Beading Challenges – Bird Challenge

I have so many beads that have been sitting, waiting for inspiration that I am working on a monthly challenge for myself. I am going to select a focal bead or some seed beads that have been waiting and create a design and project just for them. 

 

My first challenge is to work with the bird beads my aunt brought me. A pair of them would make simple earrings but I wanted something more complex for them. I thought the bird would look nice framed in a circle and I have been enjoying making peyote circle beads lately. I selected some complementary colors in 15/0, delica and 11/0 beads and got started. 

 

Here is the final pendent. I need to find or make a necklace to string it on. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Travel and Inspiration

Travel always brings on inspiration for me. I’m not sure if it is the new surrounding or the lack of craft supplies at my fingertips, but I always generate new ideas while I am away. On a recent trip to Ohio, I was inspired by some quilts and wall hangings to make a few peyote bracelets. This lines up very well with the new odd count peyote turn I just learned. I came home with a list of about 10 new projects, to add to my current working list and a wishlist of materials to get me started.

The most frustrating thing about travel is the difficult combination of free time and lack of ability to start on any of my ideas. I have the desire to work and to create, I have family to keep an eye on the kids but I have no supplies with me to get started.  Part of the idea generation seems to be that I can’t get started and focus on any one idea, so I keep thinking up variations and new ways to do things that lead to project after project. I make lots of plans and lists but when I get home, I have to select which I want to begin first and I can’t start on any of it until I get back into my crazy daily routine.

I did manage to find my way to a local Ohio bead shop to stock up on things for some new ideas. I am interested in beading some gemstones and working more free-form, so I picked up a few things to work with. Now I just need to go unpack them and get started!

Ohio Purchase

Book Review - Art & Elegance of Beadweaving

Art & Elegance of Beadweaving

By Carol WilcoxWells

Rating: 8 Beads

The Art & Elegance of Beadweaving was one of the first really complex beading books I purchased. It has many gorgeous pictures and projects for inspiration, as well as directions for many different bead weaving techniques. I wanted it for the extensive section on beaded beads but I learned a lot from several of the sections, especially the chevron chain stitch in its many variations.

This is not a book for beginners. The projects are beautiful but time intensive and very complex. The stitch directions are very thorough and accurate but also somewhat hard to follow. Without bead handling experience and a willingness to try and try again, many of the projects are frustrating when trying to learn stitches and make an intricate piece of jewelry at the same time. After I had completed some simple projects from other sources, this book was wonderful to come back to for the innovative project ideas.

One of the things I like best about this book is its many variations on each stitch and gallery of jewelry to inspire ideas for each technique. I am currently working through the bead crochet section and I am so glad I already know how to crochet without beads so that I can dive right in.

Book Reviews: Introduction

I love searching for bead books at book stores, online and at the library. I find old books, new books and books I might not hear of elsewhere. The library is a great place to check out books and try projects or find new techniques. That being said, I have an extensive collection of bead books that I want to keep at my finger tips for reference, how to’s and design ideas.

I have wanted to go through my collection, book by book, to make notes and rate each book as I decide which ones deserve a place on my shelf and what techniques I want to master next. I also keep a library list, both wish list and notes on books I have checked out that I may or may not want to check out again or purchase for my collection. In looking at my lists for owned books, wished for books and library books, I decided I should turn my notes in to book reviews and ratings. I plan to rate each books on a 10 Bead scale.

I am almost afraid to count how many books I own and I will need to pick a starting place on the shelf. I have stringing books, basic books, bead weaving books, color books, glass bead books and wire work books. Still, it will be nice to have a full list of my bead book collection.

Is the Magic of Tidying Up going to Change My Life?

I just finished reading “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up” and I think it was quite a read. It has inspired the most motivation to de-clutter, de-junk and otherwise clean up then any of the other half dozen ‘simplify, organize, declutter’ books I have read in the last half dozen years or so. In the past, I would start to read, get inspired, go on a cleaning binge, finish the book and then stall out. This book has taken hold a bit better, although there are some gaping holes in the logic there. I do feel lighter and more energetic then I have since removing about 5 garbage bags of ‘stuff’ from my house and also emptying several surfaces of there accumulation of ‘things’ that move into empty flat surfaces in this house, from mantle, to desk, dresser and even floor. It has inspired a real purge of unloved and unused items that found their way into my home and many of which have now left.

The logic holes in this book were succinctly captured in a meme: I read the book and removed everything I held that didn’t spark joy and the only thing I removed was all the veggies and a bill. I have many items that don’t spark joy, for example, the mouse traps I had to dig out last night. But removing 2 mice was a needed step that was surely a joy to my house. So I think I must keep things that spark joy for my house, like the vacuum and the mop. Though unless someone has ‘too many’ cleaning supplies, I don’t suppose they count as personal clutter the way clothes and other such does.

Also, maybe all storage can be in 1 location for a small house, but with 2 small kids and a 2 story house, some things must be kept on the right floor and possibly up out of reach of little fingers. I am working on reducing the number of places I store ‘my’ stuff versus  household stuff, but I am not sure how few I can really pare down to. I am, however, going to stop storing my things in my kids closets.

The books also doesn’t seem to take into account consumables such as food, medicine and soap. I am reducing and consolidating but that has mostly been done.

But I have yet to truly tackle my beads (or yarn or fabric or paint or creative stuff). I am not sure what is holding me back from this step. I think I don’t really want to let any of it go. My plan is to pull out beads and challenge myself to make things with them. Then they can have their chance to spark joy (or not) and I can rein in my collection to what I love to work with most.