When I consider the items I have up for sale in my etsy
shop, I realize that although necklaces take forever to make and use more
materials I have approximately 5x more necklaces than earrings. I have a good
reason for this.
I hate making earrings.
Earrings can be as simple as leetle drops on a hook, but
something within me rebels against this. “It’s too easy,” I think. “Anyone
could do this,” I think. And yet, sometimes, I fold and make these kind. I feel
cheap. But I do it.
If I don’t make these simple drops, then things get even
more complicated. Then the earrings require a design. This is hard enough. But
when I think one up by trying dozens of trials on one earring and finally
finish it to my satisfaction, I’m not finished. I have to make another one.
The problem with earrings is that you have to make two of
them. That’s kinda the point. Furthermore, earrings are intrinsically meant to
be two little matchy-matchy pieces. I have found that once I make one of them,
I’m done with that design and want to do something new with the second one,
which invariably makes finishing the pair a tedious process—or else an
unfinished one—since I generally can’t find the parts that I want to finish the
second earring to make it complement the first but not be a carbon copy. I have
a very short attention span.
Why are earrings so hard?
I utterly and totally agree - it is the making of the second one that does my head in!
ReplyDeleteEarrings are my favorite thing to make. However, I do relate to the 'have to make another one' angst you're describing. I think it comes from the notion of having to copy instead of create. I've largely gotten over it by following my natural tendency of asymmetry. Somehow not being tied to using the exact same elements is enough so that I feel like making the second earring still stays in the creating frame, vs. the copying one. My one absolute is that they be the exact same length.
ReplyDeleteI have the same problem with slippers and gloves. Too long, Clanky! :(
ReplyDeleteI like your jobs and your style!
ReplyDelete