Ruby-in-Fuchsite and the Process of 'Incubation'

I’ve said before, when it comes to jewelry design, I always have the vision -- even though the execution can be problematic.

A couple of weeks ago, I had a new design experience: I had the material – faceted ruby-in-fuchsite* briolettes -- and I was eager to work with it. But alas, no vision. A bit of panic set in. I spent 5-6 frustrating hours playing around with the material and various findings before finally dismantling and putting all the pieces away. Still no vision.

A little more panic. Maybe I was losing ‘it.’

(Opaque ruby is found in two different minerals that can look very much alike one another. One is zoisite, an opaque stone that provides an deep emerald green color while ruby provides the pink and red. The other is fuchsite, a light green variety of muscovite, its color the result of chromium impurities).

Then, several days ago, I woke up, the design dancing in my head; as I started working with the materials, it just flowed. Like normal. Sweet relief. I realized that my experience illustrates a phenomenon known as 'incubation' that I first learned about in psych class in college. It’s the process we experience when we try to think of a person’s name that totally escapes us and hours or days later, voila! there it is. Or we suddenly find a solution to a problem that’s hovering in the back of our minds for days.

So all’s well that ends well.

*A heart chakra stone, fuchsite is said to link the intellect of the mind with the heart, enhancing knowledge and aiding decision making. Considered one of the most powerful gems in the universe, ruby is said to bring contentment and peace.

Creativity and RBF (Rhythm, Balance and Flow)

Everyone knows good design when they see it, touch it and/or use it. It simply works -- simply and beautifully. It IS.

In my mind, it has “RBF”: rhythm, balance and flow -- the standards I use to judge my work. (image right: fire opal & peridot in 22K vermeil. SOLD)

Take the first characteristic, rhythm. The most basic and natural flow that we experience in our lives is our own internal natural rhythms. So during the design process, for me there’s a musical quality; I find myself counting -- different cadences for different pieces or portions of pieces. I become conscious of a drumming heartbeat – a deep  connection to my inner intuitive self -- as the design takes on life. Other designers I admire have told me they experience the same thing.

As for balance, I’m a Libra whose most visible element is the scale. The ideal being to have all things in balance, Libra’s function best in a state of equilibrium. However, I’m not talking about design symmetry (although I struggle to create asymmetrical pieces - it doesn’t come naturally) but in coming from a point of equal balance between any powers or influences, including mental and emotional balance. Ergo, I must be experiencing equanimity within myself to achieve a balanced result.

Artist Robin Hopper in his book Functional Pottery says:

“Balance is the point of equilibrium where stimulus, analysis and concern are matched by skill, imagination and understanding. “

(image left: rutilated quartz pendant on hematite with 18K gold) Intimately associated with rhythm is flow. Most obviously, flow is about the  compositional elements – how the eye perceives the parts as a whole; there’s a natural flow, rather than a whirlwind of chaos. But in addition, for me there’s a liquidity factor to the process; I feel like the design is literally pouring out of me through my heart and hands – I am giving birth as a design moves from an invisible internal concept to an external reality.

When these three elements are in sync, I feel like I’m flying; I’m mentally and seemingly physically off the ground, weightless. It doesn’t get better than that.

‘Vision’ vs. Execution

From my first magical moment of clarity – not only seeing the path to which I was being called, but also knowing with certainty that I would be very good at it – I can honestly say I have never been without ‘the vision.’ Without any conscious thinking, planning or effort to ‘stir the creative juices,’ I am blessed to have more design ideas swirling in my head and crying out to my hands than I will ever have time to execute. When I purchase gems, it’s almost always because I can see the finished product. 

For someone whose previous professional life required living in a world of empirical data, rationality and business process, I still find this fact quite astounding. Not to mention that I had never thought of myself as particularly creative – certainly not in any ‘artistic’ way. I just greatly admired artists from afar because they had some magical thing IN them that the ‘rest of us’ did not. 

However – and that’s a big ‘however’ – what I want to pass along is: just because the vision is clear doesn’t mean the execution is. Vision is the easy part. That’s why it’s called ‘vision’ – because it’s mental, it doesn’t exist in the physical plane. Execution, on the other hand, is pure reality. It can be quite technical with lots of trial and error. And so one learns the many ways that something doesn’t work. Until it does.

If I Only Had the Time

In a perfect world, I’d have the ability to clone myself like Dolly the sheep.

Have you noticed that whenever you begin stimulating your creative juices in one area, you start feeling creative in many other aspects of your life? Seven or eight years ago, shortly before I started my jewelry career and a couple of years out of high-tech, I would have told anyone who’d listen that I didn’t have a creative bone in my body…well, maybe a smidgen, une poco, and I would have thought it centered around writing – not that I could have made a living a it. Now, six years into ‘this’ life, there are so many things I’d like to do that I get dizzy just thinking about them all.

There’s a string of nouns that for me describe the heart of the creative process when I’m working on jewelry: rhythm, balance, color and flow. The same words relate to so many other areas that I’d love to delve into…if I only had the time.

If I only had the time, I’d be a clothing designer; the clothing lines and fabric designs are already in my head. I’d be a turner of wood – in fact, I was already signed up for a lathe class when my fate turned in the direction of jewelry; however, the vision is still there on a back burner, simmering. I’d be a potter; I love ceramics and my few hours at the wheel were pure therapy. I’d be a spinner of wool, doing my own dying and knitting up heavenly visions – my first and only beading class was to learn how to embellish knitted pieces with beads; but the teacher said we HAD to make a bracelet and a necklace and, well, you know the rest.