Balance Between Weird and Wearable

by Staci Louise Smith

I have a constant struggle I face when my imagination takes over, and it is between weird and wearable.  I don't mind calling my jewelry weird, at times it really is!  And that is fine, because it is what I am going for.  

However, I am a huge stickler for making sure things are comfortable and wearable.  I understand that what may be comfortable for one person may not be for another, and so I try to make a variety of sizes, shapes and materials to suit many different styles.

However, there are more days then not when my heart screams "Bigger!  Weirder!"

and then my head must say no.

One of the times I ran with it was for this piece, my Frida piece that was made for the Art Bead Scene monthly contest (create a piece of jewelry using art beads that is inspired by the painting they designate)........
(Here is the latest challenge for June challenge http://artbeadscene.blogspot.com/2015/06/june-monthly-challenge.html)

I am happy to say it is wearable- but not so comfortable (by my standards....I mean, nothing pokes you or anything, but you cannot wear it without knowing its there!).

I loved the design though, so I later created this necklace, a spin off the thorns.  It ended up being much more comfortable and wearable.  

It felt good to be able to indulge both sides of creative spirit.  I am hoping to allow myself some more of these BIG and Weird pieces, and then challenge myself to make spin offs that are more wearable.

Another example is my Bead Dreams entry, Earning my Stripes

It was made for the competition, so it needed to have that POW!  So I went huge with it.  Here is a picture of it on the bust (with my ribbon- my pieces took second and third in polymer clay- total brag moment)

The displays are 18" high!  So you can get an idea of how big the pieces are.

So, I created a couple of these necklaces, much more wearable, similar idea- bold and big, but comfy too

My Carved piece, Ta Moko is gigantic, 
it comes to my belly button!!! 

 So made a few short necklaces that still had that carved look and some real chunk to the beads

So that is it, my constant struggle between over the top and wearable.  I am enjoying these contests and such, that allow me to make more of an "art" piece, and then spinning off onto wearable pieces from that.

Do you have a heart vs brain topic that cramps your design style?  

Have you learned to allow them to work together?