Around the World Blog Hop

Recently Kim Paige invited me to participate in Around the World Blog Hop. The point of the whole thing is to write a little bit about yourself and your creative friends, share some links, eye candy, and whatever you consider to be worth sharing ;-).
I met Kim last year, during a wonderful retreat in United Kingdom. We spent some great time together and hopefully we will meet again, this time in USA - during Metal Clay Mojo Conference. Kim will have there a talk on social network marketing and I'll be teaching.
Here you can see an example of work by Kim. Jewellery she makes is nature-influenced with subtle textures and simple, elegant designs.

Ok, so lets answer some questions :-)

1. What am I working on?
At this particular moment I have a very special piece in my kiln. It's special, because I started it... almost two years ago :-)))))))))))). It's not an insanely elaborate work of art or something ;-), it's just that I started it before leaving for North Yorkshire, to teach my first workshop abroad ever (it was May 2013), and I lost my way with it. For some reason I decided to make a sea themed piece, and I don't even like water that much. Unless it's a hot shower ;-). But I already made a base, I chose stones, added a few elements, and I felt I went too far to simply scrap the whole thing. Do you know sunk cost trap? It was exactly the case ;-).
I kept this piece on my desk that whole time, just in case I felt sudden urge to work on it ;-). Finally a few days ago, I decided, that I REALLY want to finish it before the end of this year. So, I'll see. Maybe it will be ready, before I finish writing this post. If so - I'll add some final photos :-).





2. How does my work differ from others of its genre?
This is a really difficult question, because there are many people out there whose work convey similar qualities as mine does.
A lot of jewellery makers love heavily detailed pieces. A lot of them create sculptural jewellery. Thousands of people feel inspired by mythologies, folklore and Nature. But I think that maybe this is not the most important thing - the point is to put all these things together and create with what you do, some kind of a narrative coherence.
What I mean is that I hope that the story I tell through my jewellery is unique and differs me from others. It's mine and it feels true, so I am really comfortable with it.









3. Why do I create what I do?
This one is easy. I am definitely a hedonist, so I rather do things that I like than those that I don't ;-). It is as simple as that. I probably should say something like "through my jewellery I am on a quest to change the world" or "it's this weird inner calling, that forces me to create", or PlaceHereAnythingCoolEnough, but the thing is that for me it's simply about doing what I feel like doing.

Changing the world is just a side effect ;-D.








4. How does my creative process work?
First of all sometimes I feel like it is happening ALL THE TIME -  it's even a little bit tiring. It feels as if I had thousands of moving gears inside my head.
I just keep sketching, writing, memorizing ideas, collecting them for later, because I am doing something else at a moment. The most difficult thing is to choose what to do next, especially that for me the most satysfying part of the process is just producing an idea. I could stop there. The ideas are so perfect, and in hard matter always something is not exactly as I wanted it to be.
Many times I start actually making something and my mind already is elsewhere, focused on another idea, which at the moment feels more attractive. I really have to work hard to keep my mind in one place. Another difficulty is to recall that feeling of excitement that was connected to each idea. I have to feel excitement to work. So- when I produce an idea, later choose to work with it and recall that feeling of excitement, I make a proper sketch which I use as a reference.
Then there is some hard work ;-), and I usually end up hating what I made. But I know myself already a little bit, so I leave the piece hidden somewhere at least for a day. When I look at it again later, it looks better than the day before ;-D. I am sure, that these are faeries or something ;-).
Being more serious - it's just about getting some distance from what I made. Sometimes I decide that it's finished and sometimes I alter or correct something. When a piece is done, I feel something like a relieve - it's a very nice feeling. Addictive.

Who is next in the blog hop?

The next person in Around the World Blog Hop will be Lynne Glazzard. I love her work for its contemporary vibe and elegance. I especially adore her enamelled pieces.

I also have a very special place in my heart for Lynne ;-). She was the very first person who invited me to teach in her studio. Since then I taught in many lovely places, met wonderful people and did a lot of super exciting sightseeing.
Make sure you'll check Lynne's work! :-).






Aaaaaand.... Here it is finished :-). Before the end of this year! I called it "Reef Princess". Now, I am off to have some New Year fun  :-).