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Thursday, August 10, 2017

Second Guessing

I guessing that I'm not the only jewelry designer who holds on to components for long periods of time before making something (beautiful!) with them.  I mean, there are always good reasons for not immediately making something as soon as a gorgeous bead or headpin comes into my eager hands.  Maybe I have a bunch of other designs stacked up on the runway.  Or perhaps I can't find the perfect components to complete what I envision.  Or--and I confess this does happen from time to time--I may not have the vaguest notion what to do with my beloved purchase...and the lovely little piece of art has to sit with me for a spell while I figure it out.  :)


In this case, the lovely pieces of art were Pati Walton's amazing headpins.  I at least knew what I wanted my earrings to be:  long, lean stackers with a ceremonial tribal atmosphere.  Since Pati's headpins were so beautifully decorated already, I thought that I should probably keep the rest of the components fairly neutral.  But nothing "neutral" I tried worked.  Black beads, pink beads, even purple beads on top were just kind of...there.  They were too neutral.

I HAD considered a pair of beads, cute little things by Deborah Crow Roesly that I'd been saving for just the right thing...


...and I kept taking them out of the drawer where they lived and looking at them, then putting them back.  No, I thought each time, they're just too busy paired with those headpins.  So more time went by.  


Then one day I picked up the headpins and pulled Deborah's dotted purple beads out of the drawer again and started putting them together with some of my favorite copper beads.   When I was finished, they looked pretty much the way they do in these photos, minus the little pale pink Swarovskis at the top.  And I set those prototypes aside again.


But by the time I pulled the nearly finished earrings out to look at them the next time, weeks later, I realized that I couldn't really imagine them any other way.  The dotted purple beads looked like they'd always belonged with the amazing, colorful dotted headpins.  I'd finally stopped second-guessing myself, so then I finished the earrings...my kind-of-amazing ceremonial tribal stackers.  :)   


Thanks so much for reading!  
I'll see you all in a couple of weeks!  
xoxo
Meridy






   

9 comments:

  1. I'm doing that right now 😬 Gorgeous earrings!!!

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    1. Thank you kindly, Suhana! I know--it's so nerve-racking! Sometimes I can flow with it and sometimes it just annoys the heck out of me. I'm sure you will come through with another amazing design, my love. <3

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  2. Grin, your post made me laugh Meridy. And I am so happy I am not the only one who does not have the vaguest idea what to do with purchased art beads. These headpins are indeed absolutely gorgeous. And the earrings you made with them..oh my, sigh, just amazing. You are so right, these headpins, Deborah's beads and your talent: a match made in heaven. The dots in the headpins, copper and daisy beads and the art beads connect the different components and make if flow. And the colors...so festive and beautiful and matching. Beautiful work Meridy.

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    1. Thank you so much, Janine! Nope, you're definitely not the only one who doesn't know what to do with the pretties you buy at times...happens to me more often than I'd like to admit. I really wrestled with these, but I'm glad I finally stopped second guessing myself and just DID it. xoxoxo

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  3. They are beautiful! Glad you finally went with it!

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  4. Thank you so much, Ann! I am too, though I'm always curious about the circuitous routes these processes sometimes take! LOL!

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  5. I suspect we are all the same. And often when I buy for a specific purpose, by the time they arrive I forget what it was!

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  6. Meridy, I love these!! Love Love these! What bugs me the most is that I wouldn't have bought them! I don't know why. You are a wonderful visionary. Your story is familiar to me as well, all the different aspects of it. Trying out a design, letting it "marinate" a while, and then either finding the right inspiration to complete it, take it apart, or realize it really is just great the way it is. I consistently purchase lots of things that I don't have a clue what to do with, and in the meantime I really become attached to them! HA! So that when I do feel a spark of inspiration for them, it's almost bittersweet because I don't want to let them go. Thank you for sharing your story. It is always helpful to me when I hear that some of the little things I might do aren't really all that quirky at all. . . .. unless you and I are simply the two quirkiest creators around. :) Hugs. p.s.I am going to again attempt to widen my vision and stop a moment when I find myself passing by things that I think don't look like "me." Thanks again.

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  7. So pretty! I love the design, and yes, I can relate to that process too. Is Debby still making lampwork beads? I have a lot of her beads, and I love them all.... I just have a very hard time parting with them... I hoard, I hoard lol

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