Category Archives: Philosophy

Things I’ve Learned Playing Ball . . .

March 27, 2011 Karen

. . . with the dogs. My four blue heelers, cattle dogs, and I try to play ball every afternoon. At first, I did it for them, but over the years, I’ve realized that it’s for me too. Ball playing mid afternoon has become a habit and even if the animals don’t start barking, I know when it’s time to play. For several years when there were only three dogs, the hierarchy of who usually got the ball remained the same. The big mama dog, Cheyenne, had her bluff in on the other two and if she and another dog arrived at the ball at the same time the other dog receded and Cheyenne came back with it. Yet, as she has gotten older and arthritis has set in she has gotten the ball less and less. This is not because the others are now less afraid of her, but because she doesn’t run hard after every throw like she used to. She carefully selects when it is prudent to run and two or three times each day, she runs flat out even though she comes back limping. When she tries this hard I secretly hope that she has retrieved the ball. Hurray for Cheyenne, pictured at the very bottom. She feels good if she actually beats the others but doesn’t seem to enjoy it when I throw it directly to her.

The fourth dog, a male named Bruno, is the puppy who entered our game about a year ago. He’s rough and tough and often acts like a bully. When the older dog, Dixie, the first dog shown below, gets the ball, he chases her and nips at her all the way back to me. I’d whack him if I could catch him, but I can’t. After about four months of this, little Dixie has had all she can take. Yet, instead of giving up, she is becoming the aggressor. The other day when Bruno got the ball, Dixie nipped at him all the way back to me. Hurray for Dixie! Now when Dixie catches the ball and Bruno tries to bully her, she just stops and walks slowly back to me. Smart Dog!

The third dog, Frosty, is Cheyenne’s daughter and Bruno’s mother. She is the smallest and the fastest of all my dogs. She leaps high, has a good eye and runs like the wind. Of the four dogs, she is the one that doesn’t display any transgressions other than being wimpy when her mother growls at her. Good dog Frosty.

When Cheyenne gets the ball and is too tired or hurt to run for it anymore, she takes the ball in her mouth and goes into her dog house with it. She will not come out and bares her teeth if I come close or try to reach a stick into the house. The other dogs and I just look at each other. We’re not going in there!

I usually keep a second ball in my pocket for when Cheyenne steals the first one and goes to her house. The other dogs appear to appreciate this and rather enjoy playing for a bit without her. Eventually she comes out of the house and we end up with two balls in play. The dogs have now learned that you can’t get two balls in your mouth at the same time. It’s very disconcerting to them and they can’t figure out what to do when arriving at the ball just thrown and there’s already one in the mouth. The dog with this problem usually just stands with the ball in the mouth pressed against the ball on the ground until I arrive to retrieve them both. Heaven forbid that some other dog should get their catches!

Finally, Bruno figured out a plan about what to do when Cheyenne takes the ball toward her house. Yesterday, she took the ball and headed toward her house. I ran to try and head her off before she got there and Bruno rushed ahead and got in Cheyenne’s house. Smart Bruno! Boy was Cheyenne surprised! She considered getting in one of the other houses, but I had them covered. Cheyenne ended up bringing the ball back to the yard and playing with us. Hurray for Bruno!

While there are far too many dog/ball episodes to share with you at this time, I can point out a few specifics that I’ve learned from the afternoon exercise.

You can be hurt and still work flat out if you are selective about what you want to do.
Even when you are old and infirm, you still want to win fair and square without any pampering.
When there’s no one who can help you with a bully, sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.
Good problem solving pays off even if you have to move into someone else’s space.
It’s not becoming to put too much in your mouth at one time.

If you have a dog, pay attention. You might learn something too!

Creativity, Metal Work, Philosophy, Rings, Torch Work, Wire Work

Mamaw’s Hands

March 24, 2011 Karen

Hands tell a story. We all know people who talk with their hands. There are those dramatic soles who use their hands to accentuate their words with grand gestures. There are others who snap their fingers or clap their hands while speaking to emphasize words or secure your attention. I think some preachers do this to keep us awake in church. Yet, hands also help tell a story when they are perfectly still.

I remember my Daddy’s hands. His fingers were short and stubby and his nails were broken and brittle. As a woodworker and gardener in his retirement years, those hands met with sand paper, dirt, varnish and all manner of stress. His left thumb was shorter than his right having met with the table saw several years before he died. I used to hold his hands and worry about the nicks and cuts, but they didn’t bother Papaw who would just say “oh well, it can’t be helped.“ This man’s hands showed that he was a worker.

My Mother’s hands tell another story. She, too, was a worker. I remember those hands that not only cooked and cleaned in our home, but also stayed busy with knitting, needlework and constant sewing. Hers depict the pain of arthritis that she has endured for so many years. Now they are gnarled and the enlarged knuckles keep Mamaw from her preferred activities. We have tried numerous things to solve the problem, but alas her days of creating are past. It is as though her body is saying that it’s time to rest. The picture below shows a snapshot of my Mother’s hands with my daughter’s hands taken on the latter’s wedding day.

Mamaw’s hands also depict the pride she takes in her looks. I cannot ever remember her wearing much nail polish, but she is still taking care of her own nails and stays well manicured.

For several years she has wanted to wear more rings. A wonderful group of bridge-playing ladies volunteer at the nursing home each week and Mother plays cards with them. Evidently several of them wear beautiful wings and Mother wants to do the same. I cannot, however, get her old rings over those substantial knuckles and have tried to make her something she would wear. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to create anything to suit her. She won’t wear bling and she won’t wear anything plain. I made her a sterling silver S ring that was adjustable, but it didn’t make a hit. This week, I may have finally found the answer. First I had to convince Mamaw that I could NOT work with diamonds and I could not work in gold! Thank goodness she likes lapis. You can see the one I created for her on her finger below. I finally made something both adjustable to go over her large knuckles and acceptable to her.

It’s a bit difficult to see in the second photo that the ring is open in the back. I was able to open it up and slide it past her knuckles and then squeeze it back shut when it reached the base of her finger. She was pleased since lapis is one of her favorite stones. You can see the configuration of the ring better in the photos that follow. The back was not yet cleaned in one of them.

Mother was pleased with her new ring and I hope it will help her hands tell her story. This ring says “I’m still beautiful at 90 years of age and I still take great pride in the way I look.” It also says that someone cares enough about her to try and make her happy.

Today, I’m looking at my own hands and realizing the story they tell. My hands show broken, liver of sulphur colored nails and short stubby fingers that are scraped and marred. My fingers do, however, wear multiple rings when I go out in public. My hands are a combination of both my Mother’s and my Father’s hands. They, too, are hands that work. These hands will create until nature says I must stop. I’m hoping that’s a long time from now.

What do your hands say?

Bezels, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

Flow

March 9, 2011 Karen

Yesterday was a day of flow. After several nonproductive days filled with the emotions of life, I was finally able to put things aside and get into what Csikszentmihalyi calls flow. A description follows.

Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. . . .According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

I’ve long appreciated the work of this theorist, yet often find his material difficult reading. His contributions to the field of psychology include a plethora of books and articles. I used to draw one of his charts in my workshops showing how flow balances between anxiety and boredom. It seems to me that if we are too relaxed or bored we don’t achieve flow; yet we don’t get there when we are too pressured or anxious. I feel that the need for one or the other (boredom or anxiety) probably depends on the individual. For example, do you work better with or without some degree of pressure? Learning what helps us reach that state of flow can help us achieve productive energy and creativity. If you have interest in this idea, you might enjoy reading some of the work on this topic.

Over the weekend my state of mind had been too far toward the anxious side and I wasn’t able to create anything that I thought was pleasing. By yesterday, however, I managed to relax enough to find my flow and the designs began to move ahead faster than I could work. While some of the photos below show rather plain pieces, they do represent a work that contributed to a feeling of accomplishment. For me, accomplishment leads to increased productivity and flow.

The top row of pieces needs a bit of explanation. The lapis necklace on the left is different enough that it may need to grow on you. The sterling silver form is soldered and wears a small cabachon and tiny silver cup flowers on one side. Balancing produced quite a conundrum, but I eventually made the bead links on silver wire and added the sterling silver rounds and spacers on another piece of wire below them.

I do believe that I must have strung the jasper piece on the top right at least five times while attempting to get it lay just so. Now it sits very nicely on the neck. The photo doesn’t allow you to see the tiny bit of orange in these beads.

The last two photos may end up as one piece. I may replace the pendant on the bottom right necklace which seems pretty bright with the cab pendant on the left. I’m going to wait and see what the customer wants done with this one.

Since flow is not always easy for me to achieve, I’m thankful when it comes. My problem is waiting for it to get here!

Earrings, Pendants, Philosophy, Rings, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work

The Messy Metal Smith

March 3, 2011 Karen

I wonder who it could be. Do you remember reading the August 11 entry describing how the pickle ate my pants? Well, today, the flux helped turn them white. I was happily spending some uninterrupted time with the torch when my bottle of Aquiflux fell off the table and rolled to some far away place. Oh well, I thought, I can just use the new paste flux sitting right here beside me. I hadn’t used much of it previously, but today seemed like a good day to give it a workout. All was well and I completed a ring with a bezel and two butterfly pendants before I noticed my pants. No, there weren’t any new holes in them, but one leg was practically covered in something white and powdery. Flux! Then I noticed that my hands had a good deal of dry flakes on them. Flux! The paste flux actually worked fine for my projects, but I’m not sure that I like the extra mess. I tried to take a bit more care with it on the rest of my projects, but when I went upstairs to clean up, I noticed I also had white spots on my nose and cheeks. Now you tell me how in the world I managed to get flux on my face. I guess you can just call me the messy metal smith.

By the way, I’m dangerous too. Last week, I managed to reach across the extinguished torch before it cooled. My arm came in contact with the torch and I have quite a nasty burn on my inside arm. It was becoming infected until I started flooding it with hydrogen peroxide. It appears that I’ll live to torch another day. Scars are good . . . right?

In spite of all the mess and the bandaged arm, this was a fairly productive day. As you can see from the photos below, I ended up with two sterling silver rings, two butterflies and two star earrings.

I cut the shapes on the butterfly wings with my disc cutter and then sweat soldered them onto the copper shapes. The center piece on the right flutter by is made from a beaded wire.

The sterling silver ring sports a lapis stone that I put in a premade bezel cup. It has a little sterling silver flower sweat soldered on the side.

I used some very thin copper sheet for the star part of the earrings (or pendants) below. I’m trying out a paper cutter that cuts a star to see how long it will last with this type abuse. It does a fine job of cutting and I’ll just wait and see regarding its life. I appreciate the friend who shared this technique with me. I’ll let you know if it appears to be worth the relatively small investment in decorative paper punches.

The last ring shown is from the new Kim St. Jean book mentioned in another entry.

I hope you aren’t as messy as I am, but I DO hope you’re having as much fun as I am! Does that make it OK to be a messy metal smith?

Bracelets, Necklaces, Philosophy, Techniques

Adventures in Chaos

February 24, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

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.

Creativity, Philosophy, sewing

The Multidimensional Self

February 20, 2011 Karen

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!

Metal Work, Philosophy

Hearts to You: A Family Tale

February 14, 2011 Karen

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!

Philosophy

Adult Biting

February 11, 2011 Karen 3 Comments

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.

Metal Work, Philosophy, Rings, Torch Work, Wire Work

Ring a ding ding . . .

February 1, 2011 Karen 2 Comments

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!

Bezels, Creativity, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, Torch Work, Wire Work

Resistance to Closure OR Procrastination?

January 28, 2011 Karen

Several sleepless nights this week left piddlin’ in my studio wondering what to do when you are too sleepy to do much of anything. Have you ever felt that way? During one of those times, I located a number of UFOs (unfinished objects) and pondered the current state of my work.

My need for closure used to require that I rush to complete each piece. My head knew that this was not a good thing since creative people are supposed to be amble to remain open for all the artistic possibilities that might present themselves. When you decide on an idea or problem solution (close) too quickly, there’s less opportunity to exercise true creativity. This is one of the areas rated on many formal creativity tests. Yes, my head knew I should resist closure, but I still willed myself to “get it done”.

Because I understand this need to resist closure, I consciously try to remain open and therefore lay some things (pendants in particular) aside while I consider various alternatives for completing them. Apparently, I got carried away with this little practice and during one of my late night/early morning studio carousings, I discovered what I had wrought. I had an entire pile (a little exaggeration) of things left undone.

Then it hit me. Creative gurus teach that we are supposed to diverge and then converge. During my divergence, I was resisting closure and laying things aside while I thought of the myriad of possibilities for how each could be used. But, oops, I forgot the rest of the teaching . . . CONVERGE! During convergence, we are to pull the ideas together, make a decision and, in my words, finish the work. I didn’t do the latter.

So, on that fateful day, it was time to CONVERGE. (Can you here my battle cry?) I devoted one day to getting those pieces in some sort of completion form. I made the pendant for the first one, “Wing It”, last May upon coming home from a boutique run where a customer said that’s what she does. Oh well, it’s only January; but it was time for something to hatch.

It only took a short while to attach the riveted pendant to some chain and add a few dangles. What took me so long?

The next piece sports a pendant provided by one of the boutiques. The owner had it on a simple silver wire and it had not sold. She sent it home with me before Thanksgiving saying “DO SOMETHING” and she hasn’t seen it since. It’s time! I hope the store owner likes it. She will certainly be surprised to see it again and will probably take it just to get her pendant back.

I cannot honestly say how long I’ve considered the use of this S shaped pendant armature. I know it has been several months since I repeatedly annealed and whacked this shape. At the time, I just wanted to see if I could hammer a piece to the extent that a couple of my friends do in their pieces. This week, however, it finally turned into a necklace.

This one is fairly long and dangles from a doubled leather cord.

Finally, I found two bracelet armatures all formed and tumbled, just hanging around waiting for embellishment. They are now properly adorned.

It’s good to finish these pieces and I’m glad I didn’t follow my urge to just throw them away when I first found them. They were worth completing. Yet, now I wonder whether I was really being creative on these by resisting closure or if I was just plain procrastinating. I think it’s resistance to closure when you are not sure that all the possible ideas have been explored on a piece and you are remaining open to receive those great thoughts. That was definitely the case on two or three of these pieces. However, I have known what to do with those bracelet armatures for a while and just didn’t want to do it. That is plain old procrastination! Shame on me! Will it every happen in this studio again . . . . . I can defiantly say “YES!” Now I hope to resist closure when needed and beware of that other phenomenon.

Dreamcatcher Designs