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Thread: Boring stuff

  1. #11
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    Patstone, you are entitled to your opinion, but I think you are being pretty unfair. Statements like these hardly count as constructive criticism and they are certainly not encouraging to "newbies":
    - the threads on this forum have become boring
    - recently there have been a lot of newbies who are be-littling the jewellery making process, by chucking things together with very little skill
    - now every picture sent in, is "wow, its lovely" when it is just thrown together so no skill involved


    I think, sometimes, what "newbies" lack in skill and experience they more than make up for in originality and creativity. All the expertise in the world doesn't make up for a dull imagination and even a so-called "expert" can learn from others no matter what their skill levels. I may not have been on this forum as long as you so I can't really judge what changes for the worse you might have seen, but it seems to me the forum's strength is in its openness and in the range and diversity of the people who visit it. People will always come and go, so the nature of the forum is always bound to be shifting. It would be a pity if it were taken over entirely by hobbyists sharing rubbish. It would also be a pity if it became a closed shop of "experts" sharing in-jokes and technical one upmanship. Vive la difference, I say, and if a bit of naff creeps in from time to time you can simply ignore it or offer the benefit of your expertise - or challenge it by posting something better.

    I do agree that it would be nice for the rest of us if more of the "oldies" shared more of their work here, but I think it's remarkable how many of them are willing to put time and thought into advising and helping in other ways - here and elsewhere. And if they don't choose to show so much of their own stuff here, I hardly think it'll lead to jewellery making skills being lost. You just have to look beyond one particular forum to find a wealth of ideas out there on all aspects of design and technique.

    I can understand why people fear the loss of time-honoured skills - I've seen similar sentiments expressed before - but I don't see that happening. What I see is evolution. Traditional guilds, workshops and apprenticeships may be disappearing, but technology is opening up whole new ways of working. Think of CAD, lasers, even oxygen concentrators and programmable electric kilns that make small sophisticated home-workshops possible - and, of course, the internet through which anyone can research, develop and market new skills in ways that would have been impossible 20 years ago. I learned lampworking that way. Not so long ago, a Murano glassworker could be executed for betraying the secrets of their trade. Now, at any time of day or night, I can watch and talk to experts in the field in the USA, or Italy, or South Africa; and I can discover and buy tools, glass and everything else I need with a few clicks on a keyboard. Now I'm getting into silver-working and the same applies. I think that's fantastic.

    Of course there are plenty of people out there who want to make a quick buck "chucking things together" and flogging them online, but instead of seeing that as a threat I'd see it as a spur to perform better and rise above the mass and the mass-produced.

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by ajda View Post
    I think, sometimes, what "newbies" lack in skill and experience they more than make up for in originality and creativity. All the expertise in the world doesn't make up for a dull imagination and even a so-called "expert" can learn from others no matter what their skill levels.
    About the only thing I'd quibble there - it's a curate's egg situation... That which is good may not be original, that which is original may not be good. It's perfectly possible to inadvertently end up with designs constrained by the skillset through experience; equally, it's possible to design objects that cannot be made through inexperience.

    FWIW, I am not an expert. There's some technical things I do not too badly, there's some areas where I'm weak and I know it (I've got a list - some of them I'll address; some I won't). The day I stop learning is the day I jack it in and go and do something else.

    Oh, and I like your tool list - got all that
    (and some)

  3. #13
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    Ah Peter, How very 'of the moment' with your comment re designing objects that cannot be made through inexperience - I refer to my post 'conundrum' today on 'ask the experts' I think that is just about where I am at right now. Any helpful advice from you, or anyone who thinks they may be able to help would be really appreciated. I'm a bit stuck, desperately looking for a simplified way of doing what I want to achieve - but thinking the design probably requires a very tiny box catch, or something equally scary seeming!
    Sue
    P.s. sorry for hijacking topic

  4. #14
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    I wonder whether for some of us, now that we know the basics, we don't find it remarkable any more. Maybe we should put some of our "basic" stuff up to encourage others.

    This is a little opening book locket that I made from silver and then had cast. I can engrave a little story on each of the pages.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  5. #15
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    Ooooh Carole, that is the sweetest little thing - This is probably a stupid question, but can you tell me the reason to have it cast?

  6. #16
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    I agree with Patstone. Forums can be taken over with sort of chorus of new members who seek affirmation and praise constantly and cry foul if you are not effusive or are in the least bit critical. I've seen other forums killed off that way because regulars just gave up in the face of needy newcomers who pounce on the slightest hint of anything less than rapture
    Author: Pearls A Practical Guide
    www.pearlsapractical.guide
    www.Pearlescence.co.uk

  7. #17
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    Thanks Joella. I get them cast because soldering on hinges is an absolute pain and I'd rather do it just the once!

    I also agree with Pat that we should be able to give constructive criticism. There are many other forums where the standard of work is so bad it makes me wince, yet everyone is gushing in their praise.

  8. #18
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    Hi Pearlescence, I think there have been some interesting comments made on this thread. I don't think most of us are really seeking constant affirmation and praise, but, speaking for myself, I know I do need feedback. As a novice, without the feedback, you are a little bit all at sea. Any advice is always welcome, and needed - sometimes you don't realise that you've got it wrong until someone tells you what you should have done, or what is wrong with it!, other times, you know its not right, but you don't know how to improve it. It's hard to judge your own work without the feedback of others. So, although it shouldn't be an open invitation to be negative and rude, it is an open invitation to advice and appraisal, without which, people who are inexperienced cannot improve. This is one of the reasons we novices value the forum as much as we do.
    Sue.

  9. #19
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    Thanks Carole, I get it now on why you would cast something (a little bit slow on the uptake)!

    I hope that nobody is put off from giving constructive criticism. I would rather be told that the standard of my work below parr, and maybe given some hints as to how to improve, or reasons why I didn't do it too well. I don't think its helpful for anyone to find themselves in the position of the contestants in a talent show, who's families have inexplicably praised them to the hilt all their lives, just to go on national tv and have the nation laugh till theyre sick at their lack of talent.

    Sue.

  10. #20
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    Never understood that "below par" thing. Isn't that supposed to be good in golf terms?

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