“Serendipity”
“As their highnesses travelled, they were
always making discoveries by accidents
and sagacity, of things they were not in quest of….”
Horace Walpole 1754
“The Three Princes of Serendip”
I love this quotation from Horace Walpole, found in his series of Persian fairy tales, from hundreds of years ago. It is considered the original source of the word “serendipity”. Additionally, word “serendipity” does not translate into any language except English!
However, I thought for me, this perfectly describes the process of working with silver fusing and reticulation.
I begin a piece by cutting, prepping and laying out the pieces to my design. And then fusing the Argentium Silver segments to each other. This seems simple enough, but even when truly focused, you never know for sure what the silver will do when you hit it with your torch! While on my way to creating one design, the metal will sometimes justdecide to do something else. It can still only take a second. “Serendipity” takes over and as a result, I just may have something even more compelling than my original design!
Enjoy>
Kathleen Barris
Jewelry Artisan