Willing...

I feel a little bit like I'm going through my own internal spring.  My creativity is budding.  I've been having the most wonderful work sessions and keep thinking up ideas and dreaming up creations.  A lot of what I want to do is still in the works.    I'm in that in-between stage where things are all coiled up and bound together tightly... just waiting to explode into a riot of color!

One of the things that I've been working on that has been extremely helpful is letting go of preciousness.  I had a collage teacher in art school named, Victoria Kann, who once said, "sometimes you've got to murder your darlings".  It was a profound moment that I have to remind myself of.

I have a lot of beautiful components that on their own are art pieces.  I could happily look at them in little bowls and piles and be amazed at their beauty... but sometimes you've got to let go of the preciousness and take a risk that you might fully destroy what you're working with in order to achieve something sublime.  The rewards can be much greater if you're prepared in your heart to let go.

You won't see a miracle unless you're willing to sacrifice the things you love most at the altar of creativity.  It's like Abraham's binding of Isaac in the Bible.  You have to have faith, belief and trust.

With that being said, I dusted off some beautiful peridot and created this cuff bracelet with hammered copper and rivets.  I love it.  The peridots studding the bracelet have such a striking color and contrast beautifully with the subtle pink cast of the worked copper.  I was hoarding these stones and didn't want to use them.  If I hadn't, this bracelet that I'm so pleased with would not exist.  I lost two stones in the making of this piece.  Once, I hit the rivet too hard and cracked the stone, and the other one was broken when I tried to ream the hole out a little larger.  Small prices to pay, for satisfaction.