by Jessica Steele

Created on: September 04, 2007   Last Updated: March 28, 2011

I consider jewelry making an art. The act in itself may fall into the crafting category, but the end result is most certainly art in the eye of the creator. One project I personally make is glass bead necklaces and I spend more time, in the bead store, picking out beads, one at a time. Table by table I study each bead until I know this is the one I want for my next piece. I can spend hours in the bead store, putting together thoughts and ideas about how all this colorful bounty of shiny glass wonders can work together to create a masterpiece. Like a kid in a candy store, I always leave with more than I came in for.

When I get home, I get back to working on how the pattern will go, what colors will work best together, and what shapes and sizes of beads I want to mix. Do I want this piece of jewelry to be a dressy piece that someone will wear occasionally? Or, will it be a daily piece which would do best to fit with a variety of styles and moods? Am I making it for a child or an adult? Do I know the recipient's favorite colors or shapes? Will it be one distinctive piece with accents and highlights, or will it be several similarly sized and colored pieces melding into one harmonious ribbon of beads. It is quite soothing for me to put together the pieces and come up with something that is beautiful, and that I feel proud of, but, you cannot just sit down and pump them out factory style. There has to be creativity present. One must find inspiration to create these masterpieces.

Jewelry making can be a very personalized art. It is also a craft. I think that arts and crafts go hand in hand. In most cases, it would be difficult to have one without the other. Art is a form of expression. I put a lot of time, emotion, and consideration into my work. Many people have brought me broken strings of beads and asked me to fix their necklace for them. I will typically cringe at the notion and tell them that I will make them a new necklace with their beads, but I will not fix the old. It just doesn't feel right. The idea is in some inexplicable way, almost insulting. After speculation, I suppose it is because that is someone else's art, and it is not inspiring to me, or may even be an intrusion into the other artists work to try to recreate it.

Every single piece is put together with inspiration. I cannot just duplicate someone else's work, it leaves me feeling frustrated, empty and unsatisfied. Jewelry making is most certainly an art, but it is also a craft, and a hobby, and would probably fit into many other categories that I am not thinking of right now. Unless it is mass produced, you must consider that it reflects something about its creator. In reflecting the creator, and creativity, you see a glimpse of someone's soul, and that, is art.

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