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Recovering a Piece When It's Gone Wrong
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This should be an interesting thread.....rather than go on and on about MY ideas, though, I'd love to hear yours.
If you check our Group Pool you'll find a wonderful altered/Steampunk style heart made by Ruth Crawford. Ruth's story is that the drill slipped and damaged her metal heart so that she had to take another tack.
She cut it apart and stitched it together with wire....and....it's AWESOME!
Do you have a similar story? Even a funny one?
Tell us about it! I hope this discussion will be lively!
Posted at 6:38PM, 6 February 2012 PDT
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Things happen for a reason. When I found another way and was finished it seemed to be my talisman. My heart is beat up and damaged but I am wrapping it together and trying to fly again.......and that's the rest of the story.
Posted 4 months ago.
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That part of the story is very important. If we create from our emotions and make art that tells a story it will be more sucessful.Last summer we had a challenge at B'sues fan page on FB. It was for a multi piece necklace. I created seven focals just for the piece. After seeing it up on line I realised it was not cohesive...more like a destash box hung on a chain. I saw it while doing tax prep last weekend and pulled it out from a stack of papers. I removed the individual components and laid them out. Several of the focals were good enough for a single pendant and so I connected a jump ring and a bit of chain and listed them on line. A few showed up here in the photostream....The flamingo became a ring which led to another flamingo ring..the double heart with flower became a pendant. Another piece was made from old rhinestone parts. That led me to get out the box of vintage rhinestone components and jewelery and today it all goes to etsy for sale. 15 nice pieces I dont want to break down or store.
I dont know if this is making lemonade but it is how a necklace became 8 pieces of simpler jewelery. And a bunch of vintage becomes available to collectors and craftspeople.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Ruth, Your heart with wings takes my breath away! Such a great example of perserverance, yet the piece, even though it gave you a "broken heart", looks elegant and cool and effortless. I wish, I wish, I wish that, just for today, I could make something that inspired. Of course, then I would want to, being only human w/my own flaws, after all, repeat the brilliance. I think that is truly what it's all about, repeating the brilliance. You show us that even a broken heart can fly: what better way is there to get our groove back?
Posted 4 months ago.
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Mistakes - are there really ANY or are there just pieces of art that maybe can or could be better? I love what Ruth did, as I mentioned above, and am intriqued by Harry's necklace story, too. Harry, you made me rethink a recent necklace that seemed to "go together" by using pieces that didn't go together, as in match, but still had balance. Now I am questioning that necklace because I think it has TOO much balance, and I like everything to be more asymmetrical.
Last night I made a wirewrapped copper ring that just wasn't working for me. My spirals were off, my metal dented in all the wrong places, and the bottom, on which I hung the three separate "see no, hear no, speak no evil" B'Sue's monkey charms, was askew. It felt like my pliers were broken - but they're not! It was supposed to be for this month's Easy Peasy Ring Challenge. HA! But now that I've seen Ruth's heartbroken beauty and read about Harry's focals solution, I think I've found my answer.
My necklace needs LESS. As we all know, sometimes less really IS more. And my ring is going to get a good pounding to dent the entire spiral, which should put the little monkey charms charmingly even more askew, and I can fall in love for a minute, until the next moment of completing a piece with which I feel an affinity.
Some might say, "Hey, it's just scrap metal, why even worry about it?" But I'm not worried. I'm thinking. There is such a huge difference. And while I'm thinking, I'm creating. And while I'm creating, I'm happy. And that is the whole story right there, isn't it?
Originally posted 4 months ago.
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pasha zio edited this topic 4 months ago.
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I set aside for a long time. I may never finish it or I pull apart what I can, salvage what I can and start over. Sort of what I did when I got divorced. I knew that there was something else out there, another "use" for me. I made some changes pulled myself together and set out on a new path. Same with the jewelry. I've takes pieces and pulled it apart and started something new with all the bits that I saved. I sometimes made something better with what I was able to salvage. I know myself, that I'm a better, stronger person now that I've "glued" some of those pieces back and added new ones.
Posted 4 months ago.
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Hudathot, you make some really valid points. It's always a journey with bends in the road, and our lives and our jewelry are intertwined with that. It's so good to know yourself. I think I'm going to follow your lead and start setting aside for a while, too. It's sort of like what an old friend taught me about writing...put it on the shelf for a while and then go back to revisit it before submitting, mailing, hitting the send button, or going on the green light. I love the image of glueing pieces of ourselves together and adding new ones as we go. I believe that's how we grow as human beings and as artists.
Posted 4 months ago.
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After reading all of the stories, I see an open window. Like "ziobleu" I am happy when I am creating but I expect too much of myself and it interferes with the joy. My mind goes back to the pictures painted by Grandma Moses, simple is best.
Posted 4 months ago.
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I think we all share the same experiences. I have a "Try it again Tray" in my workshop. It is loaded with some finished, and some partially done pieces that just didn't seem to look "right", and I use that term loosely, as I went along. Once in a while I will rifle through the pile for a piece I may want to use for something else. Or just to pull something out and look at it with today's perspective.
Posted 4 months ago.
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You guys make my heart sing when I see you talking to each other and bouncing around ideas. That's what this Group is all about!
Posted 4 months ago.
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I had a piece similar to Ruth's. I had a large antique serving spoon and wanted to hammer it flat and make a heart shape and then stamp some words on it. However, with years of "serving" the left side of the spoon had become super thin and had a tiny crack that I failed to see. As I hammered, the spoon did flatten, however the crack opened up to become a gaping hole! I patched it with a piece of copper, punched holes around the patch and used sterling silver wire to "sew" the patch into place. For security, I also soldered the patch. Then I stamped a quote on it added a bail and it was ready for a new home - and it found one at my next show. I'd like to post a photo of it, but I'm not sure how to do that.
Posted 4 months ago.
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My photostream is at www.flickr.com/photos/kzoretic/ and the picture is on the first page near the bottom.
Posted 4 months ago.
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You are so right Harry! Loved the story Ruth. I have had so many mistakes become better pieces. Funny how that works!
Posted 4 months ago.
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I tend to think anything can be fixed with some ice resin and glitter! LOL
Posted 3 months ago.
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Or sometimes, pounding the heck out of it til it becomes something else....even as Ruth did, breaking it apart and sewing it back together....artfully!
Posted 3 months ago.
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I wish this board had 'Like' buttons on posts.
Hudathott's heart and story wrung my heart when she shared it on her blog a little while back... and it's stuck. That heart has a hook... and the story set it.
My story isn't any different than the rest, at least when viewed in Outline. I can relate to most of it. Too critical of myself? Check. A pile of set aside projects? Check. Taken things apart and remade them? A few times, sure. Poured myself into a piece that looked like crap when it was finished? Sadly, yes. I remind myself that even the most lauded of artists probably has some turds stashed away in the back of a closet.
My favorite re-make was taking a long necklace I'd done quite a while ago with pearls linked on copper wire inserted into sections of brass chain. Well, it was... boring. So I remade it into this: www.flickr.com/photos/looloosbox/6669053105/in/photostream, which is a lot more interesting to look at, at least. :-)
Posted 3 months ago.
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Sheesh Robin, I wish we had like buttons, too....because your commentary provokes some blogging, a part two---if you will!---to the original post about Ruth's broken heart brooch.
Turds in the closet can become valuable fertilizer for new thinking.
I bet you liked that one! LOL
Posted 3 months ago.
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