Creativity Block

Ever sit down in front of your beads, and suddenly discover you feel, well, uninspired? Been there, done that. Strung that, beaded those. Bla, bla, bla. If not, well - good for you!

But sometimes, especially if there is pressure to make something - like a pearl necklace for an aunt, and you really don't like pearls, or maybe something to take to a gift exchange, or heaven forbid - you're writing an article!!!! - Sometimes, the inspiration doesn't flow.

This is a block, a creativity block, like a writer's block. And there are two schools of thought on how to unblock the block. (And the winner of the prize for most uses of the word "block" in a sentence goes to ....)

Two schools of thought. One is the step back approach. Get some distance - go for a walk, get some air, read a book, make a sandwich, watch a little t.v., etc. Come back a couple of hours later, and feel refreshed and ready to begin anew, perhaps even inspired by something you saw during your break? Oooh, pink ham and green lettuce colours would make a great bracelet!

The other is the "work-through-it" approach. Sit there and make something - don't worry about how bad it looks. Grab a spool of beading wire and start stringing stuff. Pull out beads and start putting them on. Keep going. Put two or three beads together. Try stuff that you think won't go. Oh, that looks bad, let's try something else. Hey, that's not too bad, what if ... ? That would look great, but I'd need 50 more of them, what else can I try?

Try both tactics- see what works for you. It may be that you don't have time to go for a walk - so try the "work-through-it" approach sometime. You might be completely surprised at what you create!