Sylviebead Journal

TRAFFIC Tuesday

Traffic was terrible terrible terrible this morning. I hate wasting time sitting in my car. I've got too much to do in my day to sit still in a car!!!

I did work in the studio for a little while yesterday. I worked more on the beads for the Head Over Heels revival (there... I said it. That's what I'm working on... Head Over Heels, but with a twist).

If you don't know what Head Over Heels is, I'll post a picture later right here...

This is not the original one. Sadly, it was shoplifted at a bead show. :(

It was a project that I designed originally just for myself in 2001. It was a crazy time in my life and I used it as kind of an escape. I was just learning to do beadwork (info for non beady people - I had been a beadmaker, but had never done beadwork which is done with tiny seedbeads stitched together) ANYWAYS I had just learned a lot of techniques and created this "doll" (I didn't call it a doll at the time, but that's really what it was) that was also a bracelet as an experiment to try a lot of the stitches PLUS I was entering it in a contest at Beads by Design.

That's sort of how the whole thing came about.... through the rules of the contest. You had to make a bracelet, but it could only have a certain number of larger beads... the majority of it had to be made in seed beads. SO I had to figure out a way that a bead could be a clasp... and that's how the unique shape of the bracelet happened. (and just for the record... not only did I find a way to engineer something that fit the rules but still have my glass beads as a focus...I won!!)

I had it at a show in early 2002 and a well known bead artist NanC Meinhardt saw it and said, "this is what you do now!" I thought she was off her rocker and said, "uh huh....." not really sure how to react. After all... I was the mermaid girl of glass beads!!!

Well, she was right. By the next year I had written it as a pattern and had taught it as a class. The FOLLOWING year, I was making kits, selling them at shows and online and teaching it all over the US. It was a big hit and it paid our bills for quite a while. I created other projects after that, but none of them has been the "big deal" that this project seemed to be. I loved it, but got burned out on it after a while, so I retired it. This was also a big deal because there were a lot of people who still wanted it. I just had started feeling like the old dunkin donuts commercial where he says half asleep "it's time to make the donuts." I'd been making THOSE head/hands/feet donuts for 2 years and was just over it.... so even though it really upset a lot of customers (truly, I got LOTS of disgruntled e-mails about it), I retired it.

Well, coming out of "retirement" myself, I was thinking of how I could bring that project back. It's sort of a financial necessity right now to make things that are marketale and THAT, I know is. So, I'd been thinking how I could do it without compromising myself... make it something new and different and fun for me.

And on Saturday I came up with it.... which is why I was so excited in my journal post. Now I'm doing the "so, how do I DO what I want to" sort of beadmaking. It's lots of trial and error, but I'm getting it and am REALLY happy with what I'm making. I can't wait to introduce it. I'm in a time crunch because... well, just because... so I need to figure it out QUICK and then get to work, get things made and get them out there to sell.

I've got to put together new bead kits too and that takes time. PLUS I think I need to make 2 samples and that will take some time.

HOW am I going to do it all?????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I guess you'll have to stay tuned.


tiny blah blah blah...

Coffee? - nope. It's a chick-fil-a tea day. My throat hurts.

Music - Sylvie's long mellow list. Right now I'm listening to Maroon 5 "Better That We Break"

What I'm reading - I WAS reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, but I left it at the Dr's office last week and haven't had a chance to go get it. I'm planning to swing by there this afternoon though. When will I have time to read is a WHOLE other question!!