Saturday, July 31, 2010

Navel-gazing: wire edition

I really need a name for my wire-wrapping style.

See, it's not that I can't make neat, perfect little wraps. Except on briolettes. I will cheerfully admit that I suck at briolette wraps. But I genuinely can do the tiny little snug spirals. Forgive me if I sound defensive, it's just that, you know, I am.

And it's not that they always look mechanical when you're perfect. I know this is the same example I always use, but my cousin from Gridley Designs does amazing work with smooth, tight, even wraps -- and trust me, the stuff on Etsy is the tiniest portion of his artistry.

But somehow when my work is tight and even -- I don't like it. Even if I'd probably love it from someone else. To go for a weird metaphor, I'm going for "overgrown English country garden," not "jardin a la francais." Jungle, not park. I love a wrapped loop where the spiral laps over the bead on one side, I love a curve of wire that stands out from the body of the object it cradles, I love careful little kinks and wiggles and uneven spaces between wraps where the beads have room to breathe.

So what on earth do I call it to express "no, this is deliberate Grandma Moses primitivism, not lack of skill"? Am I way too concerned with others' opinions of my skills to begin with? Should I just stop worrying about it? What do I call it?

I've mostly been going with "organic," but that's such a loaded word now. "Primitive" bugs me in a way that has nothing to do with jewelry and everything to do with my postcolonial studies. I use "freehand" or "freeform" sometimes. I dunno.

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