Revival

Polymer clay jewelry etc.

Buried under meters of snow, we hope for spring. On this 8th of March, an International Women’s Day, back home, flower bouquets were gifted, first hyacinths, spring arrival palpable; women were celebrated together with spring. In contrast, all white and inward here…not many even remember why this day is celebrated in the first place.

Well, we do. Remember and celebrate. The fact that we are accomplished professionals and artis, all the same, strong minded and vulnerable, committed and creative, particular… and truly done with the winter!

I engage in bouts of jewelry making twice a year – during Christmas time and in spring.  Spring is inner revival, anticipation, awakening, planning. Bulky sweaters and boots tossed aside for suits and dressy blouses, shoes. Jewelry making is a celebration of this change, refreshment, colors coming back to life. It is a reverence of beautiful, fashion, style, freedom. A tribute to women, discrete or exuberant, professional or artistic, self-centered or engaged, activists and dreamers alike.

Making a jewelry piece, one imagines how it could be combined with outfits, enhance occasions of gatherings, professional or celebratory. A jewelry piece takes a life of its own, an unique esthetic personality. Its purpose is to search for its ‘personality’ match among our acquittances, friends, colleagues. Finding a ‘match’ is like a love story – both flourish in a display.

Sometimes, making jewelry is dreaming of majestic beauties of B&W movies, or identifying with unconventional personalities of avant-garde artists in fashion or dance…sometimes, for me, it is a miniature painting endeavor, almost.

When I attempted making jewelry from polymer clay for the first time only a couple of years back, I proclaimed, frustrated, that I will never be a jewelry maker…I certainly am not a jewelry maker still, but I make jewelry for a joy of it. For this feeling of revival and rejuvenation.

Let’s see what the spring revival has brought this season for our acquittances and friends, match-making on the way, styles and collections in a good-old hand-made tradition!