Two Hearts Become One

In making this design--as is typical--it took on a life of its own. It was a very meditative piece and caused me to reflect on the purpose of having a holiday such as Valentine’s Day and the love it symbolizes. This piece did not come out as I envisioned, and in creating this sturdy piece of jewelry it spoke to me in several metaphors. This design started with two separate hearts, one smaller than the other and thought I could carefully lace them together. But I found that when bringing two hearts together you need much stronger wire. Lightweight and lacy will not suffice to keep them in place. Love needs something that is solid and strong. During the constructing I had to undo some things I did not like. Love must be willing to change and remake itself as necessary or desired. Love will rarely be what we envision it to be. And there were times while in the making I thought this a very dreadful piece and I contemplated scraping it, but again, with a little patience I was able to make it into something beautiful. Love is like that; sometimes it looks revolting and other times it looks amazing. When it is all said and done, love—even at its best--is complicated.