Tutorials, Design & The Creative Divine

On July 14, 2013

Though I have been creating jewelry for more than a decade, I have never designed a single piece.

That’s a bold statement, I know, but let me explain…..

I have been a creative individual all of my life: drawing fairies as a child, writing about the adventures of wayward witches in my teens, contemporary poetry about loneliness in my 20’s, and crafting jewelry in the now. However, the talent to craft an original drawing, story, phrase or necklace wasn’t born from a place internally. I can’t claim ownership of it and neither can I return it. This has filled me with great gratitude, but also with a sense of responsibility to both foster and share what I do, to propagate, however I’m able, the love of artistic expression.

The “Creative Divine” (which I use as a ubiquitously spiritual phrase) is the proprietor of my work, the originator of and the foundation upon which all of my ideas are born (if I may call them mine at all). I am no more responsible for the creative results I achieve as the State of Nevada is for the beauty of Red Rock Canyon, or Carl Sagan for the infinity of space.  Sometimes beauty or creativity happens, and it is our job as vessels of the Universe (however it is personified) to grab it and mold it into a tangible representation of our experiences.

The poetic genius (and wildly inspiring) Ruth Stone once said “Writing is the only interaction I have with the universe”.

Think about that, because it’s deep. And I mean way down deep. In that simple declaration, she has summarized the entire creative process as a working relationship with the Universe, with a creative force extending beyond the limits of human expression and understanding. I am a creator in a collaboration which began long before I’d even acknowledged its existence. Wow. Thanks Universe!

To put it simply: I don’t design. I let designs happen.

As a writer of tutorials, I am selling time and (hopefully) skill. It’s a lot of work, after all. But the design… well… it’s not mine to sell. I don’t own it. When you purchase a tutorial, use it, sell the products from which it is derived… you don’t own it either. Tutorials are simply my interpretation of a design given to me by something greater than myself, something elusive and evolving, and with the understanding it’s only passing through. I am not its final destination. When you purchase a tutorial, neither are you. You have an audience as well. When that audience buys and wears your jewelry as a part of an expressive wardrobe, their family, friends and co-workers become their audience. That mysterious echo of an idea, once floating in the endless capacity of the Universe is reborn and re-emerges in infinitely possible ways, based upon the interaction we have individually with the Universe, but which ultimately creates an artistic whole.

Pretty cool, huh?

We are each, in this passing of ideas, responsible for adding a piece of ourselves to its evolution. Doing otherwise is a flagrant abuse of the Universe and its creative will. Be the vessel for an idea, and express that idea in a way that best represents your life, your dreams and hopes, even your failures and fears. There’s as much meaning in mistakes as in success. Embrace the creative flow and then let it move on, to the next lucky vessel. Don’t watch it whisk away with sadness or regret.

There is always another idea waiting for you to notice it.