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Jewelry and Overcoming the Fear of Failure

I guess I can blame this little hobby on Pinterest - jewelry making. More specifically, metal-stamped jewelry. Wasting time, skimming through Pinterest or seeing people posting pics of metal-stamped bracelets or necklaces, I thought, "hey, surely I can do that."

So I started pinning ideas, looking up how-to videos, ordering the tools. Boxes of tools, gadgets and goods started arriving on the daily. I know my husband was really excited. Yep, I was going to do this!

I felt like the child set free in a toy store. I didn't even know where to begin exactly. But I had some ideas. Lots and lots of ideas. I'm an idea girl as you'll soon learn. I set out my tools of the trade, all neat and tidy on my kitchen table ready to begin. Luckily, my husband who sits back and watches stepped in with some ideas on ways I could practice the stamping without using the more expensive washers and bars I'd so eagerly purchased. Smart man.

What I didn't take into consideration was the extreme sound of pounding out lettering onto metal. I glossed over that in all of my 101 tutorials. But I wasn't deterred. Letter after crooked letter I kept at it until I was ready to try out my skills on bars to create an actual necklace.

I made a few for myself, nervous about trying to sell them. But as I posted on Facebook or Instagram, I began to have people ask about them and how much I charged, what all I could do. That of course meant I "needed" to buy more things! I needed to learn how to make them stand out better. That meant more Pinterest pinning for ideas of course. I mean, it's research after all.


I started to get creative with different beading options, wrapping them myself after practicing that for a while. I thought it was far more personal than simply buying the beads. Necklaces turned into bracelets.


I even got brave enough to set up a vendor booth at a local festival. It's hard to put yourself out there. I still question whether my items are actually good enough to sell or if people will end up disappointed with their purchase down the road.

I'm a perfectionist. I fear failure. And, of course, I define my own idea of failure. Something I must learn to change about myself. I'm a work in progress of course. So that's the success.

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” ~ Paulo Coelho


Comments

  1. I LOVE that you went after this. Not just because you are super talented and have an eye for jewelry, design, crafts (all things I am NOT good at!!), but because you faced a fear and went for it anyway. A lot of people wouldn't ever even attempt it for the exact reason you stated -- fear of failure, perceived or otherwise.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks sister! It's never easy to put yourself out there. Even if I am still not totally confident, I'm winging it ;-)

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  2. The imperfection is what makes them special. Any old machine can stamp out in-line letters. It's a sign of hand-crafting!

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    Replies
    1. I think so too Katie! You know it's completely unique!!

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