Cleaning Jewellery

Necessary (but something I tend to avoid)

Nice: The safest and most highly recommended jewellery cleaner - a few drops of Dawn dish detergent (I've also used baby shampoo) and lukewarm water. Let soak for a few minutes. Use a soft bristle new baby toothbrush or a cotton or linen cloth to gently cleanse away any determined dirt. Rinse in lukewarm water, approximately the same temperature of your soapy solution. Set on a towel and using the coolest setting, blow dry your pieces.

Gemstones (other than diamonds, sapphires and rubies), should be cleaned professionally since even water temperature can do damage.

No Thanks: salt, bleach, baking soda, vinegar - anything acidic can potentially damage all jewellery.

Noteworthy: Costume jewellery can literally fall apart if you use harsh acidic products. I once used a bleach solution which lifted the coating on a bracelet. To add insult to injury I thought the bracelet was real silver. It was a double "Merde - Oh Shit " moment.

Chemical cleaners can often change the colour of costume jewellery in the same way sweat, perfumes and hairsprays can (which is why you should clean your costume jewellery). Stick with the many who suggest putting your jewellery on after all your primping and spraying.

Even water itself can cause spot damage or loosen glue on costume pieces so instead of soaking a few minutes, soak a few seconds and dry quickly. Another reason to use a blow dryer.

Regarding Silver: Bob Vila suggests on his website: "Simply pull out and uncap a bottle of ketchup, then squirt a tiny amount on a paper towel. Next, gently rub the condiment along each piece of silver anywhere it appears tarnished. If it doesn’t come right off, let the ketchup sit for 15 minutes, then wipe the red away with a dishtowel and rinse your silverware clean." (Retrieved April 6, 2020 from https://www.bobvila.com/articles/homemade-silver-polish/) 

No Thanks: Result - little noticeable removal. 

Noteworthy: Maybe the pieces were too heavily tarnished. Will try it on lightly tarnished items. After my husband watched me do this for several pieces with no discernible results, he took my jewellery and began using a commercial silver polish, which of course worked beautifully.

After all that, silver is silver and no amount of elbow grease or Dawn® liquid detergent or Ketchup is going to result in removing tarnish. Unfortunately a chemical silver polish is about the only solution I have found to do the trick. 

I have used the foil, baking soda and hot water trick which does work and can be used on cutlery but there's loads of advice out there saying it should not be used on jewellery.

Store your silver pieces in plastic or cloth bags to protect from humidity and sulfur in the air, which contributes to tarnishing along with skincare products and hairspray.

I may continue looking online for less caustic solutions but for the moment, I will use the silver polish, at least until it is finished.

NEED: Someone to comment and give me an alternate to commercial caustic silver polish. 

Jewellery Trends 2020

Closet Fashion Analysis: 

Big, Colourful, Chain Links, Pearls, Ankle Chains & Single Earrings

Asymmetrical Pairs from days gone by.
by JoyD. Photo Source: JoyD

Three major themes in jewellery trends for 2020 are colourful, chain links and big. And this year the single earring, pearls and ankle chains are recurring. 

Good fortune for those of you who have kept any single earrings after losing the other. Or if you bought an asymmetrical pair several years ago when that was the trend. Lucky you, now you have two choices to use for a particular colour palette. The single earring trend is one of the most creative and cost effective trends for jewellery makers. We get to use up those single over-sized baubles. 

All of the above are themes that always return in some variant form - I guess that's what makes a trend — the variant forms. And summer is always a time when flamboyant fashion jewellery appears. Throw colourful and summer into the mix for a jewellery crafter and it's time to play!

Fashion during recessions tend to become more minimalist and luxury items plummet in sales. Yet we as consumers look to lift our spirits, even through something as superficial as fashion and since the money is not there, we do it through trendy accessories. Coincidentally we are in a situation of economic difficulty and uncertainty about returning to a normal lifestyle, whatever that may mean to you, and both are happening as summer approaches, at least for us here. (My apologies to those in the Southern Hemisphere, where, of course winter is approaching. But with less sunlight and greyer days, colourful just may be a therapeutic choice.) 

If you are looking for something to cheer you up, to conjure a less pessimistic view of the world owing to this COVID-19 predicament, perhaps we can try to do it through something playful and superficial such as . . . 


Big and Colourful: Imagine super-sized hot pink hoops or just one matching a pink and yellow patterned face mask.

Statement Necklace by Joy D. Photo Source: JoyD

Pearls: Marie Claire tells us "pearl everything". Take a look at the page Statement Necklaces by JoyD for past pearl creations.

Ankle Chains & Shoe Chain Jewellery: As far as the ankle chains go, I don't want to admit how long ago I wore an ankle chain and I know a woman who hasn't taken hers off since then. Marie Claire writes, "Jewelry isn't just for your wrists, ears, or neck anymore . . ." Really?

Photo Source: Harper's Bazaar -
 Brandon Maxwell Design
Getty Image

Oversize and Chunky Chain Links: We've been there — it was about 7 years ago or so.

The one below with silver chain link and turquoise stones is one I made back in 2014 or 15. It was a favourite that I kept and have worn many times over the last five or six years. I keep carrying it back and forth between France and Canada.

Statement Necklace by JoyD. Photo Source: JoyD

Bad Advice

NO THANKS

Recently I was at a dinner party that included a local business man, who appears to be relatively successful. He is not someone who I would seek out for advice; however, he was ready to give it as he asked me about my jewellery. His wife refers to it as homemade. I take slight exception to this; although, I do make it in my home so technically I guess it is homemade. However, homemade suggests cookies and pickles more than artistic endeavour. 

I answered his question by describing where I "was" with it. The following advice was not what I expected. He suggested that I "copy" the designs of a very successful Canadian business, Hillberg & Berk. I was deeply offended. Don't get me wrong, the designs of Hillberg & Berk are beautiful and I think highly of the founder's designs as I do of other independent jewellery makers' designs. But his advice to copy the designs is close to blasphemous. It's like suggesting to a potter that he or she should use another potter's designs because that particular potter sells more pottery, or that a painter should copy a piece that has been done by another artist, or that someone should write another War and Peace because of its success. He obviously has no concept of the creative process or of the pride artisans take in their own designs or their own work.

Now if he had said to me, you should take a look at Hillberg & Berk's marketing strategies over the past ten years, I could accept that. There are steps, procedures, and even rituals that lead to success with good designs and if you so desire, you could follow those strategies and you will move toward marketing success. But he didn't; he told me to "copy" designs. Now I am not only offended. I am livid. Enough of that. 

NICE

The Creative Process

JoyD Creations

Pink Faux Oversized Pearls & Crackled Quartz with silver discs, Spring, 2011
Photo Source: JoyD Creations

My designs have come about from laying out my materials and component parts and then staring at them, leaving them, coming back to them, staring at them, and putting together pieces and parts. Sort of like a jigsaw puzzle. I look at historic jewellery, at what's happening on the trend scene, at classic designs by luxury brand houses and at thousands of photos online. For the most part, I create as I make and also as I take apart. I have created with new materials, with vintage parts and with broken odds and ends. Each piece is a pleasure because of the process and the parts.

Multiple strands of turquoise stones, silver chain, black cord and silver crosses, Winter, 2012-2013.
Photo Source: JoyD Creations

Of course, clients have brought in photographs of big name brands but never have they asked me to copy. They might say, " I like this pendant idea" or "I love these colours" or "I want something like this but without the . . . " and I collect the component parts and come up with a design that they either like or don't. Very often, most clients are pleased with what I have created and those who aren't don't have to buy the piece even though they originally commissioned me. Obviously I don't work in diamonds.

Turquoise and Silver, 2011.  Photo Source: JoyD Creations

Like any other artist or artisan, I am proud of my work, happy with most of my designs and very pleased when someone wants to buy it. I'll leave it at that.

Commissioned Piece in Jade, Rose Quartz and Chinese Coins created by JoyD.
Photo Source: JoyD Creations

Reconfiguring Your Stash into the Industrial and Bold Jewellery Trends for 2016

Harpers Bazaar illustrates the jewellery trends for 2016 in an 84 pic inspiring slide show. Industrial, bold, and asymmetrical demonstrating a slight variation on a five year theme is my assessment of what you will see for the spring of 2016.

Scarlett Johansson at the Oscars. Photo Credit: JCKonline

Here are four ways to take what you already own in your stash and reconfigure it into the 2016 spring trend.

1. Choose the biggest earrings you own and find another pair in a complementary colour. Take one from each pair to produce an asymmetrical pairing and you are on the edge of the 2016 wedge. Take a second look at the earrings Scarlett Johansson wore at the the Oscars. Do the same with the biggest crystal sparkly ones you own and wear a smaller sparkly version or stud on one ear.

2. Statement necklaces are never out of style because they are a "statement of your style". If you bought one in the past five years, whether it sits at the collar or is long, wear it with confidence in 2016. If you want, do the same as suggested with the wrist - add a heavy rectangular chain link.

Christian Dior.
Photo Credit: Harpers Bazaar Slideshow No. 22

3. Re-configure a brooch into a choker. Wrap a scarf around your neck and pin it in place with a large gemstone brooch. If you saved a broken chain from another piece of jewellery, attach it to the brooch pin, on both sides, and let it hang as it will atop the scarf. Or take a gemstone necklace and adjust it to the choker length sitting on top of the scarf.

4. Add a heavy link chain bracelet to a bright colour bangle and you have 2016 on your wrist.

ITSO . . . In the Style of . . . Madonna . . .or Marlene Dietrich . . . or Milicent Rogers

Billboard does a great overview of Madonna's style evolution from 1984 to the present. I cannot think of anyone else who has reinvented herself so often and of anyone who could pull off so many different styles, trends and personas, from tacky to elegant.

For those whose style resolution in 2016 is to try a different look or style, Madonna can very well be your inspiration. Take a look at her on stage or in film or accepting awards or on the street over the years and there will definitely be something there that will motivate your style evolution.

MTV Video Music Awards, September, 1984
Photo Source: Trendsylvannia.
Retrieved January 10, 2016

Of course, those of you who have read this blog before can predict that I am going to say that I prefer the "toned down" look. Sorry but if it is boring to be elegant and "toned down", I choose to be boring at least in my clothing choices. Madonna has of course been seen in very elegant pieces as well. I suppose it was her underwear as outerwear phase that I was least taken by. This photo probably represents the very beginning of that phase and it develops in an outlandish way after that. But the subsequent over-emphasized pointed cones covering her breasts was a "costume" after all, for a celebrity. That is another factor to consider when you are choosing to adopt a new style or perhaps I should write that as what you will choose not to adopt into your style transition. Trendsylvannia takes you through a 1984 to 2014 progression of her style at particular award shows. Nothing she has worn since those piercing points has been quite so tacky or dramatic, except for the star pasties perhaps - see the September 24, 1992 photo on Billboard. Madonna's 2014 clothing choice at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards re-incarnates Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) in her classic black suit and top hat look.

Turquoise, silver and black statement necklace with crosses
Designed and Created by JoyD.

It was Madonna's layering of big gawdy costume jewellery that influenced my own jewellery making style. I loved the over-sized crosses that she worked into her jewellery choices. 

This look in accessories is much easier to pull off than the pointed cones or pasties. As well, this can become a signature style for the wearer. The pasties will only get you arrested for indecent exposure.

Madonna may have popularized that look for her contemporaries in the 80s but there were plenty of "influential women" prior to Madonna who were mixing fake with real and layering oversized jewellery pieces. Think about Chanel and her fondness of layering pearls of different lengths, Mellicent Rogers stacking bracelets, and Iris Apfel who does both to excess.

Photo retrieved from Dalena Vintage on January 10,
2016.

Millicent Rogers (over)did turquoise so well! (Dalena Vintage does a nice review of Melicent Rogers and her life.) Notice the cross necklace sitting in an untraditional position for the time and the stacked bracelets. The way she wore those necklaces and bangles proved that certain fashion is everlasting. Just "google" the following: "Millicent Rogers Museum, Taos, New Mexico - turquoise and silver bracelets" and you will see a ton of stackable bangles and bracelets that were popularized by Milicent Rogers before Madonna and many of you were born.

Is there anything new under the sun? Perhaps not, it is just a matter of combining, substituting, modifying and rearranging things to make them your own. Try it in 2016 . . . without buying anything new.

Prepping for Spring Sales: Asymmetrical Pairs

I have been preparing for my spring jewellery sales and have been enamoured by asymmetrical pairs of earrings. I have always had a few in my collections for the artists who buy from me; however this year the popular trends in jewellery have included the slightly offbeat askew look. Check out the asymmetrical look at Bazaar.

I love it and I love the idea of balancing the imbalance. My favourite pair at the moment is made from a vintage brooch and matching earring set. As with many items I collect, there is always something missing. In this case one earring and a brooch were all I found in a bag of abandoned treasures. Re-creating the asymmetrical look with a foundling earring is not really challenging, just a matter of luck. Here are my first three pairs:

Vintage 50s Re-Purposed Brooch and Earrings
Asymmetrical Earrings, Spring, 2015
Photo by JoyD, January, 2015

Psychedelic 60s Geometric Singleton Earring
matched with new colour coordinated beads.
Asymmetrical Earrings, Spring, 2015
Photo by JoyD, January, 2015

New Pendants Re-Purposed Earrings
Asymmetrical Earrings, Spring, 2015
Photo by JoyD, January, 2015

Of course, you may contact me to arrange purchase for any of my work. I do not have my pieces for sale anywhere else online. It is only through personal contact that I make my pieces available.

A Gift to One's Self

Part of the Stash. Photo by JoyD.

A former jewellery maker and client called me last week and asked if I had anything left in my pre-Christmas inventory of jewellery. But of course - Bien sur! When I sell, I am motivated to create more and so I always have a stash. When she arrived I asked what she needed. "A gift for myself", she responded. 

The beauty of buying from an artisan like me is that you can say, I'd like that chain with this pendant or I would prefer a shorter/longer chain with larger/smaller links and so it goes. She chose the piece with the oversize silver heart that you see in the photo. Because she knows the production process, she asked that I replace the black links with a medium size silver chain link. My sense of balance was slightly nudged but the customer knows what he or she likes. She chose another large black enamel heart but only wanted the pendant and I was able to accommodate there as well. 

This year will not be as profitable as last when I had two major sales before Christmas. Arriving from France the first week in December this year created a void for me. The shows I usually participate in were over and the timing was such that I was unable to organize a gathering of my own. However I am still creating to round out my inventory; I have a commission; and I am planning a March sale. As well the former jewellery maker offered to host a show at her home in the new year.

I enjoy the home environment for shows since I can accommodate many different requests. I bring my tools and extra findings and am able to work as guests are browsing. As well guests have often brought old pieces that they have grown tired of and would like reworked and updated. I receive the most satisfaction from recreating something that has lain dormant in their closets, making it more wearable as a reconstructed piece.

"Junk" jewellery is a challenge. Many people have unwearable bric-a-brac that they pick up as souvenirs, especially when done so on the beach during a warm weather vacation. A woman in Edmonton once brought a bag of wooden souvenir baubles - those inexpensive wooden and shell trinkets that you kick yourself for buying when you get home but still accumulate on every vacation. I combined and recreated them into one statement necklace. She could identify pieces from her mother's Cuban vacation, her sister's gift from Mexico and her own purchases while in Spain along with other warm weather spots. Hers was the reaction I remember the most and from which I received the greatest satisfaction. She told me that she could not believe that the trinkets she was thinking about discarding (and feeling guilty doing so) were so beautiful and meaningful in the combined product. I never did take a photograph of that piece. Too bad.

Often, many pieces that people want reworked are family keepsakes. One woman handed me a green seed bead flower brooch that truly was questionable, insofar as spending the money to reconstruct. She sensed my hesitation and then explained, "I know it's kind of ugly but it has a special meaning to me". I added some metal leaf elements, mounted it asymmetrically on an oval metal disc, added a complementary chain and remade it into a necklace. She now claims that she feels more comfortable wearing it and it no longer languishes in a box under her bed.

Women hang on to the the strangest things - a single earring, a broken necklace, a tangled chain, unwearable, oddball, yet beautiful pieces that sit and wait to be thrown out but somehow never do. We keep them for their beauty and maybe more so, for the memories they evoke. Those were exactly the items I found in a box when going through my mother's estate. I dismantled the lot and reworked them as bracelets that I gave to the granddaughters and even one to a grandson. Now rather than being tossed, they can be worn to bring forth memories of the original owner and perhaps even become heirlooms in their own right.

So now you have an option - instead of discarding, have the pieces remade as a gift to yourself (or someone else) at any time of the year. 

Dressing Up During the Holiday Season

Nice for Women and Men

Holiday celebrations have been going on since the end of November in my life and each year it seems that they start earlier and continue longer. I said no to an invitation for a large event this year because it coincided with my return from France. Part of my jet lag condition is lethargy and the first couple of days include going to bed at 8:00 PM and rising at 5:00 AM. This schedule does nothing for holiday reverie! However, if I had had the stamina to attend, I would have chosen my little black dress. Besides the holiday season and New Year's, there will be other opportunities to get dressed up since the season extends into February and March with gala fundraisers, at least here in Canada.

Photo Source: Wendy's LookBook

Of course, you probably can predict what I am about to write - for women, the LBD is the best alternative for holiday dressing. The jewellery or scarves you choose will determine whether it is a casual or more formal look. Formal indicates to me long gowns and a bit more elegance than the LBD can provide but for now . . .

Casual LBD: Complement your LBD with a pair of oversize hoop earrings or an asymmetrical choice with an armful of bangles and cuffs.

The Not-Quite-Formal LBD: Just add bling. Choose a statement piece - earrings, necklace or bracelets, and then keep anything else you choose to add to the feature piece toned down. Nice is just one of the above. Say No Thanks to an overwhelming combination of blinged-out chandelier earrings, a statement necklace and an armload of bangles and bracelets. 

For men, the suit can be the answer to all your holiday needs in the same way the LBD is for women. You can make it casual or more formal as well.

Casual Suit: Wear a dark suit with a t-shirt so that you take the jacket off if for some reason you feel overdressed or wear the jacket with a pair of blue jeans and a t-shirt to show that you took a little effort to get dressed.

Photo Source: Bonobos

Formal Suit: Many men wear dark business suits with a shirt and tie to formal functions; however there is the tuxedo as a truly formal alternative. Not many consider buying a tuxedo but now an American company has made that choice contemporary and real for a new generation. I've written about Bonobos before. Launched as an e-commerce business selling better fitting pants in 2007, it now is selling a full range of suits, including tuxedos, at Nordstrom's and in other select storefronts in the United States. Visit Bonobos here. This is not your father's suit or tuxedo. Even if you cannot order from them because of your location, it's a good site to visit to see contemporary North American styles in suits.


The question of being under- or over-dressed is a question for another post . . .

5 Winter 2014/15 Trends That Could Cost You Nothing

1. Unbalanced Earrings: Now you know what you can do with the single earring you kept after losing the other! The 2014 winter single big earring trend has morphed into two unrelated earrings for spring 2015. I still believe you need something that brings an element of similarity between the two and you can achieve it asymmetrically. As you scroll through the photos on the Harper's Bazaar post, you will see that several designers featured a related-ness albeit in an unbalanced fashion. I too have suggested the asymmetrical look back in a post about jewellery trends for the winter of 2014. In the photo on the previous post I specifically designed the asymmetrical "Keys to My Heart" earrings and in the photo on this post, I recreated one of the vintage clip earrings into a long dangle for a friend in Victoria, B.C. You can easily pull off this look with what you finda in your stash of earrings, doubles or singles. 

Vintage earrings reworked by JoyD

to create an asymmetrical pair. Photo by JoyD.

2. Multiple Ring Trend: A ring on every finger or multiple rings on one finger can be a no cost trend this winter. Collect all that you have and then play at mixing and matching. If you have several rings in the same colour tone, all the better. Even the ones that no longer fit can be worn below the finger joint or on the thumb. I've never worn rings as a fashion accessory so therefore this one would cost me.

Photo Source: Vogue

3. Hair Trends: Clicking through the photos on the UK Glamour site hair appears to be pulled back and off the face, whether parted down the middle or sides or pulled straight back . . . the better to show off your asymmetrical earrings. Of course there are foreheads covered with swooped strands and messy tendrils front, side and back but the most of the looks are flat and slicked back.

4. Alpine/Nordic Sweaters: Sweaters are often "keepers" in our closets. Almost everyone I know in Canada has one of these sweaters packed away somewhere. We can't bear to get rid of them and luckily they can be considered classics or at the very least they come back as focused trends every few winters. Elle tells us that this is one of those winters. If you did donate yours to Goodwill, you just might have to buy another one and stash it (or wear regardless) in the off years.

5. Ponchos, Capes, Blanket Wraps, Shawls: Like the Nordic sweater, somewhere in your closet or closets you probably have something akin in this category. The Vogue "Under Wraps" post  illustrates a range of looks that you probably can mimic with something you already have, if not in your closet, perhaps on your couch.

Oversized Camel Cashmere Shawl.
Photo taken by ShirleyB while
in Bergerac, France.

(It is November 10th and this photo still reflects the weather in France. For my Canadian friends, I will be joining you soon in the snowy minus temperatures.)

The next time you peruse a fashion trend blog, think about . . ."In what ways can I adopt the look so that it costs me nothing?"

Rings Enhanced

Closet Choices: Rings

NICE          NOTE-WORTHY         NO THANKS

NICE: Rings on all fingers is the tendance/trend for jewellery in 2015 and Djula Joaillerie, Paris does it well. Of course they design earrings, bracelets and necklaces but the beauty of decorating the hands and fingers is taken to innovative, sophisticated levels. Triple rings joined by delicate chains extending through the length of the finger or crossing horizontally from the index finger with a centre crown for the middle finger attached to the ring finger with black diamonds or covering the finger tips with thimble adaptations or gold flames rising upwards from the base of the fingers toward the back of the hand - all bring a whole new perspective to the word "ring".

Djula 2014 Ad Campaign. Photo Source: www.djula.fr

NOTE-WORTHY 1: I remember seeing a ring for two fingers in a magazine in the fall of 2013. As with most trends, a teaser is sent out seasons before to determine what will fly and what doesn't.

NOTE-WORTHY 2: The designs to me are exquisite yet I probably will never own anything significant from Djula owing to the prices. There are small pieces that I could imagine indulging myself with but of course, the expensive pieces are what attract my eye.

NO THANKS: Although I love the look of hand chains, where the ring is attached to the bracelet with a chain crossing the back of the hand, it is a "no thanks" for me. I can't even give any good reasons why but I just wouldn't wear it. At the same time as I claim it to be a "no thanks", I adore the sunburst design of the hand chain in the Djula advertisement.

What would happen if . . .

I recall a creative thinking exercise at a workshop I attended many years ago. The question posed to us was, "What would happen if all the cars in the world were painted yellow?" The consequences ranged from outright revolution to personal individualization. My response was that individualization would take place by adopting accessories for the cars that would likely reflect the extreme, bizarre and eccentric depending upon the personality type of the car owner.

And so it is with fashion. I can imagine the same exercise being presented in design classes. We all wear clothing and if we were all mandated to wear black, you can imagine the accessories that would develop.

What would happen if everyone was mandated to wear black ?

Given that there would be variations with the clothes themselves but since all is black, accessories would become more important to illustrate one's individuality (think of Fred Butler designs.) . . .

the belt . . . belts would probably evolve much differently than what we see now. They might extend upward and downward in such a way that would not only embellish the torso but extend into decorative trains and wings.

Coral, silver & black statement necklace by JoyD.
Photo by JoyD.

the jewellery . . . fashion costume jewellery would abound and I suspect choices, such as the ones Iris Apfel makes, would be the norm. More facial (for example: nose rings, eyebrow decoration) and more elaborate and unconventional ear jewellery would also evolve.



the bag . . . purses would probably not be much different since their function is the same and does not necessarily have a direct impact on the clothing worn.



footwear . . . similar to bags, shoes would also not develop differently than they are now, except our choices would probably lean toward what would be considered more eccentric and most certainly there would be more colour. There is no shortage of bizarre footwear presently.

Photo Source: Parasite 

frames for eye-glasses . . . designs like Parasite would be the norm and glasses would be viewed in the same way jewellery is by everybody who needed to wear corrective lenses. 

Photo Source: Just Posh Masks

In fact, decorative eye masks (See Just Posh Masks) would probably develop for special occasions.


hats and hair accessories . . . once again creative extensions of what exists today but bolder and bigger.



gloves . . . the long and short of it; obviously more colourful and certainly more decorative.

Chica Blue Shawl handmade by C. Murphy.

Photo by JoyD. 

the scarf, shawls, capes . . . colourful combinations would predominate with large and larger sizes coupled with ingenious ways of tying them.

tattoos . . . definitely more people would have tattoos that would be larger, more colourful and probably in more conspicuous places.

I have never taught in a design school but I'm thinking that this exercise would elicit curious and creative results.

I just may use an adaptation of this exercise for my own design purposes: what would happen if . . .