Since joining Steemit in January I have been motivated to get back into jewellery making and I'm really glad!
A reflection on the past
When I first started tinkering with wire around 2012 I've always gone through phases of being super motivated, to not wanting to do anything. At one point I made the commitment to try and live solely off of my craft.
I hated it!
I quickly realised if I was going to earn a decent living from the jewellery I'd have to be making every day, regardless of if I wanted to or not, promoting my work online and at events became a chore. Essentially all the positives I get from making things had gone. Forced creativity is not something I do well at.
Anyway, I decided to ease the pressure by becoming a dog walker. I really enjoy it and it pays the bills. Now I can create when I want so when I do make a sale it's a bit of a bonus.
Continuing the reflective theme I've been looking back at my old work and I thought some may find some inspiration in seeing the progression of my art over the years, I know I do!
So here's a couple shots from way back in 2012 when I began messing around with some electrical wire scraps and some cheap and nasty diy pliers. I had no clue what I was doing but I was having fun.
Incidentally both of these pendants sold at my first market. I was well pleased!
Here are some shots from markets over the years. It's cool to see how my display methods changed. For the better, I think.
First market ever, I was a tad hungover from antics the night before, can you tell?!
I was approached by a Christmas pop up shop a few years ago and had a fair few items go to new homes which was cool
This is a bit of an odd scene out of context! I was knocked off my bike resulting in titanium pins in my elbow (they're still there) and a painter friend of mine had a nice exhibition space coming up so she painted some close-ups of a few necklaces. I believe I was on quite a few painkillers that day :P
Doing proper festivals was intimidating. I shared a pitch with a maker friend of mine and we did ok. The overheads for these events are quite high though and there's no guarantee you'll make them back so I probably won't be doing any alone for the foreseeable future.
I hope this post was at least a bit interesting to some of you. If it has inspired someone who's just getting into a craft to pursue it then I'm happy.