Hand-forged and soldered with 100% recycled sterling silver.
Soon in my online shop.
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My roots are in Mexico. In the south of the city. In pine and oak covered mountains. In black volcanic landscapes, colorful towns, hand-made tortillas, big furry dogs, gray cats and sculpted homes with thick walls and rounded corners. In colorful hand-dyed yarn left to dry along the fence. In wood, clay, fabric and paint. In smoking chimneys, children’s plays, books, dreams and adventure. Root ring. Hand-forged and soldered with 100% recycled sterling silver. Soon in my online shop. Today is Children's Day in Mexico. As I look back on my childhood, I am grateful for the freedom and trust my parents instilled in me. From a young age, I was left to roam free and explore, yet I always knew I could count on them for anything. Thanks to their influence, I am self reliant, and a mighty force to be reckoned with, as you can see in this picture (with Azzie, my first boyfriend). How do you create a personal language in art? How do you find your voice? Each decision you make opens a path, and for every possibility that appears more choices need to be made. My choices are visual and tactile: What happens if I add lines to this ring? Will they be etched (sunken), or soldered (raised)? How thick are they? Flat, or round? How wide is the ring band? Do I want lots of texture? Around the entire ring, or just part of it? Will it be symmetrical? Geometric, or organic? How will it feel when I wear it? How heavy do I want it? I am present in each of those choices. Everything I have ever seen and lived helps me decide what feels right, and in this way, my ring is born. I feel we are waking up. The itch to be, have and explore more, gets under our skin. It is life as it runs through our veins. Our evolution depends on this. It beckons us to be who we really are, and grow. To leave our fear and hold hands with adventure. What is there to loose? The answer is everything, but sometimes everything is no longer good enough. It no longer fits. It's old, stale and we need to breathe fresh air. Reach new heights, be surprised. May we all follow those inner urges to wake up and walk our first, second or third steps towards greater freedom and expression. It’s what we are here for. My new obsidian rings were inspired by the earth, the ocean and the sky. Every piece is unique, yet it is born from the previous one, and sows the seed for the next. In this way, my work is a web that continues to weave itself. Getting to the ocean was always an adventure. On one trip, my father bought a roof rack for our car that didn't fit right, and all of our luggage flew off as we made the first turn on the highway. We spent that vacation camping in our garden. Other trips included: an overheated car that forced us stop every few kilometers to cool it down; flat tires; fights with my sister; and dehydration. Acapulco was the closest beach. Getting there, was a hot and winding five hour trip that felt like an overseas voyage to a ten year old. Hungry and car sick, we started to wish we hadn't left home, when the ocean would appear between the mountains. We could smell the salty air and knew there was nothing better. Ocean ring. 100% recycled sterling silver and manto Huichol obsidian. Sign up here, and I’ll let you know when I add this ring to my shop. Your hunger will lead you home. In my quest for a happier life, I have tried many things. I took a cold shower and practiced Kundalini yoga every day, at 3:30 in the morning for a whole year, when I lived in the icy mountains outside Mexico City; was silent, barely ate, and meditated around the clock in a twenty one day Vipassana retreat; jumped, twirled, yelled, and muttered gibberish, in Osho's cathartic meditations; awoke my shakti –or psychic energy– in a Siddha Yoga intensive; learnt a more structured form of Vipassana meditation in five, ten-day silent retreats, which I then practiced daily for seven years. All of which has lead me to discover that what I have been looking for has been here all along. The seed, the essence, what I missed and yearned for, is me. I am that which was seeking itself. When I was little, we lived in a troje (a traditional wooden house) in the mountains outside Mexico City. My father bought it in a small town in Michoacán, and had it assembled on our land. It was rustic and beautiful, and sat next to a dry river bed that filled with water during the rainy season. The river came from the towns above us, and usually was filled with mud and trash. I however, did not mind. It was a river! I would roll in the mud and imagine all sorts of adventures. All I could see was nature and fun. One day, I invited a friend from the city, and we spent hours in the river enjoying ourselves. When her mother found out, she did not let her visit again. I never understood why. There is a space between our thoughts. There is a space between everything, that brings life to all things. I have been meditating on that space and the silence it contains. I float. I inhabit that space as does everything else. There is lightness and calm in that space. I am whole and at peace in that space. Silence is where it all begins. All thoughts, all ideas. All of creation. Movement begins there too. Go there. I was at a ZhiNeng QuiGong retreat this weekend. The two day intensive course taught me how to correctly practice an ancient Chinese technique that cultivates and balances life force –or Qi (chi)– through a precise use of the mind and slow flowing movements, to elevate physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. I am grateful to learn what will now be my daily practice. It is a simple technique, but I know it will take me as deep as I want to go. Qi ring. Rainbow Obsidian and 100% recycled sterling silver. Soon in my online shop. If you want to live a healthier and happier life, visit Fuerza Integral's website. When I studied ceramics at a Japanese school in Toluca, Mexico, I had a wonderful teacher. Her name was Wakana, and she taught us to always be ready when we started work. She insisted we have have every tool and equipment we need before we begin a project. This way, we can concentrate fully on the task ahead. She also told us that the best way to measure clay is with our “eye-meter.” Instead of relying on scales, or rulers, you create a relationship between your senses and the world around you. To this day, I use my eye-meter for everything: to decide proportions, composition, what to order from a menu, who to trust, and which street to walk on. It always works. We have all the Tools we Need. Hand forged, 100% recycled sterling silver and gold obsidian ring. Soon in my online shop. I just listened to Srinivas Rao interview the author Elle Luna –in the Unmistakable Creative podcast– about the choice we have to follow what we really want or what we think we should want. It's an insightful interview, so listen to it if you can, but what most struck me was what they said about climbing a mountain. When you follow your calling or your passion, when you decide to climb a mountain, what you are really choosing is to follow your self. To be your self. And once you start, no matter how great the fear, there's always a part of you that knows you can't walk away from being you. I bring this up because as I climb my own mountain, fears creep up that shout for me to stop. They tell me that what I am doing is unsustainable, unrealistic, ridiculous and short lived. But I want to continue, because for years I watched others climb their mountain. I cheered them on, thinking that if they made it, I’d be happy. But life made me see that I would soon become unbearable if my frustration grew any bigger. So here I am, grateful that I can follow my path, one piece at a time. I am the Mountain. 100% recycled sterling silver, hand-forged ring. Soon in my online shop. Listen to Srini's interview here. What dreams feel dear to my heart? What can I do now to feel alive? I ask myself these questions every day to strengthen my vision and sense of purpose. What I most want is to develop my potential. This will depend on my ability to feel exited about my destination. Because there has never been anyone like me, the territory ahead is still unexplored. Which gives me complete freedom, but it also means no one else can tell me what to do, or when to do it. My rudder has to be internal. This can be scary, but so far, my inner guidance system has been the best compass I’ve ever had. |
welcomeI am Jennifer Musi, the jewelry artist behind MUSIBATTY, and this is my blog archive.
Here you can find posts from December 2013, to May, 2016. I will no longer update this site. Please click on the link below to see my recent work. @musibattyOn Social Media
ConnectRespectI made this blog to share my work with you. I believe in generosity and I want to live in a world where we all inspire each other.
All of my designs and photographs are copyrighted. If you would like to reproduce them in any way, please email me first. Archives
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