bits

(that's what my friend barry calls the pieces he works on... )

i love making bits... they feel very complete to me all by themselves - and i can leave them sitting on my bench for weeks... just looking at them as i pass by... but one needs to help them move forward... 

bits can also help to jump start a brain that has too many things it wants to do all at once... and the brain trips itself up... and then doesn't know what to do... 

so it was a torch fire week... there are lots of ways to play with fire... 

ways that i am so happy i am learning... 

i also realized that i am feeling very influenced by the koi tattoo designs i have been looking at - the fiery reds and golds are oh so far from my usual choices... but i do love working with them and appreciating the whole process - enjoying each step of the way... 

and then there is my grunge-y comfort zone... 

i love the grunge-y comfort zone... 


happy friday...

feels like home

we have been in our new (old) home for about 2 1/2 months now... mostly filled with summer busy-ness and transition... 


now that school has started, there is space to exhale and 'be' in a way that makes me feel whole...


thursday morning i decided to clean off the workbench... it was covered in beautiful fibers and all kinds of things... it was the first time i had thoroughly and thoughtfully cleaned it off... and suddenly, i realized it was really mine... my very own space to work... it went from being a workbench to my workbench... (and my grandfather's)... 


and i can work at it as long as i like - doing whatever i like... 


freedom... 


if i didn't have children, i could live in a studio with my cats, a bench, a small refrigerator and a comfy couch to sleep on... i have simple needs... and a deep passion... 

i had purchased this miniature printers tray from lisa jurist at her mudhound studio etsy shop (in addition to all of the great silks and fibers that covered my bench) ... i love it so much... when my brain cannot wrap around making finished jewelry or i just feel the pull, i will often make components by the number... they were scattered all over, but now they are together in order... it also holds 'in progress' pieces... 

'everything that is really great and inspiring

is created by the individual 

who can labor in freedom.'

~ albert einstein

another one -

finished - and the ideas are still coming... 

rings are very addicting to me - now if i only had the sense to make myself multiple bands, base discs, etc ahead of time... instead i do them each time... but then, i don't even have head pins made up ahead to use... maybe some day... 


in the comments on the love my art jewelry blog, it was mentioned that i must have been in my happy place... and it's true... it felt so very good to be working like that... the kids were off of school but entertained with friends... 


this ring is now available in the my mom pattie etsy shop - a fundraising boutique in memory of marsha neal's mother... 

'happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued,

is always just beyond your grasp,

but which,

if you will sit down quietly,

may alight upon you.'

~ nathaniel hawthorne

the work of life

'i will not let anyone walk through my mind with dirty feet.'
- gandhi

'no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.'

- eleanor roosevelt

like meditation and yoga, self-healing is a practice... it is daily work... i have certain mantras that i use in different situations, while striving to do and not just to try... being immersed in my creative space can even temporarily free me from negative feelings or environmental conditions and guide me toward those more uplifting...

'at times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.'
- albert schweitzer

i know i have used those words before, but they have a more universal application this time... that thanks go to family, friends, new acquaintances and members of this community... a reminder for me that those who extend compassion and/or empathy have their own lives as well... and it is critical not to drain their spirit... while never done selfishly, it is careless and unmindful... an extra amount of attentiveness to this is added to my list... for i definitely try to live by the 'first do no harm' principle & to be supportive of others... it is my sole responsibility to not let the tinders go out...

i know i am a bit of a quote hound, but i am inspired by the wisdom of those who have lived and lived well... so at the age of 43, here's a goal -

'i am not afraid of storms, for i am learning how to sail my own ship.'
- louisa may alcott

copying?

"Be yourself; everyone else is already taken."
- oscar wilde

beth at hint brought up the topic of copying/copyrighting/originality last wednesday and will continue to delve into it over the next couple of wednesdays... it's fascinating and has been on my mind since her first blog about it... she is approaching it more from the spiritual & emotional aspect, not the legal...
the comments that have come in are mesmerizing and thought provoking... i have grown because of this discussion and appreciate that so much...
i know that throughout my life i have absorbed oodles of images and experiences... as an art history major at college & a child fortunate enough to have had aunts who lived in manhattan, i saw significant and beautiful things in person.... i walked around gazing up at the architectural sculpture... i was also the child who could sit watching an ant hill, or looking for four leaf clover, or finding shapes in the clouds for hours... nature and art are key to my being... i have always been more of a visual learner... and i can still slow my family down when something catches my eye - like a preying mantis...
i have been designing jewelry for 10 years now... my style has been evolving & i hope that will never end... i entered the world of etsy a few months ago and, quite honestly, it was daunting... while i have made personal discoveries of artists who work in metal, glass, ceramic that have freed me, i have seen designers that have made me worry... why?
i don't want anyone to think i have copied them... i have even contacted people that i have 'run into' on blogs or flickr to let them know i am not... i just made the aquaintance of a really awesome designer - lorelei1141... and i panicked! she had just made some pieces using components that i had just picked up at a bead shop the week before - 'oh no' my head screamed, 'she won't like me, she'll think i'm a bad person, she'll think i'm ... copying.' and i felt compelled to let her know... she was patient with my fears and pointed out correctly that while we are inspired by similar things, our work is different... i knew this, and never in a million years would think it of another person, but i didn't want it thought of me...
i really value the people i have been fortunate enough to come into contact with in this community and don't want to jeopardize any of the relationships... i guess i would hope to be thought of as on an equal (or close to equal) footing with those i admire...
i know that when i work with components i have purchased, i feel a responsibility to those who made the original creation - those things that allow me to express myself in my designs... i am grateful for the talent and artistry that pushes me to dig deeper...

when i first purchased raku beads from makustudio, i had only seen her beads - and i loved them... because they seemed so special and unique i was determined to teach myself wire wrapping... so i picked up a book, etc... then i went onto her full shop and saw that she had done that herself! 'oh no! i'll be copying even though i didn't know it.'... so i came up with something else i hadn't done before... and that was ok - because i really love what came of it... and what it started for me...
for many of us, 'copying' means 'you are bad' ... like when you were in school and it was a rule or in terms of copyright infringement... of course, it just feels wrong and if you are in touch with your feelings at all you don't go there, but you can see the finger pointing at you... i even got nervous at the thought of someone thinking i might be when i wasn't...
in a different place and time, as julie from the hint blog pointed out, aspiring painters, sculptors, architects learned by copying from the hand of a master... it was respectable and practical... why wouldn't you learn from someone who excelled at what they did? and then you grow... your style evolves based upon any number of influences... if you are creative, it happens naturally...
when i am creating, i can feel almost as if i am outside of myself... i kid when i say the beads whisper to me, but it can feel as if i am guided (which is where the stories of the muses come from i am sure) - i guess it's really just a deep connectedness which transcends the beads into yourself and further...
i think for me it has to do with sincerity... and sincerity cannot exist without a pure heart... if you are pulling from yourself, even if you have absorbed images and influences from other places, it will be yours...
while i don't know that what i make will ever be completely original, i know where it comes from... and if i can come up with a personal type of signature, i am ok with that...
for me it becomes interesting when i am able to go past where i was - then i wonder if i can do it again... a bead i got from mika at pinocean did that, as did an acorn charm i got from beth... and so we grow... pleasantly surprising ourselves at times...
and which naturally, as another commentor pointed out, separates us from the copiers...