Notes to Self – #12 – Serendipity and Patience

Okay! In all my ‘creative’ posts I advocate Patience. In  all my blogs I say Patience is the hardest thing to do and Serendipity is masked as a booboo.
Well, I really do wish I would follow my own advice. It is so tiresome to discover what I thought was completely a lost cause turns into [...]

Technique: Wire Spring Bead

This technique I learned from Jelcy Romberg; an enlightened teacher who believes that, instead of teaching a set piece one should learn a technique and then go exploring with it.  She espouses the philosophy that sharing techniques instead of copyrighting a design is what furthers an art. Add these Gizmo wire coil beads to spice [...]

Notes to Self – #10 – I’m EXCITED – Does it Show?

All last week I’ve been jumpy with excitement: like a kid waiting for Santa Claus. I had butterflies in residence in my tummy. All I could think about was the wirework class, an all-day one, on Thursday next.
I got to bed late – well, early this morning really. And I slept for almost 10 hours. [...]

Notes to Self – #11 – Flourishing Seeds of Doubt

We have all been great artists at one time in our life. Then we were told we were doing it wrong and gradually we came to believe we weren’t artists at all. It’s such a waste of good raw talent. Because we as tiny human beings didn’t know what we can and cannot do, we [...]

Design Play – Lesson 4 – Freeing Our Inner Artist

Have you recognized the reason for last couple of exercises?  We all have an artist gene in us. The problem is that, from an early age we’ve been told that we have no talent; and worse still, we believed it. We may not paint like Holbein (Elizabeth I portraits) but there’s a little Picasso or Mondrian [...]

September Phoenix

I think I’ve mentioned somewhere that I have signed up for a year long project: Bead Journal Project ‘08. I had to decide what form the ‘journal’ would take: many took it literally and are making page style items. For me it was a good excuse to make some jewellery: and September is a bracelet, [...]

Design Play – Lesson 3 – More Drawing

Good afternoon. Today I’d like you to take a picture from a book or pamphlet and turn it upside down. Now, with the top of the picture closest to you, draw what you see. Don’t waste your time and energy worrying about making a mistake. It is hoped you will make mistakes, many mistakes so [...]

Spanish Bracelet 1

Cuff Bracelet to Spain

Cuff Bracelet Going to Spain

My sister wants a trip to Spain. She needs to save a whole lot of money to get there. As a reminder, like the string tied onto a finger, she commissioned a piece of artisan jewellery that would act in the same manner as the string.
I’ve had an awful [...]

Notes to Self – 9 – In Translation

On another blog, a problem presented itself. A translation from one language to another was wished for. And such a tool exists in Google.
No matter what language you use, written text in one language can be translated into another. And that is a big step to understanding cultures other than our own. And when we [...]

Notes to Self – 8 – Bead Embroidery

You love to stitch on some kind of ground fabric with a needle and some type of thread or wire. Me, too. You get instant sparkle and another dimension added to your work. And that spells INTERESTING.
Are you an old hand at bead embroidery? Or are you just starting out? Either way, you salivate over [...]

Notes to Self # 7- Crimp Beads and Components

Confessions of a Control Freak.
I am excited about this find. Anything I can do without depending on somebody else is good in my books. And, since I like to bead in the evenings when the shops are closed, it’s good to learn how to make as many findings and components as possible.
Well! Here’s a lady [...]

Design Play – Lesson 2 – Drawing 101

 
I know I promised in the last lesson that you wouldn’t be drawing but now you can draw.
‘But I don’t know how to draw.’  That belongs in kindergarden where you learned that nasty lesson.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, before the flood, in bible times, when I was a wee lass, my favourite [...]

Design Play – Lesson 1 – Look Around You

I am making an assumption that you are a rank rookie so the meaning of this lesson is to get you in touch with your 5 senses, your likes and dislikes. I know, it does sound a bit like pop-psychology or new age.
 Whatever you do, don’t write essays. That is way too formal for this [...]

Design Play – Introduction

Hiya, all. We are starting a new class. Today we begin playing with design. I am going to share some of the things I’ve observed, some things I’ve been taught myself, and some things I’ve learned all by myself.
We will be discussing colour and texture. And we will be discussing shapes and spaces. There will [...]

Notes to Self – #6 – Agony and Ecstasy

Hiya. Today is the 1st day of September. Tomorrow the kidlets get back to school. It’s something all students feel for the 1st week. It isn’t until the 2nd week that reality sets in and they remember they hate school.
For me, the 1st day of September means a new topic in the Bead Journal Project. [...]

Notes to Self – #5 – Updates

I had a lovely email from Niki.Tasha waiting in my inbox this morning. She has a niece who had an accident a month or so ago and she has had complications in healing. The family is surrounding her and, I am sure, applying quanitities of love and affection and prayers. And because of the downturn [...]