From the workbench

From the sweeps drawer….refinement…

Hello there, I am an artist, working primarily in metal and paper..  and all the etceteras. they include!

I am curious – what brings us here to share our ideas – perhaps a willingness to be vulnerable, to share our delight and wonder of the world and all the stuff it includes, and to listen and gather feedback for inspiring forays into other paths not imagined before.  I love the process of learning, gathering ideas, designing, making things, and finding places for my things to be useful and beautiful.  Sometimes not quite in that order!

If this blog is to be useful to others I must start by sharing a story with you of a process that means something to me.  

Thank you for coming and I hope the story inspires and blesses you. 

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I start this process by gathering silver cutoffs and filings from the sweeps drawer and melting them down to create things from these leftovers.  This makes the most of the precious metal. 

All these misshapen elements are put into the crucible, the discards – disjointed, unlovely, and useless.  

In my personal experience some of my feelings, actions or what I say are like the sweeps drawer; full of stuff that is cast off or not very useful.

Using a torch flame to try the silver, at first it melts it into a lopsided mass that still has the shape of angular, disparate discarded parts.  

Like me when I am tried by challenges – defined at first, by the shape of where I am now, still holding on to the past or worried by the future. I need to find the courage to let go of those things.   At this stage, I am not quite there yet.  

It is important that the flame continues to hold the silver in its corona, never leaving it, if there is one part that is not touched by the trial, it will not be purified.   As the shape melts, it becomes gradually rounder.   As the last pockets of resistance are overcome by the heat sometimes the mass of it suddenly jumps into a spherical shape as the last pockets of resistance are overcome by the heat.  

My resistance also gives way to a greater process instead of clinging to past outmoded thoughts and ways.  Needing adjustments, they click into place as they are surrounded by the heat of challenges and my resistant self yields to the now-ness of the experience I am going through.  All I have is right now to live.   The past is over, the future is yet to be built by improved successive moments. 

The silver starts spinning, the dross forming a bumpy crust covering the entire surface, looking like riders on a merry-go-round.  As the refining process continues, those riders are flung off little by little, burning up and consumed by fire.  The spinning accelerates as the time goes by.  

My own process of refinement or evolution seems to be a carnival ride at times!   Sometimes it is pretty intense until all the extra baggage is tossed off and the spin is irresistibly drawing me into a more perfect sphere of thought and action.

The sphere of silver now is trembling, and still spinning, the dross all eradicated and the agitation extreme.   Bursting open, the broken crust reveals a shining interior that reflects everything, the flame, the refiner holding the torch, the room, everything in that universe is reflected in this one little luminous orb.  The flame is taken off of the newly purified silver.  After cooling the next step of its transformation will be to make it into something that is unique and useful, a story for another time.

When I finally let go of the stuff holding me back and give in to the process of becoming more than I was before going through a trying experience, I step out into a new realm of possibility.  It takes courage and trust to stay in the process.  But it is not until the circumstances are so compelling that I look inward and outward, reflecting the new universes and shining with brilliance.  Possibilities are many, and the transformation from what was, has passed me into another stage of progress.  

This can occur when I am resistant to a new idea that is better than the one I am presently clinging to, or when I am struggling through a project, discouraged with the results.  It is only when I start paying more attention to the process, and what it is demanding of me, that I become more observant.  Willing to accept failure, understanding that this is what is teaching me what is working and what isn’t – I can see the useless bits fly off.   Having bravery to stay with it and seeing the emerging nugget of goodness appear, I can finally step into a new place.  

I am grateful for for the flames of trial, helping me to throw off the dross and refining character into a more purified version.  It is a lifelong process that never ends.  What are your experiences of fiery trials and refinement?  I would be happy to hear from you.