Becoming a metalsmith

Becoming a metalsmith has been a long process for me.  I first started beading jewelry COUGH! COUGH! years ago, when I was in college.  My mom still wears some of the jewelry I made then, bless her.  I got better at beading over the years.  I made wedding jewelry for some people.  But I wanted to do more, and metalsmithing raised my curiosity.  It's not something you can easily learn on your own, though, unless you don't mind losing some fingers.  Plus, I had a full-time job as a newspaper editor.  The hours could be long and unpredictable, making it hard to take a class.  But I finally found enough stability that I was ready to start learning ...


And then I got pregnant.  There's no rule that says you can't learn metalsmithing while pregnant, but no one in their right mind is going to let you sign up.  You are Potential Lawsuit #1.  You breathe in all kinds of toxic fumes and dust while working with metal -- no one's going to take the risk of a miscarriage on their watch.  Or a two-headed kid with webbed fingers.


So I put it off for a couple more years.  A baby and a blowtorch are not the best match.  But once my daughter started preschool, I knew it was time.  And we had conveniently moved close to Lorton Workhouse, which offered metalsmithing classes.


It didn't go smoothly at first.  Me and soldering, we aren't best friends.  I expected skill to immediately shine down on me.  This is where the violin and I went wrong back in fourth grade.  I wanted to be able to play "Flight of the Bumblebees" instantly, but I couldn't.  It was the same with soldering.  My metals wouldn't fuse.  There were tears.  But this time I persevered, and it got better. 

It's been almost two years since I took that first class, and I'm ready to move on again.  I left journalism after I had my daughter, and she started full-time school in September.  It's time to start working again.  So I'm opening a jewelry store on Etsy in a few minutes.  All of the pieces were made by me.  I'm excited, but I also feel like I'm going to throw up a little.  Most good things are like that, I think.  Talking about it calms me down some.  So I'm going to talk about it some here.  Every few days I'll write about metalsmithing and making jewelry, and real life will probably get mixed in.  You should check it out.  There are worse ways to spend 10 minutes.

And check out my Etsy site:  www.slathered.etsy.com   It's been a long time coming!