I came home from a 4 1/2 hour work day today (yes, we musicians work when other people don’t) and was so zonked that I fell deeply asleep for an hour and a half.   As tempting as it was to stay in bed for the rest of the day, the lawn needing mowing, the house needed cleaning and I wanted to work on my design for today.

I’m passionate about good jewelry design!

My latest project is to create cool designs at the bench that are truly affordable.  What is affordable though?  If you pay $8 for an eyeliner on an impulse trip to Walgreens, is $28 for a pair of earrings also a guilt-free impulse buy?  $32?  $48?   More?  Less?

I’ve worked up a bunch of rough sketches with these price points in mind.  However, for various reasons, I haven’t yet had an “ah ha!” moment on any of these:

earring sketches done in pencil on white paper
A Glimpse of My Sketchbook

My inner critic is popping up saying, “Too simple! Banal! Cheap! Impractical…”

And, so I don’t have the answer yet.

Since I haven’t posted any colorful renderings in a few days, here is a (not cheap) suite of jewelry I designed back in December of ’08:

Watercolor and gouache yellow and white metal jewelry suite designed by Joana Miranda
Jewelry Suite in Yellow and White Metal Designed by Joana Miranda

Comments

    • joanasjewelry says:

      Actually, I’d love to hear feedback! I’m always trying to learn and grow…

      Thanks for reading, Nina!

      🙂 Joana

      • nina says:

        Joana,

        My price points for splurging:
        $15-$25 pretty easy to do on impulse
        $25-$40 requires some justification
        $40 is a more serious commitment
        $100 is a piece of special jewelry for me

        I have purchased 2 pieces of jewelry which were more than this, and each of them represents something larger. I have a ring with 3 tiny sapphires that was a reward for a large personal goal, and a gold necklace with a seagull suspended between a square-link chain that was my first working life purchase. I looked at it in the jewelry store for months before I bought it.

        I probably have 5-8 pieces that were in the $100 range. I purchased about half, the others were gifts.

        I have many $20-$40 pair of earrings, and love them all.

        I am enjoying seeing what you create each day, and have chosen my task that will be rewarded with your earrings. I will not achieve this goal until sometime late in the summer, so you have plenty of time before you make them

        Nina

        • joanasjewelry says:

          Hi Nina,

          Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. My jewelry purchasing tends to fall along those lines, too. I did spend more on my wedding earrings than on the actual dress, but that certainly seemed justified! I am working on some pieces that fall in our �pretty-easy-to-do-on-impulse� range; also, with the purchase of my new rotary tumbler, the time saved on polishing should help me to keep the bulk of what I offer in the �I-deserve-it (but don�t want to break the bank)� category.

          All best wishes, Joana

  2. joanasjewelry says:

    Hi Nina,

    Thanks so much for your thoughtful reply. My jewelry purchasing tends to fall along those lines, too. I did spend more on my wedding earrings than on the actual dress, but that certainly seemed justified! I am working on some pieces that fall in our “pretty-easy-to-do-on-impulse” range; also, with the purchase of my new rotary tumbler, the time saved on polishing should help me to keep the bulk of what I offer in the “I-deserve-it (but don’t want to break the bank)” category.

    All best wishes,
    Joana

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