I heard about Square Peg just after I wrote my post from another lovely jeweller and I fully intend to book some casual sessions with them as soon as a) they get their hydraulic press, and b) bub is old enough to be minded by someone else for half a day. Their set-up looks great! It’s also fairly close to me (inner-west).

The more permanent space I described in my post is a really concrete future goal for me, but it’s not something that I can personally run for a while (toddler + baby take up too much of my energy). Occasional get-togethers are a lot more manageable for me to organise this year and probably next year as well. I’m hoping to get some time to call venues and things over the next few weeks.

I just stumbled across your blog via Google, while trying to find a jewellery studio to rent or share. I’m also in Sydney – I live and work north of the city. I’ve only done a short course in making silver jewellery but I’m impatient to do more (jammed in around my day job). My initial plan late last year was to purchase the basic equipment and set up in my garage at home, but that takes a reasonable amount of cash up front that I just don’t have at the moment. So I would love to have a conversation with you about your idea of a shared workspace. In the meantime, you probably would have come across Square Peg Studios in Newtown – it’s looking like my best option at the moment.

Your “box full of regrets” seems to fill you with shame, and I have to say that surprises me. When I look at your work, if I keep in mind that everything in that box was necessary to lead you to where you are now, I for one am grateful for those “failed” experiments. An experiment never fails if it leads us to one that succeeds, and you’ve certainly managed that!

I think most artists have lots of unfinished work. My studio room is so full there’s no room in there to work! I go through my little baggies of half-finished (or less) pieces which I was inspired to do at one point, and then got inspired by something else and forgot all about them. Yep, I do that too. :) Bu rather than seeing those projects as failures, when I look at some of the work I did ten years ago, or five years ago, or even last year, I think, “wow, look how far I’ve come.” I’m a much better wire wrapper than I was even six months ago, and some of the projects I finished then I’ve taken apart to do again, only better this time. I think if you were to look back on those projects and NOT see growth, you should be worried. The fact that you see how far you’ve come should fill you with pride, not shame. :)

I’m not trying to tell you how to feel, I hope you realize that. I just think you’re being unnecessarily hard on yourself. The sheer amount of work you do is going to result in scrap and experiments that didn’t work the first time around, or even the second or third time. Painters have the luxury of painting over canvases; sculpters and potters can throw unsalvagable projects into the water bucket and start from scratch. We all do it. No artist has ever gotten it right the first time. It just doesn’t work that way. So the shame you feel in your “failures” is not only unnecessary but misplaced! When you look at the work you’ve done in the past and see those experiments that you deem failures, what you’re really looking at is how much better you are now. And that’s a good thing. :)

Incidentally, I don’t think it’s greedy to spend that money on yourself. It’s yours, you paid for it to start with. If you want to spend it on tools for yourself, do it. Besides, silver’s getting so expensive that if you don’t, you won’t be able to get more!

:)
Jenny

It would be a little easier if I were still in Brisbane – I had more resources there and rents are generally cheaper ^_^ I think my next step is to call some TAFE campuses and the like to see if their workshops could be made available for an evening or something. While the goal would be to have everything available from benches to soldering, in practice it’s going to be very difficult to find somewhere that allows fire!