Beginning the Journey

Well, I began my journey into the land of art and silver a number of years ago, but this marks my journey into blogging. It’s exciting to speak to others, leaving a trail of thoughts, ideas, and silver scraps.

Here is a piece I am particularly proud of. I made it just a few days ago, inspired by all of the art and technique whizzing by me at the JAN jewelry retreat I just returned from. JAN, wonderful online forum full of kind, intelligent, and gracious jewelry artists, ran its second annual East Coast retreat last week, and I was privileged to join them. For the first time, I was able to put faces to names, and real names to on line nicknames. What a BLAST!!! Literally! I’m still sleeping. For a whole week, we ran demos and tutorials for each other, cooked for each other, watched one another work, stretched our styles, and shared our tools and ideas, all fueled by Wendy’s better than best margaritas.

Janice, our forum leader, and a damn fine person, bless her hearrrrt, made a shield shaped piece that I didn’t want to put down. What is so compelling about it? The shape, the stones (oooh, sugilite!), the design, the weight, the hand engraving (I’m still gonna find a way to learn that!), all came together in a piece that was at once mysterious, intriguing, and sensual. Okay, I’ll admit it. I wanted to own it, but I wanted more to have made it. Well, I’ll show them all! I came home with the beginnings of a sheet of mixed metal laminate, something I haven’t made for some time. After replacing the earrings that disappeared up the vacuum this summer, I cut a mixed metal disk, and made the shield pendant above, Moonlight on the Water. I’m entranced by it. It’s so easy to find satisfaction in the Land of Art and Silver!