Creativity Abounds!

As an instructor, I'm always amazed how many students claim they're not inventive and can't make creative decisions about their projects. Trust me, you don't need to re-invent the wheel, but inspiration is all around you. Use what you already have, look around you for inspiration and make your jewellery your own.

Here are three places you can look for inspiration:

1. Hardware Store
A lot of people are stymied by colour. Trust me, if you can pick colour for your clothes, you can pick beads! It doesn't matter if the colour is on you, the walls of your home, or in jewellery - it all works the same way. A great way to help you pick colours is by using paint chips found in any hardware store. All paint producers have the single colour chips, as well as suggested combinations for room decor. I've put together a small photo album for myself in which I have room combinations and suggestions. You may not find the exact bead/crystal colour or combination but it gives you a good foundation.

2. Fashion magazines
Fashion magazines, such as Flare, Elle and Vogue, are full of jewellery ideas. I go through the magazines and pull the pages of the jewellery that speaks to me. In almost all of the cases, the jewellery has been fabricated and may not translate directly to your own medium but you can still use it for inspiration.

My Bombay Cuff was inspired by a fabricated piece of jewellery in the November 2013 issue of Flare. I liked the general shape and texture of the Hermés cuff but I don't work in metal or wood. Using the only paper available (a serviette in the restaurant where I was reading the magazine) I wrote down some notes. Here is the result:

3. Beading magazines
There is a plethora of beading and jewellery-making magazines available both in printed and digital formats from around the world! If you're into seed beading, you're probably quite familiar with Beadwork and Bead and Button (both American magazines) but check out Australian Beading, Beads and Beyond (Great Britain), and Perlen Posie (Germany). Each magazine has their own look and so do the projects they feature. Go ahead and substitute your beads and colours and make the jewellery your own. If you're in the Toronto area, you can come into the store and peruse our back issues of magazines and books.

Take a look around you with new eyes and play. Rip pages out of magazines; take photos; collect paint chips and soak in all the inspiration! You can do it!

Designing your way out of a paper bag!

Doesn't it just drive you crazy, when you try to think up a new design, but then find that you're in a total creative slump?  You have the time, you have the materials,  a deadline is looming, and then nothing!! So what the heck do you do? Tearing your hair out, isn't productive, nor is shutting yourself away in the dark, wailing out your misery!   So, let's explore some techniques, to unlock your ideas.....

1.  Go for a walk!  Use your camera, to take shots of anything that inspires you.  When you return home, relax, indulge in a snack, and your beverage of choice.   Then choose one photo!  Check out the colours, rustle through your stash, and see if you have anything that "tickles your fancy"! If not, visit BeadFX for a little shopping therapy.  Pull together a simple piece, out of the items you have chosen.   Don't worry about the end result, just focus on the colours.   You might be surprised at the results!!

2.  If I have a few leftover beads (the larger ones), miscellaneous bits and chain, I literally throw them in a paper bag.  I use these for in-between, or "rainy day" projects, but you can also use them, when your muse abandons you. Open the bag....fondle the bits....and let your creativity flow....

3.   Sleep on it!   I'm serious....if you go to bed, thinking about a problem, your sub-conscious mind will often solve it overnight.   Just remember to leave a pen and paper on your nightstand, and jot down your brilliant ideas, before they escape you!.

4.  Stop stressing! I promise the ideas will come.

5.  Forget about it!  Do you have any other hobbies?   Try working on something else for a while.

6. Meditate, exercise or take a yoga class..  Clear your mind!

7.  Give yourself permission to postpone the project.

8.  Clean up your table or workroom!   That's always good for a little creative procrastination!!!

9.  Fall down the Pinterest rabbit hole, for a while. Or google beads and beading (or whatever else you're trying to work on).

10. Make a date with yourself, for some uninterrupted time.

11.  Visit the museum or an art gallery, for tons of eye candy!

12.  Take a workshop....learn a new techique.....and did I say, go shopping?

13.   Check out the "Inspirations" section on the BeadFX website.

14.  But most of all, stop worrying!  The blockage is only temporary.......and you'll be back to your beading obsession soon.......very, very soon!

Shopping, talking and observing other beaders, is a great way to get the juices flowing again!  Form a support group with your friends &/or join a Bead Society.  You could also make a date to attend either the Wednesday evening, or Thursday afternoon, free beading sessions, at BeadFX.  Just give the store a call first, to reserve your place!

Finally, come visit our booth at the CreativFestival (North Building, Downtown Convention Centre - Booth #927), this Thursday, Friday and Saturday!   We'll have demos, make & takes, and enough goodies to spark a ton of creativity!

Finding inspiration

Inspiration is a funny thing!  Always present in your dreams, but once awake, disappears like smoke! How can we corral something that ephemeral?   Why is it so hard?

Let's start with the definition, according to Google:  

"1. the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

2. the drawing in of breathe; inhalation."

In other words, inspiration is a mental stimulation of your creativity, and is as natural as a breath of fresh air!

I'm often asked, where I get my ideas?! While seldom stuck for an answer, I find this one a little difficult to answer.   My current theory is that they come out of thin air!   Probably too broad a response, so I'll expand it to say, that inspiration is a product of your environment, and is often triggered by images and emotions!  It could be a colour, photograph, walk in the park, life event, beauty, or even some of the horrors viewed on the evening news.  Take a walk in the park....spot a brilliant reflection....flash to an inspiration!

  I once noticed a simple SuperDuo bangle on someone's wrist, told her that I was going to "steal" her idea (she didn't mind), then went home and made a bunch of them.  I was working on these bracelets in both the Thursday afternoon, Bead Tea, and the Wednesday, Open Beading Night (both free - at BeadFX) and BAM! Others noticed my stolen idea, started buying up SuperDuos, and making bracelets of their own.  Last week, I spotted someone, showing yet another person, how to make the bangle.  Where will it end?  Inspiration, obviously never dies!

Now how about that fabulous selection of stones, pearls and crystals at BeadFX?  Surely we can all find inspiration in those beauties?

Just prior to the Swarovski Launch, I spotted some of the new green Scarabaeus pearls, inspiration struck, and I knew I had to have them! I purchased a couple of strings, and quickly threw together a necklace!  Of course that was not exactly the end, as soon after, I noticed the new Oval Pendant in Crystal Light Chrome, and my muse insisted on another necklace!   Unfortunately, I'm not able to show them to you right now, because they'll be featured as BeadFX "Inspirations", in the coming weeks.   Remember, patience is a virtue!

People think that it's always easy for creative people to find inspiration, but in reality it's not! We need to work at it, just the same as everyone else. The only real difference is that we seem to have trained ourselves, to observe and act on our visual, emotional and environmental clues.  So the message in this blog post, is to open your eyes and your heart to the creativity that surrounds you, allow that knowledge to flow freely, and let it influence your jewellery projects.  Also, don't forget to take your camera with you on your strolls!  You never know when you'll find the perfect inspiration, to translate into fabulous jewellery!  After all, nobody does it better than nature....but we do try!

Is it really October?

Here in Toronto, the weather was a little crazy. We had a rainstorm last night and today called for thunderstorms that never appeared. The sky at times was blue with big fluffy clouds. At other times, the sky darkened as the sun hid behind black ominous clouds. The temperature was comfortable at I even went for my evening power walk at 9 pm in just a Tshirt. No jacket. Oh, ya, and pants. Lol. 

I love fall. The ever changing colour palette. Ambers. Oranges. Reds. Browns. A perfect time for a redhead to blend in with the foliage. 

I thought I'd share with you some inspiring photos of autumn colour ways. I'll start with a picture of the Pantone Colours for Fall 2013. 

And now for some fall fashion:

What's your favourite season? Which of these colour palettes talks to you? 

Please let us know!

Sunday Inspirations: Spidey on a Pumpkin

InspirationFX
Get your creative juices flowing

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Spidey on a Pumpkin
by: Rochelle Kilmer
Here's a Halloween-inspired pair of earrings that would look great any time of the season.

Thread the seedbead, metal bead, glass bead, beadcap and 2 more seedbeads on the headpin, and make a loop. Hang from a pair of earwires, and you are good to go! Go and be scary!

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.

Monday Inspiration: Batty for Halloween

InspirationFX
Get your creative juices flowing

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Batty for Halloween
by: Rochelle Kilmer
Are you Batty for Halloween? Are you cackling with glee at the thought of the upcoming holiday? Planning spooky yard decorations and ghoulishly delightful Halloween dishes like Mud Pie with Gummy Worms and CupCakes with Chocolate Spiders?

If so - you'll love this Statement Bat Necklace!

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.

Monday Inspiration: K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple ... Sweetheart

InspirationFX
Get your creative juices flowing

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K.I.S.S.
by: Vanessa Gardiner


K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple ... Sweetheart

So simple - so stylish. Just a handsome metal focal bead/finding/connector - whatevertheheck you want to call it, and some leather cord. For a necklace, add a colour-coordinated clasp - for a bracelet - just use a sliding "Chinese" knot to make it adjustable.

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.

Sunday Inspiration: 50 More Shades of Grey

You may not have realized it - but our projects are all designed in-house by our talented staff! They have been so inspired lately that we are going to try and publish two per week!

Most of our projects are fairly easy - and we try to put enough photos so that you really don't need much in the way of instructions. We make a point of taking nice, sharp photos that show the details so that you can see how each piece is put together.




InspirationFX
Get your creative juices flowing

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50 More Shades of Grey
by: Pam Kearns
Every great hit deserves a sequel - and Pam's 50 Shades of Grey bracelet is no exception.

This complementary necklace is a bold, chunky, statement piece - with a bit of sparkle - perfect for the holiday season.

It is a simple stringing project, but if you made it a little longer, you could leave out the clasp and just pop it on over your head.

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.

Monday Inspiration: Cafe La Iron Zebra

InspirationFX
Get your creative juices flowing

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Cafe La Iron Zebra
by: Rochelle Kilmer

I saw these double-drilled ovals in the Iron Zebra Jasper and wondered what I could do with them that was a little bit different. I was intrigued by the patterns within the stones and the colours that are so rich and intense. The colours reminded me of a steaming cup of café mocha. Starting with the Iron Zebra Jasper as my inspiration, everything else fell into place, keeping the colours in a warmer tone. And to make the whole set, I only needed one strand of the double drilled ovals. (*note : you need 2 tubes of mb6b-3955 Japanese Seedbeads - 6/0 Miyuki Seedbeads - Baroque – Bronze (2 grams))

Necklace Instructions

Step 1 – Put the Iron Zebra Jasper Rhombus on the eyepin and make a wrapped loop on top.

Step 2 – Put 1 Firepolish Crystal Celsian on the headpin and make a wrapped loop.

Step 3 – Attach your rhombus and firepolish together using a 4mm Jumpring. This is your pendant.

Step 4 – Take the 2 feet of heavy softflex and cut it in half.

Step 5 – Lay out your beads in the way you will string it on.

Left to right ~ 1 firepolish, 2 baroques, 1 double drilled oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 6 firepolish, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 firepolish.

Step 6 – String left to right. Take the 2 pieces of softflex and put them through the 1 firepolish, leaving about 1.5 inch tail. Put 1 baroque on each piece of softflex, and then thread in through each hole of the double drilled oval. Continue until the last double drilled oval on the left side. Put 1 firepolish on each piece of softflex, then put both pieces of softflex through another firepolish. Put a jumpring on the pendant you made in Steps 1-3 and put both pieces of softflex through the jumpring. Take another firepolish and put both pieces of softflex through it. Now you can do the same on the right side of the necklace, following the reversed pattern. 

Step 7 – Take your Oval and Oval Goldplated and on one side crimp the tail you left with the softflex right to the end oval. Do the same on the other side. 

Step 8 – Cut your chain where you would like to attach your lobster claw with a jumpring. Clip the lobster claw to the oval opposite. 

Now your necklace is done.

Bracelet Instructions

Step 1 – Cut the fine softflex into 2 1 foot lengths.

Step 2 – Lay out your beads in the pattern you want.

Left to right ~ 1 double drilled oval , 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 1 firepolish, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 1 baroque, 1 firepolish, 1 baroque, 1 rhombus, 1 baroque, 1 firepolish, 1 baroque, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval, 1 firepolish, 1 dd oval, 2 baroque, 1 dd oval.

Step 3 – Leaving a tail of softflex put one piece of softflex through each hole on the double drilled ovals, place a baroque on each piece of softflex and then through the double drilled oval again.

Step 4 - Put both pieces of softflex through the firepolish.

Step 5 – Repeat Step 3.

Step 6 – Put both pieces of softflex through 1 baroque, 1 firepolish, 1 baroque, the rhombus and repeat on the other side.

Step 7 – Continue with the pattern you did on the left side of the bracelet.

Step 8 – Using the tail you left at the beginning crimp it to the loops on your 2 strand clasp. Make sure your clasp lines up together when you do the other side.

Earring Instructions

Step 1 – Cut your softflex into 2 1 foot pieces.

Step 2 – Lay out your earring pattern.

Top to bottom ~ 2 baroques, 1 double drilled oval, 1 firepolish, 1 dd oval, 1 baroque, 1 firepolish, 1 baroque, 1 rhombus, 1 baroque.

Step 3 – Put the baroque on the bottom in the middle of 1 piece of softflex and put both pieces of the softflex through the rhombus, a baroque, a firepolish, a baroque.

Step 4 – Split the softflex into 2 and put them through each hole on the double drilled oval.

Step 5 – Put both softflex through 1 firepolish.

Step 6 – Split into 2 and put through each hole on the double drilled oval and place 1 baroque on each strand.

Step 7 – Put both softflex through a crimp bead and the loop on the leverback. Thread both pieces back through the crimp and flatten with chainnose pliers.

Step 8 – Repeat Step 2 – 7 with your other piece of soft flex for the other earring.

Now you can enjoy a full set of your Iron Zebra Jasper stones. Quite nice statement piece, if I say so myself.

Components

Go to our components list for this project and to buy what you need!
Need some help with some of the techniques? Check our tips page.