the edge

Been in hiding for a bit ........
I'm pretty sure that much has transpired.  New samples were designed and made, put into a presentation for the rep and shipped off - that took up much of August.  There was our staycation which included beautiful hikes and some lovely day trips.  I did have a burst of inspiration hit, thinking that was a couple weeks ago ... not sure ... and made a handful of over-the-top pieces, a couple I listed on Etsy straight away, the last of them finally got listed yesterday.   They're not for the faint of heart .........

Many themes and ideas for blog posts have come and gone ...  But mostly it just seems like time has passed and I'm not sure what all I've done ... feels like my brain's been in a dense fog.   

I did make up and fire two big batches of bronze components this week ... that's one of the few things inspiring me ... making piles of nuggets and discs and cylinders.  But today, my intention was to work on Talismans ... I've got a slew of components made up.  They've been waiting patiently, but the inspiration wasn't flowing so they'll have to wait just a bit longer.  Some things I can nudge along ... forcing the Talismans would be a large mistake.

So to do something and feel productive, I started cleaning out my fresh haul of agatized bamboo ... oh yeah, I got a pick box from the vendor.  I still don't have tons, but I've definitely got more than eight.  Most of them have plugs of hard ol' red clay that I drill out.  It's a messsssy messy process ...

I got all of them opened up, but still need to do a final cleaning.  Red clay dust leaking out onto nice clothing would probably be a bad thing, so I'm soaking the pieces and will do some more cleaning, well, I guess I'll see when I get back to them.  It's that lingering foggy problem.

So about that bronze inspiration ... Yesterday's firing went extremely well - out of more than 100 grams of bronze, only one or two pieces didn't sinter.  Today's question was to polish or not to polish.  I do love the way they look straight out of the kiln ... ever so wabi-sabi.  As of right now, I'm going with not polishing.

What I keep wanting to do is make more big, over-the-top pieces.  I've got bits of ideas floating in my mind ... just bits and pieces, nothing specific.  But what got me this afternoon was this monochromatic palette ...... I've no idea where this will lead - maybe nowhere - maybe something amazing.  But I do love the look. 

Mostly I've had a pervasive and fairly strong urge to look for my ever elusive edge ...  do things out of my comfort zone.  I've been creeping along, testing the waters.  A big one was cutting my own hair.  I've always wanted to just chop the s**t out of my hair.  I just got a haircut last week, but it wasn't what I really wanted.  So I went to the beauty supply store and bought a razor and went for it.  I'm quite pleased with the results ... it's definitely more chopped up and, according to Cara, "it doesn't look like a hairstyle."  Exactly what I wanted. 

Now that I've conquered my hair cutting urge, I want to keep testing my boundaries.  Where I'm going with my jewelry feels like a total mystery.  Only a couple of things are very clear ... keep working on designing and making my own clothes and I'm going to finish designing my forearm tattoo and have it done.   

Moving through my fog ... to-do lists are useless.  All I can see to do for now is follow my inspiration and intuition.  Right turn or left, I won't know until I get there.  It feels like an ongoing leap of faith ... trust in the universe and look for opportunities to do good work ... in all aspects of my life. 

Resistance is futile ... take a deep breath and let go ......
l i g a - kvk