What's on my bead mat - June edition!

June has been an interesting month! The Canadian crew is back (exhausted) from the big Bead & Button show, but what have I been doing lately? Surprisingly, not all that much in the beading line! Other things kept distracting me, thus keeping me from my normal state of beaded bliss! Sigh!

I did work on a couple of potential BeadFX “Inspirations”, and added wire to a Freeform Peyote beaded bead. I’m not that happy with the wire or accent beads, so I expect to make a few changes and/or modifications in the future. After abandoning her for a couple of weeks, I’ve made another start on my “Silly Goose” doll. A little more stacked stitch around her neck/chest, joined by a couple of lines of Peyote (stitch) on her belly. These will probably morph into Freeform Peyote, as I’m itching to go a little crazy!!! The regular Peyote stitch sections are being used to stabilize the looser stitches (freeform right angle weave), and anchor the piece. Who knows where I will go from there?

You might also notice a silver bezel, with a turquoise coloured background. I originally started working on this piece, in one of my Mixed Media: Open Studio Evenings (the next one is this Thursday). The painted background was attached to the bezel, and then I glued on a rough, diagonal line of gold glass glitter. Well, I really didn’t like the results, so the piece didn’t progress any further. Last night, I decided to partially cover up the glitter, with a couple of layers of Iced Enamels (German Silver first, topped by a touch of Ivory). Better! Then I dipped the end of a bamboo skewer into the Iced Enamel Medium, and dotted spots onto the watery background (sometimes simple tools are the best). Then I sprinkled more German Silver, tapped it to get rid of the excess, applied heat (via my trusty heat gun), and my bubbles were born!!! But it still needed something! I rummaged my stash, to find the miniature starfish I made earlier in the year. Recipe – One itty-bitty starfish (borrowed from a friend), plus two-part epoxy silicone putty (to make a mold), plus polymer clay, plus an oven for curing the clay, equals a perfect focal piece! The colour is perfect, and only needed a little Gilders Paste for accent. What’s next, you say? Well, if I can wait that long, I will use this piece as a demo in my July Resin workshop. I plan to half-fill the bezel with clear resin, wait for it to cure (12 hours), and then add another shallow layer of resin, topped by the starfish (which will not be completely covered in resin).

Alas, the purple doll remains naked, and I haven’t even spared a thought for my pearls! Am I a bad doll momma and stash hoarder? In my defence, I seem to work in colour phases, and my current one is obviously green/blue. My prior one was purple, and I think I hit a purple “wall”! As for the pearls, I still have ideas roaming around my head, but nothing is really gelling right now. No more new pearls, until I use at least one string!!!

The message in this blog post is that you can’t spend all of your time on creativity. Sometimes other activities drift in to steal your time!! Deal with them, and then get right back on track! Better still (something I did not do, but wish I did), reward yourself with creativity breaks, to help you deal with all the stressors!