Michon Jewelry Blog

One of my favorite parts of designing and making jewelry is when “happy accidents” happen when I’m testing a new idea.

I’m sure there are many artists and jewelry makers out there who can relate to the frustration of trying out a great idea that just doesn’t work. You have this great image in your head, or are inspired by something you see, and when you sit down to create it, everything goes wrong. Inevitably, unless you plan your ideas meticulously, all but the simplest reveal their flawed logic midway through a project. I am not a meticulous planner - I tend to get an idea and try it out right away, without taking the time to carefully sketch out the steps it will take.

Although this process has clear disadvantages, it is not without advantages as well.

My first freeform pendants were the result of me trying, before learning all the required techniques, to create an elaborate necklace with silver wire and Swarovski crystals and crystal pearls. Before I was even close to having it finished, I could tell it was going to be hideously ugly. In frustration, I started cutting off bits and pieces, hoping to salvage some of the wire for other projects, and one piece of wire got twisted up around a few beads that had been attached to it in a way that was very appealing to me.

In that instant, I forgot my frustration, and started purposely mangling other bits and pieces of my necklace, attaching beads to mimic the look of the accidental piece, and soon I had finished my first set of freeform pendants. My wire ends were unfinished, and some of the wrapping was pretty sloppy, but for the first time since I’d started doing beadwork, I felt like I’d stumbled on something I really liked that was different from all the projects and techniques I’d learned by doing tutorials and mimicking the style of jewelers I admired. It sounds corny, but that night changed my life. I spent much of the following year developing my freeform style with wire and pearls - examples of the style are on my pendants page (look for curved silver wire in the thumbnails).

I’ve had many of these happy accidents since then, and although sometimes it is still frustrating when I can’t get a new idea to work, many of my creations that I’m most proud of came about when I was trying a new idea with less than complete success. Now I look forward to this part of the creative process, when I’m playing and experimenting with my materials to see what I can get out of them that I like. I do end up with some ugly pieces - but not only do I learn a lot about what I can get various materials to do, I end up with design ideas that I wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.

Here are a few links to work that resulted from experimentation and developing my happy accidents:
Fused/melted fine silver pendants
“Circle” pendant made from fusing wire of several different silver alloys
My design experiment blog, where I actually post pictures of things I’m working on and share a little bit about the process, both creatively and in terms of techniques I’m working with.