300 and counting...

Back in late 2009 when I began my blog I never thought that I'd still be going and that I would actually put 300 posts on line.  Whew!!!

You know what keeps me going?  You do!!  Each of you who read and comment; those of you who have become dear friends; the sharing of the art that you do and the techniques we all use - priceless!

When I began this blog I was heavily involved in beading and actually began it in conjunction with my enrollment in the Beaded Journal Project.  Soooo, how about a big giveaway of three beaded items from what seems like so long ago?

 "Man in the Moon" is a beaded three-dimensional piece which comes with a stand from which to hang him.  "Sonata" is another three-dimensional piece standing on her own stand.  "Twilight Path" is an encrusted bead stitchery which is mounted in a metal frame.

Please leave a comment below - this give-away is open to one and all - even if you've won a giveaway before feel free to throw your name in the hat!   Three names will be drawn Sunday the 19th with winners announced on August 20th.   Meanwhile thanks to all of you who have made this art journey so much fun.

"Things start out as hopes and end up as habits." - Lillian Hellman

Beading Extraordinaire

Is this not an exquisite piece of beading?

Recently I got to talking to my dental hygienist Gini Cagle.  Unbeknownst to me she has been a beader all of her adult life.  After many years of extensive and intricate beading she has switched her direction toward scrapbooking.  She showed me pictures of her elaborate and intricate bead designs and I just had to share them with you.

Gini worked a lot with bead weaving.  Her pieces were large and very detailed.  To see more of her work please check out BEADZ and go to the November 11, 2009 posting.  I know you'll love it!

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness". - John Keats

"Words" - December BJP

For the past eleven months I have reached into my word jar and pulled out a word from which I've created my BJP.  During this past year I have learned the meaning of words to which I've never given much thought.  I've tried to match beads and fibers and fabric to reflect the word that I was creating.

This month of December brought the end of the 2010 BJP and rather than choose one word, I decided to honor all words.  A word can mean many things to many people, it can bring sadness and happiness, confusion and enlightenment even war and peace.  I've realized over this past year that for the most part I don't even think about the words I'm using -- they just roll out of my mouth (hopefully after having passed through a thought process - but sadly not always) and end up floating around the room.  Do you ever sit in a room with a lot of people and imagine each word spoken to be a balloon which rises from the speaker and hovers over the room?  It gives a whole new image to the words we use, the words we hear and the words we write.

I'm thankful for this past year of beading.  I was inspired by the many other BJP beaders and their lovely creations.  My heart sung when I saw the intricate work and the amount of time that went into each and every piece. Thanks to all of you who shared your work this past year (and the years before) and now we'll look forward to seeing a whole new year of beautiful beadery.

"I was reading the dictionary.  I thought it was a poem about everything". - Steven Wright

Shopping for Ideas

I recently had a very fun day -- an out-and-about day wherein I had no schedule, no errands to run, no 'things' I had to find.  I just browsed among beads and ribbons, among jewelry findings and 'found' items, among buttons and fabric.  Sounds fun huh?  It was!

I feel like I'm in sort of a transition place right now.  I have no deadlines to meet so my mind is wandering around the world of 'what-if'.  What if I try to incorporate more of my 'old' book art techniques into the figure work that I'm doing these days?  What if I use more 'organic' beads and cut back on the 'glitz' that has become my work in recent months?  What if I try to incorporate more of those things I love (besides beads) into my work - things like fibers, ribbons, found objects. What if I try to make my work more: whimsical, mischevious, active, free, contemporary, and spirit filled? 

And so, as I browsed today I found some treasures for possible use.  Could I use these metal rings to encase faces?  And what kind of faces would I encase?  Could I use these 'keyholes' for something (perhaps as a face themselves or on the body of the figure)?  Can I lighten up the colors I use (see the beautiful light turquoise of the bird's eggs)?  Can I bring nature into my work (see the small wire bird)?  Oh I'm humming here...

Hope you'll travel along with me on this latest art journey -- it might take us awhile to get there, but it should be fun along the way.

"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving". - Lao Tsu

Time After Time

Here is my most recently beaded figure - 'Time After Time'.  As I had mentioned in a previous post -- the theme of 'time' was with me throughout the beading of this figure.  You know how it is if you decide you want to buy a red car and then you see red cars everywhere?  Well many times my beading themes create the same thing with me.  I was thinking 'time' often while beading this figure.  At one point I even got into a discussion of quantum physics with the young man bagging my groceries - not that either of us seemed to know much about it - but we both agreed it has the most interesting and exciting possibilities. 

As my beading has progressed I find that other than my monthly BJP piece I am working exclusively on figures.  Most of the figures I've made so far are mounted on a stand using doweling.  I decided that I wanted to branch out and come up with some new-to-me and perhaps even unusual staging for my new pieces.  Thus the figure mounted on the clock face.  When I went to glue it to the clock I was full of trepidation -- wondering if it would actually stay on.  I was so scared that it wouldn’t hold. Once dry I decided to hang it on the bedroom wall – because of course its going to hold as long as its laying flat – but the test is to have it hanging. I woke up really early the next morning thinking I’d heard it fall and lay there in the dark imagining the beaded piece laying on the floor – having left the clock face behind. When I finally opened my eyes to daylight she was right where she should be, in the middle of the clock face. (If you'd like to see a close up of her face, please check out my posting of May 25th).

And now I'm off to start my next figure --

"What then is time? If no one asks me, I know what it is. If I wish to explain it to him who asks, I do not know". - Saint Augustine 

Pattern and Texture

Pattern and texture -- two lovely words!  I'm always looking for them -- sometimes they are elusive and other times they are right in front of me.  In my own work the use of beads lends itself to both pattern and texture, for me those two words are what its all about.

And so when I'm out and about my eyes and mind are constantly trying to see the designs that appear in the natural world.  We can make our own, but what a treasure it is when I find them developed by nature in all of its forms.

As we flew home from Nevada, one of the legs of the trip took us to Los Angeles.  When I first saw the plane we were to fly in and realized that it had propellers (yikes!) it bothered me. Apparently it was a turbo prop rather than the more commonly used jets.  But I was thrilled as it rose into the air because the plane stayed at a low enough elevation that we could see the ground throughout the whole trip.  And what a show it was!!  We flew alongside the Sierra's - seeing Lake Tahoe from the air, seeing what looked like hidden lakes placed hither and yon among those massive peaks.  We saw patterns galore, great rocky crags pushing up into the sky; large expanses of snow still on those peaks into June; shades of brown and green and of course the blue sky through which we flew.  If only my camera could have captured it through those small, blurry airplane windows.  But alas it lives only in my mind's eye. 

And so, once again I am home - amongst beads and thread and needle - ready to capture my own pattern and texture.  I will never, ever be able to compete with Mother Nature (nor would I want to) but in my own small way I'll give it a good try.

"All art is but imitation of nature". - Lucius Anneaus Seneca

Time On My Hands

As you can see above, I've got 'time on my hands' these days and working on this piece has brought all sorts of thoughts to the surface of my mind and spirit.  'Time' as a subject for artwork is quite common and I think it must be because it is such an elusive concept.  One day may seem to last forever and the next flies by almost before it started. 

I have a love-hate relationship with my own personal time.  I tend to wake up in the morning with thoughts of 'laying out' my day.  Before my eyes are even fully open I begin to think in terms of time, sometimes even hours ("before noon I'd like to walk and clean the kitchen" or "wonder if I can get my shopping finished before 2 so that I can have some time for beading").  But then, I resent those thoughts.  I'm retired and I'm not supposed to be putting my daily schedule into hourly increments.  That kind of thinking was 'required' when I rushed out to work each day.  After all, from the moment we enter childhood our lives seem to be proscribed by time guidelines (school starts at 8 - mustn't be tardy).  I suppose it would be total chaos if businesses and offices and factories were operated on an 'as will' basis.  Didn't wake up until 10, that's okay, just wander into your workplace at any time you please, as long as the work gets done.  Sounds idyllic doesn't it? So here I am, without an office to go to -- I am my own boss -- and still the boss in me expects that I do such and such at this time and finish this and that at that time. 

BUT, there is hope!  While I bead I think nothing of time -- I try to separate myself from everything else but the work in front of me.  My hands are moving, my mind is dreaming and I am really and truly 'not of this world'.  As I ponder 'time' I think that creating something from nothing with your hands is our human answer to the boundaries of time.  For that moment we are lost in a timeless world and it is enchanting and delightful.

"Clocks slay time... time is dead as long as it is being clicked off by little wheels; only when the clock stops does time come to life". - William Faulkner

A Bead Journal

Awhile back, after I had finished up a couple of beaded figures, I decided to try to keep a working journal for this type of beading. I do keep a personal journal of sorts – trying to write each day of the thoughts and events that make up my life. A bead journal would help me to keep track of specific beaded pieces and how they were created.

I began the journal with my first figure “Desert Dreamer” and have maintained it through the most recently completed figure “Carnival”. It's been fun to keep track of start and finish dates, to document stitches used and formats tried.

I’ve been able to include ‘the good, the bad and the ugly’ as I worked through a design challenge or a bead challenge or just about anything ‘beady’ that occurred while working on each figure.

In trying to put a bit of my own spirit into each beaded figure that I create, it helps to write down my thoughts and take pictures of the process as I go along.


Do you do this? Do you document your work in any way? I’d love to hear about it if you do.

“Doing the work points the way to new and better work to be done.” - Julia Cameron 

"How Can I Keep From Singing?"

In the far off land of Somalia there is a decree that no music can be played on the radio stations.  I have heard of other countries making this decree - no music.  How can that be?  How is that possible?  Music is the language of the soul. Not only do we create it ourselves, but It fills our natural world through whale song and birdsong, wind blowing in the trees and frogs croaking in my pond. 

The instruments that bring forth musical sounds are carefully created and revered.  Wood of the finest kind is shaped into a violin or a guitar, strings are skillfully crafted to bring forth the purest of notes.  Music comes so naturally to us -- as a mother sings softly to her newborn baby, as that baby hears notes and moves his/her body in the rhythm, as we pass through phases of our lives when the local radio station and its musical choice is our connection to the world. When my son was a teenager we had to relocate.  The first question he asked (in a very forlorn voice) was "will there be a radio station there that plays 'my' music?" 

My music choice for beading is usually classical, coming from my local public radio station.  There are also times when I pull out my favorite cds -- everything from Enya and Il Divo to The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel (am I dating myself?).  If I could not hear music performed by others I would have to sing by myself -- I would have to lift my less than adequate voice to the skies and sing my heart out.

One day, when we were on a trail in the woods which led to a waterfall two women passed us by.  As we walked away from the waterfall (which is set back in an mini-ampetheater type setting) one of the women stood under the waterfall and sang. Her lovely voice floating out into the forest. 

To forbid music in a society is like telling everyone they can only breathe for ten minutes a day - it is impossible.  Today as you hum along to your favorite music do it for those who cannot, do it for yourself and love every minute of it.

 

"My life goes on in endless song

above earth's lamentations

I hear the real, though far-off hymn

that heals a new creation.

Through all the tumult and the strife

I hear it's music ringing

It sounds an echo to my soul

How can I keep from singing?

When tyrants tremble in their fear

and hear their death knell ringing

when friends rejoice both far and near

how can I keep from singing?

In prison and dungeon vile

our thoughts to them are winging

when friends by shame are undefiled

how can I keep from singing?"

Enya

Face Forward

For the past few days I've been playing with faces.  So far, with all of my figure work I have used purchased faces - or cabochons - or buttons.  I thought it might be fun to try to work up some faces from scratch, using my own fingers and imagination to create the personality that a face can give.  My thought was to try several different types of face techniques, not trying to make the 'perfect' one the first time around, but to experiment with as many techniques as I could come up with.

How about a beaded face?  Having gotten the pattern and directions from Anne Hesse I decided to dive right in.  The figures I create are much smaller than her patterns so I've had to improvise - but then that's what its all about isn't it?  When I try something new I first concentrate on the skills.  It can take quite awhile or a short time, depending on what I'm doing, but once I've mastered (to my satisfaction) the 'how to do it' I can then let my spirit and imagination loose.  That's when the real fun begins. 

Another thought was to 'sculpt' the face. Once again I was challenged by the size of my figures -- whereas most 'patterns' are for faces at least 2-1/2" in diameter I have to downsize directions for sizes around 1-1/4".  Quite a difference in what a person can do in the smaller sizes.  My first 'tests' had only sculpted noses - and then I got the idea of painting the fabric.   Perhaps I could paint the fabric, then antique it or 'crackle' it and finally finish it off with a wax finish? 

Or how about an embroidered face.  How much embroidery detail can I put in these small spaces?  How can I create a face using the tiniest of stitches?  These are all questions that I ask myself as I stick needle into fabric.

What fun to have the time and inclination to try all of these new-to-me techniques and to not know where it will end up.  But if I'm successful with any of them I'm sure you'll eventually see one or two here...

"In oneself lies the whole world and if you know how to look and learn, the door is there and the key is in your hand. Nobody on earth can give you either". - Jiddu Krishnamurti

April BJP - "Converge"

When I first pulled the word 'converge' out of my word jar I had no idea what I would do with it and really had never even thought about the word.  I'm thinking that some little 'dictionary' fairy has gotten into the jar and added a few words of her own - just to surprise me.  If so, this would have been one of them.

Converge: to tend to meet in a point or line, incline toward each other, as lines which are not parallel 2) to tend to a common result, conclusion, etc.  This is not a word most of us use every day (or every month or even once a year) but as I beaded and pondered the meaning of the word I began to realize that while I may not ever use this word I certainly tend to 'live' it.  And I'll bet most of you do too.  Well, I know my fellow BJPers do -- we come together through the internet and then we each prepare a beaded piece to represent our lives, thoughts, dreams and wishes and share these pieces and this work with each other.  We converge!! 

I am currently working on a major contemporary craft show to be held in a couple of weeks.  I'm doing this with my InspiredArts Guild.  There are ten of us who have 'converged' to meet, incline toward each other and bring a common result or conclusion. Now how coincidental is that with my April BJP???? 

P.S.: If you look very closely (or as closely as my inadequate photography allows) you will see the word 'converge' underneath a triangular shaped glass bead. 

"Try hard to find out what you're good at and what your passions are, and where the two converge, and build your life around that". -- Joshua Lederberg

A Studio Clean-up

Once in awhile the whole thing gets away from me and it is time to heed those dreaded words 'clean the studio'.  I can happily report that my studio stays a lot neater in my life as a 'beader' than it did when I was working with book art -- BUT how those beads can get out of hand!!!  Then there are those 'things' that I've saved because someday I might use them.  I'm not a big saver or collector so I have to put on my 'art hat' the one that tells me 'don't just throw everything out'.  There is a 'law of disposal' you know -- that as soon as you get rid of it, you need it!!  I've been known to donate something to the thrift store and then go back and buy it back a week later (hoping its still there).

And so, with spring outside it was time for a clean sweep.  I went through each container of beads, I put all the colors together on shelves, I bought new plastic canisters to add to my collection. Note: the above picture is only a 'fraction' of my bead collection *smile*.


I love those decorated boxes that you can buy, I have LOTS of them - but I can't continue to stuff things into them, until their lids won't close anymore - so the lids came off and I sorted and folded and reorganized.  The fun thing about this is that I found items I had forgotten that I had.  Several of these came to rest on my worktable so that I can use them in something yet unplanned.

Now, you ask - did you also 'clean' your worktable?  Well, no -- I mean its 'sort of' organized - but I MUST leave things strewn hither and yon - bits and pieces of flotsam and jetsom to inspire me.  I love to stop a beading piece and just run my fingers through cabochons that are sitting in a bowl, or pick up the feather and shell that sit in another bowl.  No sterile work table for me.  But hey, I can now pick out beads from their color grouping without having to sort and sort and sort.  So that's enough progress for this spring -- after all there's always time to clean but right now I have to get back to beading.

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries". - A.A. Milne

Emerging Growth

This is the time of the year for emerging growth -- everything, everywhere is budding.  The spring green almost hurts my eyes - in a pleasant way of course.  The secret for the viewer at this time of the year is to look carefully for the new buds.   A slight touch of red on the azalea bushes promise flowers to come.  Our yard is filled with native plants -- they are often small and quiet.  One has to catch these early blooms as they unfold through the leafy undergrowth for these small plants are sometimes reluctant to show themselves.  It is a matter of walking and looking and seeing -- and what a reward there is at this time of the year.

As I am inclined to do - I measure this same looking and seeing and emerging to art.  While the quiet, sometimes weather imposed isolation of winter, can give me time to create - this is the time of the year when I want to try to recreate the beauty that I see outside using needle, thread and beads.  Even if I'm not making something nature related, I feel that emergence into life move through my fingers. The biggest challenge I have is that it is far more appealing to wander through the woods in this springtime than to sit in my studio and bead.  But if I feel that I'm spending too much time outdoors I remind myself that spring, as with all the other seasons, is fleeting and I only have today to enjoy it.

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom" -

Anais Nin

"Carnival"

How many chances do we get to celebrate life?  I think that we have new chances each and every day -- and so I've created this fellow to remind me to fill my life with joy and laughter, love and 'glitter'!  To put a sparkle in each day, to catch the light just right, to gather beauty in all forms cradling and nuturing it within my hands. 

Embellishing this figure was labor intensive - but sometimes that's what life is all about, putting that extra labor into whatever it is we're doing.  Sometimes he didn't seem like a celebration to me at all because it was so difficult to work with these small arms and to deal with legs that seemed to go every which way.  But when its hard, the reward is so much greater.

"Happiness is the absence of striving for happiness" - Chuang Tzu

A Magazine-aholic!

I have to admit that I am (and always have been) a 'magazine-aholic'.  Is there such a word?  If there is, I am it!  I cannot resist a magazine.  As a child we used to visit my cousin's house on Sunday afternoons.  He was an only child and got to buy any comic book he wanted.  I would find a corner and curl up with all of his comic books - coming out of my hole only to have dinner with everyone.  As a young teenager we would visit one of my grandmothers.  She lived in a wonderful old California house - Spanish style with nooks and crannies and rooms that didn't seem to have any purpose at all.  She also had a huge selection of "Life" magazines. These were the original "Life" magazine with photos that took your breath away and that opened the world to the reader.  You have to remember this was a long time ago - well before anyone had even heard the word 'Google' or 'news 24/7'.  I would find a niche, stack up a bunch of pillows and a bunch of magazines and be lost for the whole afternoon.  Then came late teenage years when I discovered "Seventeen" and "Glamour".  I dreamed over these - shared them with friends - planned my whole fall wardrobe based on that fabulously thick September issue.

As a young wife and mother I was an avid reader of "Good Housekeeping", "Woman's Day" and "Family Circle".  Recipes were clipped, beauty tips were followed and tips for cleaning, cooking and child rearing were pondered.

You could say that the current creative part of my life began because of a magazine.  That magazine was "Somerset Studio".  The first issue I picked up, quite a few years ago, had a theme of Alice in Wonderland and it certainly was a wonderland to me.  Here people, just like me, were creating marvelous, inspired pieces out of paper and paint and found objects. I was hooked!!  Also during this period I began to pour over "Cloth, Paper, Scissors" and "Quilting Arts" each of which showed me the manipulation of fabric in ways I'd never imagined before.

Now I am a beader -- and there are bead magazines galore out there.  Unfortunately for me there isn't much beaded embroidery shown, or discussed.  Sometimes I can get ideas for my work from jewelry pieces but for the most part, these days, I get my inspiration from books instead of magazines. The magazine I now turn to is "American Crafter".  Not that they have much of anything regarding beads - but I'm trying to train my mind to see future beaded pieces by looking at a particular piece of pottery that appeals to me, or a figure, or a tapestry.  I try to translate what I see into bead form - almost as if I was translating from one language to another.  It isn't quite as satisfying as curling up with magazines strewn hither and yon and me in the center - but for now it will have to do.

"The world is but a canvas to the imagination". - Henry David Thoreau

Old Friends

These two old friends occupy the very tip top of the corner cabinet in my studio.  They are leftovers (please don't tell them I called them lefovers!) from my 'art doll' days. 

A long time ago (or so it seems to me) I began making cloth dolls in the 'primitive' style.  As time went on and I learned about the world of 'art dolls' I switched gears and explored art dolls using found objects.  Thus the dolls that you see above.  Made using Altoid tins, paper covered straws, a little polymer clay and bits and pieces of oddities these dolls came to life - looking totally lost among the tea-dyed primitive dolls.  But they were fun to make and fun to show.

As I delved more into art dolls I found that decoupaged paper could be used over plain cloth bodies to make a finish that looked almost varnished.  Once I used fabric as a base I moved on to using fabric as the whole doll, skipping the paper covered fabric.  For several years I had fabric dolls hanging all over the place - and soon they went to shows and were adopted by visitors passing my booth.

Just before our move to western North Carolina I became enamored with book art - and spent five years making books as an art form.  Using paper and fabric and found objects and decorative beading and well, the list goes on an on, I became a book artist.

Through book arts I discovered beaded embroidery, especially encrusted beading and once again my focus switched.  I became passionate about bead work. Beginning with beaded abstract pictures I soon found myself trying my hand at jewelry and sculptured beading and the more I beaded the more I loved it. 

And then...yes back to figures.  I had made an abstract picture and wondered if I could use the same shape, making a back and front to create a figure.  The rest is history! I had come full circle back to 'dolls'.  I'm not sure why I always gravitate to figure work but I seem to find it endlessly facscinating.  

These days, my friends from long ago look down on me from their perch and wait to be introduced to the next figure that will appear from my hands.  Hopefully the glittery beads, elegant faces and detailed beaded stiches won't make my old friends too envious!

"Trust that little voice in your head that says "Wouldn't it be interesting if..."; And then do it." Duane Michals

What's It All About?

As the creative side of my personality has tried to burst through during my lifetime I always pictured myself with ideas and thoughts whirling like dervishes in my brain – then the picture transfers to my hands bringing these ideas to life – almost like magic. Hmmm – in the ‘real’ world my art life doesn’t quite play out like that.

I do have the ideas whirling in my head, but not all the time, sometimes it is an effort to search them out – like they have been put into a cupboard and I have to first find the cupboard and then remove all the cans and bottles that are stored there before finding this little idea crouching in the back corner.

Once I have the idea the ‘work’ part of the process surfaces. I often think that people viewing a piece of art have the concept (at least in the back of their mind) that the artist just thought up the idea and slapdash it was a finished piece. In reality, art is WORK!  It takes time and skill and patience and effort.

While I would love to be able to create my work ethereally – just sit down, stitch beads and say voila – it doesn’t work that way. Developing the skill to be able to not only stitch beads in place (so that they stay there) but to expand my knowledge with each piece is part of the joy of having the idea to begin with. I guess in some ways I’m more a craftsman than an artist. I love to try new stitches, to see what colors work with what other colors, to figure out how to stitch a figure design so that it conveys the whole original concept. In other words - I love the 'process' as much as I love the original concept. To put beads on and take them off when they don’t work - to start with one color only to find that it doesn’t please me or convey the design I had in mind – these are challenges that I gladly accept.

There is a passion to being a ‘working artist’ that greets me each day and I guess truly that is 'what it is all about’.

"The days you work are the best days." - Georgia O'Keefe

Breathe - March BJP

Taking a deep breath - I present 'Breathe' - my March BJP.  I had much joy working on this month's 'bookmark'.  As March came into being I put February and all its ups and downs behind me.  Of course it helped that except for one large, wet snow on March 2nd our weather has been mild.  It helped that the temperatures were not in the 20's (or below) and that I have been able to get out and walk most days.  It helped that the sun greeted me through my studio window more mornings than not.

As I read the definitions for 'breathe' numbers 3 and 5 in my dictionary spoke to me most clearly:  breathe to live; exist - and breathe to pause, as for breath; take rest.  What gremlin put that particular word into my hand when I reached into the jar toward the end of February?  I thank him/her as this was a much needed word!

Because of the onset of spring the various shades of green that greet us when we step outdoors (or that sit above my work table in the shape of beads) had to be used.  As I worked on this piece my mind took me into the woods of the mountains here in western North Carolina -- on paths that I've walked many times and on new paths as yet undiscovered by me. 

One of my beading quests this year has been to learn new-to-me stitches.  For this project I utilized the following stitches:  backstitch, chain stitch, peyote, half pekinese, moss stitch, shaded satin stitch.  Who knew so many different types of stitches could be placed on such a small piece of work!

"Breathe.  Allow yourself the luxury of doing nothing for a moment, or an hour, or even a day.  It is in emptiness that inspiration will happen." - Carol Katchen

Heart and Soul

What is the secret Ingredient? So you have these beads and this fabric upon which to put them and you stitch and stitch being as careful as possible and you learn a new stitch for this project and you look at it and what do you think?  Hey, I did it!!  Hey, I did a good job!! Hey - what does it mean? And that last one is the question I constantly ask myself.  At first the beading itself was the challenge - since I had very little experience with it and absolutely none with encrusted beading.  As I've learned and practiced and taken off and put back on I've discovered something else.  The secret ingredient is 'spirit'!  To have a lasting quality, to feel really good about an embroidered piece, something of my spirit has to enter into it.  If I look at the work of others (please check out the links on the side of my blog) I know that what draws me to their work is the heart and soul that goes into each piece.  Each has beautiful skills - but the depth of the work is what draws me.  For me, to look at their work is to get into their hearts because they have obviously laid them open for all to see.  And that is what I long to do with my work.  Working with abstract pictures and figures I am more able to drop a bit of myself right smack dab into the middle of each piece.  Because creating a beaded piece is a 'slow' art it lends itself to being a 'real' part of me.  The time that it takes may encompass days when I feel joyful and days when I feel sad -- the colors, the stitches, the design all say 'deep down, this is who I am'.  Everyday I thank each of you who are out there wearing your heart on your sleeve by putting it into your chosen art form.  This is not an easy thing to do but it can be so rewarding.  Its that huge leap from craft to art. 

"When you do things from the soul you feel a river moving in you, a joy". - Rumi

Underneath It All

A question from one of the BJP participants got me thinking about the 'bead prep' that I do for each piece.  As we all know, in life, a good foundation is one of the keys to success -- and so as I learned beading and what worked for me the base of the piece became very important.  Its easy to forget it when you are 'itching to start stitching'. 

There are many techniques and materials that beaders use  -- and not being very familiar with all of them I'll just explain my process. 

First of all there is the determination of what I am going to bead.  I'll use an example of a picture but I also use the same technique for figure work. 

Once I have created the design I make a template out of cardstock.  I trace around the template onto Pellon (or Pellon-like) interfacing.  When choosing the weight of the interfacing I look for a 'midweight'.  A heavier weight is good for pictures but for figures (which will have to 'give' when stuffed and curved) the medium weight works best.  Next I choose the fabric which will cover the interfacing.  Some beaders stitch directly to the interfacing but I like to put cotton over it as I think my needle goes in an out with greater ease. I use regular cotton fabric (fat quarters are great for this).  I try to choose my fabric color based on the bead color family that I have chosen.  However if it is a light colored work I can just use a neutral color.  Because I'm encrusting, the fabric shouldn't show through - but if you want to do some special stitch along the way and the fabric may show through a color that blends with the beads is best.

Using Misty Fuse (love this stuff) I fuse the fabric to the front of each piece of interfacing.  Once the fabric is fused to the interfacing I cut around the fabric leaving about a quarter inch out from the edge.  Then I clip and turn the fabric over the edges basting it down.  This is not absolutely necessary for pictures but for figures I've found it works well to fold the fabric over since there can be many curves and smaller sections like arms and legs and with hemmed edges I know exactly where my edges are.   

That completes the prep work -- and I have to say it feels really good to see that blank canvas sitting there all ready for me to start beading. 

"The loftier the building, the deeper must the foundation be laid." -- Thomas Kempis