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!

Bead mat update - April!

In the last update, my bead mat was a fairly sorry sight. My muse had been on vacation, and I was just getting back into the swing of things. I'm happy to say that my batteries have been re-charged, and I'm now brimming with inspiration! Most (but not all) of my beading projects have been motoring along, and new ideas are coming at me faster than I can remember them. Don't you just hate when that happens? I really do need to write them down.

Despite not finding the original (started in my last class), I completed another freeform peyote, beaded bead to add to my collection (the green/dark raspberry one). I've now made a grand total of seven of these beads, and I'm not even close to finishing the series. I was once told that you couldn't call yourself an artist, until you learned how to develop a series of work. Do you believe that? I'm not sure that I do, but my work does seem to be leading me in that direction. I've been striding down that path for years, starting with the early fibre art days, and then moving to the Bead Journal Project. Who knows where I will go from here?

My freeform peyote ring count is now up to four, and I'm seriously contemplating the fifth. Somehow, somewhere I had the idea to include a shank button as the focal on my next ring. So, did I buy just one button to try it out? No, of course not, I purchased five of them! But don't look for a photograph, because I haven't taken one yet. Instead I'll just show you my fourth ring. This was constructed a little differently than the other three, and includes an 8 mm Lapis round as the focal. Do I need to tell you that I love blue? This one is sized just right! I even purchased a ring mandrel, so that it will be a lot easier to determine the correct sizing in the future. Stringing the beads, and then holding your tongue, and attempting to figure out if the sizing is correct, while trying not to drop the beads, is difficult to say the least! I guess I could have asked for help, but why the heck would I do that?

My poor purple doll is in the same naked state as she was in March! I added the hair, and then everything came to a full stop. Yes, I did decide on her colour scheme, but she hasn't even started talking to me yet! Doesn't she like the colours I chose (purple/turquoise)? I don't seem to be able to make a decision on either a theme, or where to stitch the first bead!!! Do you think if I give her a name, she will start whispering to me? What should I call her? Does she actually need a theme, or should I just start beading? Decisions are so difficult! Perhaps I should start working on the odd/shaped acid green doll in the next photo. Would that prompt my purple doll to cry out for attention?

To make things even more difficult, I'm teaching a BAD class (Beaded Art Doll) at BeadFX this Saturday. Have I stitched and stuffed all of my doll forms yet? No of course not, but I am working on it. Today's count is five dolls complete; two and a half stitched; and three more cut out, and ready to stitch. Will I finish by Saturday? You bet I will! Do I procrastinate? Not really, but I do think that I'm addicted to the adrenaline rush! Besides, I've been working on pieces for the Corsage Project over the last couple of weeks, and I've also been playing around with resin. I guess those are valid excuses, right? Don't get frustrated by a temporary slowdown in your creativity. Give it some time, ignore your muse, and she (or he) will sit up and pay attention! All will be well, despite our current sad, chilly temperatures!

What's on my bead mat today?

My muse has been a little ornery these days, but I seem to have put a little crimp in her snit! I can't really identify the problem, but I just didn't feel like doing anything creative. Does that happen to you? I filled my time with reading and such, and while I've always loved doing this, I'm afraid that it cannot always compete against a full on burst of creative energy! If the scientists studied this carefully (and I know they have), I'm sure that they'd find out that creativity stimulates either your endorphins, or some other chemical in your brain!! Seriously, it's the best drug there is! (Image courtesy of the internet - fractalpanda.com)

This week I've been either working on, or contemplating the following projects. A freeform peyote ring, my purple beaded art doll, another freeform beaded bead, and a few other projects not fully fleshed out yet. Let's start with the ring! I pulled most of the beads from my stash, but couldn't help buying a couple of tubes of orange and red Rizos, to use as an accent. The ring was terribly hard to photograph (red is just bad!), but I'm more than a little in love with the colour combination of red, orange and pink. Why did I choose this range? Are the bright colours a reaction to the dull, dreary weather? You'll be interested to know that I was able to start and finish the ring last Sunday. A quick and easy project! All that's left to do, is put away the mess of beads! Will I sort them back into their neat little tubes? No way!!! More luscious bead soup for me!

The purple doll has been patiently waiting for inspiration to strike! She's been sitting around for a couple of months, until I could decide what to do about her hair (I finally stitched on around 150 split rings). No hair ideas = a naked hairless doll! Unfortunately this doll's trials are far from over, as I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to bead her yet. Will I include some free form peyote, or just stick to intuitive bead embroidery? The main colours will be purple and turquoise, but as she's not talking to me yet, there's still lots of room for change.

My final project is another freeform peyote bead! This project will be ongoing, as I plan to continue making these beads until I have enough for a statement necklace. They're actually quite light, as the base is a wooden bead, so no worries about future neck pain!! Now what colour scheme should I choose this time? How about dark green? Although I haven't settled on the accent colour(s), I'll fondle the stash, and audition a few eager prospects. Do you have any ideas?

It seems like it's all or nothing for me! Weeks of frustration, followed by long periods of creativity! Doll and bead workshops have already been scheduled, and I'm currently designing another for the rings. More resin and collage (paper/fibre) projects are also in the works, so I guess that's another sign that spring is a time for renewal. Keep tuned!