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Every piece of jewelry from the lavish offerings in Neiman Marcus to the $5 chokers at Claires share one thing in common: Somewhere, at some point in time, someone came up with the design. While funneling creativity into original jewelry designs may seem like a task reserved for professional artists, it is not as difficult as it seems. The following will help you unearth the designer within you that is more than capable of producing unique jewelry creations.

MASTER THE BASICS

Like any form of art, before you delve into uniqueness and originality it is important you master fundamental technique. Take some classes, invest in instructional books and magazines, copy every sample in your local bead store, and practice practice practice. Crafting an intricate wirework design of your own will prove very difficult if you don't understand the characteristics of wire, like gauge and hardness, or how to work with it. Taking the time to conquer the basics will ensure you are adequately equipped to create masterpieces of your own.

COLLECT INSPIRATION

Photos, magazine clippings, items with curious color combinations, words, old antiques, and anything else that catches your eye can serve as inspirational tools. Glue them into a notebook with jotted comments or toss 3 dimensional items into a shoebox. You can also collect pictures of jewelry pieces you particularly like or even throw interesting jewelry trinkets from your travels into the box. While you don't want to copy them exactly, they may kick start the creative juices and give you ideas for your own piece.

SKETCHBOOK

Having a sketchbook handy to capture the brilliance that may hit you at any moment is very useful. Besides insuring you won't forget your idea, it is easier to bring concrete designs on paper to life than to make tangible the ideas floating in your brains. You can also manipulate designs on paper as many times as you want in your quest for perfection, but manipulating an already 2/3rds completed piece will be time-consuming and wasteful.

EXPERIMENT

If you have no idea in your head to sketch in a book, experimentation can breathe life into dormant creativity. Take a familiar design and change it by using different materials and altering the pattern. You may discover it brings to light new shapes, combinations, and methods of construction you had no idea existed. Replacing bendable artistic wire with much more brittle sterling silver completely changed the look of a bracelet I used to make and served as the inspiration

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