[Jewelry making - Article 00958] - Re: [Orchid] PMC in General

[David L. Huffman]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========

Hi All;

    I'm glad so many of you responded that you enjoyed my little madness
    on PMC and the world of jewelry and metalsmithing.  I really thank
    you all.  I'm a little concerned that I might have hurt the feelings
    of some of us who are working in twisted wire, PMC, beads, dichroic
    glass, etc.  Actually, I hope I don't sound patronizing, but my only
    problem with those medium is that it takes a little more for me see
    them as vehicles for significant artistic accomplishment (which is
    something I'm sort of stuck on). I think I need to see people work
    pretty hard at challenging themselves with those things. I'm not
    saying that it can't be done. And I'm not saying you don't belong
    here if you aren't grinding away full time trying to be a
    jewelry/metalsmithing virutuoso. Please enjoy. But please, challenge
    yourselves from time to time.  I can respect that. Those are the
    people I will be eager to share all the knowlege I can with. That
    said, perhaps I also offended some of the artists and traditional
    jewelers as well.  Well, I promised I would.  But don't you agree,
    we sometimes take ourselves just a bit too seriously?  But finally,
    the only people I don't have respect for are people who are lazy and
    selfish, so who cares about them, right? 

    But finally, there are two issues I'd like to see rise out of this
    PMC in General thread.  I believe one issue is of the intrinsic value
    of different media and methodology.  I think it boils down to this. 
    How to people see the value of "mastery" of ones media?  Is there
    still a point, as I believe there is, or at least a virtue, in doing
    something really difficult until you reach a point where you make it
    look easy?  Have we deconstructed that meaning completely away?  Does
    PMC really threaten such a value, or does it really only threaten the
    affirmation of that value in the marketplace?  Is making a living a
    separate issue?  Well, it's a rhetorical question, really. 

    Overlapping it somewhat is yet another area of interest, to me, at
    least. That's this whole shake-out that seems to have affected the
    craft market itself.  It's always creeping into one Orchid thread
    after another. I wonder if there's someone out ther with a PhD in
    MacroEconomics who has written something in plain english that
    explain where the whole economy is going and why. I've posted about
    Gersham's Law before, but it's a phenomenon, not a primary cause, I
    think. Is what we are seeing a leveling of the value of labor across
    the board, with the advent of a world market, to something closer to
    what that value has always been in the so called "third world"?  I've
    always marveled at what people in other countries were making for so
    little money.  Such an amazing discrepency between the beauty and the
    monetary value.  Is that what we can expect for all of us? 

David L. Huffman

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________