Tali’s Creations ~ Beautiful Jewelry for the World’s Beautiful Women

Okay, I love making jewelry but I have to admit that I always drag my feet a little when it comes to making earrings.  I guess it’s only natural that there would be one piece of jewelry that I get a little less pleasure out of making.  Maybe all jewelry artists have a least favorite jewelry item — I don’t know.  What I do know is that I rather make five necklaces than one pair of earrings.  Maybe it’s because earrings were the last piece of jewelry that I learned to make.  They are certainly the hardest piece of jewelry for me to design.  Don’t get me wrong, I think that I make beautiful earrings, but for me, earrings are much more difficult to make than necklaces or bracelets.  And, because I have this mental block when it comes to earrings, I find myself not making them as often as I should.

So, I decided to challenge myself.  I’m off work (my other job) for a few days, and I’m making a commitment to make ten pairs of earrings by Sunday (today is Wednesday).  The earrings pictured here, I made the other day for the customer I wrote about in my previous blog entry.  I made her a necklace for a birthday gift, she loved it and wanted me to make her a pair of earrings and a bracelet to go with the necklace.  And, since this is my challenge and I’m making the rules, I’m counting this pair of earrings as one of the 10 pairs.:-)  I’ll be back in a few days to preview the other 9 pairs.

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I found out the other day that one of my most supportive customers had a birthday coming up. I wanted to show her just how much I appreciate her business and her heartfelt support, so I decided that I would design a birthday gift for her. She loves Swarovski crystals so I decided to make a crystal necklace. I also decided that I would use 14-K gold instead of my more often used sterling silver. Pictured are the raw materials that I used.

Here is the finished product. What do you think? I chose crystal copper Swarovski crystals because they are a neutral color. She’ll be able to wear the necklace with a lot of different outfits. I also decided that I would wire wrap the entire necklace (very time consuming but worth the effort). I added a 14-K gold filled lobster clasp and a 2” 14-K gold filled extender so the length of the necklace can be adjusted anywhere between 16-1/2 to 18-1/2 inches. I added a cute little crystal dangle at the end of the extender. I hope she likes the finished product, I’m going to give it to her on Monday.

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It took me nearly three grueling weeks to get this blog up and running and during that period I had no time to make any jewelry.  But now I’m back in business again.  A customer contacted me yesterday to tell me she wanted to purchase a sterling silver and Swarovski crystal wire wrapped necklace she saw in my jewelry gallery for a birthday present for a friend.  But, she also wanted a bracelet and a pair of earrings to go with the necklace.  All I can say is that she must be a really good friend.:o)  Anyway, I made the bracelet and earrings last night while watching the presidential debate.  Take a look at all three pieces.

It feels so good to be back in business again!

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Whenever you interact with customers you never know what type of experience you’re going to have.  Fortunately I have been very lucky — I have some great customers.  But, every once in awhile you get a customer that is just a little more special than the rest.  The customer that I have in mind loves my jewelry, but all my customers at least like my jewelry or they wouldn’t buy it — right?  What makes this customer stand out from the crowd is that she thinks my handcrafted creations are something special and that they should be treated as such.  One incident sticks out in my memory.  She purchased a three piece set (from my wedding collection) for one of her relatives.  At the time she made the purchase she told me which relative she was buying the set for.  A day or two later she called me and informed me that she had changed her mind, and decided to give the set to a different relative.  The reason for her change of heart was she felt that the relative who she initially was going to give the set to wouldn’t appreciate this handcrafted creation the way that it should be appreciated.

Wow!  I have to admit that at the time I was very taken aback by this revelation.  Not because she had changed her mind about who she was giving the gift to, but because she thought it was important enough to call me and tell me about it.  After the conversation ended and I had time to reflect on it, my thought process started to shift.  Here is a woman who not only thinks that my handcrafted creations are special and that they deserve to be enjoyed and appreciated by the person who owns them, but she also feels that they should be treasured by the owner.  It was a very humbling experience for me.

Sorry I can’t show you the set from my wedding collection that I’ve been speaking about, but here are a few other creations that have been purchased by this special customer.

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About a month ago a woman at work saw my website (yes, I have another gig besides making jewelry).   She loved what she saw but she wanted something that I didn’t have in my collection – a cross.  Most crosses I have seen are made of some type of metal, and I primarily use stones, beads, pearls and crystals in my designs.  I told her that I didn’t do metal work but I might be able to make a cross with crystals.  Around the same time I found out that this woman was going to be retiring in couple of days.  I felt a sense of urgency to create something for her because I knew that once she left, I probably wouldn’t see her again.

I recalled having seen a crystal cross on one of the jewelry design websites that I visit sometimes.  Thankfully I was able to find it and I immediately went to work making the cross.  I decided that I would use sterling silver chain to hang the cross on.  The only problem was that I couldn’t find my supply of silver chain, although I nearly tore my house apart looking for it.  So now I had a cross but nothing to hang it from.  The next day while walking from the train station to work, I saw a woman who had on a large heart shaped glittery pendant which was very pretty.  The pendant hung on a black suede cord, which combined with the pendant, gave the necklace a very classy look.  It was at that very minute that I had an “AH-HA” moment. When I arrived home, I immediately found my black suede cord and prepared it for the pendant.  I was very pleased with the result.  The next day, I gave it to my co-worker as a retirement gift and she was overwhelmed.  She knew that I had made the cross just for her, and it made it that much more special.  She immediately took off the metal cross she was wearing and put on her new crystal one.  Here’s a replica of the cross I made for her.

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People often ask me how I come up with my jewelry design concepts.  There is no easy answer to that question because I come up with design ideas many different ways, some practical and others a little spooky.  Since I started making jewelry I always look at a woman’s jewelry.  It doesn’t matter if I’m just passing a woman on the street, see a woman on television or in a magazine or if I’m talking to her face to face.  My eyes immediately gravitate to any jewelry the woman happens to be wearing.  I find my eyes wandering from ear lobes, to necks, to wrists and making mental notes if I see something interesting.  I never copy a piece of jewelry that I see a woman wearing but, I do sometimes get ideas and inspiration.  The spooky part of the answer is that I actually find myself dreaming about jewelry sometimes.  There have been a few times when I have purchased some stones from one of my internet vendors, and once I’ve got the stones in front of me I find it nearly impossible to come up with a design.  It has been times like these when my subconscious has taken the situation over while I was asleep, and by the time I awaken, I know what I’m going to do with the stones.  On the more practical side, I subscribe to several beading magazines which always have projects to try.  I never copy a design exactly, but if I see a design that I really like, I will use it, but make a few changes so as to make it my own.  Pictured below is one of those designs.  I loved the tear shaped turquoise pendant with the sterling silver leaf pendant, so I kept that part of the design.  But, instead of using sterling silver chain link with semi-precious stones (as the original design), I went with a combination of sterling silver chain link and brown Greek leather cord.

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Hi, my name is Tali (rhymes with Sally) and I’m a jewelry artist.  I own and operate a jewelry business called Tali’s Creations, and this is my blog.  I’ve never done a blog before so this will be a learning experience for me.  I would like to start off by, as the title indicates, describing myself and my jewelry business, and explain why I decided to start a blog in the first place, how I plan to use my blog and, finally, describe the type of jewelry that I make.  So here goes.

Firstly I have to admit that I have a tendency to be long-winded, so as not to bore anyone to death, this introduction will be broken down into several posts.

I started making jewelry when I was a teenager, suffice it to say that was a very long time ago.  And, having a teenager’s short attention span, my foray into jewelry making didn’t last very long.  It was not until very recently (a little over a year ago) that I took jewelry making up again.  At first I was just planning to start making my own jewelry as a hobby and to save money.  But I quickly found out that not only did I enjoy making jewelry, but other people loved my designs.  With the encouragement of friends and family, I continued making jewelry, got better and better at it, and shortly found myself producing pieces that even I thought were beautiful.  But the real surprise for me was finding out that not only did I like what I was doing, I was loving it.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that I would find myself falling in love with anything so artsy craftsy, but that’s what happened.

Okay. I think it’s time that I showed off a few of the creations that I’ve been bragging about.

So, what do you think?

{Part 2 of Introducing a Jewelry Artist continued on next post}

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I would like to explain why I decided to start a jewelry blog.  I decided to start a blog for basically two reasons.  The number one reason was that I wanted a venue where my current customers could step into my world and get some understanding of what, why and how I go about the business of designing and creating my jewelry.  And, being the business minded woman that I am, I also would like to attract new customers and get as many women as possible appreciating, buying and wearing my handcrafted jewelry.  What better way to accomplish these goals than by starting a blog?

For anyone that is interested in starting their own handcrafted jewelry business, please understand that this is not an instructional, how-to blog. If you want to learn the ins and outs of how to start and/or maintain a handcrafted jewelry business, there are some excellent blogs out there that can teach you everything you need to know on the subject.  I think the best jewelry business blog that I have seen and the one that has helped me the most is Rena Klingenberg’s — her website address is http://www.home-jewelry-business-success-tips.com/.  Another informative jewelry business blog is Gloria-Jean Browne’s at http://www.beading-design-jewelry.com/index.html.  Between these two women, and all the articles they host on their respective blogs, you can learn just about everything you need to know about starting a jewelry business.  This blog is about my jewelry business, my creations, my shows, my jewelry parties, my customers, and my experiences. It’s all about me, me, me:o)

In the third and final part of this introductory post, I will describe the type of jewelry that I create and the methods that I use.

{Part 3 of “Introducing a Jewelry Artist” in the next post}

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In this third and last part of my introductory post, I’m going to describe a little bit about my jewelry and my methods.

I use quite a few different stones, crystals, pearls and other beads in my designs.  But, I think I use semi-precious stones the most.  A semi-precious stone can be described as any stone suitable for use in jewelry that is not a diamond, ruby, sapphire, or emerald.  The necklace above is made with a stone called carnelian which is one of my favorite semi-precious stones.  Carnelian comes in a variety of different shades and hues.  For this necklace I added 14-K gold filled beads to accent, and I also added a carved leaf pendant made of red aventurine.

Another semi-precious stone that I really like, and is liked by a lot of my customers, is mother of pearl.  I guess when you think about it you could label mother of pearl a stone or a pearl, but I think most people think of it as a stone.
There are countless semi-precious stones, a lot that I have worked with and a lot of others that I have not had the opportunity to work with yet.  This mother of pearl necklace is quite striking.

Although I primarily make individual necklaces, bracelets and earrings, I also make two and three piece sets. Like suits and sets of clothing, buying a jewelry set is much more economical than buying individual pieces of jewelry. You get two or three pieces of jewelry that you can wear together or separately. The two piece set pictured here is made with black onyx stones and black Swarovski crystals.

Another way that sets can be economical is that you can split the set up and give it to different people as gifts.  This is a good thing to remember with Christmas just a few months away.  The three piece set pictured here is made with cape amethyst stones.  Cape amethyst is a much lighter shade of purple than the dark purple amethyst most people are familiar with.  I personally like the cape amethyst better, but both stones are beautiful.

I absolutely love Swarovski crystals.  There are other crystals out there and I use some of them but the Swarovski Austrian crystals are a cut above the rest.  They come in just about every color you can think of and I use them a lot.  Pictured are three triple strand bracelets made with Swarovski crystals.  I accented the crystals with sterling silver bead caps.  These bracelets are one of my best sellers.

I have fairly recently started working with suede and Greek leather cord.  I buy the cord unfinished (no clasps) and I attach the clasps myself.  For the most part I use the cord with pendants.  Pictured here are two necklaces where I have used Greek leather cord.  Both necklaces have beautiful agate slice pendants. For the teal pendant I used black leather cord and for the natural agate pendant I used brown Greek leather cord.

Another method that I use to make necklaces and bracelets is wire wrapping. Wire wrapping is an art form that is very time consuming but also very rewarding. For the necklace pictured here I used Swarovski olvine and topaz crystals and I wire wrapped 14-K gold filled links with 14-K gold filled wire. The finished product is just beautiful.

So there you have it.  This concludes the introduction to my blog and my jewelry.  Thanks for reading.  Until next time, take care.

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