Yet Another Bead Table Wednesday

This past week I actually did get around to making some beads. Yay! Claire Maunsell posted a great tutorial over on her blog, the next bend, on making her hollow strata beads. I have had fun trying her technique the past few days. Here's the first one I made. Top view:

Here's a side view showing the layers:

I used phthalo blue to stain/highlight the bead, but don't think I'm too crazy about how it turned out. Way too intense. I had to sand quite a bit to remove as much colour as I wanted with the result that my bead became more smooth and shiny than I planned, especially after polishing. You may need to click on the pictures to see the shininess. Here's the other side:

I have others that aren't quite camera ready yet. I'll post those here or on my Flickr account as soon as I'm able. Bye for now.

Holding On to Inspiration

I find that I'm still thinking about the subject of inspiration. But this time it's not finding it, rather, it's about keeping it. As I said in an earlier post, it's relatively easy for me to find inspiration. My problem seems to be sorting through it and holding on to it. Sometimes I have so very many ideas that I can't possibly use them all. Sometimes I have great ideas and then . . . I forget them. So, a little (big?) confession here. I have ADHD and short-tern memory issues. I've had to find ways to cope. My way of doing this when it comes to ideas and inspiration is to write it down. But I can't just write it down on any old sheet of paper or in a plain notebook, oh no, I'd lose those. My solution is an art ideas journal.

I love to do art journalling, but I'm not very dedicated and I often seem to lose focus at some point. But if I give myself permission to just do a journal and let it be "whatever", I can do it. It's not an art journal, it's not a writing journal, it's an Art Ideas Journal. In this (these) journal(s), I write down ideas for projects, I write poems, my own and others that have inspired me, song lyrics, my musings, my to-do lists, etc. I do some art journalling, practice techniques, and so on.

I used to buy small sketchbooks or blank journals to use, but now I make my own. I use recycled cardboard from food or other boxes, watercolour paper, and cardstock weight paper. I bind them with a Zutter so they lay flat while I work in them and they will also have room to expand (since they always seem to get fatter).

I find that writing down my ideas helps refine the good ones and weed out the bad ones. Sketches of varying quality may or may not accompany the notes. I also keep a separate, larger sketchbook that is just for sketches and drawings.

 

I also have a couple of back-up plans when I don't have a journal with me, my iPhone and my iPad. I can just type a note into either, snap a picture, make a voice recording, or make a digital drawing (iPad). Then I try to remember later make a journal entry from that, but if I don't, I still have my ideas :)

 

If you're interested in seeing more of this particular journal, click here to go to my Flickr page. There are more pages as well as more construction notes.

If it's Wednesday . . .

. . . then it must be time to show what's on my bead table. I'm afraid the pickings are rather slim today. I've been trying obtain a certain elusive shade of turquoise/aqua. And I have to say that I'm ever so grateful that Cynthia Tinapple tweeted this colour mixing chart for Kato clay back in May. I printed it out on glossy paper and it's been very helpful. Thanks Cynthia : ) However, I didn't get the turquoise beads finished.

Here are a couple of funky long beads that I'm making into earrings. They're actually made from scrap.

Then I got tired of working on beads and worked on these instead. Fred and Ethel Mae. There's one more, Lola, but she's not done yet. Fred's not quite 2 1/2" tall, Ethel Mae about 2". Hopefully Lola will be done tomorrow.

Toodles.