A new Video showing things I'm up to as October breezes through
I put some sterling grommets in a piece of watercolour paper
and
created paper prototypes for a set of silver frames
A
NEW COLLECTION
of
sterling broochs/pendants/earrings
I was particularly pleased to see that there will be no waste when I cut them out of the sterling silver sheet. I've been accustomed to working with pure silver and so I am back to practicing my soldering skills. Pure silver fuses to itself and is a little easier to work with.
I also made a sterling wire prototype for a fancy safety pin
I still have to straighten the wire + bend the top and side edges over the head
and
solder it on
I also created a slide-on sterling converter (from pin to pendant)
stitched up a quick piece of Fabric Art

My new portable tabletop Jewellery Bench has arrived!
there's a quick peek of what's on it in the video.
I've been without a proper bench since March 2020 when we were told we no longer had access to the Jewellery's Studio at Artscape's Daniel Launchpad in downtown Toronto where I'd been happily silversmithing my days away.
It's going to solve some issues I was having working at my kitchen table/desk.
I've been doing more maintenance on my website as well. Tweeking here, there, and everywhere ... as I learn more about how to market my wares!
Something I'm discovering about my brand is that it's not really about what I'm selling but rather WHY I am. As a life-long learner and former art prof of fundamentals of art, I'm pretty passionate about sharing what I know of the creative process.
Over the years, I've watched students have eureka moments and in maintaining a regular practice I know, and love, how these moments feel.
They feel GOOD!
It's about Creative Practice.
I've spoken about this before in my post on drawing tomatoes at the allotment.
There's an artist's dance that precedes the actual exploration leading to the discovery portion of the journey after we've had the Initial Insight and decide to dig in to find out more.
As an Advisor for Journeywoman, I am able to offer a different kind of insight to solo women travellers about exploring new places ... be it recounting experiences I've had in the past or present virtual travel escapades. But really, now - for me, it's all about the inner journey and navigating isolation as a solo woman traveller.
Journeying is about going on an adventure whether it's an inner one or to an actual physical foreign destination. Both, done right, honour the creative process with tried and true stages as one ventures forward to reach our ports of call.
We have the Initial Insight ... an idea about about where we might want to be.
That propels us into the Preparation Stage where we exhaust ourselves researching and gathering information ... until we need to take a step back and deal with reality again. And as we do, the ideas nag away in the back of our minds until we Incubate the nest eggs we've excavated in our deep dig down all the hell holes of the internet, books we've pulled off shelves, phone calls we've made, etc ... and then - finally the light bulb moment occurs and we decide to push the button.
Our moment of Illumuniation. A-Ha!
Now we just need to Verify everything.
We pack and go to see what's at the end of the rainbow.
This is where the hard work comes in. Doing all the things.
If at any stage we get stuck, we need to go back and take another run at it.
OK ... back to making more cozy multi-functional tactile wearables to see us through while we're out and about and on days away.