Year of Jewelry Week 4: Icy

On January 19, 2012 This week’s Year of Jewelry theme is “Icy”. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about this one since week one. There are a few themes that hit me at once, like an avalanche of ideas, and there are others which present to me a wall of impenetrable UN-creativity. This theme, though rife with possibilities, fell into the latter category for me, in that I couldn’t fathom an instance in which my style would work well within its confines. And other than relying solely on the use of stones or color to make my point, I was running into roadblocks.

As always, the wire is the art, and my goal is to make it represent my intention, irregardless of the presence of stones, beads or cabs. But I also value a sort of continuity to my form, a recognizable expressionism which distinguishes me from others in a market as wide-spread as wire work. I began work on this theme almost perpendicular to my previous week’s work, starting and scrapping my efforts, almost daily, in my search for creative redemption.

But I was working against myself from the start. Instead of pushing myself outside the confines of my own comfortable design aesthetic, as is just one point of this entire 52-week project, I was frustrating myself with an inability to reconcile my style with the sharp edges and unforgiving cool lines of a theme on ice. I began a weave, just to rip it apart… and it was in that very moment of destruction that I realized the birth of my newest design! Referred to as both the Starburst and Snowflake which, dependent on focals, could be either. This design can be viewed here.

By removing four of my five working base wires, post weave application, I was able to achieve a very malleable and versatile arrangement of wire and beads, both pleasing and easy! I appreciated the moment in which I recognized this design as my “therapy pattern”, that piece of expeditious wire working applied to relieve the stress of uncreative moments. And it looks mighty fine, if I do say so myself, which is just the cheese on my tasty cracker of goodness.

So, though it is as far removed from my aesthetic as possible, it is part of the continuous dialogue I have with my materials and tools, with my own self-doubt and, ultimately, with the satisfaction of creative genesis.