We picked herbs and spices from the organic garden then set to work on an ambitious menu of five Indonesian dishes. The patient instructor from Cafe Wayan walked us through our paces grinding corriander with a mortar and pestle, crushing lemon grass, slicing shallots and mincing garlic. Soon the air was perfumed with the delicious scent of Balinese cooking. In three hours we prepared five dishes then sat down for a well earned feast. I have a new appreciation for the amount of slicing and dicing in Asian food and I just might attempt black rice pudding at home. As I relaxed after the meal, with my senses of smell and taste rapturously sated, images of new silver pendant designs began to float to the surface of my mind. Creativity is such a beautiful mystery……
I love our new rustic silver branch jewelry link. I’ve had a vision for months of how it should look and the results are just as I’d hoped. We also worked on a smaller branch at the same time, and it was less successful. This is one part of the design process that remains hidden: the styles that don’t make the cut. We only move forward with a new style after it’s been worked and revised and tuned to its essence. We have drawers full of “no” and “needs revisions” samples.
Occasionally, because it’s the path of least resistance, we’ve approved a new style even though there’s a slight modification that would have made it even better. Inevitably, I regret it. Every time I see the style in the catalog, I think “we should have tried it with larger granulation” or “I’d use it more often if the flower was also on the toggle bar.” After years of this, I think we’ve learned our lesson and now we thoroughly explore all options during the revision process.
This smaller branch is a good example: I love the scale and texture of this jewelry link, but don’t care for the rounded curve of the bottom branch. The goal was to create a closed loop, but this bottom branch looks forced and unnatural. We will continue to develop it until it feels right. One possible solution is to add a jump ring to the end of the small twig instead of curving it back up to meet the main branch….
Large and Small Branch Jewelry Links
Successful large branch jewelry link!
Revisions sketches for small Branch Jewelry Link.
Summer is buzzing and I’m so excited about all of new Silver Charms here at Nina Designs! Maybe it’s the blooming flowers and extra sunlight, but the colors of summer are always the most luscious. From a blossoming Iris or Lilac, to the petite petals of Jasmine flowers and the textural fringe of a fern, I’m always especially inspired in summer.
In an attempt to find new combinations of colors to use in my jewelry designs, I’ve been excited to try mixing our vibrant sterling vermeil findings with our silver charms and dangles. Adding in a few bright gemstone beads to the mix can create an instant bouquet of color and texture. My Wild Flower earrings combine our bright sterling vermeil jewelry links and earring tops with electric green Idocrase gemstone beads and berry-colored Garnet rondelles. The repeating petal shapes that occur in the sterling vermeil earring tops and links recall the plethora of floral forms of summer, which are perfectly complimented by the sweet Silver Honey Bee Charm.
Colorful Gemstones
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The Balinese practice a form of Hinduism laced with Buddhism and animism. Everything has a spirit, even inanimate objects. It is important to honor the Gods and spirits with ceremonies. Every household in Bali has a temple. Each morning, a woman of the house brings offerings to the temple, lights incense, says a prayer and then distributes more offerings around the family compound to bless and purify the space. These offerings are beautiful works of art handmade from woven palm leaves, flowers, rice, coins and holy water. I have always been inspired by the spiritual traditions in Bali and fascinated by the exquisite offerings. Women spend many, many hours a week creating these beautiful objects which quickly die in the heat. I could not resist exploring the concept of the offering as a landscape. As you can see, our silver charms inhabit them with ease and grace.
A healthy imagination requires regular exercise. Mine performs flips and twirls over our new Fantasia collection of silver pendants. In exquisite detail, the joyful faces and playful poses of these cherubs exude a carefree and delightful spirit. I can imagine myself as this lively mermaid on the back of my trusty seahorse, frolicking in the waves with my long hair streaming behind. Who needs to worry about rising silver prices when I can just escape to my personal fantasy world, full of fat cherubs and beguiling mermaids?
Inspired by vintage pieces, the quality of these new Fantasia silver pendants is amazing. They are worthy of being passed from mother to daughter as treasured heirlooms. We hope they will spark your imagination like they have ours. We expect to have stock on them in the next six to eight weeks.
Hello Friend! Nice to run into you on Fantasy Lane....
Fantasia Collection
Because I’m new to jewelry design, I approached my Ocean’s Treasure Necklace in segments. Starting with a simple sketch inspired by our Silver Bubble Pendant, visions of the ocean began to develop. I selected our Silver Saturn Chain because it reminds me of tiny ocean bubbles and seaweed. Perfect for my design! Now with my sketch in hand, I began gathering a variety of silver charms, spacers, gemstone beads, pearls, silver chain and sterling vermeil beads.
To further develop my design, I physically laid out the necklace as it would look on a woman’s neckline. The first image shows my initial step of composition. If you look closely, you will see nothing is attached. That’s because I still have three possibilities for a clasp in mind. In my creative journey I try to allow the piece to develop freely. Each step presents another vision of where I want to go next. I allow these changes to flow. For instance, I decided to replace the coin pearls near the clasp with two Chrysoprase gemstone beads. The necklace was more balanced and looked better that way. I also replaced the silver skull charm with its sterling vermeil counterpart because it made a stronger impact. As my last step I added Garnet and Ruby gemstone beads, because the piece was crying out for color!
This necklace was a delight to create. It was technically challenging but I learned so much along the way. It would be wonderful to hear how you approach your creative visions, so please feel free to post any comments about your own work too!
Carly's Sketch
Ocean Treasures
Our Silver Charms have taken a sea faring turn in recent months. From seashell charms to mermaid charms, from starfish silver charms to octopus charms, we seem to be sinking deeper into the sea theme with every new creation. With so many ocean charms swimming through the office, I could not resist the urge to see how our lovely sea creatures would look in a natural habitat. On a recent trip to Point Lobos, I settled our silver charms into tide pools and snapped as many photos as I could. The hermit crabs didn’t seem to mind and the charms looked as if they had been living in the water all along. It is a good thing my patient husband likes to meditate because I couldn’t tear myself away until my pants got soaked by the incoming tide!
We just introduced our most recent new Print pattern, the Pure Lotus. I’ve always been a fan of the lotus flower. It looks wonderful in every stage of development, from the bud, to the flower, and finally the elegant seed pod. In many cultures it symbolizes spiritual awaking. The idea that something so beautiful rises from a murky, muddy lake bottom inspires me. We have been working on this lotus print for months. It was challenging to arrange the leaf, flower, bud and pod in such a way that it would fit on our small silver pendants.
Often we’ll come up with a great potential print pattern, but when we go to put it onto the silver pendants, the pattern doesn’t translate to the small dimensions of the pendants – the flowers are cut off, the elegant curving stem doesn’t fit, or the details are lost. For the Pure Lotus pattern, I started with the outlines of the different size silver pendants and then drew the pattern to fit within the outlines. This is a method I’ll definitely use in the future!
We’re introducing the Pure Lotus silver pendants in three sizes, and if they’re popular, we’ll expand into other sizes of silver pendants. How do you like this new pattern? Are there other flowers that inspire you?
Lotus in full bloom
Sketches for Pure Lotus print pattern
Pure Lotus Silver Pendant from Nina Designs
Over the memorial day weekend I visited Venice Beach, California and I was reminded of a bygone era when the “flower child” and the “Boho-Chic” reigned there. I was inspired by the plethora of textiles and ethnic jewelry spilling over booths that are juxtaposed against 1930s Deco apartment buildings that are now hotels. Dusty pinks, turquoise, and purples along with the teal waters of the ocean made for a beautiful moment as drummers and dancers hailed the sunny day.
When I came back to the “coolness” of San Francisco, I could not wait to emulate that “bohemian feel”. I can’t wait to delve into our new Apatite Gemstone Beads, our dusty pinkish faceted Rutilated Quartz Gemstone Beads, and our teal Kyanite Gemstone Beads. I plan to pair them with our paisley print silver beads in all sizes. Our sterling silver beads Paisley Print collection is the most beautiful and under appreciated pattern (in my opinion). On our next “Design Ideas Challenge” I plan to make some “groovy” earrings!
Silver Beads and Gemstones
Bohemian Earrings
Anyone who doesn’t think inspiration grows on trees has never been to my garden. From delicate Japanese Maple leaves, to the curling tendrils of pea plants, inspiration is my most abundant crop. I harvest new ideas with baby lettuce leaves and discover new color palettes as plants blossom through the season. There is something poignant about watching flowers morph from buds, to gorgeous blossoms, to faded beauties, to secretive seed pods with the promise of future life nestled within. No matter how tired I am, the garden fills me with creative energy. I know I can’t come close to nature’s masterpiece but that won’t stop me from trying! Any other garden junkies out there?
