Beach Vibes - Designing Jewelry with that Easy-Breezy Beach Feel

It’s getting to be that time of year! It’s already towards the end of May and the weather is warming up. Soon it will be time for beach picnics and summer parties. If you want to get in the summer spirit a little early, you can start designing jewelry with that laid-back beachy vibe.

For a color palette, think about what you see at the beach and base your colors off that—sand, waves, foam, seashells, water, driftwood, beach grass, the sky, etc. With those things in mind your color palette will be beige, white, light brown, pale aqua, sea-foam green, grass green, blues, creams, and so forth. You can then pair that palette with either silver or gold for your metallic element. Remember to keep things light in tone and feel.

Not long ago we did a spotlight on macrame jewelry which is a great design technique to explore for summery beach accessories. The look of knots, especially created in creams, light browns, and pastels and the physical lightness of the designs, adds to the casual feel characteristic of beach designs. You can also achieve this with crochet as well.  Also consider adding in hemp and wood beads to bring home the nautical beach feel; white or light-colored wood bead would be perfect!

Pearls are also a good choice for beach-themed designs. Pearls will always be associated with the sea and automatically feel tied to the beach. Whether using real pearls or faux pearls, you have lots of design options available. Perhaps consider creating a bar necklace like the one pictured below or modify the design into a bracelet or anklet.

Beach designs are usually on the simpler side, something that is easy to wear and can also, in theory, go in the water. For this, you can easily use finished chain necklaces and hang nautical and beach-inspired charms and pendants from them. Some of my favorites are from Nunn Design, TierraCast, Green Girl Studios, and Gardanne Beads. I have selected my 10 favorite and posted them below.  

For more design inspiration, browse all of our nautical themed pendants and charms and see our summer themed beading projects. I hope this blog post was inspiring and that you have fun creating your own beach designs!