24/03/2025
How do I go about the process of making jewellery? Well, I never have a plan. In fact I don't even know if or when I will make some. Usually I just end up in the small side room of my gallery where I make the jewellery because I don't feel like using the "thinking" part of my brain. Something is going on that gets me there but I'm not conscious of what that is. I just want to exist in a positive place and communicate that. I end up mooching around and finding beads and findings etc the colours of which are appealing to me that day. I like combining things so that they enhance each other and are stimulating to my own aesthetic taste. There are some very practical things that go into how a piece of jewellery ends up. The first is that I can only use what beads, findings etc I have available. I have usually picked up these here and there over literally years. Usually, I will never have them again. The white beads here serve a practical purpose in making sure, hopefully, that the cut ends of the wire don't rub upon the wearer's skin. You don't have that problem with earrings but you do with necklaces. The small glass beads at the two ends of the strand are there because I didn't have enough of the long blue beads. But the effect is more interesting anyway.
There are all sorts of practical problems that have to be figured out. I suppose I could go to books for ideas and answers but I prefer figuring things out myself.
Maybe one day I will get round to using a torch to melt silver etc but I enjoy the space I am in when when I am just mucking around on the bench with some good music playing. It's a minor miracle when a piece is finished and a pleasure to look at them. It's hard to capture how nice they are on camera. The price of this necklace is $75 including postage.
