the blue muse

Beauty is subjective. Everyone has their own taste, their own ideal.

This is my favorite necklace. I wear it almost every day, even though I have about 50 others to choose from.  (It’s easy to do that when you make your own.) I like it because it reminds me of a spider web. I know, eeeww! But I like spiders… and that’s a story for a different day…

I have come to love this necklace, it has become a part of me, of who I am.

As a jewelry artist (or any kind of artist) it can be difficult to find the balance between what you see as beautiful and what your audience sees as beautiful.

When I first began making jewelry, I tried to make things that I thought other people would find beautiful. And I’m not saying that I didn’t find them beautiful too, but my main objective was to please the end buyer. I thought I had to approach things that way to be successful, to actually sell my pieces.

After struggling at some of our first sales, and through lots of trial and error, I realized that I was making a mistake. I couldn’t spend my creative energy trying to figure out what everyone else thought was beautiful. I was just running around in circles, because trying to please everyone almost always results in not really pleasing anyone.

I realized that I had to focus, I had to concentrate on making the jewelry that I loved, the jewelry that I saw as beautiful. I had to be true to my own little inner jewelry artist. And then I had to hope I would find buyers who felt the same way about those pieces.

Our sales got better after that. Over the years we have acquired a small following at local art shows. I’m happier with my pieces, I love them all.
I would be proud to wear any of them.

But for some reason, I just keep wearing this one. I’m attached to it.

And if the same thing happens to someone who buys one of my pieces, then, and only then, have I been truly successful.