Category Archives: Philosophy

Philosophy, Techniques, Wire Work

Awakening Beginner’s Mind


The title for today’s entry is not originally mine. It comes from a chapter in The Mindful Woman by Thoele. She discusses how healthy children demonstrate excitement and take the time to be truly present in each new experience. As adults, it seems the beginner’s mind leaves us in the midst of multitasking, tedium, and repetitive living. I wonder if we could change that?

While many of us find our beginner’s mind with brand new experiences, I was reminded yesterday of the awakening when adding a new dimension to a previously learned task. My friend was here (thanks Szarka) and helped me practice making better wrapped wire loops for my jewelry. If you are a wire worker, you’re probably laughing and wondering how this simple task could help garner beginner’s mind. Let me explain. My wire loops have been terrible for years. Since I didn’t know any better, I wasn’t concerned until my friend began inspecting things (in a kind way of course). Then I realized there must be more than crooked misshaped loops and scratchy ends. Rather than feeling like a failure after my friend helped me, I tackled those loops with enthusiasm. As long as I looked for improvement rather than mistakes, my beginner’s mind was active and I was enthusiastic. I can’t say that the picture herein shows perfect loops, but it does show improved loops. Luckily, I need to make many more loops to complete this necklace; so I’ll get plenty of practice. While I used to think that I had to learn a completely new skill to engage my beginner’s mind, thankfully, I now realize that loopsisn’t always necessary.

Drawing upon what I know about brain development, each person’s understanding of how to awaken their own beginner’s mind may be more important than we realize. Many researchers tell us that the dendrites in the brain which can branch to form new neural connections branch solely when we are involved with new, active, challenging learning in a risk free environment. Doesn’t that occur when we move forward from experiences in our beginner’s mind. In my case, beginning and branching dendrites also seems to bring joy.

Consider the difference in those who are elderly. Some are still pleased with life and interested in reading, working puzzles, playing games, etc. Others, however, are no longer engaged with life. Some of this variance results from health and/or emotional issues, but much of it is a matter of stimulation and brain engagement. My Mother, for example, once despondent, confused, and uninterested in life, is now a bridge-playing, piano player who reads constantly and is ready to get a move on at 88 years of age. The difference came as she left a solitary home life, moved to a nursing home and became stimulated and challenged along with others her age.

We are told that our dendrites can continue to branch into our 80s and 90s. Hooray! There’s still time to make those connections. I believe I’ll continue to seek activities that engage my beginner’s mind and hope for the best!

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

Work Hardened

 hardened

As I learn about metal and wire work, the term work hardened arises often. It’s the idea of manipulating and/or hammering a piece until is becomes more hardened or brittle. When a piece is hardened just right, it helps it retain its shape and stability. I’ve learned the hard way that too much manipulation of a piece of wire makes it more difficult to bend. This is not unlike over doing when we exercise our bodies. I’m also learning that I shouldn’t hammer a piece too early in the design process, but rather wait until I have the shape I want. The best part is that I do have an excuse for pounding something. It’s great to stop in the middle of a frustrating day and just whack away!

This process is not unlike what is currently occurring here at the ranch. It’s been an exciting couple of weeks at Dreamcatcher. Each May, our bulls arrive back home from their feed test after spending the winter months at another location. We send them away as big calves and they arrive back as big bulls. I enjoy sitting at the very top of a fence watching these magnificent beasts come off the truck and back into our pasture. I never cease to be shocked at the change they make in just a few short months. The goal of the feed test is for the bulls to eat and grow; therefore they mainly just stand around and eat from the bunks. We can’t sell them to our customers at this point because they would melt if they had to work. These 110+ bulls get a rude awakening when they come back home. While they have delicious grass to eat in the pasture at the bottom of a hill, their water is at the top of that rocky hill. Since they’ve just been standing on flat ground eating during the winter, the climb to the top of that hill and back down is monumental, but important.

work hard bulls

Through this exercise, the bull’s hooves become hardened and their bodies become muscular. While the climb by the complaining bulls is currently precipitated by a barking, nipping blue heeler, a honking jeep and yelling people, in a few short weeks it will be easy and they will go willingly. As they become work hardened, they will be ready to serve our customers.

While there probably should be a third picture to this blog, I’ll refrain from inserting it. People seem to also get work hardened in both positive and negative ways. Are the wrinkles on my face a result of this process? Has the optimism we became accustomed to during prosperous economic times been work hardened with the current economic drop? If the analogy derived from both the metal work and the conditioning by design of our bulls applies to our economy, becoming work hardened could be a good thing. As with the wire work, will the resulting economy be more stable? Will we take more time to make important decisions? As with the bulls, will becoming work hardened make us better prepared for the future? Let’s just hope so.

Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces, Philosophy

Closure

 PICT0505 The term “closure” could mean many different things. When jewelry designers describe necklaces or bracelets, they may mention that closure is a toggle clasp, lobster clasp, button, etc. Clients may also ask for a favored type of clasp on a piece.

The closure I’m thinking of today, however, has another connotation brought to mind by the commissioned piece above that I recently completed. Several months ago, I received an email from a representative of a group of teachers in west Texas who wanted a special piece of jewelry to give to someone as a retirement gift. Luckily, I know that person, having worked for her when I did consulting in gifted education. It helped to be able to remember times I enjoyed with her as I designed this special piece. Closure for this person comes through retirement from a job.

Others I’ve encountered have faced closure with the loss of a special person who has moved on in one way or another. We faced a closure when we had to have our house cat, Blue, that has been in several blog pictures, put to sleep a few weeks ago.

My husband is much better at how to handle closure than I am. He worked for a large manufacturing company for over 30 years and had the unfortunate task of helping close several plants. With these closures, he faced the emotional turmoil experienced by many employees who found it tough to move on. He often recommended the book Transitions (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Transitions) as an aid. We have purchased and given numerous copies of this through the years and I don’t exaggerate by saying I’ve read parts of it at least ten times. While we each take away something different from reading, the message I receive from this book and from my husband’s help is that we must have endings. I would much prefer to ignore an unhappy closure or change and move on quickly, but that’s not necessarily healthy. Facing, acknowledging, and taking the time for endings is important.

With graduations, retirements, job losses, illnesses and economic changes, I’m taking time to realize that closure is just part of life. Feelings about it probably need to be experienced rather than ignored. Just how to do that is a personal issue for each of us to face in our own way.

Metal Work, Pendants, Philosophy, Wire Work

Pearl Pod Patience

 

Pods are a popular form in metal work, but my modified pod podrefused to develop. Several month ago, I made the metal pod and tried to fill it, but nothing seemed to work. Inclined to pitch it in that big round file cabinet (the waste basket), I decided to remain patient and hope for the light. Last night, after looking at the June Bead and Button issue and examining the work on page 63, I nurtured that pod again. It’s getting better even if it’s not perfect.

I am not a patient person! I enjoy the process of creating more than the pleasure of looking at or wearing the finished product. Therefore, my tendency is to throw away things that don’t work and move on. Lately, however, I’ve been trying to remember that “patience is a virtue” and allow pieces to wait for their time. Inspiration appears from strange places and the beginning of an idea may require impetus from something at a later date in order to reach design completion.

Artists often keep a sketch notebook housing ideas to which they want to return. As a composer, I kept a file filled with manuscript paper containing a few measures of a musical motif. It would seem that unfinished objects, like the pod, need to reside in an idea box so the designer can return to them later. I have an idea bin, but during irrational moments (usually when someone is coming to visit and I’m straightening the studio), I often throw away its entire contents. While some of my objects need to go to that happy object place in the sky, others do not and a little design wisdom is all that I need. Unfortunately, there’s still the problem of knowing what to pitch and what to keep. Maybe one day I’ll be struck with both patience and wisdom. At the least, I can hope.

Metal Work, Necklaces, Philosophy, Techniques, Wire Work

Challenging Neck Armor

Today is the posting date for pictures of designs completed in a Yahoo group to which I belong (Wire_Wrap_Texas@yahoogroups.com) About a month ago, those who participated in the group’s challenge received a small package of beads with which we were to complete a project. Basically the only stipulation was to use most of the beads and include some wire work. The package contained a few glass beads, rounds, copper spacers, a small black donut and a large crystal nugget. The latter two didn’t seem to fit with the others and the challenge began! Being majorly compulsive, I wanted to dive right in when the beads arrived, but made myself leave them alone. I lay them out in a saucer on my desk and peered at them for a week or so while repeating, “incubation is a good thing.”

Part of my goal with the challenge was to combine multiple elements of metal and wire with more delicate seed bead work. At first, I envisioned a netting of tiny seed beads covering the crystal nugget and providing some color. While this worked well, and I now know how to do this, the crystal still didn’t fit with the other beads. I added a pewter butterfly and some ribbon and gradually, things grew worse! PICT05539 Laying it aside, I picked up that black donut. “Now what?” I wound ribbon around it, wrapped this with 24 gauge copper wire and finally embellished it with a bit of seed bead embroidery. I also created several different sizes of wrapped rings to go with this one and hung the ugly crystal inside the largest circle. Using wire links to put the necklace together it looked great in my mind but pretty yucky in real life. Would I post a picture of this one challenge day? Definitely not!

Finally, feeling that I had been challenged enough, I designed a moon shaped copper piece cut from sheet metal and hung dangles from the holes I drilled. The seed bead embellished donut now hangs from the center of the piece and the crystal nugget? Oh dear, . . . I must have lost it somewhere! PICT0548

Did I learn anything from this challenge? You bet!

· I learned that my skills do not always enable me to make what I see in my mind.

· I have again confirmed that too much embellishment, as in the case of the crystal nugget, can ruin a piece.

· I learned how to cover beads with netting and how to change the look of a form with ribbon and wire to create a unique pendant or link for a strand.

· I realized that incubation and resistance to closure is still hard for me even though I continue trying to improve.

· I am reminded that there is a certain level of frustration in a challenging situation that is good and propels us, while too much frustration inhibits progress. It’s a delicate balance and the physical and emotional place we are in at the time of the challenge greatly affects the rigor we can handle. I believe that we each have to learn what level helps us grow and branch new dendrites.

· Lastly, I learned that I like having friends who support my learning.

Creativity, Philosophy

Creativity . . . and My Mother

When I think about designing, I automatically call it creativity. For me, probably due to about 20 years of dedicated study and writing about the topic, creativity is problem solving even in the art forms like designing. Each time I examine a set of materials, whether it is a strand of beads, a piece of metal or something to be wire wrapped, a problem presents itself. What other colors go with the bead strand? Should it be used in a simple or intricate design? What length should the piece be? Similar questions arise for visual artists. If the person has a preconceived idea of the painting the problems is, of course, how to replicate the picture held in the mind’s eye. One of my friends who is a painter problems solves differently. She told me that she selects a color palette, makes a brush stroke on the canvas and then tackles the problem of what to do with the mark.

Today, my Mother reminded me of her problem solving and creativity the afternoon of my senior prom. Now that she brings in up, I do actually remember the sound of her scream emitted as she was ironing my formal. Somehow, the chiffon overlay of the skirt was drawn like a magnet to the iron and disintegrated leaving a large hole in my dress. It was almost five o’clock and in Medford, Oklahoma, the streets roll up about then. She quickly called the five and dime store. Of course in a town of only 1200 people she knew the woman who ran the store. Telling the store owner not to close until she got there, she raced downtown. To my amazement, she returned to fix my beautiful blue dress with plastic flowers. That’s all she could find to cover the hole. She sewed them over the burned spot and fortunately in the darkened arena of the prom, no one knew our saga. Later, as I continued to wear the dress for other occasions, she replaced those ugly plastic posies with nice silk flowers purchased in the city. What began as a problem ended with a lovely embellishment for my long dress.

I never really thought of my Mother as creative since she always followed a pattern for sewing or needlework. Yet, upon closer examination, I believe she is very creative. I could cite the many ways she problem solves with her current living situation, but I’m sure you get the picture. Creativity – problem solving - my Mother.

Creativity, Pendants, Philosophy, Wire Work

A Day in the Life of a . . . designer?

Yesterday started great. It was a beautiful sunny day in Texas and I had a plan. I’d take a day away from the ranch, deliver a jewelry order to a customer, visit my Mom at the nursing home and run that long list of errands. After donning my normal wear (as opposed to ranch smeared garb), and smiling because I was escaping cooking lunch for the ranch workers, I happily set out. Ah, the sheer joy of having no time line or real schedule filled the air. . . No more than 10 miles had metered on my odometer when my husband called to let me know I needed to come home early to meet some visitors to our ranch from Mexico. Taking this in stride (more or LESS), I went about my business with the minor change of eating my lunch from my lap while driving between towns rather than the leisurely sit-down restaurant meal I had anticipated.

I thoroughly enjoyed meeting our ranch visitors and, while they visited the cattle with my husband, I garnered new enthusiasm and began work on some ideas. A good pounding on heavy wire with the hammer certainly felt good and you can see some of the work in the pictures. PICT0493 I’m working on armatures for Ralph’s Rocks, mentioned in a previous blog. PICT0486 There’s something about the design work that is very relaxing and by dinner time when my husband returned, I had changed to comfortable clothes and was in a good mood until . . . the phones started ringing. It’s usually a bad sign when they ring in tandem.

On one phone a despondent person shared concerned about a fence problem and on the other, someone was calling to say some of our cows had escaped. In other words, it was time to pull a Clark Kent switching from designer to cattle rounder upper. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to change clothing, since the cattle were making their way to the busy road. It took a bit of time to get in the truck, drive to the jeep location, get in the jeep, open and close the gates and then climb over the permanently locked gate. (Have you even done this in a little pink dress? It’s NOT pretty!) By the time we got to the neighbor’s property, the black cows had disappeared. I’ll spare you the details of locating them, but it took some time. Unfortunately, we could only find about half of them and the bull, that was probably the ring leader of the entire mess, was nowhere in sight. We moved the located girls to a safe haven and looked for the others. Just at dusk we found them. As I stationed myself to turn them into the proper lane, my husband gathered them and pushed them in the right direction. After considerable time, they rounded the corner, took one look at me in my neon pink dress and went right back where they came from. Can you hear my husband yelling? This scenario occurred twice before it became too dark to continue.

Hoping for the best with the runaways, we returned to the barn to give the required shots to our donor cows in preparation for harvesting their embryos. Did you know it’s really difficult to find the black cows you want when it’s dark? Finally, after giving each donor two shots, pulling their cidrs (if you’re not a rancher, you don’t even want to know what this is), and applying their alert stickers (you don’t want to know about this either), we headed for the house. 9:10 PM – designer, turned cattle rounder upper, now cook and doctor (did I mention the blood running down my legs from the cacti scratches obtained in the woods??)

10 PM - - designer again- - I think it’s easy to understand why, by 10 PM, I NEEDED to wrap more of Ralph’s Rocks and pound more wire.

The moral of this saga is that all of us are many things and each person could relate a similar “day in the life of . . . “ story, yet we keep designing, writing, composing music, painting, inventing or whatever we do to create. I used to think it would be outstanding to be able to sit in a studio and design all day, but now I realize that might not work for me. My better work seems to come as a result of NEEDING to design as a release from other stresses. Those stresses mainly come from that rich life outside the studio. Whether it’s made of nursing home visits, chasing cows, going to work, or feeding a family, our innovative work is a sum of our lives and an expression of who we are. Today, the hammer and I will be friends, but I AM going to turn the stereo up loud and pretend I don’t hear the telephone ringing.

Philosophy

Lessons from the Nursing Home

2 Comments

As mentioned in the previous post, yesterday I set up a display of jewelry for sale at the nursing home where my Mother has lived for over six years. Upon arriving home after the jewelry show, I exhaustedly dropped into a soft chair and swore I would never do it again. My feet and back hurt, my head ached, and every ounce of my patience had been left at the home.

Things started quickly. After all these years of doing shows at the nursing home, I’ve yet to realize just how word spreads so quickly that I have arrived with jewelry in hand. As usual, I hadn’t even moved the set-up tables into place before three or four people had come for “first pick”. Mother quickly came to my rescue, asking how she could help, and was assigned those tasks that can be completed from a wheelchair. She’s actually quite good at organizing and arranging the bracelets. We all want to be needed and I’m sure she knew I valued her assistance.

Our first real customer came looking for earrings. After I showed her a pair of simple ones, this great woman receiving oxygen through a tube in her nose remarked that she needed “slutty” earrings. Thinking she wanted dangles, I tried another pair. “No”, she laughed, “sluttier!” The other ladies, including my Mother, pitched in and eventually, we found the right pair. She matched it to several other things and off she went to retrieve her money from the nursing home cashier. Moments later, the cashier appeared to ask if I could take the woman’s IOU because the cash drawer was empty. Not wanting to look for more slutty earrings another time, I said yes.

I thoroughly enjoyed helping another customer, a former school teacher, who had purchased from me previously. She has good taste and selected 5 necklaces. Following a heavy discount, we discovered she was a little short on money and she decided she could also delve into her bingo fund. (You must have spent hours in or visiting a nursing home to comprehend how big a sacrifice she was making.) Discounting the items even more, somehow we arrived at the exact amount of money she had (excluding the bingo funds). Later, when she returned with her cash, I knelt by her wheelchair, helped her extract it from her purse and counted it. Concerned about her roommate who seldom got out of bed, she left to tell her about her purchases.

Numerous other folks came by either to window shop or make small purchases until it was announced over the speakers that I would only be there 30 more minutes. We might as well have turned on the first alarm. The wheelchairs started flooding in and, not liking crowds, Mother quickly retreated to a back corner of the room. The onslaught was on. While two ladies tried on what seemed like every pair of earrings they could get their hands on (yes, I’m currently sanitizing them), the school teacher had managed to rouse her roommate, who was obviously in pain, but determined to shop. She too, picked out about 5 lovely pieces but said her money was in route from the bank and she could have it next week. As I was wrapping her pieces for layaway, her roommate gave her the bingo money and I traded it to her for a bracelet she picked out.  She wore it back to bed. I can only hope that when it’s my day, I’ll have a roommate who cares so deeply for me.

Meanwhile, the last two earrings ladies had gone to retrieve the “charge it” customer I mentioned working with at the last show. I was trying to put things away having already stayed an hour and a half longer than scheduled, but was told by the residents that I should “help her” because she’s 103. So, I did. Eons later, she was down to three necklaces in her selection. Yes, we had tried on all of them - - at least twice. Mother had come out of her corner and was rolling her eyes, knowing it was time to go. We picked up all the other pieces and folded the display cloth up to the three necklaces, but to no avail. She couldn’t decided. Then, thankfully, the layaway trick worked again and she went happily on her way.

Picked up and leaving, Mother asked, “how did we do?” “Oh,” I said, “we didn’t make much.” “Oh dear,” she said. But I told her the point was for the residents to have a good time. “WELL, They Certainly DID!” she said. A kiss and a wink later, I departed. Will I ever do it again? . . . probably.

An afterthought: I might have just given the residents jewelry since most paid below the cost of components in the pieces, but that wouldn’t have resulted in the same smiles. We all need to feel that we can manage for ourselves. By the time, folks reach the nursing home, much of their self-sufficiency is gone. Let’s hope those woman who rolled themselves to the jewelry table, made their own choices, and finally paid with their own money also renewed their own self respect.

Bracelets, Philosophy

Wow with Legs

Sunday, while listening to KGSR radio, I heard Jody Denberg (http://www.kgsr.com/jocks/jody.aspx) chatting with a writer from Rolling Stones magazine regarding certain albums and songs. Specifically, they discussed a new song by Bruce Springsteen and one of them stated it really had “legs”. Since this was a uniquely different context to when we ranchers talk about legs, I listened carefully. My take on their discussion was that sometimes you hear a new song and think “Wow” this is going to be great, but later, after repeated listenings the song just doesn’t have legs. My understanding is that if it has legs, it stands the test of time.

Applying this to the ranch business, we may look at a bull and take note of his thickness and straight back and how great he looks, but does he “have legs” in the sense that Denberg was using? Here at Dreamcatcher, we look beyond his initial appearance and examine his data and the type calves he is expected to sire in order to find whether or not he “has legs” and will be the type bull to make a positive impact on a herd.

So what could this possibly have to do with design work? Oft times, I may think I’ve hit on just the type of new design that customers will love. I’d call that a “wow”. Later, however, when that WOW doesn’t sell or bring rave reviews when I wear it myself, I have to face the fact that my WOW does not have legs! Last summer, I had such a great time making a particular bracelet design, that I completed ten or so in various colors and bead types before I realized it. Unfortunately, they were not popular and ended up in the “let’s make a deal” basket. The problem seems to be how to determine if a design that is a winner in my personal book will be a winner from a business standpoint. A big part of what makes a design Wow for me is the enjoyment I get from creating it and this doesn’t necessarily mean that others will like it as well since they are only wearing it.

The last couple of evenings, I’ve enjoyed working on embellished right angle weave bracelets. The one on the left was made very closely to the pattern suggestions, while the one on the right took flight. I’ve completed these two and would enjoy making another because these are WOWs for me. However, based on previously learned lessons, I’m going to get some customer opinions before making more of these and find out whether or not my Wow has legs and the design will endure. PICT0430c If not . . . I’ll have two new bracelets and have had fun!

PICT0431c

Philosophy, Techniques

Technique-Like Riding a Bike

Technique, to this former music teacher, has generally pertained to the basics of musicianship. At the ripe age of 5 years old, I was taught by my second piano teacher, Mrs. Ida Defoe Hardy, (my mother was the first teacher) that if you had good technique and kept practicing your scales, you could learn a piece more quickly and easily. Long ago, when I was young and rule-bound, I did what Mrs. Hardy said and later realized she was right. My good piano technique, curved fingers, strong hands, scale facility, etc. has stayed with me even though I play less frequently.

Yesterday, at the nursing home with my 87 year old mother, I was again reminded about the value of technique. A new organ was donated to the nursing home and Mother has been wanting to play it. I would wager that it has been a minimum of 15-20 years since she touched an organ and with her crooked arthritic fingers, I feared the worst as she approached the keys. Yet, I was the one who got a BIG surprise. Although it wasn’t perfect, the music was recognizable, the rhythm consistent and the smile on another resident’s face as she listened to Mother was genuine.While I was pleased with the sound, I was even more impressed with Mother’s technique. Her crooked fingers were curved as she sat up straight. In organ lessons, we learn to lay the thumb on its side in order to depress two keys at the same time while reaching other fingers to far away keys. Mother did this repeatedly without consciously thinking about it. I guess good TECHNIQUE lingers for years. It IS like riding a bicycle; you never forget it. The longer we’ve practiced a technique, the better the skill, and the less likely we are to lose it. (Isn’t this why elementary school teachers urge parents to keep their young readers in the print through the summer months? The more unskilled the reader, the more they lose through idleness. Adults, don’t have to do this because our skill is fully developed.)

Design work certainly requires technique as well. We practice the basics such as crimping, making a wire spiral, etc. repeatedly and these become so natural that we are free to think of other elements. As a beginner, I wanted to be creative and add my own style, but there were many disasters largely because I didn’t have the basic skills perfected. Now, years later, many of those techniques are natural and my brain is free to consider other things. There must be a lesson here! I think my guide should be that when learning a new element (currently, the element is how to make my own wire clasps), I should practice until the process becomes more a part of my technique before deciding to alter it. I don’t like doing the same thing over and over, but in the case of basic technique, it is needed.

I can still hear Mrs. Hardy saying, as I later told my own students, you can’t improvise on Bach until you can play it the way he wrote it! OK Mrs. Hardy, I think I’ve finally got it!