Skills | March Meet the Maker | Day 5
Embellishments ~ I guess calling this a new skill isn’t completely accurate, but it’s definitely new to the pieces I’m offering up! Adding the botanical and fossil embellishments directly to my bezel settings is something that I only started doing this winter, and I think it has definitely upped my game:)
In the beginning of my metalsmithing journey, my teacher (whom I admire greatly) would take my torch away from me when I would get my silver cherry red. His intention was to prevent me from melting my work completely, & I got that. But I’m the type of student that learns best when I understand WHY I shouldn’t do something. & the only way for me to wrap my brain around how to NOT melt my work, was to experience the pain and suffering of melting a piece of my work. & boy did It work!
🔥 It still happens occasionally (melting a bezel, that is), but it’s a rarity, and I feel much more comfortable with my flame, now that I understand the melting point of my silver through a visual journey.
🛻 Honestly, the most recent skill I’ve learned is how to back up a trailer. Last week we were hauling wood and I kept needing to move our truck & trailer out of the way for folks to pass by on the narrow road. I struggled (like normal) with backing that thing up. I then asked my husband to explain to me (again, for the 100th time) how the heck to think about the process. It finally clicked in my brain & I backed that baby up like a boss, several times! 😂 Well, maybe just 3 times, & I’m certainly not proficient just yet, but I definitely feel like I get it now (and I’m not nearly as anxious about it with folks watching!)
No photos or videos were allowed during the trailer reversal 😂, but here’s some pretty stones with lavender and Brachiopod embellishments I made:) I melt a lot LESS bezels these days, and that means my skills are definitely improving!
Each day of March I’ll be tagging an artist I know/love/follow so you can show them some love as well! Check out @kristins_laboratory for some amazing electroformed copper botanicals and insects!
