We were lucky to catch up with Basil Henry recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Basil, thanks for joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

A majority of my learning came through trial and error. I’ve spent thousands of hours over the last 4 to 5 years trying different techniques and applications to challenge myself and continue to grow as a jewelry maker. Most of my lessons came through my “failures,” although I don’t see them as that. They can be hard to go through at the time because you’ve possibly ruined something you’ve spent 10+ hours on, but taking your mistakes and using that experience to take a step back and reevaluate how you want to go about something differently to not repeat said mistake is the mark of a good artist. Use your mess ups as a catalyst to grow and learn.

To speed up my learning process more I guess I could take classes rather than trying to teach myself everything as I go, which is something I hope to do more of throughout my career! Another thing that has helped me, especially in the last year or so, is surrounding myself with other jewelry artists who are somewhat more advanced with their skills, people who not only inspire me to keep growing in my craft but also those people truly believe in me and my skills and are always uplifting me and empowering me. I’ve found that my skills have grown exponentially over the last year just by surrounding myself with other inspiring artists and creators.

Like I said before, I think one of the most important skills to have not only as an artist but also just in life in general is the ability to take your “failures” and rather see them as an opportunity to build on that and keep growing as an artist and person.

I suppose one of my major obstacles has been time. I don’t make a living as a full time artist, well I didn’t. Recently I’ve been hired as a jeweler for a company that’s not mine so now I get to work on my skills all day every day, even if its not for my own art. But in the past I was working full time and coming home after a full day and trying to find the energy to create was difficult. Another obstacle is having all the proper tools. There are so many different aspects to jewelry, and to do each technique you need a whole different set of tools, which can be expensive. Over time I’ve collected a lot of tools but I still need more to continue this journey!

Basil, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Basil. I grew up in the Pacific Northwest and spent my youth romping around the forests barefoot. I have always liked to express myself through my clothing and jewelry and growing up I had envisioned myself traveling on the road selling my jewelry. My craft started really small, making wire ear cuffs and earrings from handmade tassels the redwood pinecones in my backyard. When I met my current partner he showed me a few tips on wire wrapping and from that point my jewelry journey really started to blossom. I lived out my dreams of traveling and selling my wire wraps for a few years, which was a blast but I was beginning to feel a bit stagnant with my craft. Once we set some roots a couple years ago, I was able to find the time and space to expand my work. I started to teach myself silversmithing and a whole world of inspiration opened itself to me. And to this day I am still following that smithing journey.

My jewelry is deeply inspired by the forests that I grew up in and the flora and fauna that inhabit them. Every piece is handcrafted with precious metals such as silver, brass, and sometimes gold, and adorned with natural gemstones. Not only do I make jewelry but my inbox is always open for custom work where you and I will work together to create the perfect piece just for you. My attention to fine detail is something that sets me apart from others. Corners often get cut by artists when they know customers won’t notice the little things, but you can always expect integrity, high standards, and whole lot of love from each piece you receive from me.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Gosh there are so many rewarding aspects of being an artist. Firstly I would have to say pouring your heart into a piece of art and then putting it out to the world can be vulnerable, and for someone to see it and light up their faces is a feeling like no other. When someone buys jewelry from me and wears it on the daily, they are wearing a little piece of me and my heart wherever they go.

One of the other most rewarding things of being a jewelry artist is the feeling of overcoming obstacles and challenges when trying new applications or techniques.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Something I had to let go of and still to this day am working on is the feeling of needing to be the best. We all want to be the best at that thing, and I know I will NEVER be the best, there will always be someone who is more advanced in some aspect. No one is the best at jewelry because art is subjective and “the best” to one person isn’t the same to another. Letting go of that will truly allow you to be free and to just make art for the sake of making art, not because you’re trying to prove yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GeoFlowArts
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