Usually being self-taught has served Larkin extremely well-- their work doesn't look like that of many other artists and they aren't plagued by pesky but-that-isn't-how-it's-SUPPOSED-to-be-done thoughts when they get the urge to try something new and potentially crazy. 😆
The one exception to this rule that comes to mind is TOOLS. Talking to other metalworkers sometimes helps Larkin discover tools that make their life much easier!
The most recent example of this is ceramic polishing shot. Larkin has been using stainless steel shot to give items their final shine all along, and that has been super helpful-- throw metal in the rock tumbler for an hour or two and come back to perfectly polished gleaming beauties! ✨ But they were doing all the harder work (sanding off burrs and rounding edges after cutting, polishing off oxidation on high spots to add dimensionality, etc.) by hand.
Lady J Arts to the rescue! Larkin was chatting with Jessica at a market, and she shared that ceramic shot will make short work of some of those tedious tasks Larkin had been doing by hand! With a couple of different grits, Larkin has been creating some designs that would have been prohibitively time-consuming before-- and their fingernails are looking a little less... demolished. 😅
Hooray for trade... what's the opposite of secrets? Generously shared bits of experience! ✨🎉