As the semester is dwindling down to just two weeks, I am rushing to finish up some old projects and squeezing in some quick new ones. I’ve never been a prolific creator, but when I want to, I can work pretty fast. The reason for my often slow and steady pace is that I need to be inspired to complete a piece (from start to finish), and I have a need to make everything seem perfect. However, this attitude needs to be SEVERELY ADJUSTED for me to round out my body of work in time.

I’m going to use something I learned in Jewelry/Metals III this semester as my motivation: Alexander Calder, a popular sculptor who was also a Modernist jeweler, made over 1,800 pieces of jewelry in his lifetime. Most were gifts to family and friends, but the quality and creativity of the pieces is still amazing. They were truly pieces of art that reflected his sculptural style: something that I am striving for in my jewelry work as well.

Though I will probably never produce 1,800 pieces of jewelry in my life and the next combined, I am using some of his methods to create maybe four more rings to add to my jewelry collection before winter break. Calder used cold connections in his work, meaning no soldering to attach pieces together – this saves a ton of time and allows work to be made outside of the jewelry studio, because you no longer need torches or chemical solutions. I am also mainly using wire to create my pieces instead of forming pieces from metal sheets, which is a material that is easily manipulated, and does not require many special tools to work with (wire snips and a small metal file can go a long way). I’ll be sure to show a step-by-step of my process once I get a spare minute.

Featured Image: Jill Sibio, 2018