regroup: (verb) To pause and get organized before trying again.

I have a tendency to make snap decisions.  This personality trait (a deeply imbedded one that is impossible to root out...I often seem to have made up my mind before I know what the question is) led me into the Navy when I was 18 (not a bad decision, I spent my years there surfing in Hawaii and speaking Chinese for my pay), to China for a totally unsuitable 2 year stint as a graduate student at the age of 26, and finally into a metal smithing program at the age of 28.  All of these decisions were decisions of the moment (it seems to me, anyway, perhaps my brain is subconciously cogitating on the matter for untold months before hand, unbeknownst to my concious self).  

What does this have to do with jewelry?  Well, right now I've been doing pretty ok with selling my things on etsy.  That's great, and I'm happy with that.  It just doesn't seem like I put a whole lot of planning into the whole thing.  I like my designs, but they are not a coherent whole.  They don't really reflect what I have been thinking about and where I want to go with my design aesthetic.  Some are closer to it than others, but on the whole I'm not pleased.  That's why I've decided to chill out with the etsy stuff for now (not renew my listings etc) and take a couple of weeks to a month to really design twenty or so pieces as a collection of sorts.  And for once in my life I'm actually going to do the legwork required to make this happen successfully.  No more flying by the seat of my pants, impatiently making stuff just to be doing something.  No, this time I'm going to sit down, do my research, make detailed drawings, test runs in silver, and then, and only then, make the final piece.  I'm the worst kind of artist, skipping ahead and cutting corners (especially in my paintings and drawings) just to get to the final product, it's a trait that I really dislike in myself.  So this time, I'm going  to have a little discipline.

I'll let you know how it goes.