Adventures in Chaos

Filed under: Bracelets, Necklaces, Philosophy, Techniques | Back to: Homepage

It’s OK to read today’s entry. The title could indicate that this will be a discourse on something like the cultural or religious battles that take up much of today’s news casts or a diatribe on our current economy while I sing my own rendition of “it sure isn’t like the old days”. Yet, (thankfully, you say) it pertains to none of the above. This actually is about jewelry design.

Scholars and wordsmiths would likely frown upon my use of the term; yet, the pieces shown today and the manner in which I made them best depict my own definition of chaos. Wikipedia tells us that this term chaos “in Greek mythology and cosmology referred to a gap or abyss at the beginning of the world, or more generally the initial, formless state of the universe”. The term is used in mathematics and science in reference to a specific kind of unpredictability. The latter definition is probably closer to the way I use the word today.

The bracelet shown on the left reminds me of chaos. The wire wrappings are very unpredictable as are the placements of the charms and beads. This is not my original design. It came from a bead magazine I picked up and I certainly regret that I cannot provide the source and the originator. (My apologies to the artist) The magazine has been misplaced.

I used the original bracelet form to create a necklace shown here. I think this piece turned out to be even more interesting than the bracelet. I included silver wire in with the copper which had been given a liver of sulphur bath. Then I hung the beads and charms as chaotically as I could manage. It reminds me a bit of a bird’s nest made by an inept sparrow.

The pieces have the appearance of chaos, but I most enjoyed the freedom of this unpredictable process used to make the pieces. Once you have the basic armature, you begin doing the loose wire wraps that go back and forth, in and out and in between. During the process I just kept shaking my head and thinking this is NOT going to work, but I stuck with it. Then I found it difficult to go ahead and hang the dangles on the loose wrappings. The final venture was wearing the pieces out in public. When the first person stopped to look at and compliment my necklace, I had to feel of it to be sure they meant the chaos necklace. Yet, by the third or fourth compliment, I was prepared to go back home and make another one.

Since, however, I am somewhat of a business minded woman, I think I’ll wait and see if this necklace actually sells before I decide it is a winner. Compliments and money exchange don’t necessarily go hand in hand.

I am intrigued with other ways to use the idea of chaos within design work. Of course it can extend to earrings, rings and pendants in similar form to the pieces shown here. How else might chaos be shown through the designs? That requires some incubation and I’ll let you know if anything hatches. Until then, I hope your life is NOT chaotic, but if it is maybe it will turn out alright like my jewelry pieces.

Bracelets, Necklaces, Philosophy, Techniques 2 comments

The Multidimensional Self

Filed under: Creativity, Philosophy, sewing | Back to: Homepage

I recently showed a friend the wool felt purses that I’ve been making.  I wish you could see the colorful print linings these have inside.

My friend said to me “I wish I was creative.” When I reminded her that she already was, she told me she wished she was creative with “stuff”. My friend is gregarious and an excellent salesperson in addition to her other many talents. We were looking at the purses and I assured her that she could also create them. Then I showed her that there are many great videos on youtube.com that show how to make great bags. It was then that she told me she learns best by doing projects along with other people. That’s when I finally began to understand. The lack of available group crafting was holding her back.

People learn and produce in so many different ways. Educators have long understood that different students receive information and/or produce things in different ways. It’s common knowledge that some people learn best by listening while others do better when they receive information visually. Some of us learn better when we are taught through the manipulation of materials. For years, the children who did especially well in school were those who learned best by listening and reading. When we talk about how people learn, we often discuss learning styles.

If you make jewelry, do you carefully read the directions for something in a magazine that you want to make or do you mainly look critically at the pictures? Perhaps you have better luck when what you want to make is presented to you through a video. Maybe you learn the best by attending a workshop wherein others are learning the same thing.

While the work on learning styles is intriguing, that of Dr. Howard Gardner on Multiple Intelligences has proven equally important. Multiple Intelligences help us understand ways in which people are smart. Dr. Howard Gardner propelled many of us to reconsider how we allow students to demonstrate what they know. Originally, Gardner identified seven intelligences including verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, bodily/kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, musical/rhythmic, and logical/mathematical. Later Gardner added naturalistic intelligence. While some people can tell what they know and may produce articles and succinct blogs, others produce better through drawing or creating visuals. We all have some degree of each type of intelligence, but our intelligence profiles vary.

I think that it’s interesting that the way we learn is not always indicative of the way we produce. For example, I AM NOT successful when I try to read the directions for a jewelry project. I use the pictures. Yet, I produce reasonably well through words. I have published books full of detailed directions for school teachers and have completed numerous articles that have also been published. So why don’t I learn in that manner?

There is no one way through which it is better for people to learn nor is there one way that is the BEST way to produce. I do, however, believe that successful people have figured themselves out. They have accepted how they learn best and look for information presented that way. They have also figured out the best way they produce and find situations wherein they can do just that. I also believe that some of us never figure either out because we are not offered different ways or do not experiment with different ways of learning and doing things. And the moral is . . . I’m sure it doesn’t need to be spelled out. Suffice it to say that we need to know ourselves. I’ve tried multiple ways to learn and realize that I learn best through videos or visuals. I also learn best alone rather than in a group. If I can get information this way, learning is pretty painless. Learning by reading or listening while with a group of people is a double bad whammy! What about you? If you haven’t explored all your options, I say “go for it!” Find and excel in your multidimensional self!

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Hearts to You: A Family Tale

Filed under: Metal Work, Philosophy | Back to: Homepage

Happy Valentine’s Day! We’ve all been hammered for weeks with the commercialism of this day; so it seemed only fitting to acknowledge the other side of “buying diamonds to show you care.”

Since today is a very busy cattle day here at Dreamcatcher Ranch, I took Mamaw her valentine yesterday. I arrived with my pretty package only to find her holding a lovely paper valentine sent to her from one of her “younger” men friends who had recently moved to another “home”. She could hardly open her package from me for talking about that valentine.

When I took her chocolate on her birthday, so did many other people and by mid week she was sick at her stomach. Therefore, I thought I’d do something different for Valentine’s Day. I bought her a pretty light blue knit top at a favorite boutique. She’s always wanting something from Dovetails of Wimberley and it seemed like the perfect time to fulfill that wish. She was thrilled, tried it on and then I stepped back to look at her. Wow, where was my camera? She looked beautiful and I was pleased for her to have something to wear that wasn’t from Walmart!

The gifts helped her remember when . . . She talked about Valentine’s Day when she was a young girl That was when valentines were either very fancy and intricate or very homemade. Mamaw said she always tried to hide the fact that she received valentines from the little boys. She was embarrassed and didn’t want anyone to know she got them. “Did you get more than one,” I asked. “Oh yes, I got them from all the boys,” she replied. “But I didn’t want anyone to know it.” I queried why she got them from the boys and she was sure that she did not know. I asked if it was because she was pretty. Was it because she flirted? Embarrassed even now, she assured me that she had not encouraged their interest.

She told me about one boy that had his mother order a big heart box for her. She used her crooked arthritic hands to show me the size and indicate the puffed red satin top of the box. It was filled with papers for writing. It was stationery. “Did you thank him,” I asked. She didn’t remember. It was at least 80 years ago; so I guess I can understand. All she could remember was her embarrassment. It is, of course, the emotions of long lost moments that we can recall the best.

Lest you think with the telling of this tale that Mamaw has gone soft on us, let me assure you that she has not and finish the rest of the story. As I prepared to leave, I asked if she needed anything. We discussed her makeup, since she will not go to breakfast without her Clinique on. There was some disagreement between us regarding this and in the end I had to admit that she was right. “I think I’m probably right a good deal of the time,” she said. “I just don’t know it.” Hmmm . . . it could be that I just don’t know she’s right either. Yet, I always listen to my mother.

I hope all those little boys Mother shunned as a young girl found their true valentines and never pined for our Mamaw!

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Adult Biting

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I find that January and the first half of February I encounter more unhappy, mad or discouraged people than any other time of the year. Is it the “after the holidays blahs” that may erupt from standing on the bathroom scale or looking at the bank account or credit card bill? Is it the calm after the storm for merchants and designers following the holiday craziness (we hope it was crazy)? OR is it the fact that in most locations it is still cold and miserable outside? Most of us have certainly had our share of the latter this season. I think winter darkness and the lack of enough bright sunshine can cause many of us to feel low. Therefore, I think I’ll start referring to these months as the “biting” time.

I can tell by the look on my spouse’s face when I’m bitey. I’m basically short tempered and can find fault with almost anything. I’m also very impatient when things aren’t happening fast enough to suit me. Another clue is when he suggests that I might need to go hammer something!

I have a friend that occasionally  says “bite me!” This statement often occurs when someone has been complaining to her, she has provided solid reasoning and the person is still griping. So she says or at least thinks “BITE ME!” Can’t you get arrested for carrying out that action?  I think her statement is appropriate when you have tried everything you can imagine to appease someone and they are still disgusted or unhappy.

My 90 year old mother probably put it best. Yesterday, I took her from “the home” out for a bite of lunch. Upon returning, she thanked me and said she thought that now she might make it through the rest of the week without biting someone. Assuming that she meant this figuratively I could certainly understand the statement. You don’t have to move a mountain to get out of the biting mood. (By the way, Mother’s nurses were pleased I took her out for lunch!)

When designers are overly bitey, we become dissatisfied with our work and this can lead to low productivity. My query this morning regards how we might turn this around in order that the work benefits from this mood. I want to use the criticalness that goes along with a bitey mood to help me perfect some of my technique. That crooked wire wrap that looked fine on the last sunny day looks awful today and I’m going to fix it. Instead of leaving the orange beads in the completed necklace where they really don’t belong, I’m going to take it apart and fix it. Maybe bitey can be good!

Ways to get out of a bitey mood include getting out the biggest hammer you have and whaling away on a piece of heavy sheet metal; drilling an excessive number of holes in metal to create a see-through effect; using a disc cutter to cut out more discs than you could possibly need; and working with large copper tubing which often requires a good deal of might. On the light side, you could put on a summer hat and pretend it’s warm today. I DO NOT suggest practicing the use of your jewelry saw or any other technique that requires finesse.

Of course the list of remedies for bitiness could go on and on. Yet, I fear that the best remedy is one we can’t control – the weather. The good news is that at least the seasons are moving in the right direction. So, bite something quick! The season is about to end.

Philosophy 3 comments

Adventures in Silver

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I’ve previously mentioned the astonishing price of sterling silver. Today it is listed by Rio Grande Jewelry Supply (http://www.riogrande.com/news.aspx) at $31.18/ounce. Ouch! It hurts to order sterling silver wire, but I’m making it a practice to look at the current price per ounce on the day my package arrives. It is usually higher the day it comes than the day that I ordered it. I keep thinking it will make me feel better . . . I’m not sure that’s working.

The next step after ordering that sterling silver wire is cutting it. I’m getting much braver and last night, making the bracelet shown here, I actually forgot about the price. Later, when I looked up the amount of wire used and the price for the silver I was extremely glad I didn’t mess up the bracelet!

The armature for this one is an attempt at another style, besides the wave, that is slightly adjustable. This one has some play in it.

Supported by successful feelings about the bracelet, I worked on a sterling silver necklace this morning. It features fused silver pieces in the front and I completed it with a hand made chain. (I AM going to get those handmade jump rings to be my friend . . . soon. I hope. It’s amazing how much better a job I do when I put on those silly reading glasses.   (The optometrist told me what would happen to my eyes after age 40. He forgot to warn me about 60.)

I also finished a much simpler sterling piece where I soldered a bezel to sheet metal and then soldered a small part of that metal to a wire armature. I purchased chain for this longer necklace.

Finally, the last photo shows one of the mixed metal pendants I mentioned in another blog entry. It has a pretty modern look which isn’t normal for me, but it’s a start on the mixed metal layers!

Now that I have completed a few sterling silver pieces, the next step is to price them and then see if there are customers out there who don’t mind paying more for this metal. If so, there will be less pain the next time I place an order for sterling silver wire and sheet metal. If not . . . well, I guess I’ll be sticking with copper.

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Layering

Filed under: Creativity, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

The cold snap that has fallen upon my warm climate location has resulted in considerable layering of clothing. Since we are not used to frigid temperatures, I don’t have wool sweaters and warm leggings. Yet, I learned last week that if you just put on enough layers of what you do have, warm cometh! There is, obviously a concomitant issue: how many layers can one person don and still be able to move around?

Having successfully layered my clothing, I felt the need to explore the layering of metal. Most of my metal pendants are pretty large and I was attempting to created something a bit smaller.

The first pendant shown, all in copper, happened accidentally when a small piece of copper I had cut from the middle of a circle fell upon a larger piece. This is a really good reason (or excuse) for not keeping the workbench too neat and tidy. The layers of the pendant are soldered together. I like this pendant, but kept hearing a little voice in my ear saying “where’s the gemstone?” For the next pendant, I added another parameter. I wanted something small, layered and with a gemstone.

Finally, I wanted one more addition to the pendant factory process. . . sawing. I was gifted a saw for Christmas and have had minor success with it. Sunday it was time for real saw action. Sawing is not easy and I can see that it will take considerable time to refine this technique. Yet, the organic look in the next pendant is a start. the problem statement for it was “in what ways might I combine sawing, layering and a gemstone in a metal pendant?”

This one, too, is interesting, but I didn’t achieve smaller . . . I left that term out of my problem statement and it didn’t happen. Actually, I do not think I’m ready to saw “smaller” at this time.

I found the most difficult part of the process for the pendant with gemstones pertains to the order of events. On the silver pendant, I soldered the bezel to the sheet metal first and then attached the wire stem and finally the leaves. I tried to change this order on the last pendant. I soldered the small copper pieces on first and then when I heated the metal during the bezel soldering process, the copper pieces fell off. That, of course, makes sense to me now, but I guess you learn by doing.

Today, I’m interested in trying some mixed sheet metal in the pendants. I’ll let you know if that process is worth sharing. The next time you put on all the layers of clothing just pretend you’re a gorgeous pendant!

Creativity, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Torch Work, Wire Work comment

Ring a ding ding . . .

Filed under: Metal Work, Philosophy, Rings, Torch Work, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

I think it’s interesting to discover what others believe about gemstones and/or specific shapes that may be used in jewelry design. I’ve enjoyed writing for Magpie Gemstones and researching information pertaining to the properties of various stones (http://www.magpiegemstones.com/properties.html); but today I became interested in whether there might be symbolism behind the rings many of us wear. Of course, I understood the symbolism surrounding wedding rings, having worn the same one for over 42 years; yet, I didn’t realize that some believe this ring is on the third finger of the left hand because this is closest connection to the heart (flutter, flutter . . . and a collective “ahhh”).

Some people, married or not, however, wear rings on other fingers and I wondered if these also have symbolism. While researching, I began to wonder if the ring I wear on the third finger of my right hand was symbolizing something to others that I had not intended. Therefore, I had to dig deeper.

I’m a pretty stubborn researcher and always try to verify the information in one source by finding the same information in at least one or two other places. Based on that requirement, here’s what I learned. Some cultures do believe that the finger on which a ring is worn is indicative of something about the wearer. This may vary by culture, but the following seems predominant:

Thumb: A person who wears a ring on their thumb can be telling the world that he/she has strong willpower, is self assertive and insists on freedom and independence.

Index: If a person wears a ring on the index finger, the wearer can be emphasizing personal assertiveness and ambition. Supposedly, that person makes up his/her own mind.

Middle: Wearing a ring on the middle finger is purported to symbolize strength and balance.

Third Finger: A ring on this finger tells the world that the wearer is creative, optimistic and has a sense of well being. As previously mentioned, this finger on the left hand commonly holds the wedding ring. 

Pinkie: Wearing a ring on the pinkie may be telling folks that the wearer considers himself/herself appealing and easily expresses things to others. This finger wears the relationship ring. 

. . . and here I thought people just wore a ring on which ever finger it fit! That’s what I’ve always done; if it fit and felt comfortable, I wore it. Now I’m going to have to pay attention to which finger I have a ring on. But wait, there’s still hope. Is it possible that other people, like me, do NOT know the symbolism just described? If so, then I may as well wear those rings on any finger I choose. But, just in case I want to SAY SOMETHING by wearing the ring on a particular finger, I’m well prepared with the rings I have made this week.

I learned to make the rings in the picture at the top at a wire workers meetup where my friend was kind enough to share her expertise. You can check out Sherry’s Jewels on her Artifire site (http://www.artfire.com/users/sherrysjewels) Directions for the rings at the bottom come from Kim St. Jean’s new book, Mixed Metal Mania. She calls these “old bones” rings, but I just call them “earth” rings.

The final photo shows a turquoise ring that I am just finishing. It still needs a bit of work. This ring just happens to fit my index finger; so when you see me, be sure to realize that I’m ambitious! In the mean time, maybe you should go try on your rings and figure out if they display any symbolism.

By the way, if you need any rings, I think I know where you can get some!

Metal Work, Philosophy, Rings, Torch Work, Wire Work 2 comments