No excuses soldering

So I decided this year that I will challenge some of my self imposed restrictions. Excuses I make... obstacles I present to myself. One of these is soldering. I studied metals in college. I fabricated things in sterling from simple to complex. Why aren't I soldering NOW as my work cycles back to jewelry from ceramic sculpture? Excuses.

All materials present and accounted for... note dust on pickle pot. 

Excuse #1 - The tools and materials are all so different from those that I learned on...
Sure they are! I was in art school 25 years ago! I learned on large propane and oxy/acetylene torches in a fully outfitted metals studio. We had a separate room for pickle, polishing and sand blasting.

As seen above - I HAVE the materials I need for an in home/studio soldering set up. Soldering pad, charcoal block, torches, pickle pot... Flux, solder... OK. So no excuses here.

1. Caroline's simple yet effective set up. 2. Niky's portable, fully functional set up. 3. Lesley's permanent soldering station

Excuse #2 - Safety and space

The picture above is a compilation of images from my dear UK team mates showing their soldering spaces. Umm. if Niky can do ALL she does in like 6"... OK no excuses there. 

Safety - Protect your work surface. Have a fire extinguisher in the studio. Don't wave the torch around... Hmm. I can do that. So no more excuses there. Lets set up a space shall we?

Ok - let's make this happen. 

What to make? Hmm. I have some great bangles from Nunn design that need charms. Yes - something good to wear to MEXICO when I take the Richard and Jane Salley class of a lifetime. Something to remind me that I am there to learn/relearn soldering.

A 2016 charm with soldered bail. a sweat soldered crescent. and sterling spiral. OK. Lets do this.

3 charms ready to assemble. one soldered loop, 2 sweat soldered layered pieces. 

DONE! Excuses vanquished. See below - pickle and patina! Not perfect,but a personal success. 

pickled and patina - NOT perfect! 

An auspicious start to the year... 

* Footnote - since originally writing this post I have spent that week in Mexico and SOLDERED ALL THE THINGS. Victory is mine! Details and eye candy coming soon!

Big Magic - thoughts on the creative life

Big Magic quote by E. Gilbert

Are you familiar with Elizabeth Gilbert? You probably are... she is the author of the autobiographical "Eat, Pray, Love" and her recent novel "The Signature of all Things".  She is the proprietress of a fab import store called Two Buttons. And she has given a stellar TED talk on the nature of creativity. (TED talk video included at the end of this post. Watch it. You won't be sorry.) 

Big Magic

Eat Pray Love, TED talk, Two Buttons store 

Her newest book "Big Magic" was on my Kindle as soon as it was released. An author whom I respect and admire, writing about the magic of creativity and living a creative life? YES PLEASE.  I fully intended to read the book, and try a new technique or conquer a "fear" and share it here. 

I couldn't get deep into the book on my Kindle. I needed to underline and make margin notes on every other page. This book is so freaking fantastic. Her tone is conversational; making it a fun and easy read. Like sitting down to have a coffee with Liz. Then she will say something so profound, drop a truth bomb... and I need to take notes. I am 1/3 of the way through the book - 78 pages in and I have 6 flags and 5 dog eared pages. 

Her premise is that creative living is the hunt to discover and uncover the gems in each of us... to find moments of beauty and transcendence in our lives. Whether this is in actually creating art/music/poetry isn't the question. Its more along the lines of "Following your Bliss". The truth that  creativity takes courage. She talks about fleeting ideas, ideas acted upon, "multiple discovery" of ideas. She describes the slog of working hard at one's work, and the rare fleeting moments of pure inspiration like fairy dust. 

 Let me share a few quotes with you... 

"Trust me, your fear will always show up - especially when you are trying to be inventive or innovative. Your fear will always be triggered by your creativity, because creativity asks you to enter into realms of uncertain outcome, and fear hates uncertain outcome..." (Big Magic, p. 23) 

"You can dare to be pleased sometimes with what you have created... You can resist he the seductions of grandiosity, blame, and shame. You can support other people in their creative efforts, acknowledging the truth that there's plenty of room for everyone. You can measure your worth by your dedication to your path, not by your successes and failures... ( BM, p. 41)

And there are many more! The book is divided into sections: Courage, Enchantment, Permission, Persistence, Trust, Divinity. I think that gives hints at what else it may have to offer.  I'm sorry I hadn't finished it at this writing... but I want to savor it. I now own it in hardback and this will become a classic in my art/creativity library. Check it out. If you are a maker, designer, artist,  or not - it is proving to be an enlightening read. ( And here's her TED talk for free - see if you like her style and her message.) 

Until next time... be creative! 

Jenny 

The Evil Fear Bully

♫•´*♪*•♫•*♪♫•*♪  "Long, long time ago..." (cue Don McLean)  ♫•´*♪*•♫•*♪♫•*♪

About 30, or so, long years ago, I started my jewelry adventure by taking some metalsmithing courses at a nearby community college. I really enjoyed it and within a few years I had a pretty nice metalsmithing workshop set up.  I made quite a few earrings, a bangle bracelet, a nice ring with an oval moss agate in it, and a belt buckle.  I only have 2 pictures from that time, (excuse the picture quality).

I made this belt buckle for my brother.  Pretty dull design concept, if you ask me, now.

These were earrings for my mother.  These turned out pretty and I stenciled the little wooden box with my mother's initials and some heart decorations.

It was fun to make gifts for people, but I had a hard time coming up with design ideas and eventually I just stopped metal work and sold all my equipment.  Over the years, I tried my hand at several other crafts, but once I started beading, all other crafts took a backseat to my passion for beads.  

Fast forward through the years. In high school my daughter, Naomi, took metalsmithing classes from the same person who had taught me at the community college nearly 30 years ago. Naomi took to metalwork like a fish to the water.  She went on to study metals at the University of Washington and she is now a professional metalsmith.

Recently, I've become interested in exploring ways to use metals to enhance my work with beads.  So for Mother's Day this year, Naomi gave me a jeweler's saw, blades, a bench pin, some metal and an offer to help me get started.  Or more accurately, she offered to help me get re-started. 

I hadn't done any sawing in over 2 decades and I felt as rusty as an old saw blade. Frankly I was a bit afraid of trying this again.  Fear of failure dogs me like a shadow. It often seems easier not to try, than to risk feeling like a loser.  Do you ever get those feelings when you'd like to try something new?  Can you feel the fear trying to hold you back? 

My mother had a lot of artistic potential, but  poor self-esteem and fear held her back. That makes me sad, so when I get these familiar jitters, I just grit my teeth and make myself move forward.  I do it in honor of my mother and I do it for myself and for my daughter Naomi.  

Fear is an evil bully and I will fight back!  I can fight back by openly sharing my successes and failures, knowing that both are necessary ingredients in the process of learning. Maybe you jump into everything with both feet.  If so, hurray!  But if you are a bit of a shrinking violet, you have to face the Evil Fear Bully head on.  We can do it together.

Soooo, last week I headed up to Naomi's place and she gave me sawing lessons.  I had beginner's luck on the first piece.  It wasn't always easy to saw accurately, right on the line, but there is nothing wrong here that can't be evened out with some trimming and filing.

Next try.  Ha!  Total mess up!  This one is not even salvageable. A few years ago this would have left me feeling dejected.  But now, we just had a good laugh about it and I tried again.  I'm going to keep this piece in a little shrine I have in my studio, so I can remember where I started.

I cut out several shapes that day.  I wanted to learn how to follow curves on the ovals and how to saw angles, such as those in the squares below.  You can also see that I worked with two different gauges of metal, to get a feel for that, too.

Next Naomi showed me how to fix up the rough edges and sand it smooth.  Naomi evened out most of the uneven edges on the first shape I'd sawed out and then I sanded the edges smooth.

But on this copper piece, I did all the cutting and the finishing myself.  I was so proud of this little square.  LOL!

Before I left that day, Naomi used her Dremel to drill holes in my little collection of cut shapes.

On the way home I bought 3 metal stamps and I'm collecting stuff around the house that I can hammer on to add texture.  That's my agenda for the next two weeks:  texture and patina.

Are you gung-ho to try new things, or do you get hung up in fear of failure?  How do you conquer the Evil Fear Bully?  Share your thoughts and experiences, so we can encourage each other and grow.

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy