Themed jewelry is when you create pieces of jewelry to reflect a certain theme, whether it is an ethnicity, a religion, an historical time period, a hobby, a profession, or even an aspect of pop culture. Working with the imagery associated with a certain theme can give you an endless supply of creative ideas for your jewelry.
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It's also fun to do because creating themed jewelry can reflect your own interests and serve as a creative expression of causes and hobbies that you hold dear. It can help you connect with others who share your interests. It can also lead you to a deeper understanding of concepts and objects that fascinate you as you research and learn about the symbolism and imagery associated with them.
As a marketing technique, creating jewelry to a theme is a wonderful strategy. The world is full of customers who need to buy gifts for the people in their lives. When they purchase an item of jewelry that reflects their person's most cherished hobbies or interests, it proves that they care about that person enough to have paid attention to what he or she finds important in life.
Plus, they have the satisfaction of knowing that they haven't just purchased a striking piece of jewelry, which is good unto itself. They have obtained a gift for their loved ones that has personal significance. They will be giving something that will be remembered, and will cause them to be remembered, for years to come.
How to Get Started:
- Choose a theme. Begin with one theme at first to keep things simple and focused. Don't get too narrow with your concept or you may find it hard to develop. Keep your theme broad and general. For example, "France" is going to be easier to reflect thematically in jewelry materials than "Provence in the 1920s."
- Choose a type of jewelry to make. This will help you define what materials to collect. For example, if you specialize in earrings, you will be choosing materials that are smaller and light-weight as compared to that which you might choose for necklaces or bracelets.
- Collect your materials. The two most basic categories are colors and images. If you're collecting on the theme of France, you'll look for red-white-and-blue colors to reflect the tri-color French flag. You'll gather iconic images like the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and the Fleur-de-Lys. The images can be two-dimensional (for example, tiny copyright-free photos or drawings that you attach to a backing) or three-dimensional (for example, a pewter charm).
Get creative and add things like polymer clay charms molded into the shape of tiny loaves of French bread or French postage stamps or even French phrases such as "Je t'aime," ("I love you,") spelled out in alphabet beads.
Ideas for Themed Jewelry: Asian Themes, Birding, Books, Buddhism, Cats, Christianity, Comic Books, Dogs, Dolls, Fairies, Food, Gardening, Goth sub-culture, Insects, Mexico, Patriotic USA, Sports, Theater, Zodiac signs.
