I found something in a pile of papers, that I'd like to share with you to start us off……
"here I am…..playing….pretending…hoping that maybe….just maybe, my meager verse might fill your heart with joy"
don't know who said this…..but who ever did….thanks!
I too hope that what I might have to say, will fill your heart with joy!
So now I'll fill you in on what a whirl wind week I've had……….
It's was my granddaughter's 11th birthday, my son and DIL's 5 wedding anniversary …..my youngest son and his wife's 1st anniversary coming shortly…..whew lots of wonderful things to celebrate!
My granddaughter called last night to tell me how much she liked the necklace I made her…I asked if she liked it and her reactions was "OH MY GOSH MEME I LOVED IT", boy was I thrilled, then she started asking if I had made it, etc.….so cool to have her appreciate something that I'd made….it was the heart rock and Kumihimo braided necklace…..actually two, one purple and one green to match the drilled rocks…….here's a photo again of what it looks like!
I didn't get a lot finished this week and that was a bit intentional……..I had a workshop yesterday that was to show me how to polish and finish my jewelry pieces and I was to bring several things to work on the last hour or two of class…..well didn't get much time to do anything of our own but I have to tell you I learned soooo much…..it was everything I had hoped it would be!
You ever take classes or workshops that just fall short of your expectations of why you took the class to begin with……well I have and it's not fun to pay a ton of money and not get what you were hoping to get…….WELL this class was EVERYTHING I had hoped for and then some!! It was at the Craft Guild of Dallas……loved loved loved it!
I had gone with two of my Jewelry Junkie buddies and from what they have said, it met their expectations as well!
We had made a weekend of art shows and then finished it off with the all day workshop on Sunday!
On Saturday we went to three art events and all three were learning experiences…..with the 1st one, Artscape at the Dallas Arboretum, we saw how much we still needed to learn……there was just a plethora of really fine jewelry artist! They worked in Sterling Silver for the most part, in fact there wasn't a piece of copper in any of their booths..some had a little brass just for an accent….other wise it was 100% SS……so there is the 1st difference between their work and mine……second thing was the delicate look to their things….tiny tiny wire…..especially with the contemporary style! I just loved that look and feel! AND OMG…they were all so open about how they did what they did and what they used…it was so refreshing and then we learned that several of them were teachers…..so of course they were use to sharing, but still it was very generous of them to share!
One Artist we met was Sally Wade…..she made her own stamping tools…..soo cool! You have to go check out her blog to see some of her work…….
www.sallywadesilverworks.blogspot.com
She also told us that she does these weekend retreats, where she will teach you to make your own tools and then shows you how to use them…it's something that I'm going to explore a bit to see how it might translate into some unique work of mine…..I'm at that point where I need to move forward in my jewelry making, know what I mean? You just get to that point where you don't feel like you are moving ahead, you are just spinning your wheels and it's time to get off center point again and move forward……that's where I'm at today!
Especially after seeing some of the work that I saw this weekend! Now don't get me wrong I saw some things that I already do a better job at ….. on the same type of things……like my cooper bangles…mine are also soldered but cleaned up sooo much better…where you can't even tell where I soldered…..and I have some fun designs, like my spoon skulls, so I'm very proud of my jewelry that I finish…..it's just not even in the same universe as the stuff we saw at the Artscape show…..so how to I get there from here I ask myself…….I'll tell you….explore other learning options……so this summer you will be hearing about the classes that I am hoping to take at the Craft Guild and other opportunities that I'm exploring!
See there's that word……EXPLORE….it's soooo much fun when you have a open mind to something new!
Let's see I think that about completes my week…..I know I'm forgetting something…..my brain is just on over load right now…..I've got class tomorrow, so I plan on working on the pieces that I started and with my newly learned finishing skills, I hope to bring you some new pieces next week!
Speaking of next week…..not sure how I'll be able to do my posting …… I'll be out of town!
So bare with me and hopefully I'll learn to post while away!!
I'll leave you with this………
"Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue and the dreams that you dare to dream, really do come true" EY Harburg
I know I know it's from the Wizard of Oz…..can't you just hear Judy Garland singing that…it was one of my favorite movies!!
Have a great week and go out there and CREATE…..may all your dreams come true!
XOXO
So glad to hear that your workshop was everything you wanted it to be - am very happy when that works out for me too. And your adventures in other learning options gave me some creative ideas to explore as well.
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