Celebrating the Sensual Art of Making Jewelry

I love the process of making jewelry, in some ways more than I like being finished with a piece.

Drawing designs and figuring out how to make those designs work is one part of it - the initial creative part of the process is exciting and filled with anticipation. It is the mental part.

But even more, I love the physical, even sensual, nature of what I do: the cool feel of stones and smooth tool handles; the smells of hot metal and sour pickle, the bit of gas smell when I first turn on the torch; the sounds of the saw moving through metal, the hiss of the torch, the soft taps and echoing drum of hammer on metal; my music in the background.

I love looking through my different colored, varied shaped, many sized stones, picking them up, deciding which one is calling to me today. They have so many stories to tell; some days they speak loudly; some days I have to pick them up, turn them around, touch their edges and smooth tops before their story comes to me. And then there are the metals with all their different physical natures: the soft malleability of copper and its warm color;  the hardness of bronze and its ability to take sharp detailed cuts; the coolness of silver and how it changes to a warm glow when used behind agate.

All of these physical parts of creating jewelry make this my Zen time, the time I spend in the moment, the time I can be focused on only what is in front of me rather than past or future.

And because playing with words is also a passion of mine, this physical, sensual process became a poem:

Play with mind pictures
Sketch soft pencil strokes on paper.
Imagine.

Play with copper,
Bold, glowing with morning sun promise
Or with silver, cool and new moon shy
Heat it, hold it, hammer it,
Bring it to life.

Play with stone
Stroke the soft curves,
Trace edges sharp and exciting.
Lose yourself for a moment
In hidden stories and ancient truths.
Mystery.

Play them all together.
Joy.