Squares All Around

I haven't really said anything public about it just yet, but in a little over a month I am going to do something jewelry-related that isn't just trying to sell my goods in my Etsy shop. I'm going to share a stand with my friend, and we're both going to sell our jewelry together in an arts and crafts fair of sorts in Paris. For me, this is totally amazing, it's a wonderful first step in the direction of doing this jewelry thing seriously, and I'm super-excited.
However, when I thought about it for a while, I realized that no matter how many pieces I wish to sell, it won't matter at all if I don't have enough pieces to sell. Therefore, I made a decision: as hard as it is for me to take a component and work only with what that component allows me to do, I have to start making series and collections of similar shapes, with different colors or slightly different designs.

And why would that be a problem?

Well, I'm glad you asked.
I'm that type of person who love experimenting. As soon as I figure out something fun and wonderful to do with a component, I start checking other ones, and see what they can do. As it is, I happen to have quite a lot of components at this specific point in time, and therefore focusing on one (even if it's only for a limited time) tends to be very complicated, mainly because my attention is simply diverted to the other components and materials in the area.

So yesterday I decided that no matter what, I am going to finish one of the collections I've been thinking of for a while now. And today was the first day of trying to live up to that challenge. And I have to say, I'm pretty impressed by the result.

Today's component was squares. I'm currently into increasing my earrings inventory, and so that was the only thing I made today - earrings with silver square components.

Basically, before you understand what's going on in there, it looks something like this:

(I'll be honest with you and say I couldn't take the photo before they were actually already built, because I had no idea what I was going to do, and I have way too many materials to fit info one photo)

So, from the mess came out 10 pairs of earrings. Some of them I like more, others less, mainly because I try working with warm and soft colors, which are totally not my colors (I really love the cooler shades), but to be able to sell to various kinds of people, you have to know your way around other color palettes than your own, so this is an integral and important part of my constant experimentation with... stuff.

I started working with a basic pattern, and tried using classic shapes and beads and materials, and make them go well together:

Fairly quickly I started looking for more interesting materials I can work with. Some worked, some didn't, but this one was a great success, in my opinion:

At some point, I felt like it would be a good idea to add a splash of color also inside the silver square, and perhaps even try to... square it from within:

Then came the game of "let's try to do something classical but still different with this shape". I tried using silver beads I found in one of my boxes (I was really happy with those, too bad I only have about 4 more of them, maybe I should get some more...)

And obviously, then I had to try another variation on this sort of design...

Last but not least, I used shell pearls and malachite chunks to create a strange, yet not unappealing earring. I liked it very much, and decided that this one will conclude today's work:

Experimenting on materials and colors is not an easy thing to do. You have to keep your mind open and constantly look for new ideas, materials, color combinations, shapes and shape combinations, etc. It's hard and it's demanding, but it's also a great deal of fun. I discovered today that I can decide to work with only a single base shape, and still find a lot of room for experimenting within that limitation.
I hope that tomorrow or sometime over the next few days I can share with you my next experiment. I also hope to get some sun in here, that will allow me to take good photos of these new earrings for my Etsy shop.

If you liked this post, please upvote and resteem, and maybe follow me on Steemit, too!
To take a look at my photos (mainly Paris related), visit my Instagram account.
For planning your dream vacation in Paris or France, come visit my website.
Or, if you just want to see more pretty things, go to my Etsy shop and see what I have there for you :-)

And in the meantime – don't forget to have a wonderful day.