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December 14, 2007

the strong silent type

by gl. at 11:56 pm

the last workshop of the year at scarlet star studios was the strong silent type: creating your own wordwear, which i cofacilitated w/ bridget benton. this was the first time i have tried to explain to people what i do and how i do it!

even better: i only know one way to make wordwear (string it on a sillk cord), but bridget brought her vast jewelry-making skills to share, allowing each piece to be as unique and meaningful as the words that were chosen. also, we have two different styles of creating: i'm small & precise, while bridget is free and loose. that allowed us to show different methods of letterstamping using different tools. most people tried both ways and found the style that worked best for them. yay!


[aurora's "shanti" necklace: click to see some other creations]

i really enjoyed this workshop in part because i wanted to encourage people to use words that were their own, rather than quotes from another source. so i facilitated a series of 10-minute, stream-of-consciousness writing prompts to generate and highlight words that were meaningful for them:

  1. write about all the advice you've ever gotten
  2. what did you do this year that surprised or delighted you?
  3. what do you wish for when you see the first star?

i participated in the writings but was too busy afterwards to make any jewelry. i was not terribly surprised to find myself writing about astronomy again and using it as an analogy for people.

i was asked more than once if i thought people might buy less wordwear because they could make it themselves. that would actually make me happy! the scenario that would make me sad is someone who thinks "i could make that so i won't buy it" -- but then never makes it.

still, if i make a wordwear of my own soon, it may be a set of instructions:

  • dream
  • explore
  • create

posted by gl. | December 14, 2007 11:56 PM | categories: classes & workshops