About: The Dragon's Hoard

About a two years ago…

I had reached a point in my life where I really felt I needed a change though I wasn't sure what.  I thought meditation might be a useful thing but I have always had issues relaxing enough to clear my mind when I happened upon Japa Meditation which seemed just ideal.  And it involves a necklace called a mala which was awesome for me; a tool to help me meditate that was also jewelry, win-win.  After shopping for one I realized I could make it myself and how much more meaningful that would be.  So I watched some videos and looked online and made my first one.   It was a great feeling.  Soon I was making myself beaded bracelets and being somewhat of an obsessive collector personality, the hoarding (see what I did there?) of beads was just candy for my obsessive self. 

One day while watching more videos I came across Andrew Berry  and it changed my life.  His videos totally made me believe I could get a hammer and a torch and make silver jewelry.  I love silver, always have, more than any other metal, so this was just awesome.  Eventually I joined his online classes.  I also watched many other videos, my next favorite being Soham Harrison  who was also very informative.  As my self teaching progressed I ran across the last person I'm going to mention now.  Alec Steele who inspires me everyday.  He's a British Blacksmith.  One of the things I love is that Blacksmithing is similar in many ways to Jewelry making; many of the same tools, techniques and processes just on a much bigger scale.  His enthusiasm is infectious and whenever I'm feeling stuck or in a bad mood I just have to watch one of his videos and I'm totally re-energized. 

And there we are; the map of my progress to this point.  The road goes on and on and I hope you will join me for the Journey

Howard