TV Shows Enacted at Dreamcatcher

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Does your life ever feel like a soap opera? Luckily, I’m not having that issue since life is really quite good here on the ranch. However, lately, there have been several incidents that remind me of television shows.

The first occurred when I scheduled a visit in another town to a new customer. I try to “clean up” when I call on boutiques and had done so this particular morning, yet, my attire didn’t seem to fit with “the rest of the story”. Since the puppy needed his shots and the vet was in the same town as my client, my husband and I loaded into the dirty pickup to make the trip. The puppy doesn’t yet enjoy riding, so we also brought one of the older dogs to keep him company. Picture two adult people sitting in the front of the cab, one dressed up and laden with jewelry, the other in typical “been out in the pasture” clothes. Add to that two dogs in the back seat beside a large nitrogen tank (I won’t tell you what that holds.). Hear one of the dogs in the back seat howling because he doesn’t want to go with us. But let’s don’t stop there, the pickup is pulling a large cube cart because one of the lease pastures filled with hungry cows is near where we are going. By the time we get close to our destination, the transmission on the pickup has begun to slip and as I climb out at my customer’s with all my jewelry, the pickup drives on to the vet. That’s when I see that the wheel is falling off the cube cart. Thanks goodness for cell phones as a quick call to my husband helps avoid disaster as the wheel does fall off. My thought was that we looked just like “The Clampets” who came to town. Thinking a good deep breath can cure almost anything, I took one and went into the boutique trying not to appear rattled. After a pleasant time with my customer, I checked on our status to see if I needed to hitch hike back to the ranch. Eventually, our foreman arrived, loaded the ailing cart onto a trailer behind a better pickup and we were left with the still crying puppy, the big dog, the malfunctioning transmission and the required trip to the lease pasture without the needed cubes. I think I now know why Jed Clampet didn’t have a wife.

In the evenings, we reenact another TV series, The Waltons. While we don’t have a large group of children, we DO have to say goodnight to the little animals. Four dogs, goodnight Dixie, goodnight Cheyenne, goodnight Frosty, goodnight Bruno. Then to the cats . . . Well, you get the picture. I guess Bruno, who is pictured would be our version of John Boy.

I don’t recall the name of the other TV show that seemed appropriate yesterday. As I was out climbing up and down the ladder to wash the windows I couldn’t help but think about Mrs. Jefferson before she made the big time. As I finished the windows I wished that I, too, could “Move On Up” to the east side.

Who knows what TV series will show up next. In past years we’ve had all the CSI drama with necropsies of cows and determination of causative factors. Perhaps we should turn off the TV and just hope for the best.

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Two Peas in a Pod

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This is a phrase most of us have heard to describe things that are very similar. When I searched the origin of the simile, I realized that most of the time we don’t hear the complete phrase, “as alike as two peas in a pod,” meaning two identical items or people. Following is information about the origin of the phrase which dates back to the 16th century.

(Source: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/as-alike-as-two-peas-in-a-pod.html)

     . . . This simile, of course, derives from the fact that two peas from the same pod are virtually indistinguishable. The phrase, which is sometimes given as ‘like as two peas’, is quite old and versions of it date from the the 16th century. . . [the]use of ‘pease’ as the singular form was the norm in Tudor England. The word ‘pea’ came into use as the singular in the 17th century, with ‘peas’ as the plural. This avoided ‘peases’, which would have been somewhat of a mouthful. . . .

For over a year, I’ve been making a version of peas in a pod which should probably be referred to as pearls in a pod. I’ve made these in various sizes from “baby peas” to the regular size shown here.

Several weeks ago, another designer who doesn’t do metal work requested that I make her a simpler and more realistic version of a plain pea pod. As I played with her order, I began creating various sizes of the newer pod using different metals including copper and brass both torched and not torched. Then I played with filling these pods with mixed metals or pearls. I also made baby pods in this newer shape and created earrings. Finally with too many pods on the work bench, I needed to do something with them. Having hung them on pearl strands, leather and neck wires, I kept thinking I should be more original. Yesterday, thinking again about the phrase and the number two, I tried mixing the pods. I used one larger copper pod filled only with wire tendrils and one brass pod filled with pearls and silver. We might call this the ANTI peas in a pod since the pods are not at all alike. I will continue to play with this idea of “anti” and see what develops. I believe there are many other possibilities if I continue to work with this idea.

I wonder if there are there other phrases that might spawn ideas. Would the ANTI of them provide further inspiration? It’s food for thought? . . . yet I don’t even like peas!

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FFOE

Filed under: Bracelets, Creativity, Metal Work, Necklaces, Philosophy, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

The letters in the title do not stand for a secret society or club; rather, they represent the four major constructs of creative thinking: fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. While the first three are needed to develop a solid and unique design, the latter, elaboration, is often shorted by highly creative individuals who are eager to move on quickly to the next great idea. The opposite can also be true if that creative is a perfectionist. The individual may find it difficult to move on because the piece is never just right.

Elaboration is the noun form of elaborate, which Webster (1995) defines as “planned or done with careful attention to numerous details or parts” . . . The application of the term elaboration to a discussion of creativity suggests that an idea  has been embellished, developed, polished, or enhanced. (Meador, Creative Thinking and Problem Solving in Young Learners, Libraries Unlimited/Teacher Ideas Press (Available at Amazon.com)

Elaboration requires scrutiny of the original idea and, just as a writer adds adjectives to a sentence to make it stronger, a jewelry designer may add more detail to the basic piece with stones or wire work.  In the picture examples, one photo shows elaboration of the original wave necklace that I started making a couple of years ago which is shown in the other photo. These look like very different necklaces and while one person may prefer the original, another may like the elaborated piece.

The point is not to make a judgment regarding which piece is the “best”, but rather to use elaboration to vary a piece so that a basic design gets plenty of mileage. I find it easier to elaborate upon an idea than to develop a totally new one.

While my definition of elaboration above written years ago is sound, I’m now using the elaboration step in creative thinking for a second purpose. It’s possible that a design can be overdone and have too much embellishment. I want to use the creative process to also determine if something should be removed or made smaller in a design. Creativity gurus would cringe at my use of the word for this, but we all know that sometimes “less is more”.

The final picture in this blog entry is of a basic bracelet. I worked through fluency, flexibility and originality to get to this point. Now, as I consider elaboration, I don’t know if it is better left alone or if it needs some detail. I’ll be playing with this design for a while. Currently, I believe the answer is YES and NO regarding detail. Some people will like the simplicity of the piece while others will find it uninteresting. Through elaboration, perhaps I can made something for both tastes.

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Housework

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I paused this weekend at the grocery store to watch a cute little girl in the cleaning supplies isle with her mom. She looked to be about 5 years old and sported a black pony tail that swished when she moved. She happily picked up a feather duster and pretended to dust her surroundings. That’s when I wanted to tell her. “Housework Makes You Ugly!” Since I simply moved on, it could be another twenty or thirty years before she figures this out for herself.

Taking the statement to heart, I returned from the store and vowed not to get any uglier during the weekend. Since I wasn’t doing any housework, I had plenty of extra time to work on some designs. The pictures herein show some of the pieces I completed. The first couple of pictures show the same style armature which was also pictured in another blog. I added some dangles for balance on the one to the right.

The blue piece also has a bracelet and matching earrings (not pictured).

The fourth piece, composed of copper, pearls and amethyst is a prototype of pieces to come. I’m still playing with how to get the swinging swirls to hang just right. Watch for these again.

I enjoyed the designing this weekend; however, today, is Monday and the housework is calling my name. When I made my case about it to my spouse and used actresses that are my age but have few wrinkles as evidence, he scoffed. He suggested that it wasn’t the fact that they aren’t doing housework, but rather the fact that they employed Botox.  Since my medical insurance won’t pay for Botox and I need to keep doing the housework, I’ll just have to make beautiful jewelry in my leisure moments and hope people look at it and not my face.

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Organic-Good or Bad?

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More than once in the past weeks, my pieces have been described as “organic”.  It reminds me of when I wrote an article for a gifted education periodical and the editor described it as “pithy”. I had to go look that one up and still wasn’t sure whether or not the term was complimentary.

When my work is described as organic, I usually just smile and agree with the comment, but perhaps it’s appropriate to examine this nomenclature more carefully.  Synonyms for the term include the following: natural, whole, unrefined, untreated, crude and macrobiotic. Most of those do apply to the bracelet pictured on the right, but I’m not sure what to think about the term “crude”. I think I’ll just move on from that one.

The dictionary further elaborates that organic describes something that occurs or develops gradually and naturally, without being forced or contrived. This certainly describes the work on these pieces. I begin twisting the wire in hopes that something unique and palatable will arise. Sometimes it does; yet, more often it does not. I think the important part of the process is knowing what to keep and what to let go with the latter being the most difficult part. Since I know from years of teaching creativity thinking that sometimes great ideas fall upon the design floor, I’m often reluctant to let something go. Lately, however, I find this easier since I now have a “whatsit box”. I’ll bet those of you who design also have one of these. It’s that place where you throw things that didn’t seem to work. When you peer into it days later you say “What IS it?”

Organic also means “being made of parts that exist together in a seemingly natural relationship that makes for organized efficiency”. It is this definition that fits with my belief that the designs that are unique, but flow naturally together may, indeed, be the best. While I attempt to be fluent and flexible creating more than one idea before selecting the best, it is usually the one that is unique yet emerged the most naturally that gets the nod. Forcing the design to work usually brings unpleasant results.

Both pieces pictured herein are made of sunstone and carnelian from Magpie Gemstones. The schiller on the sunstone, which can’t be seen in these photos, is quite nice and really grabs attention. Are they organic? Is that a good thing? As long as I can leave out “crude” I’ll accept the comments.

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Bracelet Mania

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The past two days have proven productive. They have been the type of days when you have to grab a moment here and there to get in any design work; yet they were just right for bracelet production.

First, I took the heavy gauge recycled wire for a ride in the car. No, I wasn’t trying to show it a good time! I happened to be traveling with my spouse to a cattle meeting and seized the opportunity to bend a few armatures during the 30 minute ride. It was amazing how many I was able to produce when far away from the phone, fax and ranch animals. Some unusual turns appeared in these armatures as I looked out the car window to see blue bonnets and other sights. Later, I managed to hammer enough of the armatures to get a start on a couple of bracelets.

The following day, I took these to a store that also sells beads and the owner helped pick out what she wanted to see in the bracelet designs which she was going to market. Creatively charged, I hurried home and worked them out last evening. While I’ve seldom have the chance to let a customer help pick out stones for a bracelet, this proved to be great fun and the new set of eyes was invigorating.

All of the bracelets pictures are 3-D and although a couple of these may be a bit “over the top”, they certainly will be attention grabbers. I hope they grab a customer!

I do believe in taking a leap once in a while and going over the design top. Later, another design will likely capture the best of that over the top design and the modified version can be a winner. In Torrance’s CPS (creative problem solving), this is the final thinking step referred to as “acceptance finding”. It is often the hardest one for highly creative individuals since it requires the refinement of an idea in order to make it palatable to others and, perhaps, useable or sellable, as well. As idea may be highly creative, but not appropriate for the intended use. However, if you never allow yourself to think beyond the “appropriate”, you may miss some of your best ideas. So, for those of you who need help in that department . . . may I suggest taking YOUR wire for a ride?

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