A bit of a reflective blog today! Every now and again something happens to each of us which steals the proverbial rug from under our feet and forces us to reassess a part of our lives. I'm in the midst of one of those phases courtesy of a series of numpties, jobsworths and harpies all managing to find me and make my life unnecessarily difficult within a two week period! Once I'd finished spitting feathers and batted all the stupidity back to where it came from the whole experience got me thinking about renewal and change - change being something we as humans are not renowned for being good at. What we don't realise is that we change all the time because we are constantly learning - from listening to a new song on the radio to doing battle with the settings on a new phone. Change is inevitable (unless it's from vending machines - as the old joke goes)! Certainly looking back at photographs of 20 or more years ago (something else I have been doing recently) would prove to most how much both their fashion and hairstyle choices have changed if nothing else!
When I started making glass beads, creating a simple round bead was a serious challenge, and trying to get two beads to match in size and shape was almost impossible! I have kept many of the first beads I made and it's interesting to see the huge difference in where I was then (9 years ago) and now. It's been a continuous journey to discover my own style and my own mind in terms of what I want to achieve and more importantly, what I do not want to achieve.
The earrings in the photograph are made from some of my early beads (long before I started selling) and I've been wearing them for many years in their original setting (on the left). They were originally made with plated silver findings and I decided this week they deserved a proper clean and an upgrade to solid sterling silver. The result is the earring on the right and it was hugely satisfying to give an old favourite a spruce up and return them to service as my 'go to' earrings. The process also took me back to my teenage days when I used to replace the base metal earwires of fashion jewellery (which made my ears itch) for silver so I could have the best of both worlds. That was how I got interested in jewellery making and I still use this trick to this day if something takes my eye (although I have proper tools now instead of the tweezers I used to use!)
While the past few weeks have been disruptive and frustrating it has allowed to me to interrogate some of my core values and decide what I am and am not willing to fight for. It's been rather interesting so far and I still have a long way to go but just as my wonky first beads show, perseverance and perspective get you there in the end. So to anyone who is having a rough time out there, stay strong, stay true to your own values and the rest will follow.
I'm off to melt something and then find a nice G&T... my priorities are sorted for this evening at least... ;)
Take care. :)