Firstly I must confess that I'm shocked at how long it's been since my last blog entry. It felt like just the other day. Alas, here we are over a month later!
Anyway... I've recently become friendly with a silversmith I have met on Instagram through likes, shares, comments etc. It turns out we will be in the same festival later in the year and are looking forward to meeting in person rather than just chatting online! I also have met another lovely silversmith (also on Instagram) and I have found myself messaging her a few times apologising when I realise I've made similar things, and we find ourselves chatting about life in and out of the silversmith community.
Since venturing into the world of silversmithing, I've realised that the community can be incredibly supportive and friendly. I feared there would be an air of awkwardness and competition when immersed in this world, both at markets and online, but I was very wrong. I know I have mentioned my peers in college before, we help each other on projects we're struggling with and really give each other a boost every week. This is also true for online too. I'm certain that if I contacted any of the silversmiths I've linked up with online for some advice, they'd happily give it with no question.
In the era of cyber bullying and virtual competition, it is refreshing and also pretty surprising that such a supportive digital community exists where it could easily become toxic and competitive.
I wish there was no need for this to be the potential outcome, but that's just the way it is at the moment. I'm just so happy and lucky to be in such a lovely community of creatives.
Collaboration not competition, folks!