Creativity - Helping your soul to grow!
Author’s Bio - Angela of Ange B Designs, is a sustainable jewellery designer and maker based in West London. Alongside her jewellery design practice, she also teaches one-day jewellery making workshops for beginners. She still works part-time as a physiotherapist.
Exactly a year ago a wrote about the relevance of creativity during lockdown. It was written from quite a personal perspective, and at the time none of us had any idea of the scale that the pandemic would take. Aside from the obvious things we all missed out on, there was also the loss of other aspects of our self-expression and recreation. No matter our backgrounds, we all engage in creativity on some level. Whether it be going to the cinema, listening to music, walking around a gallery or taking photos on our phones - these are all ways in which we express ourselves. One of my favourite proponents of creativity, the late educationist Sir Ken Robinson, described it beautifully as “applied imagination”.
Having these outlets taken away from us has made us all realise just how important the arts and creativity are to society as a whole. In addition to making my jewellery, for me teaching my workshops is a way of sharing my own love of the creative process and it’s why I’m so happy to resume teaching them.
Who are jewellery making workshops for?
Arriving at the She Cave for a one-to-one workshop session can seem a bit daunting - meeting someone you don’t know and entering unfamiliar surroundings, to use tools and equipment you’ve never seen before may be a stretch for some. Many of my workshop participants have been gifted the session by a friend or loved one, and so I guess there is a level of trust attached to that fact. The remainder of my workshop students have chosen to do the session themselves, occasionally with a specific creation in mind but more often than not, it’s simply a means of learning something new.
“ to practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow. So do it!”
— KURT VONNEGUT
The Experimenter
A great example of the first group workshop attendees was a fifteen year old boy, who had been gifted the session by his mum because he wanted to “learn how to melt metal”. I told her that making a ring would be a great way for him to gain an insight into the sorts of tools and techniques needed to experiment with metals. After an introduction about the session and safety precautions, this young man showed that he was confident using tools and also had a good eye for design. In the allotted two and a half hours, he made a beautiful ring for himself and a smaller one for his mum.
The New Romantics
Quite often I get students who come with a specific design in mind, usually for something they will be gifting to someone else. I find these sessions particularly enjoyable because it involves a bit of design input and problem solving on my part. Whilst being mindful of the time and the student’s limited skills, I always like my students to be able to realise their design ideas. So I often have to plan on-the-spot how best to help them. One example of such an occasion was with the young man who wanted to make a ring as a Christmas gift for his girlfriend in Australia, who he’s not seen for nearly a year. He had no previous jewellery making experience but succeeded in making his chosen design, with my guidance - he even took Polaroid photos (as proof of his handiwork) and brought his own little jewellery box to send the ring in!
Another example of a maker with ‘a brief’ was a young woman who wanted to make the ring she’d designed for her boyfriend’s birthday. She was a ceramicist by profession, but was unfamiliar with jewellery tools and techniques. Again I had to figure out how to help her bring her design to life, whilst making the session fun and safe for a beginner. She succeeded in making a beautifully stylish ring for her partner, which fitted him perfectly - she even forwarded me photos which he’d sent her from Japan.
Fun with Friends
It can be slightly nerve-racking to arrive at a stranger’s house and be led into a space full of unfamiliar equipment, with the expectation of making something as complex-sounding as a piece of silver jewellery. So the wax carving jewellery making workshop is a great alternative option to participate in a creative activity, with a friend or small group.
Set in the relaxed but modern environment of OPEN Ealing Arts Centre, this group workshop gives students the opportunity to make either a ring or a pendant. Using jeweller’s wax allows makers to create more three-dimensional designs in a relatively short space of time. The session is also a great way for a group of friends to do something creative together. During of my recent classes, I had two sets of couples, who were friends. One of the couples chose to make pendants and the other made rings, which they then gifted to their respective partners!
For me, the joy of teaching workshops is in sharing skills and seeing what the students do with them. I really enjoy seeing the surprise and pride that all of my workshop students display when they complete their piece of jewellery, and get to wear it home.
Albert Einstein described creativity as “intelligence having fun” and whilst on some levels this is true, I would go as far as to say that creativity is our innate NEED to have fun.