My amazing ADHD

Hillary has been diagnosed with ADHD since she was 19. Lately it has been taking a prominent role in her life, and it brought about some thoughts she wanted to share:

My brain works very differently from most other people's and it's hard to even explain sometimes. This makes life very difficult in the corporate world, because ADHD people are not good at things like error free data enter and other repetitive, mundane tasks. What they are good at is coming up with ideas that other people wouldn't and making connections that other people would miss. These are very valuable skills to have as a worker, as an artist and as a person. My ADHD is a big part of why I started making jewelry, and then why I wanted to do more and work differently, which eventually led to being here. It is why I have to do jewelry and dance and art, and why I love them so much. Those with ADHD often have a creative nature, and are often quirky. Quirky creativity describes me and what I do to a tee. I love creating new jewelry and new sketches, and I love coming up with new ideas.

ADHD opens new doors, but it erases some altogether. I will never be able to consistently remember to turn off the lights, enter numbers correctly every time, catch all grammar errors and typos when proofreading, find my keys when I need them, not leave piles of papers and stuff in the house, or intrinsicly understand what organized is. It doesn't matter how hard I try, certain things will never happen the way everyone would like.

That said, I wouldn't give up my ADHD. Like I said, it's part of what drives me to create and part of what makes my creations so different. Without the drive to create and the drive to try new things, there might not be an Artful Unity. Most people with one jewelry business, wouldn't necessarily move on to 2. I, however, had to try it or it would drive me crazy for the rest of my days.

I love myself, who I am, what I create, and my life. None of these things would be the same without my ADHD. I would be a different person, which is the last thing I want. Some days, I wish that I didn't have certain problems that come with the ADHD and some days I wish I could be a little more like everyone else so that we could understand each other. However, if it went away, I don't know that I would ever come up with the unique ideas I do
or be driven enough to pick up a pen and pencil to sketch them knowing that I am most definitely not a sketch artist. But, I am who I am: the designs jump into my head and beg to be made. I don't have the right materials to make them, so they beg me not to forget them; so, I sketch.



Thanks to my ADHD, there's one more design that won't be forgotten, and one more idea that has a chance to become a beautiful piece of jewelry. How crazy and how awesome is that?

Family love for our designs

A few weeks ago, Hillary posted about a family necklace that she re-purposed. Hillary's aunt had given her a broken crystal neckalce and suggested she re-string it for another family member. Here is that aunt's response to the pictures of the creation made from those crystals:

Hill

I am in awe. Your great grandmother would be so pleased. You vision left Grandma Nina's crystals in a creation that is timeless and that she herself would have worn. Soooo pleased with your work.

Our family certainly is lucky to have such talent.

Love and Miss you
Aunt G

She also told Hillary that it would be fine to use the leftover crystal for a necklace for herself. Be on the lookout for a future post on that piece as Hillary will post it here as soon as she is done with it.

Materials and future pieces

Materials we like and why:
We thought we would share with you some of the materials we like to work with. All of the beads pictured are materials we currently have on hand and would like to use in pieces in the near future.



Semi Precious Gems - We like them because they have natural beauty and come in a lot of great colors. They're also generally durable (depending on the specific stone), and if well cut and polished, don't break easily. Pictured here are rose quartz (clear pink), sodalite (dark blue), tigerseye (golden brown), and lapidolite (purple), among others. Semi-precious gems are a good combination of quality and price as they are generally very affordable.



Freshwater Pearls - We like them because they have a shiny, soft and almost silky appearance. They look elegant without being boring or stuffy. Pictured here are white rice pearls (center) and mauve potato pearls (center). Pearls can range in price quite a bit depending on size and quality. The pearls pictured here are very affordable.



Swarovski Crystal - We like it because it's sparkly and fiery but still has a very clean appearance. Lines and shapes of crystal beads appear very well defined because of the way they refract light. In addition, Swarosvki is an instantly recognizable name, and they have earned their reputation by producing high quality lead crystals for over a century. Crystal is more expensive than some other materials, but it has a similar sparkle and apperance to high quality, well cut precious gems, and is much lower in price.




Czech Fire Glass - We like it because it's sparkly, soft in appearance, and more affordable than crystal. It also contains no lead.



Above is a comparison of Czech glass and crystal. The top, blue bead, is Czech glass and the bottom, pink bead, is crystal. Both of these beads have an aurora borealis finish.
As you can see, they both have their own unique qualities and, as a result, have unique applications. In some instances, they can be substituted for each other depending on preference and budget, but certain situations call for one over the other.
If you're looking for maximum flash and refraction, crystal is the way to go, but if you are trying for a nice sparkle without sharpness, then Czech glass is great for that. Czech glass goes better with stones with a more "natural" look such as freshwater pearls or semi-precious gems. Crystal, on the other hand, goes well with other beads with clean lines like saltwater cultured pearls and Swarovski crystal pearls.

Examples of Work with These Materials:
All of the materials we talked about today make exceptionally nice prom, anniversary wedding and family jewelry.


Above is a necklace set Hillary made for a bride. The two stones are the bride and groom's birthstone.







Above are a pair of earrings and a matching pendant made from Czech glass. They were Christmas presents on two separate years from a husband to his wife. The colors chosen represent the birthstones of the mother, father and child.

Materials we would like to obtain in the future:
High quality precious gems. They are beautiful, very sparkly, and highly desired by many. They provide clean lines, and unique, natural colors.

South Sea and Cultured Saltwater Pearls. They have the same shiny, silky appearance as the freshwater pearls above, but the lines are cleaner, they perfectly round, and they are uniform in appearance.

Welcome and Philosophy

Welcome to Artful Elaborations, the blog for Artful Unity, A new jewelry venture founded in late 2008 by Hillary Wilson, the artist and proprietor of Happy Hippy Jewelry (also known to many as Hippybeads). Artful Unity was started because Hillary felt that she wanted to explore and grow more as an artist while still creating the more familiar, down to earth items of Hippybeads. Artful Unity's focus will be high quality artistic jewelry. "I want to make sophisticated items for those with a unique sense of style. When I say I want to create high quality items, I am by no means saying that I want to create stuffy, bland or commonplace jewelry. I want to create items that I would be proud to wear for a formal evening out or at a wedding." says Ms. Wilson. Plans for our product line include sterling silver wrapped pendants, wedding jewelry, unique earrings, and creations with gemstones and pearls.