how did i end up here?

From Start to Finish

My next door neighbor is a silversmith (how cool is that?). His name is Oscar, and he’s as sweet as he can be. That's him in the picture, melting the silver. Last week one of my housemates and her Spanish teacher went over to Oscar’s and made their own jewelry. I thought that was so impressive, so I decided I wanted to do it too. Yesterday my Spanish teacher Carmen and I went next door to Oscar’s house/silversmith shop and made our own jewelry. It was so cool! But it took a very long time, and a ton of steps. I will appreciate the jewelry I have now (and the pieces I will buy in the future) so much more than ever. It’s very time consuming and requires a steady hand.

Carmen decided on a jade ring and I went with a jade pendant (Guatemala is famous for jade). The jade was already cut and ready to go, but we did everything else by hand. I designed my pendant myself! After many hours and a slight adjustment to my original design (I accidentally cut too far in when I was sawing the silver – actually I broke the blade twice…oopsie! Sorry Oscar!), I wound up with a beautiful teardrop pendant. It was so satisfying to see it from conception to completion. It appears I can bring out the creative juices at times.

posted by taiautumn @ 6:58 PM