Friday, October 8, 2010

Chained Links

   For the last couple of weeks I have been working on some sterling silver bracelets for my husband's aunt. She is going to give them away as gifts. The one turned out to be very simple and easy to complete. But the other has become the bane of my existance. I dream about this bracelet at night. It is horrible. So today I took it to my local jewelry supply store and asked if there was something I could do to fix it. It really wasn't working for me. This is what it looked liked a couple weeks ago. And yes that is 8 gage wire that I made into jump rings. I also flattened them into oval's using some heavy duty pliers.
Anyway back to my story. I went to the store and the owner directed me to a little mexican man who apparently makes these bracelets for a living. So with my husband and daughter in tow we drove across town to this little hole in the wall jewelry place. No one spoke any english and the guy his name was Leo never cracked a smile, but he did end up helping me. So instead I now have. . . this.
Although this is no where near completion it is getting there. But the thing that struck me as odd is the whole time I'm with this little mexican jeweler he kept saying. "That's not the way I would have done it." Well of course it's not. This is the way I've decided to do my bracelet. Because of this I have really been thinking. How often do we do things because that is how everybody else does it? Granted if I had made this bracelet the way Leo does it probably would have spared me a lot of tears and frustration. But I didn't. So just because everybody has done a particular thing the same way for years doesn't mean that there isn't another way of doing it. 
So surprise yourself and start doing things your way. You will be amazed at the results. Trust me I was.

6 comments:

Tristi Pinkston said...

Wow ... that's really beautiful! And so is your analogy.

RaShelle Workman said...

Gail, the bracelet does look beautiful. And, yes, we do need to do things our way. The truth is, even when we follow the directions, we still end up doing it our way. We are our own person. =D

kbrebes said...

I like it! Nice work. Keep on with your unique ideas. Harry Potter and Twilight and so many others were unique, too!!!

Debbie Davis said...

it looks awesome gail! but then all of your jewlery is totally awesome!

Gail said...

Thank you guys.

Unknown said...

So, I think sometimes we are flat without God's existence or guidance. But when He's in our life he inspires our own ways and in our way, yet He has a way of magnifying the results. Of course he wants us to be His happy children, desires what is best for us and helps us shine. When we intertwine our lives with others as the chain's links do, we're always creating bursting moments of life.