Accumulation

I noticed recently that the price of sterling silver has gone through the roof. This prompted me to take a hard look at how much scrap I've accumulated.

I went through all of my supplies and pulled together all of the sterling scrap I could find. I even grabbed chain and headpins and findings that I'd bought when sterling silver was $10 per ounce.

There was one spool of charm chain where I'd ordered the wrong size, and I'd made all sorts of airy lovely plans about how I was going to use it. Yes, and it was exactly in the same spot where I put it down four years ago. Begone, bothersome chain! Begone, misshapen decorative Bali-style headpins! Begone, finished silver chains missing half their clasp! Begone, silver beads with missing granulation, or closed holes!

I went even further, and got rid of a bag of goldfill chain and wire. Much of the wire I'd ordered years ago, when I had no idea what I was doing, and I thought that I'd be doing fancy square wire wirewraps. I don't know what possessed me to order so much of it, but it's gone now. Along with more charm chain in the wrong size. And some chain so delicate it's difficult to get wire through. Begone!

I felt lighter. Free. Past mistakes, banished to Rio Grande's scrap program. I filled out the form, taped the box shut, and shipped it off.

And then I looked under my desk for something, and found another box full of silver scrap. Argh!