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.