Challenging the creative side...

Recently I have been looking for a new way to challenge my creative side. Many days I have the urge to actually construct something. Photography and cooking usually do a good job in challenging my creative side, and can usually satisfy the urge, but sometimes I really want to do something that involves a process of creation. Perhaps this compulsion is the engineering side of me, but actually physically creating something from raw materials, the process of transforming a simple material into something that one can appreciate is something that really appeals to me.

I had mentioned this to my wife, and she told me that perhaps I should actually follow thru on a comment I had made to my grandparents about wishing I could learn some of the silversmith skills that they have. My grandparents have been making silver and stone jewelry for more then 30 years now, and make some beautiful pieces. My grandpa is getting older now, and has talked about no longer doing this fine work, as his eyes are fading and his hands sometimes no longer does what he wants. I heard him talking about this, and really felt that if I didn't take the opportunity to spend the time with them, all those skills, and knowledge could just fade away and be wasted. I didn't want that to happen, and since I am fortunate to live very near my grandparents, I asked if they would teach me.

I had my first lesson this past week, both Grandma and Grandpa were excited to be sharing their knowledge. I spent three hours learning some of the basic techniques and practicing the techniques under their watchful eyes. The time flew by, and I was absolutely having fun. I hope that this will be a long term interest for me, and that I can keep learning from them.

Anyway, I hope to sometime have some shots of some of the specimen pieces (the results of the technique practices) I make, and hopefully some actual jewelry. Heck you never know, maybe I will take some requests.