Metalsmithing over for now

Metalsmithing is over for another few weeks. Of the four projects we were supposed to do, I completely finished one of them, I almost finished (except for polishing, which I can do at home) one of them, I half-finished one of them, and another didn't get off the ground. I'm pleased with what I finished and I plan to finish up the two projects before the next class. I also hope to try the project I didn't really start as part of another project in an upcoming class.

I'm not the only person who didn't finish the four projects so I don't feel like I'm that slow compared to everyone in the class. I know that there's no point rushing too much to finish things because the more I rush, the more mistakes I make. It takes longer to recover from mistakes than it does to do it right in the right place. And if that means that I don't get all the projects done, I'm ok with that. I will try to do the project that

Tonight while looking through the studio's books I found a book on how to do wax carving, complete with lots of projects and detailed instructions for executing those designs. I wish I'd seen that book before I tried to do my wax carvings because it would have been very helpful. Heck, just skimming through it was helpful: for example, I learned to rub baby powder or chalk into scribe lines so that they're more visible. The next time we do wax carving I going to borrow that book and read it before starting my project.

The nice thing about having some of my own equipment is that I can work on these pieces (and maybe create some new ones?) on my own time at my own speed. Working around other people is weird - people always go and see what everyone else is working on and I'm not used to having people see my works-in-progress. I'm a little self-conscious about my work because I'm well aware that others have more experience than I do. People are always very supportive about what I'm doing and it's ok that my pieces aren't as complex or big or whatever as theirs.

I have no idea where I'm going with this metalsmithing hobby. I don't wear a lot of jewelry... although I could if I wanted, I guess. It's a different type of creation process than sewing and I like doing it. Maybe I like it because I'm making shiny things?