How I Create a Cohesive and Healing Jewelry Collection
Join me in the studio as I put together my new Empowerment Collection.
Together we'll go from a mess of ideas, through the culling process, the encapsulation of the healing purpose, and the addition of supporting gems to round out the aesthetic and healing vision for the whole collection.
It's been a few years since I showed a behind the scenes on creating one of my collections, so today I’m bringing you along for the process! Today’s vlog also answers the question: Is my creation process mostly about style, art, or the healing benefits of the gemstones? Spoiler alert: It's really a mixture of all of those things!
Here’s How I Get Started
First I organize all the gemstones on my velvet jewelry display, selecting from my crystal collection any colors or gems that were speaking to me right now.
Color Palette Selection: My Process Behind It
We're currently in autumn, so what are the colors that we are seeing around us? What are the colors that people are wearing right now? What are the colors that are really speaking to me? Of course it's those fall leaf colors- the oranges, the peaches, the yellows-so I gather together all of the crystals in this color family and arrange them on my velvet jewelry display.
Once I have all the crystals together in one place, I consider how they all fit together from a healing perspective. This autumn palette is full of stones for empowerment, creative expression, and supporting the sacral chakra.
These Empowerment Sunstone and Sodalite earrings were really the beginning of this collection.
They feature two different types of Sunstone: Raw and polished, highlighting the beautiful and subtle color variations within these peachy gems. Sunstone brings empowerment by helping you disconnect from things that are no longer serving and really connecting to your true self - connecting to your own personal power, your own creative expression. I’ve also added a touch of Sodalite, for connecting with your highest self, and increasing tranquility. I also used this powerful combination in the Empowerment Sunstone and Sodalite bracelet.
Adding a TWIST to this combo - we get the Tranquility Necklace.
The central Sodalite pendant enhances the tranquil essence of this necklace. Of course, tranquility is also empowering because it allows you to live from a place of peace rather than stress.
Step 2: Add Coordinating Colors
Now that we’ve established our Core Color Palette of peachy orange, with a dash of purply blue, it’s time to pull in some coordinating colors to round out the collection.
One of the first coordinating pieces that I selected was this beautiful Agate. I actually found this gemstone in a little shop right outside Acadia National Park, Maine. Look closely and you’ll notice the beautiful druzy inside, with all those little sparkles. Absolutely gorgeous!
I did a very simple wrap in gold wire at the top of this Agate pendant. The gold wire wrapping along with the druzy crystals gives off a dramatic vibe. The overall effect still remains subtle because of the gentle, natural color palette.
This lead to adding other Agates, such as this Fossil Agate and Botswana Agate.
Agate is one of those centering gemstones that helps you to find your core and sit there within that calm center, instead of being filled with anxiety or being distracted. It brings you into your core. Of course, being brought into your core can help you feel empowered, to create outward from that core.
Step 3: Crystals That Share Similar Healing Purposes
Once I know that this is the Empowerment Collection, I can start gathering other empowering crystals, making sure they still fit within the look and feel of this collection. Do they match? If they do, they stay. And if they don't, they go away for another time.
For example, any yellows such as Bumblebee Jasper, Orange Calcite, Rutillated Quartz. Of course they're absolutely stunning, but they are too far outside this central palette of peachy orange and blue.
Colors like dark Citrine leans a bit closer to the fall color palette that I was going for. However, it’s a closer match with all of the dark browns that I originally pulled: The Tiger Eye, Blue Tiger Eye, and the Smoky Quartz. These stones would look beautiful with the peachy oranges, and would anchor the collection in a way, but they're more about releasing negative energy, grounding, calming, and meditation. I decided to save all of these pieces for their own beautiful capsule collection.
Once I separated out all the mismatched pieces, I started to think, you know what? Actually this Creative Vision Pendant would go stunningly with this capsule collection that I have here.
Yes, it features silver-plated Hematite, which is a little outside the color palette. Still, because it's so empowering to be able to find your creative vision, I decided it really needed to join the collection. This necklace helps you say, “This is exactly what I want to speak into the world, and I have confidence to speak that out.”
Each new piece I chose resonated with either the tranquility of Sodalite or the creativity and empowerment of Sunstone.
Of course I couldn’t make a peachy collection without Peach Moonstone! The color is perfect, as is the protective power you feel when wearing this gemstone. Lastly, I added Lepidocrocite in Quartz, which helps you to open your heart to positivity, to abundance, and move through the world with an open heart.
Our Passion and Purpose pieces pair peachy Sunstone with orange hued Carnelian. These creative support earrings are one of my favorites to wear when I'm lacking creative energy.
They help me to reignite that inner fire, so I can produce more beauty into the world. They remind me that it's not just art for the sake of creating art, but it's art aligned with my purpose here on earth. That's really the fuel for the fire!
More orange gemstones followed the addition of Carnelian, including Aragonite, which is a very balancing crystal, and Red Aventurine.
The Aventurine family is all about abundance and good fortune. Red Aventurine adds that drive and motivation to get out into the world and attract that abundance to you.
And now that we have the complete Empowerment Collection…I’m curious, are there others you would add or subtract if YOU were creating this collection?
Let’s Recap the whole process:
I pull out any crystals that are speaking to me at that moment - energetically, thematically, colors or patterns I’m loving, etc.
I determine the healing benefits of the collection by asking a few key questions. What are the traditional uses for these crystals? What is the scientific understanding of what these crystals do? What does my intuition tell me about these crystal combinations? In this case, once I know that these main gems are all about empowerment- that creates the center of my new collection.
I add other gems that fit the aesthetic of the core pieces - They must also match the healing benefits of this collection, because, for me, it's not just about the look. Everything that I do with my jewelry is about the healing benefits, first and foremost.
And Voila! We have a cohesive healing jewelry collection!
This collection is inspired by my favorite crystals for helping you to focus on YOUR definition of success + your unlimited potential. You can find the Empowerment Collection in the Ivy+Light shop.
