"Enjoy the process"How many times have you heard that phrase? I have, many times, and I think all artists have from time to time. It's something instructors love to say, like a simple mantra, which is suppose to answer almost everything.
To be honest, when I first started making jewelry I hated this mantra. I fought against it and everything that it stood for. I would ask questions like,
"Why do I have to cut this piece of silver with a jeweler's saw? Where's the jig-saw?"
"Why can't I just use the belt sander instead of a file?"
"What do you mean I have to sand this by hand!?"
"When will my piece be done? Isn't it good enough?"
I would get tired with my piece, the holy "process", and decide quickly that the piece was "finished". I just wanted it done and "poof!", like magic, it was.
Of course I made a lot of crap back then. Expensive crap, but crap nonetheless. Of course, the refiner loved it.
It took me years to "enjoy the process", to understand its Way. And in turn how to better understand myself and how I relate to "the process", and how it relates to me.
Do I still make crap? Sure! That's the risk we all take as artists when trying to do anything out of our zone of comfort. But to me, that's what being an artist is all about. Pushing ourselves, our skills, our art, beyond that which we know.
So, even though I do "enjoy the process" ("love" may be a better word), I still, sometimes, make utter crap. The diffrence now is that I learn from the crap I make, and use that knowledge to refine my skills and my art. And I enjoy it the whole time.
Stevie B.www.steviebjewelry.comThe hope for "The Process" and this blog in general is to try and help other artists and to educate the interested who may be unaware of what really goes on and how much time and effort is spent when making studio jewelry. I plan on doing this by documenting what I went through and sharing those things that helped me. I also plan to share a few new works, from conception through to completion.
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