Thursday 30 May 2013

Opening my eyes to the joys, and woes of Sterling Silver

"Failure is not falling down, failure is not getting back up again"

This is what I am trying to live by...but not the easiest thing to do or so I have found.

I decided to try some new techniques and some new (to me!) products.  I have never played with Sterling silver clay before and have just started using my Silhouette Cameo. 


This is a pendant in progress.  It is a labradorite cab set in SS bezel wire on a piece of SS that I have textured and engraved on the back.  As you can see there are holes where I plan on adding doodads and hanging a chain.  What did I learn from this?  I learned how small I can go with the engraving as the saying on the back is a tad too small to be legible (at least I know what it says! lol) 


Now this is the piece that I have to remind myself not to see the cracks, the mistakes here and there but see what I learned and did well.  This is a ring that I made after taking Wanaree Tanner's class on Craftcast.  She taught us how to use the Cameo to make texture plates, how to use it to engrave and how to construct the ring.  What do I love about this piece?  First off I love how well I soldered the bezel and the ring shank.  I have to pat myself on the back for that! I love how well the engraving of the Chinese symbol for hope turned out on the inside of the ring panel.  I did learn how to do so many different things with this, and I can't wait to start another.  I did have a b$%#@ of a time firing this sucker.  For some reason my Magic Carbon refused to work...and after refiring in my original carbon some pieces sintered and some just would not sinter no matter what I did!  The band that was supposed to go with this ring panel didn't sinter so I used another ring shank that I had made to make another ring.  I am going to have to allow myself to have the learning curve that is necessary and not judge myself by my mistakes but rather learn as much as I can with each and every piece.

Something I read in Vickie Turner's blog really impacted me today.  She was talking about her painting and how she had to remind herself that yes, she is good enough.  If I only take what other people think as what I am worth, then I will only be disappointed.  I have to remind myself that yes, I am good enough.  So everyone, give yourself a gentle reminder today that you ARE good enough, no matter what others think!

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