On Looking Back
In college, my major was Studio Art with a focus in Jewelry Making. It was technically called Craft by the time I graduated, and I was the only one with the Jewelry designation. I had to take Metalsmithing, or shaping metal with a hammer and heat, dabble in Enamel, where I could finally add color to metal, and Metal Sculpture, which felt freeing because nothing needed to be sanded and clean like when you were soldering two pieces of silver together. At first, I enjoyed the process of working with metal. Every step had to be carefully planned and thought out, and then the execution took time. Pieces needed to be cut and fit, filed and sanded, soldered and cleaned. It was meditative in a slow, repetitive way. After a period of time, metal started feeling too hard, too unyielding. I wanted to work with paper and its softness and pliability. I followed my own process, making books and working with paper. Projects didn’t have to be carefully planned, or painstakingly executed. Paper was cheap and required few tools, no chemicals, and no dedicated space. It was all the things that I needed at the time.
A few years ago, I got the itch to start making jewelry again. I was inspired by an artist who was using Shrinky Dinks to make her earrings. I hadn’t thought about combining metal with color and drawing. Her jewelry was sophisticated and didn’t look like plastic at all. I had some blank sheets of Shrinky Dink that I had bought for my daughter to make things out of, and I began experimenting. I liked that the plastic was easy to work with, and that I could use my many colored pencils to draw designs on it. I liked the combination of being precise enough to make matching pairs of earrings with the improvisation of making the designs in the first place, and the added challenge of not knowing exactly what size it would be after heating. Last year’s earrings were large and whimsical for the most part, feeling much like my collages, though they were drawings. Just recently, I was newly inspired to make earrings again. This time around, I’m playing with color combinations and patterns. I’m designing new ear wires and hoops. As much as the Shrinky Dink part can be fun and whimsical, the ear wire part has to be comfortable and functional. I have a box of pliers, most of which I’ve owned since college, and the tiniest anvil and hammer. I take pride in making the ear wires so they have the same handmade feel as the drawn part. I shape the wire and carefully hammer and work harden the appropriate spots so they don’t lose their shape as they get worn.
It’s funny because I didn’t see myself coming back to making earrings, but I’m also not surprised. Right now it still feels like a welcome break from baking and collage. And, I’m slowly building up a small stock in time for the holidays!
