Tree of Life Earrings

For these Tree of Life Earrings, I cut the sheet copper into ovals, and etched them to achieve a frame-like textural background for the pewter trees.

Attaching the trees gave me pause, since I was taught that the only 4-letter word, as far as cold-connections is concerned, is GLUE. I certainly wasn't planning to glue the trees to the copper, since that would bring the Bead Police down on me immediately (on second thought, WHY didn't I use glue?! - I could use a visit from the Bead Police!) - so how to attach them?

Then I noticed a few open spaces between the branches, and decided to attach them to the copper discs with very thin copper wire, which I think worked perfectly!

The Bead Police

I am on record, more than once, claiming there are no bead police. Like, here, and more recently, here.

I teach a lot of classes, and I own a bead shop, and I am always telling my students and my customers the same thing - no bead police! Want to mix rounds, rondelles, and cubes all in the same necklace - go for it! Wood, glass, gemstones, and pearls in the same piece - certainly! Asymmetry - be my guest! You like those colors together - terrific! It's your design - make yourself happy. Knock yourself out!

The pattern tells you to use 15/0 seed beads, but you'd rather use 11/0s - no problem. Some beading book says you must crimp your crimp tubes with crimping pliers, but you'd rather use chainnose pliers - it's OK! Somebody says you have to heat-set alcohol inks, but you've found a different technique that works for you - yay! All the best metal workers say you should saw your metal, but you prefer to use metal shears - go for it! Technique, schmechnique: if it works for you and has a durable outcome, it's all good.

There really aren't many rules in jewelry design. If it makes you happy, or it works for you, do it. I'm not going to say there are NO rules - because one thing I DO know is, Never say Never. And, right off the top of my head, I can think of one rule: don't smoke when you're doing torch work! So, there. There are a few rules here and there. But outside of obvious safety stuff, jewelry design is pretty forgiving and free-wheeling.

But I got to thinking last night: What if there were bead police?

Let's say, for the sake of argument, there ARE bead police. And this is them. Nice, huh? Scared?

Note: they are armed! Bead Police don't fool around!

In my head, the bead police are sort of like Santa - they saw what you did, and now you're on the naughty list. For all I know, they may even see you when you're sleeping (!)

They saw me substitute 11/0s for 15/0s in that bracelet I made Saturday from the July, 2012, Bead & Button. They know I used firepolish instead of Swarovskis. And wire guardians instead of French wire. My bead felonies are piling up!

Any moment, they'll burst in, and I'll be in Big Trouble. Of course, I will have to be frisked. Preferably, by all four, because my bead crimes are massive!

So you can bet, with these guys on the lookout, I will be breaking rules left and right! Bring on the Bead Police!

I wonder if I should put this poster up in my classroom?

Books, Magical Thinking, and My Two Cents

I confess, I love reference books. Almost any reference book. I hoard reference books, purchasing them (often on a whim) and carefully stowing them away --- but for what?

I am guilty of magical thinking when it comes to books. I want the book, I crave the book and the knowledge it contains, and I get a wonderful glowy feeling when the book arrives. My purchasing can be triggered by an online review, or an ad in a magazine, or a recommendation from a friend. It is a sickness, I tell you.

Why is it a sickness? Because of the magical thinking - I might briefly look at the book when it arrives, but by and large it goes straight to my shelf, where it selfishly hoards its contents, while I mistakenly believe that merely owning the book means I now possess all its knowledge. Which, I kind of do, but not in any meaningful or functional way!

For instance, I probably own 35 books on metalsmithing, and last week I wanted to read one particular tip I remembered seeing in one of them on the day the book arrived from Amazon 2 years ago, and I had to page through all of my metal texts (and I confess, I was skimming quickly, so I actually had to go through most of them twice) searching for this tidbit. So frustrating - there must be a better way!

Let's look at my Jewelry Reference Library:

This is most of my jewelry books. Not all.

They are crammed in there - and pretty soon I am going to have to find alternative storage for the few other, non-book items in there, since I just ordered 5 more jewelry books last week (shhh!), and am barely able to sit still, waiting for the mailman!

Let's look at those other items in the cabinet:

Arrow #1: Jumprings left over from various chainmaille projects. All different sizes, shapes, colors, metals. This started as one lone plastic compartmented storage box, and is now simply ridiculous.

Arrow #2: 3 Jewelry DVDs - THREE of them - 2 on chainmaille, one on silversmithing. All three still in their shrinkwrap. Crazy. And a lot of those books contain unwatched DVDs, too. Craziness.

Arrow #3: My bead soup, in a gorgeous glass star-and-moon (former) margarita mix bottle.

Moving on. I resolved, sometime last year, to take home 2 books every weekend and actually read them, putting sticky bookmarks on the projects and tips I wanted to be able to find later. Until this past weekend, I was successful at toting the books home, but never, ever opened a single one. And about 4 months ago I just quit fooling myself, and just left them in their cabinet (The Library).

Frustrated by my inability to easily locate the information I wanted last week, I took home 2 books this weekend, one of which contained an (unopened) DVD, and I read the books cover-to-cover, and watched the DVD.

And this is where my two cents comes in:  As a jewelry instructor myself, after watching the DVD, which shall go unnamed, I want to share some of MY teaching philosophy when it comes to jewelry design and fabrication:

1) There are no Bead Police. This is true whether we are talking about actual design OR technique. To wit:

2) When it comes to technique, there is NEVER only one "right" way to do something. There are usually at least 2, if not more, ways to get from Point A to Point B, and beyond, no matter what it is you are trying to do, from crimping to soldering - so one person may advocate one way, and others will favor other ways, but the only way to decide which way is "best" is to try them all, and see what your own results are. The "best" way is the way that works best for you, and doesn't take away from the value of other methods!

And that is all I am going to say about that.