I haven't always been a jewelry fan. For the longest time I wouldn't wear any jewelry except for maybe a ring and then only one. I'd put in a pair of stud earrings and forget I was even wearing earrings. Sometimes, I'd take them out, forget to put them back in and not wear earrings for a year or more at a time.
It wasn't until recently that I decided to wear jewelry. Part of it was necessity, I started to have to wear the new fashion statement jewelry called medical ID. It got me thinking, I already wore skirts 90% of the time, blouses instead of tee-shirts and it made me realize that I was missing that little extra something ( like makeup) that could really just make me feel better about myself.
However, I couldn't find anything I wanted in store bought options. They were either not my style, too expensive, too fragile for long term wear, (I'm sure everyone has enjoyed those ultra thin chains that break the instant you catch them on anything and that delight in tangling and knotting no matter what you do). I actually got frustrated, here I was, finally reaching the place of wanting to wear jewelry all the time and I couldn't find anything I wanted.
The solution was relatively simple, make my own or start looking at hand crafted jewelry. Here was something I could work with, I could make pieces I knew I would want to wear, I could make them out of materials that were unique, green because I'd be recycling some of my materials, and that would suit whatever my style or mood was at the moment. ( these change regularly)
I decided I'd rather make my own than purchase from someone else. This isn't always the case, there are some artists I do buy from, but for the most part I enjoy making my own. There is something relaxing about sitting with the bead board, the boxes of beads, jump rings, crimp beads, focal pieces, in glass and semi precious stones and putting something beautiful or cute together.
The process itself is something I have found I enjoy as well. Nothing I make is random or just thrown together but most designers will tell you when they're designing the materials tell them where they want to be, how they want to go. You can have a rough idea or even a complex finished one in your head until you get down to the materials and then they'll tell you what they want to become. It's a satisfying experience to put everything together, work out a pattern and then create it.
It's a little like magic. I never buy store bought anymore. I prefer purchasing handcrafted, homemade, preferably made in America, and if I can find it ( I most often can't online), local products. I've found I enjoy talking with people who create homemade, hand crafted items. The jewelry has slowly taken over my jewelry box, the soaps and lotions have slowly taken over my bathroom, the hand dyed, hand woven yarns and flosses are slowly taking over my sewing basket and I, myself have slowly started creating more handcrafted items.
It was kind of amusing when I first realized it. Two centuries ago, purchasing a finished item at the store was something done rarely. More often than not, you purchased the materials and made the items yourself. It was done on an individual home basis or a community basis where everyone pitched in to make what was needed. Then we became industrialized, we shifted from handmade to storebought. Now people are beginning to treasure those things created by hand. The idea that someone took the time to make it, those little imperfections that make things homemade instead of machine made have become all the more precious. It is almost like the more advanced we become as a society the more we crave those simple things we left behind in the pursuit of progress.
No comments:
Post a Comment