I'm betting that if you tested all the serious metal smiths and
jewelers a significant number would test positive for
obsessive-compulsive-anal -retentive disorder.
Oh, don’t even go there! I have a really bad case of that, as my
children would attest to. I’m afraid I can’t even peg my washing out
on the line, without using matching coloured pegs on each garment
(where it needs more than one). I had a big bed sheet hanging on the
line the other day, which had six pale blue pegs on it. My daughter
sneaked out and changed one of them for a red one and was then
sniggering at me for hours until I noticed! And then of course,
there’s the compulsive checking the doors and windows at night to
see whether I’ve locked them.
this reminds me of a new yorker cartoon. a woman is sitting in a
restaurant, talking to the waiter, and the caption says, “waiter,
there’s something in my soup that is so miniscule it can’t possibly
be seen by anyone but me.”
We are remarkably accurate with small stuff. Big stuff? Go figure.
We also can't walk into a room, public or private, without
straightening pictures on the walls.
Too true. I have a hell of a time accepting 1/2" is close enough for
sheet rock (and I hate the stuff).
In a former life I was doing mechanical drafting (back in the
pencil, vellum, and blueprint days). I had become accustomed to
working in tolerances of .001 to .0001 inch and when I took a job
where the tolerance was .250 inch it was somewhat of a culture shock.
Does it help to close one eye and just focus on the object with the
other? Seems I’ve heard that this gives a truer view. And also it
seems like you can always get surprises due to unknowns such as
balance or weight or mass. Just a thought.
Does it help to close one eye and just focus on the object with the
other? Seems I’ve heard that this gives a truer view. And also it
seems like you can always get surprises due to unknowns such as
balance or weight or mass. Just a thought.
Does it help to close one eye and just focus on the object with the
other? Seems I've heard that this gives a truer view. And also it
seems like you can always get surprises due to unknowns such as
balance or weight or mass. Just a thought.
I think it’s one of those things you have or don’t. Maybe it comes
with experience.
I use measuring devices but the final test is the eye and I often
have to make adjustments from what was layed-out.
I have learned to see what I was taught to see or taught myself to
see. This can work to my advantage or disadvantage. “MAKING TO FIT
BY HAND AND EYE” has always meant a lot to me. I have learned to keep
my instruments corrected and to pay attention to all of them. But my
hands and eyes are my premier, just not only instruments.
I have significant scaring and stigmatism in my dominant eye. My
other eye is optically in much better condition. I have learned to
correct and compensate for this. I had my vision tested and
corrected before my 4th semester at TIJT. Knowing that my eyes were
as good as I could get them and also that they were sufficient for
gold working and stone setting gave me a lot of confidence. While
having good instruction is great, sometimes I have needed to see
another view to wrap my head around what my eyes are perceiving.
When I have had too much to drink, or I am too tired, I see double.
Then I rest, sober up, or take a cab. My friends couches know me
well.
I'm betting that if you tested all the serious metal smiths and
jewelers a significant number would test positive for
obsessive-compulsive-anal -retentive disorder.
I’m pretty sure the “anal-retentive” part of that isn’t in the
Minnesota Multiphasic". That said, I’ certain that some of my trade
accounts fit that description and I’ve often been tested not to tell
them, “you know, there are medications for your problem, but I don’t
think I can solve it on this end”. I know I’m not OCD, but I do
suffer from what my wife calls “task switching deficit disorder”,
meaning, the place could be burning down and I’d have to finish what
I’d be working on at the time before it would get my attention. I do
suspect a lot of jeweler’s, especially the good ones, have
Aspurger’s syndrome, which is in the autism syndrome. Look it up in
Wikipedia, see if you fit. By the way, I hate putting people in boxes
in principal, but in practice, it’s a guilty pleasure.
David- My brother Dr. Jeff Haemer went to Cal Tech back in the 60’s.
One of his former classmates told me that he figured that probably
80% of the guys there,(it was all male in those days), would have
tested positive for Aspurger’s. I figure that pretty much all five
year old boys test positive for ADHD. Dr Drew Pensky recently
published an article in Playboy about how he found the perfect
profession for his extreme Co Dependant personality.
I love how the luckiest of us somehow manage to find a place for our
pathologies. The really luckiest make money at it.
Have fun and make lots of Jewelry.
Jo Haemer www.timothywgreen.com
where I carefully organize all of our gems by color.
jewelers a significant number would test positive for
obsessive-compulsive-anal -retentive disorder.
Perhaps medicalizing this behavior isn’t accurate or fair. Perhaps
jewelers are just that lucky bunch who have found something to do for
a living that can be as engrossing as a child’s game. AND you get
paid for doing it! What’s not to like?
