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Every designer hits a creative road block from time to time. It’s common to look back and realize you’ve created four pairs of earrings with essentially the same design in mind, and looking for new ideas seems almost impossible.

I love making jewelry, but I’m no different. Here are some things I do to get earring ideas when I’m feeling like I can’t be original:

I Look at my Older Earring Designs
First, I usually check out my silver jewelry gallery of pieces that have sold and look for old earrings that might be fun to try a new version of. Components and bead supplies are constantly changing, so I lay out some alternatives to see what works. Seeing my newer stock while keeping my style in mind can definitely help get ideas flowing.

I Keep a Sketch Book by my Desk
Whenever I see a design I really like I take notes, or sketch out a very rough outline. I keep the earring designs rough so that I don’t accidentally copy the earrings when I’m ready to start making jewelry. Mostly I note down any key features – such as “use a necklace separator vertically with chain” or “square bead stacked on a gem chip” – just little sparks of inspiration for my earring designs.

I Maintain an Idea Folder
I also keep a computer subdirectory called “Ideas” under my design folder. Here I save images of jewelry designs that I’ve come across online. It can include earring ideas that are too tricky to sketch, palette and color ideas or just general pieces and pictures that inspire me. I save them with the creators’ names so I can reference them in an article in the future, or just go back to check out their new work. Every now and then I scan very quickly through the directory without stopping on a single earring idea. It’s a great way to get an overall impression and reminder of the jewelry I like, and it helps jog the brain into design mode.

I Go Back to Stalled Designs
Finally, I keep what I lovingly refer to as a “junk drawer”. All unfinished designs (whether earrings, necklaces or bracelets) go into the drawer if I get stuck on the idea, or lose interest in the design. Going through it once in a while is like digging through a treasure chest. Sometimes I’ll realize how close I was to finishing something and pull it out to work on. Other times I’ll see part of a necklace that would make the perfect silver earring by taking some of it apart. Occasionally, it can be as simple as taking a started earring design and turning it upside down! A shift in perspective can make it really obvious where the problem lay, or I might discover a fun new way to arrange the beads.

Creating and making jewelry is supposed to be fun. What do you do to get newly inspired?

See all the sterling silver earring designs here.