[Jewelry making - Article 01420] - Re: [Orchid] How did you come to be a jeweler?

[R . E . Rourke]

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    As a little kid i started pounding copper wire against the concrete
    with a mallet to flatten it and make jewelery from that "textured"
    stock, and the thousands of glass beads we would catch at Mardi Gras
    every year..later on I got a chemistry set for my birthday and i
    could do flame tests and bend glass tubing and melt metal with the
    alcohol lamp included with the set.I made a blowpipe / blowtorch
    from an experiment in the set, and learned/taught myself how to
    eutecticly join metals ( though i had no idea that 'eutectic' was a
    word, or process back then..it just worked).Soon i began to melt
    every metal i could find,(or rock that i though had metallic
    something in it-error) combine them and pour them out on and into
    various receptacles..trial and error was known to me as scientific
    method by nine!..mostly error..Then an uncle gave me a subscription
    to rock and gem magazine- I insisted our next family vacation be to
    Taxco Mexico,by way of southwestern native american reservations so i
    could see silversmiths in action.the parents were compliant, and we
    set out in the family's station wagon across texas, which i didn't
    count on..it was hotter there than in New Orleans-error and
    experience at the same time! After returning home I got 'serious'
    about setting up my laboratory cum jewelery making studio ( after the
    infamous pine-sol and pool chlorine experiment in my room- again,
    error! with sound..so I was discovered).and quickly religated to
    setting up in the garage...but it was hot as hell in New Orleans and
    the garage was not my ideal locale...so i gave up jewelery
    making,chemistry, and metallurgy until the holidays that year..I got
    a nice wooden barn type outbuilding from sears for my big
    present...and my first official studio was born.. Then the sixties
    happened...let's just say it was a time of experience and
    inspiration- enough to last a lifetime artistically speaking. About
    thirty years ago my interest in jewelery making and metallurgy was
    rekindled by the advent of New Orleans' Jazz and Heritage
    Festival..hundreds of artists and metalsmiths in one place at one
    time -( It's always on the last week in April and first weekend in
    May ..the hottest time of year...a date i've never understood the
    reasoning behind in all these years). While i love fire, i detest
    feeling hot..in making jewelry i can control the flame and the
    thermostat at the same time.. 

    My passion in life is creating metals, and then turning that
    substance into objects'd'art..There are not enough hours in the day
    for me to work on pieces and read every bit of literature on the
    related subjects i can find...and there is never enough money to
    satisfy my penchant for tools, and raw materials. At one time i was
    not sleeping at all. A friend and metalsmith said that moving my
    bench out of my bedroom would remedy the all too common situation..I
    am a jeweler because i can safely play with fire in any room i
    choose - but greater thatn that, i'm driven to create and learn and
    teach what i've learned and absorb all i can from other
    metalsmiths..it's a safe addiction with tangible results.
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