Yesterday was one of those days where I was hitting one road block after another. I had this drawing for an earring in my notebook, decided to go for it, and when I finished one earring (of the pair), it was a total disaster and the other one was just meh.
I sat with the meh earring and wondered what was making it so off? Everything was soldered down perfectly, there were no solder lumps. Any of the seams between two surfaces of metal were clean and perfectly in place. I had done a good job with the stamping. The enamel portion of it was ok and the garnet was set to perfection. But I just didn't like it. I couldn't understand why and then, it hit me:
It was too normcore.
I like my work to jump out at you. I want it to be bright and colorful and to be a statement piece. I love that a lot of my work has dangles and pearls dripping from the chain links. I love when there is a minor flaw from the fact that I eyeball everything and refuse to use rulers.
I thought about trying to sell the piece as a pendant, but I can't even bring myself to do that. I obsess, it's true, but I can't ask you to invest in my work and not bring it.
So from the maker's perspective, I was trying to tame my wild side. I hated it, haha. Today, I experimented with a few tools and then stepped right back into my colorful self (photographed). Thank goodness that little taming experiment didn't work!
Have a wonderful evening.
Stay well,
Caitlin