I launched The Lovers earrings before Christmas 2022, but I was working on them for the best part of a year prior to that, thinking, drawing and testing until I was happy. Read on to find out how I approached designing and making my most complex earrings to date.

You may not be aware that I am a self-taught designer and maker. I didn’t go to jewellery school or do a design degree, so I was never taught how to design things. I actually studied BA History of Art, followed by an MA in Museum Studies, and after a few years of work (at an art gallery, a university library, and two different city council regeneration departments) I embarked on a PhD in landscape studies. After this I worked in academic research, community projects and research development for a few years before I started The Cluttery. I tell you all this because although I was never taught how to design things, my experiences did teach me how to approach new projects and solve problems, which are really important skills when designing anything. These experiences showed me that:

1. design doesn’t need to be scary

2. studying a creative degree isn’t the only way to start a creative path

So back to The Lovers…where did I start?

1) IDEA / CHALLENGE

As with all my designs, these earrings started with an idea, but I find re-framing ideas as challenges turns them into a project and a problem to be solved. In 2020 I designed some Art Deco style celestial stud earrings that were mismatched - a star and a crescent moon. Customers really enjoyed the unusual symmetry of wearing two different earrings, so I decided that I wanted to make something more ambitious, but along the same lines. I had known the story that the sun and moon are lovers doomed to be apart forever, separated as they are by the night and day, since I was a child. I think I must have thought it was romantic and so it always stayed with me. If my new design could also tell a story that would be a design first for me. Armed with my challenge I set about researching.

2) RESEARCH

Research sometimes needs to be very thorough, but for this design project my research occupied the more basic end of the spectrum…more image searches than peer reviewed journals! My starting point was an online image search for ‘sun and moon’ variations. This showed me both modern depictions and historical drawings of celestial bodies with faces that tie into the myth of the lovers. This told me that using the trope of astral bodies with faces would make sense and it directed my focus.

Online research also showed me what other laser cut artists had produced, so I could see where there were gaps in the market to avoid too much comparison. Remember that research isn’t a one-shot deal - you should continue researching throughout your project. I got very far in designing the sun based on a beautiful historical image I found online, but then found another jeweller’s work that was exactly the same as the image I had seen. I had to scrap that design and start again, but I avoided inadvertently copying another artist’s design (albeit one she herself had copied). This is an important point: adaptation is normal in design, but copying is bad practice whether it’s another designer’s work or a line drawing from a search results page.

3) PARAMETERS

Every project, whether it’s planning an event or designing an object, needs parameters. These are the rules you set yourself to direct your efforts and keep the project manageable. Without parameters your project, and your emotions, risk spiralling out of control. For this project I knew at the ideas stage that the earrings should be mismatched, that they should depict a sun and moon, and that they needed faces - I could safely disregard anything that contradicted these parameters . The research stage also provided some parameters in the form of design details I should avoid replicating. I wanted to use a combination of wood, acrylic and hand painted details which I knew from experience would require a base for each earring - the bases were another design parameter that I needed to consider. It’s worth noting though that your parameters may need to change as your project progresses, and that’s not a failure, just part of the process sometimes.

4) SKETCHES

The drawing stage is where things start to get interesting. I started doodling some very basic shapes and worked up from there, adding details and scrapping them as I needed. I wasn’t too precious about making changes - it’s useful to remember that only you know the journey your design has been on. The end user won’t realise you had to scrap something really great because what you replace it with will be just as great! For drawing I use a combination of a sketchbook and tracing paper. One day I will invest in a drawing tablet, but for now this system works.

I always hand draw my designs because 1) my CAD skills are very basic and 2) my drawings, the way I hold my pen and move my wrist are totally unique to me. When my drawings are finally transferred to vector files for the laser cutter, they still retain my signature. For me this is the difference between what designer-makers do and mass produced pieces.

5) TESTING AND PROBLEM SOLVING

Testing is a necessary stage and if you’re lucky, it will be a short one. At this stage any issues will be apparent and can be ironed out. This was the point where I had some test pieces cut in various colours and finishes. I laid out all the options on my workbench and was able to scrap some versions straight away. The rest I left out and came back to when I had time over the course of a few days, judging how I felt about them until I settled on one final version. With the test pieces I was able to try out different paint colours for the hand painted details too.

At this stage two problems arose which required fixes. The first problem was that the base of the sun earring was slightly too small, meaning the face and the corona risked slipping off at the glue-up stage and being unstable. This was a quick fix: I simply made the circular base slightly larger and decided that the now visible bits would need to be painted in a sunny orangey yellow. Easy.

The second problem was more difficult to resolve. I originally wanted The Lovers to include pearl droppers in either a classic teardrop or an organic ‘baroque’ shape. When I looked at the cost of these popular shapes I changed my mind. I settled on some flat, elongated natural pearls instead. The only real difference that I could see was the tiny holes for threading onto a wire were drilled sideways across the top of the pearls instead of from top to bottom and I told myself this would be easy to deal with. It wasn’t. I embarked on a period of trial and error, mostly error. I tried thin gauge wire bails to suspend the pearls, but I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted and I thought they looked odd. I tried passing wire through the hole and around the top to create a more organic ‘bail’, but it just looked messy. Oh dear. At this point I became despondent and progress stalled for a few weeks. Honestly, I was disappointed that I couldn’t achieve the look I imagined, so I gave up for a while. Then, I sought advice from Matiss, (my husband and go-to for all troubles!) who gave me a pep talk. Post-pep talk I had a new focus on finishing my design, so I started seeking an alternative dropper. I had used brass accents on other pieces so I knew I liked the look. I finally settled on a brass rectangle with a small hoop at the top for attaching to the earrings. It was simple, shiny, cost effective, and had the right dimensions and movement to work.

6) ACCEPTANCE

This leads me on to an important stage in any design process and one which I think is often overlooked - acceptance. By this I mean the ability to recognise when your original idea doesn’t work, then find an alternative and be content with the changes you had to make. Sometimes abandoning a project is not an option, for example if it’s for a custom order, so without some level of acceptance finishing becomes impossible. Having done your best under the circumstances is never a failure. Personally, I will always see the tweaks that I could have made for my design to be perfect, but being good enough is also fine. One day I will design something that uses the pearls I couldn't make work on this occasion. I may also practice wire wrapping.

7) FINAL DESIGN

With my design finalised I was able to get the components cut and start making a batch of The Lovers ready to sell. These earrings are one of my proudest design achievements. I set myself a challenge to design a pair of allegorical, mismatched, celestial earrings out of mixed materials, and I met all those requirements. Sure, their final form differed to what I imagined during the early stages, but not all that much. Crucially, the problems I encountered gave me an opportunity to find resolutions, which has boosted my confidence as a designer. I have worn my Lovers to dinner dates, shopping trips and concerts, and they always draw compliments, especially when I tell people I made them myself!