If you are interested in making jewelry for your own use or probably to sell or even gift to friends, you need to stay up to date with the latest trends. Fortunately, there are a lot of information out there, in magazines and on the internet. There are even a lot of sites which offer free design instructions should you want to include a particular method of making jewelry.

It really does not matter where you learn your jewelry making, but for ideas you really need to make a lot of research. But this also should depend on what kind you are making and the type of designs you make. If you like the trendy designs get your ideas from top end designers like those designed by Christian Dior for these are the houses which are considered the foundations of high fashion. However, if you are into classic designs, you can research on images of jewelry made during different periods – Victorian, Elizabethan, even Renaissance.

You can also get your ideas by searching through the many materials used for jewelry. So look at the images online of beads, precious stones, metals and others. Do not be afraid to combine different materials like crystal and semi-precious beads. Once you see a material that you think you can draw inspiration from, sketch it out and make several designs, not just one.

Sketching out the designs is obviously the most important thing for designers for this is how they are able to get the ideas in their minds onto paper which will them make it easier for them to translate into the jewelry they design.

There are others who like to "talk" to their materials. They lay out the different materials which they would like to use in their design and then start from there, without making sketches. These are the types of artisans who are fantastic in making one-of-a-kind pieces which many customers look for.

Then once you have memorized the design that you have successfully created into physical jewelry, it is best to take notes on how you accomplished the task just to make sure that you can do it all over again should you decide to mass produce it.

Get your ideas from the internet, from different periods of human history, from nature and from the very materials you wish to use. Settle on a theme should you want to so you can focus on the ‘look’ that you want to create.