evolution of jewelry

So I’m working on jewelries again. Yep. I have a sketchbook full of ideas. I just finished one ring and have another started, and yet I find myself stalling to push through a new wall. My flex shaft needs to be lubed.

:: I am giving you all The Look for sniggering at that. ::

My flex shaft is what I sand, grind (stop laughing), polish, drill (no really, I said stop), and cut with. It’s a wonderful time saving tool. And mine needs lube. Which means I have to get out the screw driver, unplug the *cough* shaft, and take it apart, then grease it up and put it back together. All of my projects that I’ve started are at the point where I need this tool.

And yet I’m completely unmotivated to do it. Mainly because I’ve never had to do it before. It’s new territory. Like taking Julia out to a store for the first time. I have to pop the proverbial flex shaft maintenance cherry.

I’ll have to do it tomorrow after I vote. Until then, I’ve decided that I’ll write to you all about my thought processes on (one of) my current projects. It helps me put off that whole messy lube incident.

I have no name for this project. That usually comes at the end. And they’re usually either very stupid or very dry names. Originally, I was going to make a necklace out of those copper and ribbon bits (for which there is a different sketch in my book. Then it was going to be a different style necklace. Then it was going to be a bracelet… back to necklace 2… and now they’ll be a pair of earrings shown in the sketch above. It’s not that I don’t WANT to make a necklace, that’s not it at all. The whole project kept changing and evolving in my head as I was putting the copper ends on the ribbon.

Then, last night as I was falling asleep, this sketch popped into my head. The ribbons will now be part of some middle eastern-inspired earrings. I’ve gotten the ribbons capped on both ends now and to a point where I can’t really turn back. Luckily, my mind seems to agree and has also settled on this idea. Now I understand how a story can write itself. I never really got that before.

So now, here I am. Ready to embark on the next step and I need my flex shaft.

Ok, maybe not QUITE yet, because I could start on the dome part first. Don’t even get me started on what could go wrong there. Damn torch. It’s moody. At least it doesn’t have a sexual name.

So keep your fingers crossed for me. I feel like I’ll need a little luck with my shaft and/or my torch.