Every profession has quirks that are exciting only to the person in that career. For example, ask your writing friends if they've ever received a "good" rejection. It sounds weird to an outsider, but trust me, they'll get all excited explaining how their story/article/book was rejected (and therefore, not published), but they are still hopeful/happy/dancing on the table.
For jewelry designers, one such hard-to-explain moment might be the one where you are excited that your brick has arrived in the mail. This experience forces you to have a conversation with a non-jeweler that goes something like this: CUTE BUT CLUELESS: "This package came for you. What is it?" YOU: "A brick." CUTE BUT CLUELESS: "If you don't want to tell me, just say so." YOU: "No, it's really a brick." CUTE BUT CLUELESS: "You paid someone to send you a brick?" YOU: "It's a special brick." CUTE BUT CLUELESS: "If you say so." |
The brick in question is called a fire brick and it's used as the surface when you're firing jewelry pieces (like making headpins from silver wire) with a torch. It withstands high temperatures. (The torch pictured can get up to 2,000 degrees.) I bought the brick to take with me to my soldering class. Luckily, both the torch and brick will go in my checked luggage. Otherwise, I'd probably need to brace myself for an "interesting" conversation at the airport. I think we can all agree that it's far more fun to use our special jewelry making tools than to explain them to an airport employee, no matter how much they look like they could use a little bling.