res·o·lu·tion noun \ˌre-zə-ˈlü-shən\: the act of finding an answer or solution to a conflict, problem, etc. : the act of resolving something

: an answer or solution to something

: the ability of a device to show an image clearly and with a lot of detail
(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/resolution)

It seems like a New Year Resolution is finding problems that you may have and finding a way to fix them. I would like to eat less sugar, less carbs, I would like to lose weight, I don't work hard enough, my art isn't making enough money, blah blah blah... It seems like it's the same issues every year... Well, I've come to the conclusion that my life isn't so bad... it doesn't need 'fixing!' I'm just going to do the best I can each day and enjoy it while I'm doing it!! Although I may try to show images more clearly and with a lot of detail!!

ACK! I just committed to doing another 'A Day' challenge. Ok, it's been 5 years since the last one -Ring A Day

This one seems so do-able, it's not even a pair of earrings... it's just one single earring, how hard can that be? It's also very freeing not to have to make 2 earrings that look alike... it's hard to experiment when you do that.

So for January 1, day one. I thought I would start with a spiral. The direction my art has been evolving had been towards 'origins.' I've been working on a project called personal icons, where I have combined images from when I was little (mostly religious icon type things, in addition, to relics, superstitions, etc.) with styles from some of my favorite artists like Andy Warhol and Jean- Michel Basquiat. The other direction my art tends to find itself is primitive and organic, so I am working at getting those 2 directions more on the same path. Hence, my spiral earring.

My first thought was to  make a spiral earring... I've made them before... wire twisted into a spiral, then hammered, generally using 16-20 gauge wire. Probably about 20 minutes worth of work. Of course, I can't keep anything simple. Instead of 16 gauge wire, I thought it would be cool to use 4 gauge wire which is .3249" or 8.2515mm. Let's just say pretty thick. So curving that into a spiral after forging took a while. Then I wanted to add a thicker piece of sterling and forge it down for the ear wire and that took awhile too. Then there was more texturing followed by polishing followed by adding a heat patina. Then there were the photos and listing it on Etsy (cuz that's part of the challenge) and posting it on FaceBook and posting it on Flickr and then blogging about it here.

Let's just say it took longer than 20 minutes!

It's big and it's heavy... 3" high,1.25" wide, and .25" deep, not for the faint of heart. As a matter of fact, I think you have to be pretty bad ass to wear it!