A messy keyboard is not a pretty thing! Whenever I surf the Internet, &/or flip through magazines, I drool over exciting new components! Cabochon, pendant or bead – who cares? I’m not a purist, and I believe that you should experience anything your little heart desires.
Art jewellery is generally viewed as its own entity! Not all makers, sell finished jewellery! They make components to sell to consumers, and other artists. A nice production line, and the revenue it generates, is very seductive! Perhaps you don’t want to spend time and effort, developing components of your own, but you want to incorporate yummy ones into your own work. I am both a maker and a user of components! Who has time to make everything (even though I found the time to make the cabs, and pendant shown below)?
I have never worked with clay (other than polymer, 2-part epoxy, and metal clay), ceramics, or lampwork glass. Techniques can be learned, but what kind of time would I need, to get really good at them? You know that I wouldn’t be satisfied with a second-rate job! Would you? Lampwork is a distinct possibility (what with easy access to both instruction, and a studio – right Dwyn?), but certainly not clay and ceramics, and I’m too lazy to do much metalwork!
There are many jewellery artists, who use the work of other artists, in their pieces. Check out the Earrings Everyday, and Art Elements blogs! You’ll notice that the names of the makers (of the hand-made components), are always included in the details. This is extremely important, and besides, it’s very, very ethical!
What’s not to like about the work of either Maku Studio (first image shown below), or Staci Louise Smith? Do I own any of their work? No! But I’d certainly like to! I do own a couple of beads, and a cute little bird, from our own Amy Waldman (who teaches beginner lampwork, in the BeadFX glass studio). Not to mention beads from Dwyn Tomlinson (web mistress extraordinaire, Dragon Jools-glass artist and instructor), and several of the other artists that sell lampwork beads (on consignment) at BeadFX. Many components, are aging gracefully in boxes! Come on, You can’t resist, and you share my obsession!!
I must start using my hoarded components (both my own, and the work of others). I wish that I had easier access to some of the artists that I meet on the Internet, but then again, I don’t! I’d be totally broke!!