Intentional Stones

An Original

Part of my current design policy, perhaps the part that drags me down sometimes, is the concept of originality. I don't want to put anything out there as "my work" that contains the designs of another.

But c'mon here! This is jewelry and a chain is a chain! Clasps? Only so many ideas work and are readily customizable. Patrons of wearable art do NOT want their necklace to fall off. Lapidary work? Yes, someday I very much want to go there. But for now metal is a life consuming art.

There are a few pieces of progress in my thinking. One is to consider all of these things as textures an colors in my palate. Another is to realize that some things are just too time consuming to be worth it. Finally, I'm exploring some new materials, like braiding embroidery floss to make kumihimo necklaces for pendants and possibly some map or book materials to accent earrings.

Still i don't want to just take pieces i've bought and put them together. A piece feels less special when I haven't hand created everything.

I worry about all these things all the time, sometimes to the detriment of my studio time. Then I face a show with just enough art pieces to accent the table and a bunch of very very simple pieces that I don't necessarily love. It's not a good feeling.

As I become more accomplished, I can hand make more. And I've found a few techniques that I can do while we home school to make accents for simpler pieces that give them a unique touch. Hopefully my efforts are improving all of my art at the same time as eliminating my worry that not everything I make is unique or special enough.

How do you feel about handmade?
-Simbelmynë

New Sketching Habit

Free from expectation-that's what the morning pages have always been about.  Work for long enough to scrub my brain of the bits of dreams or old feelings or doubts. 

In days past, I've tried to do the Morning Pages suggested by Julia Cameron, but writing is not really doing it for me.  Recently, though, I've busted out a little sketchbook and I'm slowly filling it up with doodles.  Some have even lead to very interesting jewelry ideas.  Those I've transferred to my "main" sketchbook.  One with graph lines to easily gauge size and metal needs.  It's pretty cool. 

Homeschooling is gradually feeling like it's under control.  I can work during school hours on little brainless things-like weaving that's repetitive and calming, or sketching that's easy to put down and take back up again.  Especially if it's these little morning pages type sketches.  Who cares if you start a new idea and lose an old one if you're not sweating the finished product? 

I'm on to something here.  Even if I'm not in midst of a formal course like the Artist's Way.  It's helping me to live more visually.  When did I ever learn these habits of pushing the visual away?  It's so natural to me.  Some of my earliest memories are of shape and form and exploring them. 

Now that school's done I can get back to the bench.  Filling my table for the Chili Event won't happen without lots of work!

-Simbelmynë

Because I want to be more in touch

Life is overwhelming.   Whose isn't? 

I promised writing today, here I am.

It's the time of year for things to be waking up.  The flowers, the birds and animals, me.

This year I'm working much harder.  Period

I'm working to be more true to what I really want to be doing.  Working in gemstone.  Working in metal.  You won't see anything from me that's metal that anyone else has made, unless I've had it a while and I've drilled holes in it or added findings to it or taken it apart and put it together.  (see bracelet above, yes those beads were pretty, but only one hole?  Really?  for such a large bead?  they're almost an inch wide!  So I fixed them.)

I spent today working on findings and on the trinket rings that people seem to love.  Thank you all! 

I'm also working much harder on the kids' school.  It's like I have three full time jobs. 

Hence the blog falling off the face of the earth.

We went to Florida and saw breathtaking things, above and below the water.  I hope I'll have time to write about that. 

And the summer is starting to shape up beautifully. 

Save the Date on April 14th, we'll be showing at the Soutside Works I Made It Market's Chili at the Works!  More on this tomorrow.  I'm really excited.

 

Winds of time

Nice dramatic title, eh?

The Wheel of Time books that I'm Still reading, (Yeah at just about 800pp per book and 13 books, it takes this slow reader a while.  Especially checking the Wheel of Time Wiki every time a character is mentioned, And listening to the podcasts a bunch of delightfully foul mouthed geeks are producing, spoilers abound, so if you're not up to date, don't go to either.  I'm a true geek.) start each story with the Wind.  The Wind is almost a character.  It carries the threads started in the prologue into the main part of the book.  A fun literary tool.  Especially when it clues in characters we've been wishing would get a clue.  Like a little gnat biting them.  Ok, maybe it just adds to the frustration.  But if I didn't love these characters, I wouldn't be on my 5th re-read of the series, nor would I be cheering on Brandon Sanderson to get the final book done. 

Anyway, the reason I mention all this, is that the past few months have flown by.

How does time do that?

Since starting the school year, on top of Show Season, on top of finishing the remodeling of the kitchen, on top of everything else, I haven't had time for anything.

I've been disappointed in the studio.  When ever I'm there, I can feel my skills growing and my work getting better!  But I can't spend nearly as much time down there as I'd like. 

I have a number of small commissions I picked up over the summer and fall that are nearly done, but they've been inching along!  (Thank you, if you're one of the people I owe work to.  I know you're looking forward to your pieces.  I wish I was working at any kind of decent pace.)  And I'm only barely making my deadlines.  I have been careful to explain to people that I'm severely limited in my work time, but it doesn't help me in feeling like I'm way too slow. And I have a big set I've been working on for months.  Since the beginning of the year.  That's still not done.  I work a little at a time and try to show my work when it's gotten somewhere.  And I just got a key to the biggest piece, so I hope to get a bunch done this weekend.  It's not that I'm not thinking about these things constantly, it's that I just can't find time to do everything!!!

There.

It's off my chest.

I'm terrible.

I'm not going to take any more commissions until the ones I have are done.  I'm hoping I can clear up 90% of them this weekend.  Putting them ahead of everything else. 

I'm certainly not making excuses.  Time is just moving way too fast lately.

-Simbelmynë

 

 

Monday Traffic

I figured it out a week ago, then the blog post was stale, now it's fresh again.

Mondays are like tunnel traffic. 

Living in Pittsburgh gives one a unique perspective on the concept of tunnels.  Tunnels and bridges are a way of life here.  There are something like 700 bridges and fewer tunnels, I've never counted.  But I live with a view of the Squirrel Hill tunnel.  It goes over 376, the main path from east to west through Pittsburgh.  When I first moved here, 12 years ago, I didn't understand why people don't like to cross town for gatherings, shops, events.  And then a few seasons of heavy construction on the bridges and tunnels showed me what it was. 

Tunnel traffic.

There's nothing quite like the psychological effect tunnels have.  Someone once told me that if the Squirrel Hill Tunnel was just 1 foot wider on each side, (East and Westbound each has it's own 2 lane tunnel), then the psychological effect of the tunnel would be lessened.  People automatically slow down when entering the tunnel.  There's a tendency for fender benders near and in it.  Most are very minor, but they can stop both lanes for a couple minutes at a time.  Stopping everyone else for 15-30 minutes.  And that's just for minor problems.

Construction is just that much more fun.  Removing lanes, putting up signs for slowdowns, rerouting exits (there's one right after the tunnel on either side).  It's all fun.

And on a busy summer weekend day, you can lose a huge chunk of your free time by braving these hazards.  Even I have started mentally assessing the construction situation before I commit to something across town.

My point, that I've gotten distracted from, is that Mondays are like my tunnels. 

Weekends are a time when I get to participate in a lot of my artistic pursuits.  I get to take classes, get together with friends, family, fellow artists, go shopping and hunting for materials in other ways.  I get to recharge. 

I also get to spend free time with my family, I get more rest.  I'm generally reenergized when Monday morning comes. 

I wake up and I feel like I could do anything.  Get through the school day, take on 2 new projects as well as finish all the old ones.  Clean up the house.  Have a great time. 

By noon, I realize that it's just like every other weekday.  School is hard work and it's using up all my energy.  Jewelry and household projects are going to need more than I have left at the end of the day.  And every day things like cooking, cleaning up after ourselves and keeping myself fit and healthy are going to take up even more of that energy.   The rest of the day is spent in that weirdly lighted, tightly enclosed space where if anything happened, I wouldn't be able to back out and I'd be stuck there forever. 

Every week.

I need some kind of alternate route through Monday.

Any ideas?

-Simbelmynë

 

My Mean Subconscious

It sent me a really bad dream this morning.  The Censor was in it. And she was at her worst.

In persepective, I got some extra sleep and my subconscious always hates that.  "You should be up getting school started!" Also, yesterday at the Pumphouse, we had a great show and followed with finding a new bead show in town.  Very energizing!

Then this morning I woke from a dream of a nasty art teacher. 

She hated my artwork and wanted it all redone!  And she really reminded me of Sue Sylvester from Glee. 

Good to know that the Censor has a face.  Sorry, Jane Lynch, my conscious mind thinks you're hilarious.

I think it's time to take up morning pages in some form or another again.  Maybe they'll be morning sketches sometimes. 

-Simbelmynë

Ramblings and absences

This blog has suffered a period of neglect. Ordinary life seems less interesting to write about. And I've just been ordinarily busy.

I'm going to try to pick up the pace. Blog daily. But there's a catch. Part of the difficulty is finding words to express how I'm thinking about the art and my creative life.

Some posts may not have words. Not in a wordless-Wednesday kind of way, but in a "the words aren't coming" way.

The other posts will have perhaps too many words.

Bear with me. I work in plastic art because the ideas don't translate into words. And I do love to talk. My days are just full of stuff. Much of it is not really worth talking about. You can get the idea better through a picture.

I babble on twitter all the time. You can see my rambling, uncensored thinking there.

I'll write here when thoughts and ideas are sounding interesting. And when a picture really says it better, I'll share that way.

-Simbelmynë

Out for a walk

For my Artist's Date this week I decided to take a walk with my camera.

It's been a while since I took flower photos. 

 

I came to the conclusion that I'd like to add some hydrangeas and azalias to my yard.  Maybe they can crowd out some of the plants I'm not so fond of.  Little things that might help me feel more like I'm in control of the back yard jungle. 

My vine phots didn't come out as well, but they're good enough for jewelry designing.  Hopefully you'll see them then.

-Simbelmynë

If a Piece Sits in a Basement....

...And is never seen by anybody but the artist, is it still art?

A pretty good question, eh?  Does it become art once it's pulled out and framed or worn? Will we ever know?

Fact is, we have about 60 items listed between our two shops, and hundreds in trays in my basement.  How on earth is anybody going to see the basement dwellers between shows? 

One of the new habits I'm trying to cultivate is photography.  My new phone is helping with day to day pictures, yay for a decent phone camera.  The Tumblr blog has been pretty busy.  But it's still no good for really good pictures.  With all my frustration, I've been avoiding the real camera and good lighting and well thought out backdrops. 

So, the new routine is "get one good photo a day".  I'll take two or three, sure thing! But even one is better than leaving the camera and the pieces hiding in the basement.  Spring weather is helping out, sunshine, overcast-Sure!  bring it!  Just as long as we avoid the four letter word beginning with s, I'm fine. 

Here's one from today.

A little work and I can get some things listed.  Slow progress is better than none!

-Simbelmynë

"Yeah, She had an accident. I'm your Muse now"

I've got a new favorite comic

Oglaf
(warning, this comic is generally NSFW)

I have felt this way more than once. 

My muse and I have not been on speaking terms for the last couple of months.  And it's been bugging me.  A lot.

So I busted out a notebook and started writing Morning Pages, the only part of the Artist's Way I've managed to internalize the first time I tried to do the process outlined in the book.

And my dear friend who I've been taking many art classes with said "Wait, I need to find my copy of the book!"  I had asked another dear friend what she has done about artist's block, as I'd been working on a piece for her for literally weeks and not getting anything done, and she mentioned the book in the first line of her response.  Sometimes it's just time for an idea.

So I'm finishing week one. 

And it's clicking this time.

Seriously.  Like my muse, when the time is right, I just have to do a thing.  Why can't the time be right when I first WANT to do it?

My muse has already started speaking to me again.  Even if it's only in fits and spurts. 

-Simbelmynë