What's Your Style?

What is my style? Now that is a question I really can't answer. I do a lot of things from string to off loom. I like to make everything. However for my personal style of wearing jewelry I lean toward the simple peices. I do have some that I tend to wear more than others and not willing to sell.

I try to look at the trends of today for making things to sell and sometimes I hit the nail on the head and have a real head turner.  Other times (a lot more than I care) I make something that just sits in my inventory.  After a couple of seasons I will either reduce the price to more it or restyle it.

I find designing a peice for others is a lot of fun. Most of the time I get to use more spark and flair.  Not all my request are for peices as simple in style that I like to wear. I am not a diamond type of gal.

Most of my strung peices have a repeat pattern. Except for my "Sea Side Resort" http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk159/queenpings/DSCF0140.jpg(Sorry I don't know how to make a live link you will have to copy and paste.) Now That was a fun peice to make and I didn't really know what I would add next. I started by looking closely at the focal bead. The bead reminded me of the beach with the sand and water.  I added the small MOP leaf and then just started building. I had nothing in mind when I bought the two fish, but they found thier home in this peice.

Hopefully someday I will discover my style.

Sue

my photo album:  http://s279.photobucket.com/albums/kk159/queenpings/

 Sorry about this extra post I tried to post a picture but I didn't like the picture so I tried to delete the whole post but when that didn't work I just deleted the picture.

I wish I had my copmputer geek home from the military.[:'(]

Sue

Wow!!!  reading about all of you searching for your own style  has me completely overwhelmed and intiminated.  Reading your posts  I notiticed that most of you sell your work regularly.  Others of you have products and masterpieics you have designed, sold and/or  won awards for.  Most of all you sound like artists and true professionals and after ten years of playing with beads I still feel like I have made very little progress.  I did note that many of you have or seem to have art backgrounds and are artists in you own right.  I can only learn beading by trial/error, reading on line, or out of books and magazines as I live where there are no bead shops and as far as I know no beaders.  When I think of "MY Style" I know the following: I love Jasper, agate, lapis, Swarvorski crystals, glass beads, seed beads (all sizes), pendents, gold and silver and basically simple designs (because complicated ones scare me to death!!)  But I never seem to figure aout what goes with them to make them '"shine".  How do you know when your work is classic and not simply boring???   I get lots of compliments but no buyers.  Course I don't have a lot of finished pieces lying around because my nieces love to do their jewelery shopping at my work table.  So maybe my style is "young and free"  hee-hee and I just never recognized it before.  Love reading all the discussion from other beaders and really glad to know that I  have at least found someone to talk to and share experiences with,   Lou From Arkansas

 I'm a beginning beader and have not developed my style yet.  I do notice I'm drawn to neutral and black colored beads and I do like different looking beads and textures.  Right now I just make what looks good to me in various colors.

JoAnn

Lou,

Don't get discouraged!  I've been beading as long as you, and sometimes I feel I'm really good, other times not so much.  I only sell things in fits and spurts, mainly because I'm a military spouse and we keep moving every few years, or my clients move, and we lose track of each other.  I think as long as you enjoy what you're doing, and as long as YOU like what you make, that's the best first step. 

I am also self taught.  A friend taught me basic loomwork which is what got me started in the first place, but other than that, my teachers have been all the great contributors to books, magazines, etc.  I too love having this forum format to be able to share ideas with fellow beaders.  I'm trying to organize some other people to form at least a craft group, if not beading specifically, because while I can bead happily by myself, it sure is nice to have someone else to appreciate what you're doing and bounce ideas off of.

Jeni

 I love your enthusiasm about this style post, Jeni! I wish you luck with your group-forming. The benefits of a bead group are a topic for another thread of posts, so look for that in the SBS Beads forum!

Meantime, it may be fun to share more pictures of what people think represents their style, or one of their styles, or a style they want to explore...!

Leslie

 Lou, I'm also self taught  and have no formal art or beading qualifications whatsoever, and although I've been playing with seed beads for thirtysomething years I still feel I'm just starting out in terms of discovering what those tiny beads can do... and although I have several publications under my belt I've only been beading 'seriously' and submitting to magazines for just over two years. And looking back, I'm amazed how far my beads and I have progressed in those two years! So don't be discouraged by other people's work - be inspired instead. (And have a go at submitting a favourite design to a magazine - it's a very easy process and very rewarding to see your work in print, and it doesn't have to be anything technically complicated, just original and interesting!)

In terms of a representative piece, I guess it has to be something like my Jungle collar - random peyote stitch embellished to the max with flowers, leaves, and everything but the kitchen sink:

I dabble in lots of other styles but this is the place I keep coming back to for beady relaxation, it grows organically without my having to think about it too much!

Sue,  You may not know how to make a "live link" but you certainly know how to make a necklace!  As a Piscean I really love your fish.  Lou

 Just gorgeous, Lynn!

I know a few artists who have a never-ending piece they work on periodically, by adding component after component. Your STYLE of colors are, as always, a real party!

Thank you Lou Ma. It was fun to make.

And no I still don't know how to make a live link and my computer geek is away at boot camp.[:'(]

Sue

 I've been struggling with the "what's my style?" question for some time now.  I know it's important to be able to verbalize it but I'm having a difficult time looking at my items and coming up with a common theme.  I have many different media I work with but interestingly people still tell me "it looks like something you made".

I think it's much easier to have other people comment on your work and style than it is to self-describe.

Thank you so much for the encouragement!  I saw your work and it is all beautiful.  Great job!!!!  Lou

I call what I do "arogantly shabby". I am an old beach bum and I tend to put that into almost everything that I make. Even when I do what I call "classy" pieces, there is always some fun there too. I like bright, almost obnoxious colors mixed in with the more sedate just to make people smile. Some even laugh right out loud. *grinz*

The lady that runs the nearest 'rock shop' is a Wiccan Priestess and I have made several pieces of ritualwear for her. She likes the fact that I can mix hemp and silk cording with real gemstones and pearls and have it look formal, yet no quite so, ya know.

My paternal grandmother was a Cherokee Midwife and Medicine Woman. She was on the government's Indian Midwife and Herbal Healers board until she passed in 1984. I get a lot of my ideas from things that she taught me about nature, healing, and the powers of stones, crystals, and ores.

That's my style as it were. When I get a new camera and start showing some stuff, y'all will see what I mean. ;o)

Square, your designs all look fresh and clean to me - like an ocean breeze.  Does that help a little?

Perry:

Square, your designs all look fresh and clean to me - like an ocean breeze.  Does that help a little?

 Thanks!  It DOES help.  I wouldn't have thought of those tww adjectives, but now that you say it I can see it.

It's really helpful from a marketing standpoint being able to describe one's own style and put it into words.  The Step By Step Wire mag last issue and the current issue discuss this in detail, and about coming up with a 'signature phrase', something short & sweet to get the idea across to potential buyers.