Practice Makes Perfect

Remember my very first trinket box just 3 months ago? http://theangstyartist.blogspot.com/2010/05/nut.html


This one makes all my labors worth while:)

Trinket Box 101

The Trinket Box is Back!!

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B007fT9hnWgFX1E5NzAwT2E1WW8/view?usp=sharing

Copyrights and Inspiration

There has been talk around the internet regarding copying each other's work and/or not giving credit where credit is due. I want to state my opinion on the matter.

I believe we should honor our teacher's and sources of inspiration. I personally adore the work of Eni Oken, Iza Malzyck and Lynne Merchant. These women have shined a light on the beauty of wire and opened my mind to possibilities. Sharilyn Miller is the most excellent teacher and I would be no where without her. I have said all this before.http://theangstyartist.blogspot.com/2009/07/behind-scenes.html

When I was interviewed on Bead_Pearles blog http://beads-perles.blogspot.com/2010/03/mary-tucker.html I mentioned these women, and I hope I honored them. I hope they feel honored by me. Iza Malzyck is still the number one exit link off this blog, and whenever I mention a specific design that inspired me, she gets as much web traffic as this little blog is capable of.

I have purchased tutorials from Iza and Eni, that I did not need. Books from Sharilyn that I did not need. Simply because I felt I owed them something monetarily for their influence.

If any of these women ever felt dishonored by me, I hope to have a chance to show them I care. Just because my conscience is clear, doesn't mean I would not bend and adapt to spare the feelings of another person.

Usually when I do a new design that I know is directly related to anyone at all, on or off the net, I mention their name and their influence in the work. Sometimes I explore the wire and end up in similar places as other artists, in such cases I do not usually mention their name. I may have arrived at the same place, but I arrived by my own path.

I have made a design that is 100% the same as Sharilyn Miller without ever seeing that design until years later. Sometimes the matter comes down to whether or not you believe what someone tells you. I have actually felt pressure to LIE and say I was inspired by someone else even when I wasn't. Just so that I would not look bad. Maybe you have also felt that pressure.

Though I believe in honoring our inspirations and teachers, I don't believe we should be enslaved by them. I don't believe it is empowering to set down every jot and tittle of their influences on each piece we make.

Some people are starting to find my own work to be an inspiration and I'm thrilled. Some of these people already had similar ideas, it's just that I beat them to it. Haven't we all had that happen to us? Most of them have made me feel plenty honored. They have mentioned my name and linked my blog and have far repaid me anything they have owed. But I would never want them to have to mention my name over and over every time they make a item that is inspired by that same theme. No one should have to feel afraid or fret that I will be after them for every design they make. Most of these women have already made their own contributions to weaves and vessels and have inspired me right back.

There are people who abuse this. There always will be people who give no honor or sideline their inspirations completely and some who outright steal whole designs and even teach them as their own. I do think such things are wrong. They are hurtful. And they are also against copyright law.

I am going to do something new and different very soon. I have already begun it. I am writing you a free GUIDE on how to make a trinket box. It will be on my blog in less than a week.

Wire is something to joy over. People are for caring about. We can care about each other and we can have fun.

Saturday

Yesterday's 'morning coffee' wire work, turned into an all day affair that lasted 12 hours :))

First off, I finally played with twining. I wanted to see what I could discover regarding any potential for jewelry making. It may appear at times that I am evolving into a basket maker, but I assure you I am not. I cannot stop looking for ways that I can get my weaving to have a hole down the center of it, where as a basket maker, probably despises having a hole at the bottom of their vessel:)

So I set up my first twining project with a center hole. Pulled too hard on some some sides and not hard enough on others, it's quite wobbly:) Not that I expected any less, this was an exploration project, not an actual jewelry making one.

What the heck is a girl to do with so many spokes? Hmmm?I don't know yet!

After that, I decided to twine again using less spokes. Than I decided not to twine my spokes but decorate them in Iza Malzyck fashion. I've always wished I could make some cool 3D pendant designs in the way that she does, or to make Octopus beads in the way that Lynne Merchant does. After yesterday I realized I finally can do these things!!

I'm not happy with the finish on the pendant. It's very hard to polish when there is so much depth. I have some ideas to resolve that next time.

The ruffly wire spokes around the top remind me of an Elizabethen collar:)

Green garnet, peridot, pearl.

Finishing Things

I am slowly working my way through various unfinished pendants and getting them set into necklaces.

This pendant was once an experiment in messy wire work.
http://theangstyartist.blogspot.com/2010/06/cleaning-up-desk.html

It took forever to weave all the beads onto the trinket box and make all the various components.

I adore the copper beads I made! You'll be seeing more of those in the future!

Unakite, agate, labradorite, lime jade, and glorious copper!!

Did I Do That?... and Process

I'm so surprised at what I made today. I felt so guilty and uncomfy working with the wire this morning because the living room is a mess with stuff of my daughter's that needs to go into storage and trash from a furniture box we had recently assembled.

I sat in the middle of this mess on the couch and proceeded to make it even worse with wire and beads and tools getting all jumbled up about me as they do when I'm working:)

But now I feel justified having wasted the morning and half the afternoon with wire! Hurray for that!!





I marvel that I was able to make something like this. I'm still pinching myself!

Before I made this design there was an awful lot of fiddling with wire that went no where over a period of several days. Many ideas were tried and found wanting and left for trash. Here is just a sampling of what is getting trashed.

Which brings me to my second subject:

According to the article in CWJ magazine "Successful Selling", I should not share my process if I want to sell, or my self criticisms. I'm sure that is good advice. But, I am so weary of a world that revolves entirely around 'image'.


A year ago I was so hungry to see the design process behind many wire artists. Everything they do appears to be so effortless. Every design they show appears to be only the top of the line as if they never make anything ordinary or boring. It made me feel discouraged when I struggled to come up with designs and the wire would not obey my fingers, when others appeared to have nothing but successes and great ideas.


One thing you don't know about me, is that I kept a private journal for years and wrote in it everyday. I enjoy writing, it is a second creative outlet for me. But I like to write about real things and not just make 'images' of things that are perfect or out of reach. This blog is a perfect compliment to my wire work.


I hope my blog is an encouragement to those who read it. I hope that when you are suffering with the wire and seemingly wasted hours of your time, that this blog will cause you to take heart. You're not alone!

Copper Wire Jeweler's Issue 3 - Enjoy!

Open publication - Free publishing - More artisan