'the soul of a journey is liberty, perfect liberty,
to think, feel, do just as one pleases.'
~ william hazlitt
and so i entered susan lenart kazmer's metalsmithing class yesterday - i had been plaguing myself with wondering if i should plan ahead or just go with the flow... i knew the outline of the class and so could have had a personal project in mind, but i decided not to... instead to see where i would go if i dropped the anxiety over 'looking stupid' and decided just to be...
an incredibly giving teacher, she shared so much of her work style, her self, her TOOLS! i got to use a flex shaft (never had - and needless to say, loved it)... she taught her prong style settings and i chose to do a ring first (thinking that in 7 hours i would make more than one thing... some people did, i didn't)...
so where to start when one is given sheets of metal, access to fabulous tools, a table full of found objects, beads and fibers & a new technique to pull them together with? well, the first piece naturally...
this is faux bone, able to be engraved, cut into, etc with great ease... i chose an ancient tibetan symbol that i found by way of nancy schindler...
i picked my way through the piles of goodies she had brought and came upon some resin paper - on it i found the words 'have a good journey'... hmmm, this was coming along well...
prong setting created with cuts in the edges for our journey often feels interrupted, but the pauses are where we learn some of the great lessons or just regroup to take them on... i used the word 'sisu' also come to me by way of nancy (who i happened to see with lorelei, kelley wenzel and cassandra procopio as i bolted in from the rain on the way to the class) ... please note the mistakes on the bottom, those holes are not supposed to be there - i misjudged the size of my conus shell... luckily they are covered up... and yes, i know that sisu has a '1' in it... the 'i' was missing - in fact, i am glad that it was... i like how it reminds me of class... and besides, i am a deep follower of wabi sabi...
susan has an affinity for conus shells as they are symbolic to the women of new guinea, i used one that she offered to us... and why the crazy looking little wonky square? functionally it was needed for the rivet, compositionally it repeated the shape of the bezel, and symbolically it represents many things that come in fours (elements, seasons, directional points)...
end of class projects - she very nicely gave a big break at lunch, some people ran to shop for things to finish their projects with (smart)... i really just wanted to work, so i ran down, grabbed 3 cabs for home and came back...
one prong was left up in philly, knowing i wanted to add my own fibers at home... which i did!
this is just to show that the faux bone was raised off of the conus shell...
a huge thank you to susan for a wonderful class... it was good for me in so many ways... one of the biggest was getting over fears i had... this was the first project for which i completely used a saw ... and using her power tools with her guidance...
the journey continues! so i am left wondering, if she is sharing this information then she has moved past it - and i wonder what is new to her? and what will i do with this technique that is new to me?
