirror)

See that the bridesmaid's jewelry complements the bride's jewelry without competing with it. Really? How do you compete with those?

The bride hasn't seen them yet. I hope she is as pleased with them as I am. I really think they will look gorgeous with her dress.

New Pendants to Play With

Last week I had to slow the production at Sharma Designs a bit in order to spend some time with my family. Not to worry, although I was not making a lot of jewelry I was ordering some much needed jewelry supplies. Above are a few new pendants.

The black teardrops are onyx. I always like to have some basic black pendants on hand. Everyone needs a good black necklace right? There is also a Flower Sugilite Pendant (purple), a Pink Sunstone Pendant, and a Bronzite pendant. The Sunstone has a touch of shimmery sparkliness to it. It's so pretty in the light. The Bronzite has amazing shiny little flecks in it.

I can't wait to get creating again. I need too! Again...my website is bare! I am also working on some wedding earrings which I am really excited about so I will get pictures of those up too.

Have a great Monday!

A Custom Necklace with a Charming Story

A few weeks ago, a customer contacted me about creating a necklace for a pendant she had. The pendant was a present to her Grandmother from her Grandfather. He bought it for her in Japan when he was in WWII. When her grandmother passed away my customer inherited it.

My customer loved the pendant but it had been sitting in her jewelry box because she didn't have a necklace for it. She felt a simple gold chain just didn't do it justice.

Of course I was up for the challenge. I went with black and green beads to keep the Asian flair. I purposely chose beads that were a green that was a shade darker because I really wanted the pendant to be the focal point of the necklace.

I made it. She loved it. And now she will think of her Grandparents whenever she wears her necklace. I love a happy ending.

If you have a pendant that needs a necklace please contact me so we can chat.

Brown 712 Feature

Our Scene Jasper Necklace was featured at "Brown 712: A daily publication about the art of handbags, shoes & accessories". You can read the article here.

Yay! Thanks Marsha!

Party, Shopping and the Carries

What a weekend! I left Friday morning and made my way down I-5. Some people hate the 6 hour drive from Northern Cali to SoCal but I honestly have driven it so many times that I don't mind it a bit. I pop in an audio cd and armed with a Starbucks I take off driving.

Friday night I had a great jewelry party. I got to see lots of familiar faces and sold lots of jewelry! The one thing I am bummed about is that I was so busy selling and catching up that I didn't take any pictures. I even set my camera out to make sure that I would!

Saturday I picked up my B.F Carrie and we spent the day shopping in Westwood and wherever else there were stores! Carrie is my favorite person to shop with. We could spend hours in the stores and not be a bit tired. It was also nice to shop without feeling like I had to entertain the little one.

Saturday night we met up with my sister and her boyfriend for more shopping! We went to the Irvine Spectrum. That place is crowded but a ton of fun. There is live music and tons of shops and places to eat. We really closed down the shops too. My sister's boyfriend was quite the trooper. My husband would have been outta there.

Sunday I slept in (You moms know what a rare treat that is!) My husband called at 8:30 and said "Where are you?" (Meaning on the road). I said "Sleeping!" He was not happy. After Carrie (Who will now be known as Shopping Carrie - it's going to get confusing here) and I got our coffee fix we drove up north to the Palos Verdes Farmer's Market to see my other friend Carrie.....Carrie Sommer (We'll call her Handbag Carrie). I honestly just couldn't pass up the chance to see Handbag Carrie even if it was for a few minutes. And of course to see all her beautiful purses and aprons in person! There are even cuter in person. As we were leaving Shopping Carrie said "Wow! Her display is so cute! It feels like you are in a little boutique!" I couldn't agree more.

As you can see from the picture above I did score a few of her fabulous handbags. I think that brings my total to 4. How will I ever decide which one to use? I swear that Handbag Carrie moniters my thoughts as I peruse fabric websites (No I can't sew. I just like to look) because she always picks my very favorite fabrics! Every Sommer Designs handbag I have is soooo me.

So a fun weekend of shopping and friends. Could a girl ask for more? I did miss my bubbi and my husband terribly. My daughter gave me the silent treatment when I got home and almost made me cry. But we are good now. Little twerp! I guess she showed me!

Right now I am going to upload the new jewelry and I might just do a few markdowns too so be sure to check the site a little later and see what's new and newly reduced!

Studio Friday: Dessert Island

Here's today's topic:

So imagine that you are still on the island and are getting hungry. The beautiful thing is that it is a paradise island and you can make your wish for your favorite desserts!!! Yummy!! Which ones will you wish for?

Honestly? They could bring me anything sweet (except fruit. I hate fruit) and I would be happy. I love desserts. If I had my very very favorite it would be Haagen Dazs Caramel Cone ice cream.

I worked at an ice cream shop as a teenager and we could eat whatever we wanted while we were on the clock. Being the ice cream-aholic that I am....I lived on ice cream for months. I tried every flavor with every combination of topping (bubble gum ice cream with marshmallow topping anyone?) Believe it or not, when you eat that much ice cream you really do get sick of it. I know..I know..seems impossible but it's true. I didn't eat any ice cream for about 2 years after that.

Obviously I got over it.

Now..do we gain weight on this crafty island with delicious treats?

"So You Think You Can Dance" Recap

Okay mock me all you want for feeling the need to do a recap of my favorite show but don't mock me unless you have actually watched the show a few times. Because I assure you it will suck you in and make you a believer.

First of all....Yay Benji!! I was very happy that Benji won. He seems like such a cool guy and he was so entertaining to watch. Ivan was really my favorite but I knew he wasn't as skilled as the top four. So as soon as he got booted I changed my alliance to Benji. But then last night as the two boys were standing there I felt so sad for Travis. I wish they both could have won. If Travis would have just had a little more personality throughout the show(like he started to at the end) I think he may have won.

What I hated about the finale show:

1. The way the girls got offed. How cruel was that? "Oh America voted and you aren't the favorite!" (aka "You're a big loser!"). They should have just waited until the end and then called the winner. Mean mean mean.

2. The judges obviously knew that Benji was going to win. Last week they only said good things about Travis. They told Benji he wasn't up to par technically. This week they were falling all over themselves to say nice things about Benji too.

3. That now the show is over. Boo!

What I loved:

1. All the dances. It was nice to hear what the dancers favorite dances were and why.

2. Seeing Ivan dance again. Since he is my favorite.

3. The Tranji dance again!

4. All the dancers recap videos. Although, of course, they made me cry. What is it about this show making me cry? I don't understand why I am so attached to it! Those producers do an amazing job of sucking you in!

I would love to hear what you guys thought. If you watched. I know you watched Jenn!