Cynthia Clinton Blog

Right now, I’m offering a selection of jewelry for sale here on the blog while I work on updating and re-vamping my online jewelry store. However, I will typically post jewelry designs here at the blog before I offer them at my online store, so that my readers, students, and friends get a chance to own the jewelry first. This will be especially valuable on items that are of limited quantity such as one-off’s and limited edition pieces. After a jewelry item is offered on the blog for about a week, it will become a regular posted item at my online jewelry store and will be available to more than just my readers to buy.

To see what jewelry is offered for sale here at the blog, click on the Jewelry For Sale category and you’ll see all the posts that have been made in that category.

Made To Order and Off The Rack

Most of the jewelry I sell is Made To Order, which is quasi-custom jewelry. Made To Order means you select the jewelry you want to buy, say a necklace, then note where it hangs on the body, and then MEASURE so that the jewelry item fits you “like it was made for you”. Why? Because it *is* made for you! If you’re going to pay for handmade jewelry, shouldn’t it be made for you? When you buy a made to order item, the piece you get didn’t exist before you ordered it and it has never been worn or tried on my another soul. It wasn’t hanging on a rack with 10 pieces just like it. It was MADE FOR YOU.

You can go to any department store in the mall and buy jewelry off a rack that everyone else has pawed through, left their makeup on, and perhaps handled less than gently, but buying handmade jewelry should be an utterly different experience.

I sell the jewelry I make because I realize the power it has to make other people feel special. It feels good to buy it, it feels incredible to put it on and look in the mirror, and the attention a beautiful piece of jewelry gets from other people that interact with us is very rewarding. I love walking through the grocery store and noticing how many eyes just flew to my necklace as I passed - it all adds to the feeling of owning something very special.

That being said, I also offer a few pieces that are Off The Rack. I have some pieces from other designers that I sell as well as some small, simple, inexpensive pendants that the younger set and independent spirits really seem to enjoy. If it’s off the rack, it is what it is. It’s it’s a necklace and you need it longer, I can sell you an extender you can attach to make it longer. However, Off The Rack jewelry never becomes Made To Order. If you want a made to order version of an Off The Rack piece so you can specify size, stone color, stone shape, etc, then you’ll need to send me at email (cynthia at cynthiaclinton dot com) and, if it’s one of my pieces, we’ll make arrangements to do that. If it’s a piece I’m selling that was made my another designer, then I will do my best to put you in contact with the other designer.

Full-On Custom Work

If you would like me to make you a totally custom item, please send me an email (cynthia at cynthiaclinton dot com) so we can work out the details. Most of the custom orders I get are from customers who have a jewelry item from somewhere else and they want me to make an item that will complement it. For instance, they may have a necklace and they’d like earrings and a bracelet that would go with it. Or they may have a pair of earrings they love, but haven’t been able to find a necklace to go with. One of my favorite situations like this is brides that write me and want me to design something that will go beautifully with their gown and the theme of their wedding. Or even members of the wedding party, like the mother who wrote me and requested a necklace that was similar, but lesser, than her daughter’s bridal jewelry and more “momly” looking. There are lots of fun challenges in custom work.

What’s a one-off?

A “one-off” is a piece that there is only one of. This is not to say I will never make anything similar or will never incorporate it into a collection - it just means that for whatever reason, I don’t plan on making this exact piece again. This commonly happens when I’m trying out a new jewelry design and I don’t know yet whether I enjoy making it. Some pieces are too complex and fiddly for me to want to make again, so I won’t make the item in production. Other times, I’m playing with stones to see what colors and cuts of gemstones suit the design best. There’s never anything wrong with a one-off. It just means it’s the only one for now. Something you buy today as a one-off, may appear later in a collection with a different stone color or shape.

Word to the wise: If a piece says it’s a one-off, and you would love to own it, buy it right away or you risk coming back in a day or a week and it’s gone. Regret sucks.

Limited Edition Pieces

There are, on occasion, limited edition pieces. Most often, the limited edition status comes about because the beads I used in the design are of limited supply. For instance, if I was only able to find one strand of the perfect bead, and I’ve hunted all my other suppliers, then I will only be able to offer the design in that stone a limited number of times before I run out of beads. If at a future date, I find the beads again, we can all do a happy dance and I’ll offer it again - at least until I run out of beads again. Very often, however, I’m not able to find a given bead again.

Word to the wise: Similar to one-off pieces, if you see a piece that’s noted as a limited edition piece and you love it, snap it up asap. While I may be able to get more of the same bead sometimes, more often that not I can’t and once the beads are gone - they are GONE.

My Experience As a Designer

I began designing jewelry in 1997 and made my first jewelry website in 1998. I started working with maille 1998 and didn’t know anyone else at the time that was doing it. Of course, NOW everybody and their brother is making it. The difference between me and them is that I don’t just make chain mail, I use it as part of an original design. You can buy plain, vanilla maille just about anywhere, but you can’t find my work anywhere, but my own sites (unless someone is copying my designs).

I dislike the term “self-taught”. So many jewelry makers use it to describe their education. We are all self-taught, even if we learned at an institution of higher education. A teacher is only a guide into the unknown. It is the student, in every circumstance, who must do the learning. “Self-taught” is meaningless. And besides, if you are learning from a book, video, or magazine, it’s not as if you didn’t have a teacher. Whoever the person was who guided you in your learning (the book author, the project writer in the magazine, the artist in the video, etc.) was your “teacher”.

I haven’t had any formal instruction in jewelry making. Experience has been my biggest teacher. Over the years, I’ve studied many jewelry techniques in books, videos, magazines, and wherever else I could find it. I plan to find a good jewelry program at a college, when I have time and just for fun, but I have so much experience that I don’t think it’ll change the quality of my work all that much.

The Difference Between a Jewelry Designer And a Jewelry Maker

Yes, there is a difference and it’s an important distinction to make if you want a lasting, quality relationship with someone who can add to your existing jewelry collection year after year. Jewelry is worn on the body, against the skin, so it’s a very personal thing like a hair brush or a loofah. Additionally, the reasons why a particular piece of jewelry appeals to us are also very personal things.

A jewelry designer is one who produces original works that are distinguishable from those of another. A jewelry maker is merely someone who can follow directions and make jewelry. A jewelry maker makes no original works (or very little) and most things they make are not distinguishable from other pieces of a similar style.

If you bought a necklace from a jewelry designer and 2 years later you want to buy a pair of earrings that will match, it’s totally a possibility. If in another year, you add another piercing to your earlobes and decide you want something that matches what you’ve already purchased, but scaled down a little smaller - you can totally do that. It’s not too likely with a jewelry maker.

Ethics In Design

DON’T email me images of another designer’s work and ask if I can duplicate it so you can get it for cheaper.

1. I will not copy another designer’s hard work, no matter how over-priced you think it is. It’s stealing.
2. Even if I were willing, it would almost never be any cheaper.

If you’re having me do custom work for you, DO illustrate what you mean where possible by sending me 3 or 4 images of jewelry you’ve seen that shows the kind of bead you want, where you want it to lay on your chest, the kind of chain, etc. Do you see the difference? If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me (cynthia at cynthiaclinton dot com) and I will be happy to answer your questions.

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