Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Who Makes the Bigger Statement, Your Jewelry or You?

When I design jewelry for other people, I have to keep in mind the type of personality the person who will be wearing it has. Are they confident enough to pull off big and bold designs? Or would something smaller and a little bit understated be less overpowering to them. I often see people wearing jewelry that just does not suit them. It's not that the pieces they chose don't look good on them, just that they themselves get lost behind those pieces.

Growing up my mother always told me, "You wear the clothes, the clothes don't wear you". In reality, this has nothing to do with the clothes, but the attitude of the person wearing them. All too often people wear certain clothes thinking that by wearing them, they will project the attitude they want to have rather than who they really are. The problem is that when you do this people only see who you obviously aren't.

People often ask me how to choose what jewelry best suits them. I tell them to pick what they want to wear, whether it's clothes, make up, shoes, jewelry or anything else, the same way they would pick their best friends. Would you be friends with someone who made you look like you didn't know what you were doing? Or someone who tried their best to take everyone's attention away from you so that they could be in the spotlight all the time while you stand there lost in their shadow? Probably not. So don't let what you wear do that either.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't wear big, bold, outrageous fashions. It's fun to wear and fun to see other people wearing. Just make sure that above all of that, you are the one being noticed.

Friday, February 17, 2012

New Tutorial! Hyacinth House: Woven Donut Wrap


I finally got around to finishing another tutorial. This is one that I know several people have been waiting much too long for! To those of you who have been requesting this one since the original one was posted last year, I am so sorry to have made you wait this long. Hope you enjoy it.



 
In this lesson I will teach you how to make a unique and extremely versatile woven wrap for a donut bead. The instructions show a very basic version of the pendant, however there is no end to the ways to alter this design.

The cost for this one is only $4. Right now it is only available on my web-site, http://www.gailavira.com/tutorials/index.html.





This pendant is the original “Hyacinth House” pendant and was inspired by a song from The Doors by the same name. This lesson teaches you how to make a pendant that is using just the base design for this pendant, however there are tips at the end of the lesson to help you come up with ideas for several variations of the base design.