Wednesday - Half Way Through The Week!!!! WOO HOO!!!

I don't know WHY this week is getting to me... it shouldn't be. I'm in a really good mood, but BOY am I living for Friday!!!!! I just keep waking up in the morning SURE that it's the weekend. That's the problem!!!

I'm very excited about what I'm going to talk about today. More musings on the creative process. I had 14 people sign up yesterday for my online workshop which is great, but too many people for one class in this format, so I'm going to have to split things.

I didn't expect a lot of people I didn't know to request membership in the group, so it grew faster than I was ready for AND I can anticipate it continuing like this once word gets out. Because it's SUCH a great thing... seeing people develop creatively. (I know that might sound stuck up since it's my workshop, but it's not ME that makes it exciting... it's seeing people find inspiration and develop creatively and have "aha" moments. THAT is what's so much fun!!!

I want to share my own creative development here today and if it gets too long, I'll continue it tomorrow (or another day... we know how that goes!)

When I taught the "creativity class" (as it was first known) the first time, I participated along with the students and one of the beads I made in the class spurred my work in a WHOLE new direction and is really responsible for the whole tone of my work now. This will be funny, but it's all from THIS bead.....

Hard to believe, huh??? That this WEIRD bead could be where my WHOLE body of work today comes from!!!

That THIS bead
<----- led to THIS bead --->

And a whole lot of other things along the way.....

So... How did that happen??

You KNOW I'm gonna tell you!!! (and it won't be short, so non-beady people might want to "fast forward")

Here's the story. In the class, I gave the assignment to make a bead based on a black and white photograph by Karl Blossfeldt. I picked one at random, so my personal preference did not come into play.

<---- this is the picture I also had the parameters that it had to be done in 4 colors... and only those 4. AND if those 4 colors weren't available in the glass I had, I had to do my best to replicate the colors using other materials (such at enamels).

These were the colors (i forgot to add the green square...oops) ----->

So, that's what I had to go with and the funny bead at the very beginning of this post is what resulted from the assignment.

The class met together and gave each other ideas for future beads, based on the bead that they were looking at (they didn't see the photo or the colors). One of the class participants said "it looks like one of those crazy cool cakes where all the layers are different colors" (think "Ace of Cakes" because even though this was way before that show... that was what she was talking about)

I went home from the class and had this bead sitting around and thought... I'll try to make one of those cakes as a bead!!! (it's funny... I just realized that this beadmaker made cake beads herself!! Never thought of that till this moment. Melissa... do you remember this at all??)

ANYWAYS... the bead inspired me to make a crazy cake bead, so I did. I made a funny birthday cake bead. UNFORTUNATELY that bead was in my old house and didn't survive the fire, so I don't have a picture of it to show you. Let me tell you, however, that it was HORRIBLE!!!!!! It wasn't cute AT ALL. BUT it sat around on my table for a while and made me think of something else...

Girls with birthday cake hats on!! I have no idea WHY I thought of that, but i did. SO, I made a bead like that. And it too was HORRIBLE and didn't survive the fire. (be glad... it was truly tragic... very scary to look at!!) BUT it sat around on my work table with all the other bead castoffs that I just couldn't bear to toss.


And one day, after taking a Sharon Peters class where I learned to make multi-bead sculptures... I came up with this ------->

The birthday cake hat made me think of crazy tall hair... very B-52s or Marge Simpson. The candles caused me to make the raised dots on her hair. She was wacky and honestly... her face is pretty scary. BUT I learned something and THIS set of beads was a springboard taking me to the next thing...



My Head Over Heels Project which was a beaded version of the multi-part bead made with seed-beads. Because it was made of seed beads, she was a lot more flexible and could bend over backwards to be a bracelet!!! And my beadmaking life changed right then and there. I won't give you the long story about that. I think I've told it here in my blog at least once.

And Head Over Heels was a springboard to 2 other big projects... The Clothesline and Splish Splash (but we're not even talking about those here... so WOW that cake bead did a LOT!!!)

Head Over Heels led me to doing other things... more "big haired girls" and I started making these fun drawings which were sort of interpretations of my head over heels girls. The pink picture here is an example of this.

And THAT led to something else...

The Halo neckpiece.
<----- In the drawings, the faces were more subdued, so I made beads that were faces more along those lines... angelic. Inspired by those drawings AND by renaissance paintings where the angels have halos that almost look like big hats (or gilded "big hair"), I created these new face beads. I turned them into a necklace.


THEN that piece took me back in a different direction.... making little beady versions of my older fairies, but with big hair. I call them Fairy Godmothers.



THEN I looked at that pink drawing and the halo faces and thought that I could make a vessel where the hair was the vase.... or maybe it wasn't even hair anymore... it was just a face peeking out of the patterns... sort of Gustav Klimt-y....
And the vessel up at the top was born. Taking us to where I am today as a beadmaker!!!

SEE??? One thing led to another. ALL because of that ONE crazy "cake" bead that was an assignment from this class COMBINED with an idea from another beadmaker. THIS is what is possible!!!!!!!!!! And even though it's sort of "tooting my own horn." Not a ONE of those pieces looked like ANYTHING else that was out there in bead-land at the time.

THIS is why I'm teaching this class!!!!!!!!!! and that is the end of my long long story. It made me happy to see how far I've come. :)

Thank you again Melissa. I don't know that I ever realized until this week what a PROFOUND influence on my beadmaking your ONE little "crazy cakes" comment made.

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coffee - Starbucks Mocha - I needed some chocolate today. Some days are just that way.

music - OMG. I was just in a store and they were playing a DANCE version of Total Eclipse of the Heart. That song was BAD the first time around. WHY would they re-make it with a dance track???!!!!!!!! And I have NO music with me here at the office today to get rid of that horrible memory!!!! "turn around bright eyes....." AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Worn Out Wednesday

I'm still feeling yucky. I tried to work in the studio for a little while yesterday, but my hands were shaky, so I didn't get much done. I did play with a few new color ideas and got some cool effects.

I also made a really pretty encased bead. Those usually take a lot of concentration, so I was surprised I was successful. I just knew after a couple of bigger beads that I wasn't going to do much good because I couldn't hold my hands steady and focus the way I need to. Cold medicine and beadmaking = not good. I hope I'm not shaking for other reasons... but that's always possible.

I'm going to give it another try today.

I DID finish my Halloween Head Over Heels though!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!

I need to setup my bead-photography stuff and take pictures of things. Must do SOON!!!


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coffee - nope. still doing iced tea

music - nope. forgot ipod.

Tuesday Takeover

It's a quiet Tuesday because I still don't feel great.

In bead news... there has been a coup in the studio. It's been taken over by junior beadmakers!!!!!! I met G at the bus stop and he immediately said "I want to go make beads." I told him "you have to do homework first" (thinking this would give me a little time in the studio myself) and he said "already finished it" DRATS! I should have said "you have to do your chores" FIRST!!!!!

SO I let him make a few beads in the studio while I worked on my Head Over Heels sample (more on that in a minute). He seemed to get it a little better today, but is still really stubborn and impatient. He wants to do it HIS way and I'm trying really really hard not to correct him too much. I'm used to correcting students who WANT to be corrected, so when I see his bead getting too hot or too low in the flame I REALLY want to say something, but have to hold my tongue because he won't hear it as helpful, he'll hear it as mom telling him what to do. (this is why I didn't want to be the one who taught them and found someone else to give them lessons. They listened to him WAY better than they would have me.)

While he was in the middle of making his 3rd bead, H came home, came straight to the studio and said "when is it my turn?" I said the same "when you finish your homework" and found out that HE didn't have homework either!!!!! This is rare. They ALWAYS have homework!!! So, G finished his bead and H got to make beads for a while.

H is really really patient and his bead shapes are really pretty good for a beginner. He wants to be corrected so that they'll be better, so I'm a little more vocal when I see him doing something that's easy to correct. It's mostly the difference between being 13 and 10, but also a little bit of their personalities.

I don't have aspirations of my kids becoming beadmakers, but I'm happy they are having fun at it for now. They just have a bit of a skewed view of beads... beads are money to them. They grew up in an environment of "if we want to go to Disney, mom has to make enough beads." (There was also the "if we want to pay the bills......mom has to make beads" part, but the fun stuff like Disney was what would have been important to them!)

So they understand beads as currency. My favorite mothers day card was one that Harrison made in pre-K. It cracked me up. It was one of those fill in the blank things that the teacher had made and the kids filled in the answer. It said...

I love my mom because.........

She makes beds to get us money.

(beds=beads. The teacher thought I was a maid I think.)

That was exactly how things worked at our house, so he was quite observant for a 4 year old. I'm wondering if they are learning to make beads because they see it as a way to make money OR if it's just fun for them. Hard to know.

guess it's the same question I ask myself a lot. Am I doing it for the love of the art or for the money??? What money????? Guess I answered that! LOL


In Head Over Heels News - I finished the bracelet... of course I'm still embellishing. I tend to get a little carried away with that part. If I didn't embellish it, I would have been done on Sunday!! I just started decorating it before it was all the way assembled. I couldn't resist!!! She's SO SO SO cute!!!! And it's inspired me to do some follow-ups! YAY!!!


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coffee - nope. Still on an iced-tea thing. Feels better in my throat

music - I'm in a rut!!! 2 days of Corinne Bailey Rae!!! Going to make her the song of the week for that reason.

Strep Throat Thursday. :(

I'm home for the 3rd day with a sick kid. That's kind of put a monkey wrench in the beady progress... but that's also part of being mom. Bad thing is that once they told me it was strep throat, MY throat started hurting. Hopefully it's just something that's in my head and not real. HOPEFULLY.

I have been working on my website though! I have things in my store now!!!!! And I've got more stuff on its way. I've been taking inventory in the studio and then editing photos to make things fit the etsy format (etsy.com is the website where my stuff is listed. I'm adding a link in the sidebar here.)

So even though we're home sick, there is still beady news. I even did a little beading last night, working on my Head Over Heels revival sample. It's cute. :)

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Coffee - nope. It's a tea day. We stopped on the way home from the Dr. at a place that has great iced tea because that was the request of the sick child.

Music - nope. We're watching re-runs of The Big Bang Theory on Tivo. He seems to appreciate the smart boy humor.

Quickie Wednesday posting...

(I know that sounds impossible... I'm always long-winded in my blog postings!!)

I had a fun, but short beadmaking day yesterday. I made a couple of little witchy faces for my new head over heels Halloween version AND the cutest little candy-corn fairy godmother!!!

It was Griffin's idea (or harrison's??? or both??? I'd better get my story straight!) and it turned out SO cute!!!!!!!!!!!! I need to get a picture and post it here. It's going to go on etsy.com in my store for sale as soon as I get it photographed. Cute cute cute!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping to have a little beadmaking time today, but I'm not sure if I will or not. It's kind of crazy around here.

I'm a little overwhelmed with working 2 jobs and being single mom. I have no idea how people balance it all. I'm feeling like things are more on the teetering side than the balanced side right now. I have no idea if that made sense. I sort of see myself as a waitress with too many plates right now... thus the teetering. I'll figure it out... I always do! :)

(insert "I am woman" song here....)

back to work... See??? Told you it was short!!!

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coffee - Cinnamon dolce latte WITH whipped cream!!!

music - Sylvie's mellow side - another "mellow" playlist... not the long one listed to the right. I need more words than "mellow" to describe my playlists. I have about 4 of them that have "mellow" in the title and I never remember which is which!!! Right now I'm listening to Kelly Clarkson's "The Trouble With Love" which was in one of my favorite movies Love Actually.

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.


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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!!