I made this pair of earrings and I'm really proud of it. They're of graduated sized coral chips, freshwater pearls, and some really solid, nice findings. I put a high price on them because I think they show well, and the materials are pretty expensive. But several people have asked me if the price was real. I mean yes, for costume jewelry earrings even twice that amount is not uncommon.
I think it's difficult to decide sometimes what we really want: We think some earrings are really nice and we also think they're not worth a lot of money. We don't know what we want! I know how it feels. I can't always afford the materials I want to use either.
What is quality in jewelry? It's more than simply what metal it's made of, it's
- Stylishness--not many people wearing trade beads right now for example
- Attractiveness of design--is it beautiful, colorful, symmetrical, artistic, and so on
- Quality of workmanship--how well the design is executed
- Appropriateness--is it suited to someone such as yourself (hint: not a death mask of an Etruscan king), does it look good on you
How do you decide what jewelry to buy? I usually make my jewelry now but I think a big factor in what jewelry I bought was emotions: it had to make me feel good. How about you? Let me know in the comments.
--Pam