Perfection at a price

Since the last thing I do is apply a hot flame to my work as I prepare to finish some of my jewellery, it really does raise my anxiety. Just one small slip, one extra long moment with the gas torch, and it could all be ruined. Sometimes it can be that easily tragic. 

There’s also the polishing.

An electric polishing motor spinning too fast, a momentary lack of concentration and the piece is flying across the room or sucked into the void of the vacuum that I use to extract the abraded material as I polish. It happened just the other day with an earring. I may have been practicing as an artist Gold and Silversmith for over 36 years but I’m not without fault. I make mistakes, and perfection comes at a price for me and my jewellery. 

My anxiety was high on Saturday as I finished a piece that I thought I had finished before. That’s right. I had it sitting on the table waiting to be photographed when I realised it was all wrong. I took it apart and rebuilt it three times. Earlier last week I almost gave up hope that it would be ever be worn. I imagined taking a hammer to it on video to share with my followers so you can understand the trouble and the effort that is involved. I realised at this point the truth in the statement that someone once said to me, "my work is like a child if you like. Something so precious it’s becomes a living thing."

Cuttlefish cast, and laminated to sterling silver sheet. It’s a beautiful pendant, representative of the wild ocean waves that I adore watching in their abundance.  I can spend hours on the beach studying the waves as they crash on our shores.

The waves sterling silver pendant © Katrina Newman