I find it interesting that Daniel Spirer found what I was saying
complaining rather than educating. In fact, I was under the distinct
impression that the purpose of orchid is largely education and
sharing of ideas. That having been said, it’s my impression that my
post here goes exactly to that point. I posted to try and educate
metalsmiths about their frequent apparent lack of understanding of
the process of cutting stone. In fact I even went so far as to
suggest that they try their hands at cutting stone to get a greater
appreciation of what is involve. I indeed try and work metal from
time to time to know how that happens. Beyond that, it is my hope
that another message should come through loudly from this
discussion. That rather than strictly a customer/seller relationship
between metal folks and rock folks perhaps we could benefit by
working in closer partnership.
Incidentally, as I am not a student of metalsmithing history but am
far more so of word smithing history, what I said was the origin of
the word jewelry at least in English talks about the stone and it’s
setting. A jewel is a stone. I’m not sure, but I don’t think we’d
tend to call a lump of gold hollowed out for a ring, a jewel.
But I’m not in the least interested in an argument. What I am
interested in is an interchange of ideas to find out if there are
others who believe that a closer collaboration between these two
branches of the trade could work better than the current model that
I perceive. If my perception is wrong so be it. However, I have to
wonder if for the metal folks it makes sense to wait around for
someone to show up with something you like rather than taking a more
proactive approach in working with someone to have created something
you like already. Of course if what you want is round or oval and/or
has a standard faceting pattern then the current model makes sense.
But if what you’d like available is a less standard approach in
stone, it would seem to make sense to be involved in an earlier part
of the design process.
There is one other thing I should mention about this education idea,
however. I have found that many designers don’t even care to spend
the time to take a look. It’s difficult to educate people when they
are not receptive. So here too, I’m trying to open up receptivity.
If I came across initially as argumentative, it had a point to get
some attention to the subject.
Derek