Revisiting Old Work

With my assorted creative pursuits, 

I find that it helps to occassionally revisit earlier work.

Sometimes, 

that revisiting simply helps to affirm that I'm on a path that is evolving in a positive direction.

Other times, 

I see an opportunity to alter a piece, 

satisfying the new perspective that I have.

Around five years ago, 

I made earrings with recycled, textured brass soldered on to strips of recycled copper.

I liked the fact that I was repurposing materials and kept a pair for myself. 

As I was going through my personal stash of jewelry, 

I came across those earrings which have not been worn in around three years.

Natural oxidation left the metals tarnished, 

making the earrings less than perfect in appearance; 

however the bigger issue, in my mind, 

was the design.

The earring on the left is the original design from five years ago, 

and it makes me think, 

"Bleh!"

The strip of copper is too wide and graceless, 

making the earring appear heavy.

I pulled out a pair of metal shears and cut away some of the copper 

and then hammered the piece flat on one of my steel bench blocks.

The altered earring made me think, 

"Yes....much better. I would wear this."

From that original effort, 

I still had some of the prepared, soldered pieces of brass and copper 

that had never been made into earrings.

They were pull out, trimmed with the shears, filed and sanded.

For an even better, updated look, 

the newly shaped pieces were treatd in a liver of sulfur bath.

Now I have something I can work with!