Concept and Desaign

concept for jewelry- Albrect Dürer-British Museum, London

So, what is jewelry design, and why does it matter?
The design part is the concept of an idea, something that is pleasing to the eye, and the laying out of that idea into a form that will facilitate the manufacture of that piece of jewelry.
A quick peruse of the Mirriam-Webster dictionary shows that the definition of 'design' is thus:
  to plan and make decisions about (something that is being built or created) : to create the plans, drawings, etc., that show how (something) will be made
: to plan and make (something) for a specific use or purpose

There is the tried and true method of pencil and paper design for  jewelry, say you want to make a matching pair of earrings. One would simply decide on the shape. draw it out, and copy that design to make a pair. Sounds easy...
So, if I want something other than a circle, square or triangle... it might be a bit more difficult. Using a compass gives you a perfect circle, a ruler gives straight lines, measure equal distances, with right angles, you get a square... but hey... I want a convex line, a couple of angles, and maybe  a concave curve... sigh...
And I want to add some jewels. I want to make it three dimensional to make sure I like the design from all angles... I don't have great math skills, and I don't have great drawing ability....

Lorena Angulo- sketches to create her beautiful designs

There is a program for that. The advent of computers set the world on fire, not only for communication and information, but the design possibilities are endless!  The Computer Aided Design (CAD)has allowed people with little math skills to be able to accomplish what I esteem modern miracles!  You can take a blank page and turn it into the blueprint for amazing jewelry... or a house.

If you start out with a program such as the 2D design programs like,  Photoshop, Coral Vision, Sketchbook Pro or Gemvision Design Studio you end up with a rendering that is similar to a picture, that has pixels and is nice looking, can be manipulated to change colors, shapes, sizes, and is an all around nice tool... It is more like pencil, paper and paint in drawing a design...
The 2D CAD is different in that it is not just a pixelated design. There are vector lines that can be manipulated in more ways than just color and size, they can be moved and bent, and is more precise in the renderings than the design programs. 

dividers, compass- from Scott Schreiber collection

 There are many programs such as Turbo Cad, Design CAD 3-D Max, or Bonzai 3-D, 3Design version 9 is by Type3.
The main differences are in the ease of usage for these programs. Turbo is probably the easiest, with a large selection of  tools to choose from. You can make a three dimensional design in very little time, Bonzai, though expensive, is not as easy to navigate as the other two mentioned. If you have time to really get used to a program and don't mind it being a bit awkward, this is a good one.
There are some CAD programs that are free, though you will find that they have very limited usage. Blender is one of those that has a cool 3D modeling, texturing, rendering, animation and physics. pretty much what a jewelry designer needs.  Sculptris is another that is a stand alone that has modeling, texturing and rendering, though this one has a time limit on the freeware.
So, you decide to make a ring, you use a piece of paper and a pencil, compass and limited drawing skills.. and you have a rendering...
Or, you use a CAD and end up with a rendering...
What do you do?
There is a nifty demo of a 3D CAD here at Type3. 

I asked Scott Schreiber of Scott Schreiber Jewelry Design about his concept work...he does renderings by hand, this is what he said...

Mahenge Spinel & Diamond-Scott Schreiber

Scott Schreiber rendering white gold; .73ct oval yellow diamond

 my first sketches are always rough, just playing with an idea. I refine it a little bit before I start the rendering. Then on tracing paper I very lightly will start with a single center line to use as a reference. I also draw a center line on my rough sketch to compare. The rough sketches are just a tad bigger than actual size but the rendering will be at least 3 to four times actual size. All first lines are drawn as lightly as possible.....and with a .3mm pencil that I keep fine sanded to a needlepoint. I use an eraser shield and an eraser a lot....but try to draw lines only once (ha!). I use a compass whenever a clean large circle or an arc is called for. As often as I can, I use several sizes of the old standby drafter's "French Curve" for smaller circles or arcs. I try and keep my grubby, oily hands off the paper by covering areas already drawn with another sheet of clean paper. When all the lines are lightly drawn just the way I want them, I erase whatever extra marks I can find and air blast the residue off. Then I darken all the lines. Then I shade it. Then I hit the whole thing with the eraser again, and air blast it. Then I apply a very light spray of "Aussie Instant Freeze" hair spray. Now it's time to paint the back. With fine sable brushes I first paint only the areas which are "gold", being very careful not to go outside the lines, hee hee! Dry it thoroughly. Then I rather sloppily apply the other colors quickly so as not to disturb the gold layer. Dry thoroughly. For this job I then also returned to the front and applied tiny smudges (without any rubbing or blending) of a day-glo green oil pastel to the green stones for highlights and green, orange and a little blue for the opal's play of color. For this back-painted rendering to be successful, you must use at least tracing paper......but vellum is uber nice! From there on it's photoshop for color-enhancement and more cleanup. But the images above are how far I get by hand.




Whatever way you chose to go, you need correct measurements. There are mathematical equations to help, 
A slide gauge is a must, good metal rulers in mm, cm as well as inches is nice. A steady hand is wonderful, but you don't even have to be perfect at drawing. Using a compass gives circles, there are templates galore for artists and draftsmen, and simple geometric shapes are doable even for the beginner. 
Here is a link to take you to some really cool stencils at Metal Clay Discount Supply, one of my favorite online stores and another here at Rio Grande, another favorite store...

There are tons of self help videos and tutorials to check out on design, whether it is for metal work, gemstones, beadwork...  

The Beach- Marie Covert

I work a lot in beads. I love seed beads and creating both on loom and off loom work.Loom work sometimes needs to be laid out on a grid, and there is software  for that... even free ones. Bead Tool 4 is a great source.  
This website has many useful tips and offers a jewelry course that offers CAD /CAM  in their course. Check out the GIA page

Some of my favorite designs are from Native American work. My ancestors are from three different tribes and I create some designs that are passed down from generation to generation, but there are so many wonderful possibilities for new and fresh designs... I love coming up with some take on nature, and of a mixture of traditional patterns with funky and different patterns.I sketch out a lot of my work, especially more complex work, but some take on a life of their own. The Beach is one of those. It was sketched from the time I first wanted to make it, but it kind of grew into it's own entity.
 There are some designs that don't really need putting down on paper before beginning... This necklace just kind of grew... without thought! Same goes with these bracelets. One is a copper tube, repurposed into a bracelet with a silver bezel and oval garnet, the other, etched brass with copper, silver and glass flower... They both kind of just happened.

Seascape- Marie Covert