I am constructing an article on jewelers and how they fix their
mistakes. I was hoping to get some input from you all. If anyone has
an interesting or funny story to tell…please share them with me. Or
maybe any moments that you slapped your head and
thought…“duh!!!..why did I do that!!!” Let me know how you
either fixed the problem or went with it and went in a totally
different direction with your design!!!
I remember sitting in a workshop with Andy Cooperman in 2006, and he
said." Always have a plan “B”. Please send me some plan “B” stories
and how you fixed them!!!
I’m a bit late. Frankly was waiting to see responses first, who’s
that brave. Hey no one wants to admit to a mistake.
Generally speaking, if I make a mistake on a piece I do what’s
necessary to correct to this benchmark…Am I going to be the only
one who knows its there? If it stands up to scrutiny by a experienced
eye, then I figure its good enough.
I HAVE had head slappers though… but…I’m not telling.
That’s only for intimate shoptalk.
or went in a totally different direction with your design
Ummm, then it wouldn’t BE the design anymore, would it? It would be
fudged. Salvage. My customers don’t pay for salvage. Which is why I
find three stone rings both challenging and rewarding. You KNOW what
its supposed to look like, pull it off well and ‘bull’s eye!’ Its
not something people have to interpret. Its not an inkblot. Its not
accidental.
I’ve wanted to reply to this thread but lost the original. Where are
all the mistakes out there?? Are you all THAT good?? I’m sure not.
But I’ve always said that a good jeweler can fix their mistakes and
not get caught. I’ve gotten pretty accomplished at that.
But as for go with it or scrap it…a coupla weeks ago the idea for a
snow man pin popped into my head and I dropped what I was doing to
make it. It was simple, a three silver discs over lapping to make the
snow balls, 3 silver balls for buttons, a goofy smile made out of
wire, silver ball eyes, and piece of 050 rd sticking up and textured
for a carrot nose. I threw on 2 stick arms and a top hat. But I was
in a hurry, I could see my time probably wasn’t going to pan out to a
money making hour and as I soldered on the rim of the top hat, for
shame for shame, I melted a corner of it. So I melted the opposing
corner and it looked great. Then as I hurriedly buffed my little guy
the wheel caught one of the arms and bent it up. My gosh, he was
waving now and 1000% cuter! So, in this case mistakes were fortuitous
(love that word) and it just shows to go ya that you have to bounce
with the bumps and go with the flow and never close your mind.