FYeah Jewelry began with one little copper charm.
I had just started using metal clay to make jewelry and was teaching classes on how to do so. It was a ton of fun to see people of all ages play with this new medium and create something all their own.
But there was this one weird thing.
Despite having the ability to make, quite literally, anything their hearts desired, a striking majority of people chose to recreate items and phrases they’d seen elsewhere. One phrase in particular with exceedingly prevalent. Maybe you’ve heard it?
Live. Laugh. Love.
Now, I love to live, laugh and love as much as the rest of you, but my heart died a little each time I saw a facsimile of the mass produced (and, to be fair, universally true) words placed on metal. I just didn’t get it. “Now’s your chance, people! You have the power, with this humble lump of clay, to make whatever you want! Express yourself! Go wild!”
Nope. People wanted their clay to live, laugh, love.
So. I made myself a charm with a less commercially available phrase. I showed it to a friend, who wanted a whole bracelet filled with similar charms. Then I made more. Each one made me laugh. I love making things that you won’t find at your local big box store. One might say I live for it, although that would be an exaggeration. And as it turns out, there are endless ways to use my favorite four-letter word.
FYeah Jewelry is born
I realize FYeah is not for everyone. The way we curse, or not, is very personal. I was quite shy about it at the beginning. I honestly would rather not draw attention to myself. However, as time went on I started to develop a philosophy around my little rebellion.
Fuck is the word I turn to when nothing else will do. Somethings are just so intense, so ineffable, that to tone them down with more socially acceptable language would be dishonest – for me. But you do you.
Curse words or the lack thereof are not an accurate measure of someone’s “niceness” – and I’m not interested in being a nice girl, anyway. I am a real woman. Censoring what women say and/or making value judgments about people based on their vocabulary is so last century.
Yes. Yes, I am.
Patty, a petite silver-haired grandmother and life-long church goer, illustrated this for me in a way I will never forget. I met Patty at an art gallery and was enjoying our conversation when a blonde woman yelled across the room at me:
“ARE YOU THE WOMAN WITH THE FUCK JEWELRY?”
I wanted to melt into the floor. What must Patty think of me? Sweet Patty had just told me that when she married her husband, some 50 years prior, he’d had to explain what curse words even were, as she had never heard them and most definitely didn’t use them.
Patty took my wrist, which was loaded with my fuckity fuck fuck fuck charm bracelet, held it out to the blonde and said:
“Yes, she is. And it is the cutest fucking jewelry you will ever see!”
It didn’t matter one bit to Patty that I was covered in tiny f-bombs. She just saw me as a fellow human. Patty became one of my heroes that night, simply by being herself.
And that’s my goal – to be myself, whether I’m writing tiny phrases on metal clay or not. May we all stay true to ourselves. FYeah.
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