I was checking out from Barnes and Noble last week, when I noticed some magnets hanging on a rack and started reading them. One caught my eye that I had never seen before.

“Do something scary everyday” Eleanor Roosevelt.

I don’t think it meant looking in the mirror; however that did cross my mind. Walking through the halls at my son’s high school? No? ok, I get it.

Today I did something scary, I soldered a difficult part to pin that I have been putting off for a very long time. I hate to fail, or worse waste materials. This is not good I am told, as an artist I need to take chances and try new things if I want to be creative.

So, I had this cool idea for a pin. Take apart a less than stellar (I refuse to call it failed) piece of jewelry, add a freshwater disk pearl encircled with 14K gold and wind a wire around like a safety pin. Easier –said- than -done. I have a habit of not drawing things out first, instead liking to create as I go. This can be problematic if you accidentally do an irreversible step before a more functional one. I drew a basic idea, and thought, and pondered and, it….sat, for weeks. The simple step of soldering a 14K gold bezel onto a base was excruciating, but I did it! And then the piece sat again. I didn’t know how to make the catch on the back. Several reference books later, the make do part of me took over. I came up with the idea of two tubular pieces soldered to the back, one of them would be joined to the bottom stationary wire and the other, with a piece cut away, would hold the pin part. I have no idea why I agonized soldering those two tubes in place, in the end it wasn’t very hard and “bless my soul” it works!!

I recently read a bio of artist Michael Boyd in the September 2009 issue of Art Jewelry magazine who said” if he went out to dinner and spent $50, he gave himself the same permission to trash $50 worth of material.” He went on to say, “If you can’t take that $50 pearl and cut it in half, you will never expand beyond.” I am expanding, “ to infinity and beyond” I think if I did do something scary everyday, then perhaps it might just get a little easier and maybe I wouldn’t be afraid of ruining a wad of silver… Maybe

Change

In this mortal existence of turbulence and joy we find ourselves in a constant state of change. Change is inevitable, whether it be physical, political, or environmental. You don't realize the rut you're in until the road changes.

Our family recently moved from Utah to Virginia. It's not a bad place. It's very green with lots of trees and wonderfully friendly people. It's just—different. My life changed in other ways as well, my Mother passed away in late April.

I have been living in a sea of creative blandness for more than six months now. My mom's death and moving 2,000 miles away from "home" impacted me far more than I want to admit. Theoretically, one can create anywhere or any time. I have been unable or unwilling to create. My muse—lost, broken, and dejected seems to be sulking in a remote corner. (Or never got unpacked from the sea of monotonous brown boxes in the first place). I went into my studio for the first time in a very long while. It's a space—my space; it's just much smaller and, well, different.

From my "studio" I have a beautiful view of an old farm with a smattering of cows; my dog is determined to make friends with said cows. I know this won't happen, but she is the epitome of hopefulness. Sometimes in the morning, the fog rolls over and through the grass and trees. I love that view, it has been a balm for my torn soul.

So, out comes the silver, the stones, and the torch. I piddle around, not doing much of anything. I become distracted and start to look at catalogs. Then, I rummage through beads and string some insignificant bracelets. Make 20 pairs of earrings. I realize how much I have spent on beads and silently vow not to be persuaded by the shiny objects ever again.

This is not working.

Several weeks later my husband and I were at a work related Holiday party. All were invited to bring a gift to exchange so, I chose to bring one of my beaded bracelets to exchange. The excitement that ensued when the bracelet was unwrapped was completely unexpected. "Did you make this?" "Can I come to home?" I cannot tell you how much I needed those comments; it was just what my muse needed to be coaxed from her dark little corner.

It is a new year. I am ready. I can be creative.

Passion

My husband and I have been discussing the topic of passion lately.(Don't worry this is G-rated.) He is having a mid-life crisis, wanting to change careers to teaching leadership, something he has always been passionate about. I my self am finding that after 40 some-odd years I have finally found something to be passionate about-making jewelry.
So, the age-old question has recently surfaced as I contemplate the direction my jewelry should go. Do I design jewelry for the "general" public; something boring that sells at a cheap price? Or do I design jewelry that would cost more but that I am passionate about, running the risk of having fewer customers? Is one completely without the other?
I feel as though I have two different personas sitting on my shoulder; an angel and devil if you will. Angel says: "Be safe; make things that people will want." "Be conservative." "You realize you only have so much silver." Devil says: "Who cares if you want to experiment? Take a walk on the wild side, let your hair down, be brave." "Silver is still relatively cheap." Is there a balance?
I suppose I could wake up in the morning and flip a coin. Ahh, tails; watch out, sweety, Artista is feeling the muse today. Flow with the moon? New moon, boring. Full moon, woo hoo!! I only know that for me personally, I haven't followed my passion enough lately.

Rules

My oldest daughter claims she will not link me on her blog because I am a "loser" and haven't blogged in a while....guilty. So Alishka babushka let it be known that I am blogging.

Last week at dinner our #2 daughter Breezy Boo was telling us about her business english class at school. She mentioned that her teacher had taught them the "comma dance" She began doing it at the table with moves reminiscent of the Macarena. I had no idea there was a dance, (let alone rules) for commas. I personally like parenthesis and quotation marks. (I use them quite liberally.) I wander if there is a dance for parenthesis? Is a bracket different? (Do I care?)
I tend to be on the slightly rebellious side. Rules challenge me at times, and yet there are other times, like when I drive, that I think "If I have to obey the rules so should everyone else."

In jewelry there are rules. Rules of design and composition,rules of manufacturing, etc. For instance if your solder is "dirty" (or your metal) you will not get a good join. If you use too much solder it will look messy. If you get the torch too close to your wooden bench pin it will catch on fire.

I guess sometimes I am a trial and error type of person, other times I like someone to tell me before I mess up. But if I were to follow a "rule" in jewelry every time someone told me too, where would be the self discovery? There are times I hold back because I am afraid of failing. I only have a small piece of silver left and I don't want to create something that might fail because then I would not have any silver left, so I stagnate and don't create.

Several months ago I tried making a woven wire bracelet. It was my first piece and even though I was told to experiment with cheap copper wire first I chose not to listen. (My husband is rolling his eyes as if to say "what's new".) It was bad. I used a lot of wire. So I did what I do best, I went about creating two pieces of jewelry from a (what we call in the weaving world)a "dog" piece. They turned out quite interesting. (If I do say so myself).

Frustrations

My husband was so frustrated over me not providing a Shipping & Return policy when we first created BriarlyDesigns.com, that he decided to take matters into his own hands. Enjoy his humorous version of the policy that I've copied below for you.

Shipping
All of our jewelry is sent via llama, direct to your door. When the llama arrives, simply untie your package from the pack saddle. If you would be kind enough to provide a little water and a bit of hay (he won't eat much), the llama will make his own way back home after a good night's rest on your front porch.

Returns
Should you be unsatisfied with the product you've purchased (though we can't possibly imagine why you ever would be), simply step out your front door and whistle a "B flat" (that's just slightly off key)three times. Our specially trained courier pigeons, which fly all over the country all the time, will immediately swoop down upon you and be happy to return the product back to us. Just insert the product in the small container around the pigeon's neck, provide a few bread crumbs for the pigeon's flight back and we'll have the product back in no time. Once we've calculated how much all of this cost, if there's any money left from your purchase price, we'll donate the remaining few pennies to the local orphanage. We'd send it back to you, but we know you wouldn't want to deprive these poor children of their next meal.

Hike to the Grotto

A few weeks ago our family took a day hike up to the "Grotto". Pleasant, short little hike.

While sitting there eating granola from Walmart I looked at the package & thought what cool colors. It starts off at the bottom with green trees, moves on into indigo mountains, then a purple sunset with a golden sun. Cool necklace or bracelet idea. So, if you eventually see "Granola Necklace" pop up, remember this blog.