Check your behind!

As an art teacher, I always tried to impress on my students to not neglect the back of their art work.  Even though it may not be seen, it was important to follow through on the back with their craftsmanship.

This is something I've tried to attend to in my jewelry making.   Now I'm not talking about making a piece reversible so that there is no back or front.  This in my opinion is getting a "twofer"  (two for the price of one, thus making the piece worth more.  An example of this is "Big Frog in a little Pond."

The original "front"

On the "back" a Koi fish

What I am talking about it taking great care with the back to make it just as interesting as the front, (even if it doesn't get seen.)   I try to keep my backs clean and smooth.  But, after being at the conference, I realized that just isn't enough.   How the back is treated separates the men from the boys (as they say.)

I sat behind a girl at one of the sessions and noticed how nice the back of her earrings looked.  I couldn't see the front of the earrings but the interesting texture on the back intrigued me.

At the "Show and Sell",  Vickie Hallmark's cloud pin http://www.flickr.com/photos/vickiehallmark/ not only had great detail on the front but she also included two cz's at the points where the pin attached to the backing.  (I just couldn't get over how nice it was to see such attention to detail...... even on the back.)

Lisa Barth's book (that I mentioned in a previous post) shows how much time and detail she puts into the backs of her stone settings.  These are not reversible, but the backs are just a lovely as the fronts.

http://www.cooltools.us/Lisa-Barth-Jewelry-Design-Gallery-s/1344.htm

Good art  requires careful designing not only from the front, but from the back also.