Tuesday 24 May 2016

Rant, jewellery, lovely calming strawberry flower

Lampwork glass bead and sterling silver bracelet by Laura Sparling

Occasionally I get an urge to make jewellery with my beads. I often feel bad about this because a while back some delightful Facebook commenter told me I should stick to making beads and leave the jewellery-making to other people. Wasn't that so very lovely of her? Yeah yeah, love, I know the jewellery I make is the basic-looking, plain-strung, unfancy, not silversmithed, no PMC, no clever knotting, no additional stones or crystals or whatever kind of jewellery, but I make the sort of jewellery that I like to wear, and I have always loved wearing simple and unfussy jewellery, OK?

*clambers 'pon soapbox*

Seriously, people need to think twice before giving unsolicited advice, or passing 'helpful' throwaway comments on the work created by craftspeople and makers. Whatever you think of it, that person has made something with their hands and their heart and they've had the balls to put it out there for the world to see, and therefore judge. Unless the maker is asking for advice or a critique on their work, people shouldn't give them negative feedback. If you have nothing nice or encouraging to say to someone about what they've made, hush up and move on. The brains of creative people are often weird things and they can be pretty flipping sensitive and over-analytical, making their owners doubt themselves and their abilities. Creativity is easily damaged or affected by thoughtless words, including ones about pricing.

*gets off soapbox*

Anyway, I pushed that commenter's words aside in my brain and this weekend I let myself make a couple of bracelets.

Lampwork glass bead and sterling silver bracelet by Laura Sparling

For some reason I made even more of those spotty red lentils (I think I'm just in love with their redness) so I decided to turn some of them into a bracelet and matching earrings.

Lampwork glass bead and sterling silverearrings by Laura Sparling

I also made some little 9mm diameter spacer beads in sea glass colours of pale aqua, pale green and clear.

Lampwork glass bead and sterling silver bracelet by Laura Sparling

I used hair-fine grey stringer to wrap each one with a trail of glass. The beads were then tumble-etched to a satin finish before I turned them into a bracelet.

Lampwork glass bead and sterling silver bracelet by Laura Sparling

All of these pieces are currently in my shop.

Sorry to have got a bit ranty on you there. I didn't intend to. I only sat down to write a blog post to show you my jewellery but I let my fingers type out the festering irkedness I had in my brain about the whole jewellery making thing. Ah well, better out than in and all that.

May your Tuesday be as sunshiny as the one I'm currently experiencing here. I think I'm going to mow the lawn, carefully avoiding the wild strawberries I mentioned in my last post.

Wild strawberry flower, taken with my iPhone 6s and Olloclip macro lens

I've been reading about how to transplant wild strawberries into pots so I might give that a go too. *Carol Klein face*

Have a good rest of the day!

12 comments:

  1. Red beads are just so happy. But the sea glass colour ones look beautiful!!!!!

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  2. Wow! What a charmer!! I hope you told her that she could leave Facebook commenting to other people too. You get the odd person who, you want to presume means well, but gets it so very truly wrong. Beautiful beads as always - I just love those wispy ones!

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    1. People, eh? I just ignored her. Not worth my typing. And thank you! X

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  3. Nothing wrong with simple, classy, jewllery. The problem surely is if it is badly made! I wonder if your commenter makes their own beads....? Anyway, who cares. Love the bracelets and earrings and beads as always. As for strawberries!!! I heard on the radio that there will be a glut of British strawberries due to the recent warm and wet weather. Here's to strawberries with lashings of cream.

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    1. A strawberry glut is fine by me! I could eat them forever. Ate a punnet of local ones today, in fact. And yesterday.

      And thank you.

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  4. I'm a big fan of simple jewellery and like the saying "less is more."
    I have seen some very OTT (Over the TOP) pieces that make me wonder who would wear that and to what occasion.
    Love all your beads and creations.
    Thanks for sharing as you often inspire me to try something new.

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment, Chrys. I think I like jewellery that you can wear every day because I rarely go out-out and therefore blinging up like Elizabeth Taylor is a tad OTT for a trip to the Post Office.

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  5. Hear, hear! Excellent rant! It gets me mad when people pontificate on what someone else makes/does - there are no boundaries in craft, no rules set in stone that say thou shalt stick to one craft and one craft only. Whatever makes someone happy I say, creating is creating. Strikes me that you give some people a computer, all courtesy and thought goes out of the window - they forget that on the other end of their commennt is a real person, and as you say, we creatives can be a tad sensitive about what we make; I know I am. Phew, got myself a bit hot and bothered there!
    Lovely beads & very pretty jewellery by the way!

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    1. Thanks, Caroline. Yup, people can be idiots online (understatement) and being sensitive is seen as a weakness by some, and that you should 'toughen up' and ignore bad comments. That's a really difficult thing to do. Words stick in your head. And you can't help being sensitive, can you? Argh, PEOPLE!

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  6. Love your beads and love your classic jewellery! The beads speak for themselves 😃
    My bugbear is people saying "why don't you make beads like so-and-so..." and don't get it when I say because that's THEIR style, not mine...

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    1. Thank you! And yes, that is so annoying. If they like someone else's beads, groovy - go buy theirs!

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  7. I love your beads and jewelry, they are what I like to wear.

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Your comments are much appreciated. Fire away!