All posts by Karen

Creativity, Philosophy

How Do Creative People Succeed?

For more than 20 years I have read everything I could get my hands on to help me learn about creativity. That has even included grabbing the newspaper away from my husband if I noticed a headline with the “C” word. The latter happened last Sunday when a newspaper article titled “Creative people must take action to succeed” caught my eye. Author Robert Pagliarini suggests that no matter what your art, “your only goal should be to create.” Hmm . . .  there are those other goals such as how will I earn enough to feed myself and put a roof over my head; yet, I do think Pagliarini has a point. The focus is to create. He suggests that we shouldn’t ever call ourselves “aspiring” as in aspiring designer, aspiring artist, aspiring musician. Those people only talk and dream about creating. Those of us who do create ARE designers, artists and musicians. The author states that artists shouldn’t wait for approval or permission to create.

We could read hundreds of books about both successful and unsuccessful creatives, however, with Pagliarini’s words as thought stimuli, I’ve been open to finding lesser known people who currently create. One of those must certainly be sewing enthusiast and author Deborah Moebes whose new book Stitch by Stitch is available through her blog (http://whipstitchfabrics.com/blog/page/4/) or from Amazon. Moebes has taken her creative talent and turned it into a book for beginning sewers that is easy to understand and extremely helpful. I call this success.

An imaginative artist named Jean Piche developed his own musical software and has been awarded as a composer for other people’s films. Now, he has created his own films in a genre called Video-music. He uses abstract video painting accompanied by his own musical score.

Both of the aforementioned people appear to have used creative thinking to be successful. While many of us may not achieve the type success achieved by some creatives, we can certainly achieve success of our own. It seems to me that we simply need to find the right ruler by which to measure success. Does it have to be monetary? Of course not! I remember feeling highly successful which I saw a copy of my first book, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving in Young Learners, (Available at Amazon.com). Even though I still receive royalties from all my books, I can hardly say I could have given up my day job based on this income. Yet, I have certainly felt successful. Currently when I wear one of my jewelry designs and someone asks me where I bought it, I feel successful.

One element that aids creative people is when they have managed a way to survive without requiring much income from their creative work (at least initially). While I haven’t studied the background of Jean Piche, it would make sense that his success as a composer for others may have afforded him the income to create something entirely his own.  Another example is of a young musician who was an executive in a software company. He quit his day job and took a year to travel and create his own music album. For this endeavor, he wrote the songs, performed all the vocals and all the various instrumentals and then produced them with his own recording equipment. The success of his former day job afforded him the chance to follow his creative endeavor for a while.  Also, I have been fortunate to be married to a smart business man who has always provided for his family allowing me to do my creative thing.

So, it’s back to the initial question. How do creative people succeed? I believe we need to set our own expectations for success and judge it in a manner that keeps us creating. I, for one, don’t want to go back to simply “aspiring”. I want to BE.

brain, Diversions, Philosophy

Can You Trust Oprah: Credibility About the Brain

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My husband took me out for breakfast this morning. It wasn’t a special day and he hadn’t committed any sin; he just took me out to eat. Yes, he’s a good fellow! Afterwards, we wandered through the bookstore, relaxing as we looked at magazines. Although I normally only look at jewelry design periodicals, today, I picked up a copy of Oprah’s magazine. It seemed to call my name. Hurrying to get on to the other jewelry magazine I had grabbed, I quickly thumbed through the Oprah pages and a picture of the brain caught my eye. The single page of information was divided into regions of the brain, but it was while I read about the hippocampus (No that’s not a school for hippos!) that I questioned the credibility of the article. The information stated that “Arthur Kramer, PhD,. . . show[ed] that exercise actually makes your hippocampus bigger. . . [perhaps] increas[ing] the number of capillaries in the region, which in turn helps new cells grow. “

Upon reading the above information, I basically dismissed what I had read, in the article, since I previously learned that we don’t “grow” new cells, but rather form additional connections. Past learning caused me to question the credibility of the article. Since credibility has to do with the believability of the source, I was quite sure that now I didn’t trust Oprah.  Of course Oprah didn’t actually write the article, but isn’t she responsible for “her people”? Why would THEY print something that was incorrect? That’s when it hit me . . . maybe I was the one who was incorrect.

It didn’t require much of an online search to learn I was the problem! The past few years of research have led researchers to believe that some neurogenesis IS possible. Halleluiah. I thought that I could only branch new dendrites, but now I know that I can actually generate new brain cells in my hippocampus. Here’s the only problem. Dr. Kramer says that one must sweat at least three times a week for this to occur. He’s talking about good aerobic exercise as opposed to simply walking into the grocery store in the Texas heat.

Now, as I sit in my comfortable chair and think about regular aerobic exercise, I’m wondering if I really need those extra neurons in my hippocampus. Those I have seem to have worked pretty well; but what about the cells that are being sloughed off? Hmm . . . maybe I do need to work out . . . let’s see, treadmill? stationary bike? jogging? . . . I’m going to have to sit right here in this comfortable chair and figure that one out.

Philosophy, sewing

Don’t Do It After Sundown

Hmm . . . let’s think about what the title could possibly mean. What should we avoid doing in the dark?  (walking through places where snakes hide, picking out paint colors outside for your house, hunting little black calves in the dark,  - go ahead, add your own thoughts)

There are many teachings imparted by others that do not become learnings because they don’t really make sense during the lesson. Many things my piano teacher, Mrs. Hardy, told me during my years with her made absolutely no sense at that time. Years later, while working on a difficult song or teaching my own students, her words finally became learnings.

When training to become a teacher, my professors sometimes suggested means for handling classroom incidents. I often said, “I’ll never do that.” Later, in time of classroom peril, I understood what the professor said and learned by doing. Yesterday, while trying to sew a housedress, I finally understood one of my mother’s teachings.

Never sew on black after sundown. At the time she said this, I thought that was one of the sillier things she had imparted. Now, some 30 years later, I finally get it. I took yesterday afternoon and evening off from jewelry design to make a navy blue print housedress. It was a simple pattern that I had made once before. Unfortunately, some of the directions were missing, but being a resourceful woman, I figured I could wing it. At ten PM last night I finished all the hand work and the dress was neat and tidy. I had a feeling that I really shouldn’t try it on before retiring, but I just had to. I put it on and . . . well, for heaven’s sakes . . . I had sewn the yokes on backwards. The front yoke was on the back of the dress and the back yoke was on the front, I tried to convince myself that it was OK; stood in different postures to see if it would work; and then realized it just had to be redone. I knew I should not rip out the stitching when I was already weary, but that didn’t stop me. That’s when I finally understood what Mother had told me. “Don’t work on dark colors after the sun goes down.” I couldn’t even see those little dark stitches on that dark print fabric. I made a stab at it, but was mostly just left with holes in the fabric. Finally, shortly after the witching hour, I gave up.

With new resolve, I tackled the dark fabric in the sunlight this morning dress and am happy to report that all is well (except for my confidence). Then I remembered another teaching. “Always read the directions carefully when sewing.” I guess my mother was right about that one too. Next time, I’m going to purchase light colored fabric so I can do it after sundown.

Philosophy

Creativity and Chaos

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I’ve been thinking about the relationship between creativity and chaos for quite some time. What is the connection between the two. Here are some questions:

1. What is chaos?

2. Is chaos negative?

3. How deep into chaos can a person go and still rise up with creative outcomes?

4. Can a person effectively avoid chaos and still be creatively productive?

Those are too many questions to answer now. (aren’t you glad?) Briefly, however, I think we all have our own definition of chaos as well as level at which we identify or tolerate it. I remember working with preschoolers who were creating, learning and have a wonderful time. While I thought things were great, the teacher next door thought my classroom was chaotic. Perhaps some chaos is labeled as such due to a lack of understanding and/or tolerance.

We know there are different types of chaos that affect the artist. I would certainly agree that external chaos as well as personal chaos exists. While we often have little control over external chaos, our attitude toward it and how we allow it to effect us, IS more in our control. Usually the only thing we can change is ourselves and our attitudes.

I think that artists and other creative individuals may purposely create their own chaos. While I definitely agree with the theories that talk about the insight that comes from quiet calmness, other theories note that out of chaos comes innovation. Innovation, however, only comes out of chaos if we act upon the disorder. If we become a victim of chaos, nothing good comes.

An example of my self inflicted chaos comes from having many different things going at the same time. Giving my art form multiple dimensions leads to some degree of chaos. This picture just looks like clutter, but it’s also a sample of many things happening at once. There’s sewing to be completed, sheet metal that is set for measuring and cutting, handmade flowers and completed jewelry pieces that are ready to go out for sale, a bead tray set for project completion, etc. If this isn’t enough to drive you crazy, let me say that this is only one corner of my four corner studio and you DO NOT want me to open those closet doors!

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My studio remains in this condition for several days while ideas fall into place. A flower that gets pushed over against a group of beads can lead to a combinatory productive idea. A quick glance at finished pieces of jewelry may show me that I’m in a color rut. A color combination in a piece of fabric can lead to a new idea for a necklace. These ideas arise out of the chaos. If, however, I don’t try them, the chaos is not productive.

Chaos builds tension for me. I can only stand it for so long and then it starts to really bother me. Yet, the most productive period is just before that tension becomes too much. The trick is to figure out when I’m about to reach that tipping point and alleviate the chaos at the right time. I reached that point yesterday and the pictured corner is in order today.

I still have many unanswered questions about creativity and chaos, but currently, I believe a little chaos in my life is a good thing. Whether or not it yields something creative is entirely in my hands.

Bezels, Color, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work

“When I Am An Old Woman . . .

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. . . I shall wear purple . . . “  Those are the initial words of a poem called Warning by Jenny Joseph. The poem appears in a book by the same name edited by Sandra Halderman Martz. The contents of this collection include both poems and short narratives such as The Trouble Was Meals, Late Autumn Woods and Reaching Toward Beauty. Years ago when I first bought this book, I thought the pictures of the elderly woman throughout the book were frightening. But after so many trips to the mirror and the nursing home, they look quite normal now. Reading it now for the third or fourth time Warning remains my favorite entry. Not only does the woman in this poem say that she will wear purple, she’s also going to make up for the sobriety of her youth by picking flowers in other people’s gardens and learning to spit. In the final part of this piece, author Joseph suggests that she needs to practice now so that people won’t be shocked when she really is old and starts to wear purple.

I say “hurrah!” I think we should all wear a little purple now and not wait until we’re too old to get a kick out of it. I’ve actually been practicing for years now. Once while shopping with my young adult daughter we saw a rather rotund lady going in a store with curlers in her hair and an orange housedress on. I asked my daughter to not ever let me do that. Then, on her wedding day as we rushed around with our preparations, there I was with curlers in my hair and my lime green and orange housedress on. I went to the nursing home to pick up my Mother in that garb. I’m thinking that when I’m old no one will worry about what’s in my hair or what I’m wearing. I guess I was just practicing on that wedding day.

Today’s jewelry pieces fit with all this practicing. They’re PURPLE! As I looked around at my products and caught up on what had sold at the stores, I realized that purple goes out the door pretty quickly. See what you think about these two new pieces. am1 The pendant at the right hangs from a lightweight strand of amethyst chips and sterling rounds. The bezel is one of those for which I became brave enough to use all sterling silver. Other pictures are in my etsy store at the following address:

http://www.etsy.com/listing/53924047/sterling-and-amethyst-pendant-necklace

The second piece is based on the colors of a specific garment at one of the boutiques. The amethyst is highlighted with just a few olive colored Czech crystals. You can see one of the larger stones best in the side picture blowup. http://www.etsy.com/listing/53963222/amethyst-and-sterling-necklace?ref=v1_other_1

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Now that I’ve got my purple to wear, the poem also says I can gobble up samples in shops and wear my slippers out in the rain. It sounds like I’ve got all sorts of things to practice for when I’m an old woman. Does anyone out there want to join me?

Color, Hair Adornments, sewing

Counting Flowers on the Wall

From 1966 on, you could hear the Statler Brothers singing these lyrics,

      “Counting Flowers on the wall, that don’t bother me at all

       Playing solitaire ‘til one with a deck of 51”

It seems that each time I’ve finished a ribbon or felt flower that song pops back up in my head. I’m beginning to dislike it!

I started making the ribbon flowers after the Renegade Craft Fair that was held several months ago in Austin. One of the vendors, the Stitch Lab, taught how to make ribbon flowers and attach them to headbands. I was hooked! These are great fun to make and I just keep making and making and making them. I have a slew of them on clips and headbands at Paper Bear in San Marcos, Texas and have given many away to friends.ribbon flowers Now I’m seeing flowers everywhere I go. I’m trying not to accost every little girl who walks by me with a flower in her hair, but it’s been fun to notice the many ways they can be attached to hair.

My daughter told me that felt flowers would be good for fall and I was off and running again. I’m amazed at the beautiful colors of felt that can be located and had fun creating numerous rosettes for the pins below on the left. The flowers on the right are flatter and I haven’t decided what they will be. The smaller ones may be added to ribbon to become bookmarks. Do you have suggestions? I’d also be interested in vending opportunities for these little beauties. Ideas?

felt pins

 

felt flowers

 

By the way, I wait until after I leave the house to put a flower in my own hair. The concern on my husband’s face about whether or not at my age I’ve really lost it is just too much to bear.

Bezels, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Techniques, Torch Work

The Pickle Ate My Pants

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I looked up the word pickle and found all sorts of connotations that I hadn’t considered. The first definition usually appears as food or something you do to food as in pickled okra. Then there are all manner of situations that cause one to be “in a pickle”; yet, none of those fit this situation. Let’s get to the beginning of the pickle I’m talking about.

As I’ve probably mentioned before, when learning something new, I try to practice it every day. This goes back to learning and then teaching piano and realizing how skills develop over time. I’m continuing to do daily practice on making sterling silver bezels. While some days I think I’ve really mastered it, the next day is often a disaster and puts me back in my unskilled place.

Lately, I’ve completed a bevy of bezels, most of which are already gone; but a few are shown here. bezebl glack

 

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blue bezel

The copper backed bezels remain the most difficult due to the variation in temperature needed for copper versus silver.

Now, about that pickle. After spending considerable time one afternoon working on copper backed bezels, I took off my apron and noticed big holes in my shorts. I didn’t recall any sparks flying from the torch or any pain in the area of the holes. This did, however, remind me of the time I went fishing with my dad and his pocket caught on fire. He was dancing around pretty well when he figured out that his tobacco pipe, which he stuck in his pocket, was not completely extinguished. I think we later threw away those trousers. I guess I was luckier than him since I didn’t have to do any dancing around.

It wasn’t until a day later that I figured out what happened to my now-holy shorts. The pickle must have eaten them. I remember seeing drops of pickle fall on the shorts during several trips of the copper back and forth to and from torch block to pickle. (For those of you who aren’t metal workers, pickle is a solution used as“a treatment of metallic surfaces in order to remove impurities, stains, rust or scale (Wiklopedia).” I think I either mixed my pickle a bit too strong or I need a longer, tougher apron.

This morning as I was making the daily bezel, I felt something easing down my leg. After the shorts versus pickle incident, I’ve become more aware of what gets on me while I’m using the torch. The bezel had just reached the right temperature for the solder to begin to flow and I didn’t want to have to start over by stopping to see what was after my leg. So, I decided that I would not jerk or yell when the “something” bit me and I WOULD finish that bezel. Luckily, when I finally completed the bezel and extinguished the torch I learned it was just my untied apron string that was crawling down my leg. I think I lucked out on that one.

I can’t wait to see what “get’s after” me during the next bezel practice. I never anticipated so many extraneous happenings would occur while designing jewelry.

Pickle . . . we all either eat them or get in them from time to time, but I never imagined that one would eat my pants!

Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Techniques, Wire Work

A Day Like Alexander’s

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I would NOT like to be Alexander who is best known for his bad day. Perhaps you have read about him in the children’s book by Judith Viorst. The title is Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and you can hear Ms. Viorst read her book out loud online at the following Barnes and Noble link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/storytime/index.asp?cds2Pid=34152

When I’ve had a tough day, I try to remember Alexander and he usually makes me smile and feel better. Recently I had an Alexander day. It seemed fine at first, but by mid morning a neighbor came for coffee and wanted to talk county politics with my husband. Trying to be friendly, I grabbed my bead board and sat with them. I was working on an asymmetrical piece and should have known better than to let them see it. I’d been struggling with getting the multi strand necklace to hang correctly and kept holding it up to see how it was working. Each time, the men would sport somewhat pained and confused looks and each time I became more disgusted with the piece. Finally as lunch approached, I simply put it out of sight while I cooked. butterfly I pleased that the next day was NOT an Alexander day and I finished the piece shown here.

Following my ego deflating morning, I worked on making bezels most of the afternoon. Why did it take most of the afternoon? Because I burned up two bezels trying to get them to solder to copper backing. They simply wouldn’t connect. At one point I became so frustrated that I stopped and connected a different bezel to sterling silver for the necklace pictured below. This was much easier. However, since I was not willing to give up, I worked and worked until finally I managed to get the silver bezels to solder to the copper sheet metal. Yet, my ego took another hit.

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Later that day, I managed to string the pendants and was relatively happy with the outcome. The following day, however, when I was showing some pieces at a store, my good customer politely asked how to fasten one of the necklaces. All I could do was smile and tell her it was just an Alexander day. Look closely at the clasp in this next picture and laugh along with me.  clasp

Meanwhile, here at the ranch in the past few days, the puppy ate my good shoe and scratched the glass door. I put Vaseline all over the door to discourage him, but he ate that too. The pivot (irrigation machine)ran into a tree and wrecked. My car had a flat tire and the barn cat killed a rattler (actually that was a good thing since Angus got the snake before it got him). IMG_1494

 

I didn’t create this blog post to garner sympathy. I wrote it because I’m thinking you, too, could also create a narrative of the things that have happened to you on your own Alexander day. We all have them and we all survive. But just in case I forget that fact, I think I’ll keep in mind all the things that happened to Alexander on his own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day!

Philosophy

Teaching a Lesson or Teaching a Person?

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My break time from “real work”, like accounting, cooking, washing, etc. usually comes at the computer giving me a chance to read the numerous daily newsletters/blogs I receive from various bead magazine publishers. While I don’t always read all of them, I was intrigued today by Kristal Wick’s article (letter) in today’s Beading Daily Blog (http://www.beadingdaily.com/)? She wrote about being on an airplane with a seed bead artist who handed her a needle and offered her a choice of beads. I was first intrigued due to a picture of someone sitting in an airplane with a bunch of seed beads in front of her. I wonder how many seed beads I left on the floors of airplanes during the ten years I traveled around training teachers of the gifted. While many of my bead buds are not seed beaders, the point of her blog seemed to me to be about the advantages of one on one time with another artist. I’ve thought about that a good deal lately having had a nice friend who likes to “play” and has patiently sat with me as I try to learn to use the torch properly. Another friend has helped me learn to twist wire. There’s something in teaching that differs from teaching a lesson and teaching a person. It seems to me that in teaching a lesson, the agenda is preset by the instructor and the student has a reasonable understanding of a product goal. The student has agreed to that goal by signing up for the class or lesson. In teaching a person, however, the student is more in control and the instruction is guided by questioning and wondering. It’s much more Piagetian. (setting the learning environment for the student who then explores it) In the second case, the patient teacher watches the student to see what tips might be helpful and carefully guides the technical process. In the quote below, Ms. Wick discusses the difference in having someone sit with you as opposed to reading about the technique in books or seeing it on a DVD:
  “Without the inspiration, expertise, and girl-time with my bud and seed-bead cheerleader, Melinda, I could not have created these bead-stitched beauties. Sure I have books and DVDs, but sometimes committing to learning is what you really need! Plus, nothing stirs that deeply simmering pot of potential creativity in you as much as a great teacher, workshop, or class. They awake your inner artist, a self that may have been sleeping. Melinda certainly stirred my pot. She helped smooth out the bumps (literally and figuratively) in my seed beading. She brainstormed with me on what to make and how to finish it. And she helped me stay on track every other step along the way.”
I used to wonder when I was conducting workshops for adults why there was no opportunity for follow up on the lesson/learning. We would spend six hours together and then that was the end. Later there was no opportunity for questions or review following application of the learning. It was just a one time shot. That also usually happens with bead/design classes. It’s usually one workshop. The exception, of course, are those in which the student takes a short series of classes. These allow for questioning and feedback. The advent of social networking has helped somewhat with the above predicament. The ability to ask a follow up question online to a group where some individuals have also taken the class about which you have questions can prove quite helpful. Also, the opportunity to write to the instruction is most beneficial. So, what’s the point. Do I want to give up Teaching a Lesson in lieu of Teaching a Person? Absolutely NOT! The lesson is the beginning, but I do think there often should be follow up. A lesson could involve students and a teacher and a follow up session might solely involve a gathering of students to discuss problems and to have “show and tell”. Instructors may have moved on to other classes, but students can help one another. The old “ask one and then me”, sometimes used by classroom teachers in schools, works here with students asking one another first for help. If that fails then the teacher can be contacted. Another advantage to follow up is that it encourages students to actually complete what they started in the class. How many people have several unfinished projects lying around because they just moved on to another class? If I know someone will was to see what I’ve completed, then I really get busy. This solidifies the learning experience and thus I remember it better. I can just imagine the dendrites in my brain getting excited and wanting to branch following some new learning and then shriveling because I let the experience go (this is, of course, somewhat of an exaggeration, but you get the picture). I for one will work on learning something new as often as possible. I will also look for follow up opportunities either to give or to receive help with the learning process. My question remains “what new thing am I learning today” and secondly, “did I help anyone else get those dendrites moving?”
Bracelets, Philosophy, Wire Work

Alexander Calder Inspiration

A Facebook friend listed the following video and luckily I clicked to see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK8yelalFcI  I have always admired the works of Alexander Calder and this video features an exhibition of his wire jewelry. While speaking at a conference on gifted education in Indianapolis one year, a couple of artsy friends and I snuck out and went to the children's museum where there was a special showing of Calder’s work. Since it was a children’s museum, there were plenty of interactive centers. I recall manipulating vibrant red, yellow and blue colored pieces of vinyl to make a picture on a magnetic wall board. There was also a center for exploring the making of things with wire. Little did I know that I would later be so infatuated with bending wire into jewelry.  I was completely captivated by the exhibit and at one point I simply lay down on the floor to look up at the huge mobiles hanging from the high ceiling. The wonderful part was that no one thought I was weird! I guess I need to visit a children’s museum again!

Whether you are a Calder fan or not, I think it is interesting to note that he did not go to school to become an artist. He received a degree in engineering. We can certainly see how his training in how things work might have influenced his artistic endeavors, particularly his mobiles and large sculptures. There are many days when I wish that I had a better background in physics. As I recall, however, my engineer husband had to help me get through the basic college physics course required of elementary education majors. I got out with an A, but I think he deserves the credit.

Calder’s change from engineering to artistry reminds me of what I know and have mentioned before about so many gifted individuals. They don’t always stay with their initial focus or occupation. In the teacher’s gifted education classes that I held, I often had women come up at break to say they finally understood their own husbands. When these men mastered one occupation and reached the pinnacle of success, they dropped everything to move to a different occupation. It can be quite upsetting for the family, but may be totally necessary for the person. (I certainly cannot complain about anyone when I’ve been a piano teacher, school teacher, studio manager, piano salesperson, professor, consultant, teacher trainer, writer, rancher and jewelry designer. – I wonder what will be next – sure hope it isn’t wheelchair tester.)

In honor of Calder (I guess), I listed two wire bracelets in my etsy shop today. While the designs are not completly new for me, each piece is a bit different from the one before. It’s a good thing I’m not attempting to be a factory since I can never get even the bracelet armatures to turn out just the same. Do you think that is true artistry or just inability? Hmm . . let’s don’t even go there.

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Both these bracelets are listed at $36 in my etsy shop. (www.dreamcatcherdesigns.etsy.com)

 

 

 

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