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!

Freeform is the star!

I may have mentioned my love of Freeform Peyote stitch in the past, but this time I'm dedicating my entire post to the subject. I drooled over it for years, then made one or two aborted attempts before getting a little "kick start" from Karen Williams' "Explorations in Freeform Peyote Beading" book. I made a bracelet fairly quickly, and then turned around and beaded the little pendant in the same colours. Do you think that I like turquoise and acid green?

Was it merely a phase? It's obvious that I wasn't ready to abandon either my Intuitive Bead Embroidery or my mixed media play, so freeform had to take a back seat. It just wasn't time! But wait!! Someone gifted me a few wooden beads. What's that, my muse said? Could they possibly be transformed into beaded beads? Oh yes, and freeform would be their name!! After making the first three beads I developed a workshop, and then proceeded to addict a few other people to the process. Was it fate?

Months passed with nothing freeform to show, except for a few more beaded beads. Was that the end of its run? Was I bored with the process? Or did all that problem solving cause my brain to hurt? I worked on a few bead embroidered dolls, but then inspiration struck! I had a starfish shaped doll form in my stash (purchased several years ago, from Aryd'ell who runs the Beaded Art Doll group on Facebook) that needed to be embellished. Would this doll lend itself to freeform? Well let me tell you, that was one cranky little starfish!!! It's a combination of peyote, freeform peyote, intuitive bead embroidery and freeform netting. I confess that I often considered abandoning the project. The doll told me that she didn't want to be fully beaded, so I allowed her batik skin to show in several areas. She was a constant exercise in problem solving, and her beaded personality did not fully show until the very end (so I gave her a star). At times I was bored with the colour scheme, stumped by the process, and just wanted the beading to end. Certainly not my usual way of working! Was it a growth phase, or just something I needed to work through? I do like the doll though, but I'm still not in love with the colour scheme. So what's next, you say? I've been dreaming about embellished, freeform peyote rings.....so I guess that might be it! Stay tuned!!

Don't ever be afraid to try something new! Follow through on the process, even if it seems much too difficult. Stretching is good, and your star will always shine in the end!