What's new is old, and what's old is new!

Who says that you should only use new beads, crystals and pearls on your jewellery projects? I'm here to say that it's okay to combine newer purchases, with some of your more seasoned favourites. Why not take a hammer or shears to an old piece, combine it with wire, pearls apoxie clay, or crystals, and make a knockout piece of work! I wish that I could say that I had a lot of personal, finished jewellery to illustrate this idea, but so far these pieces, mostly reside in the depths of my imagination. I keep looking at some of the more artsy, jewellery magazines, and wondering if I could possibly re-fashion some of my collections, into similar pieces. Let's just call it, a serious case of jewellery envy!

My main focus, over the last few years, has been a combination of intuitive bead embroidery, stitching and mixed media. As a curious soul, I often wonder if this is enough for me? Are there ever enough techniques, for my muse to handle? It's in my nature, to constantly evolve, and I have a stinking suspicion, that I'll be working on more mixed media, jewellery pieces in the future. Over the past few years, my focus has been on intuitive bead embroidery (both flat pieces, and dolls), and mixed media. Although I'm still in love with the process, perhaps it's time that I branched out! My plan is to take more wire and metalwork classes, with the aim of combining this knowledge, with my earlier experience, and influencing my future work and direction!

Now back to combining the old, with the new! I know, that somewhere in this mess I call my studio, I have a box (and probably more than one box), chock full of old jewellery bits. Not to mention, boxes and boxes of seed beads and stones! Perhaps I should give myself the personal challenge, of turning some of those pieces, into my mixed media dreams? But of course, I'll still need new beads and findings, to spice it all up, and point me towards the right path. As if I could resist!! I doubt that I will start much before the New Year, and I promise not to abandon my old favourites (I'll still be teaching workshops), but there's always room for new beginnings. Not to mention the fact, that suppliers keep coming up with new and exciting products to tempt us!

Is anyone ready to take up the challenge with me? Do you have memorabilia and/or collections, just waiting to be used? Would you like some help with your direction? All you need is a little plotting, planning and perhaps a workshop or two! It's all too exciting, isn't it? But first, let's get all of our holiday gifts finished.....Sigh! BTW, the junk jewellery photos, were grabbed from EBay, as I still haven't located my collection!!! Double sigh!