A Different Kind of Reading

I was reading Susan E's blog and she mentioned listening to a book on tape. Lightbulb! That's how I can still read books and bead. Thanks, Susan, for planting the suggestion in my mind!

Reading

I love to read, always have. I love books, holding them, turning the pages, reading words that become stories. Ten years ago, when I did the Artist's Way, there was a week of not reading. I never thought I would be able to not read for a week. Much to my surprise, I found myself so productive in other areas that I didn't read for 6 months. I'm at a point now where I'm going to eliminate most reading from my daily life. I made a rough calendar of this year, and realized that if I want to accomplish my artistic goals, in addition to my regular work and responsibilities, something is going to have to be cut. So I will still keep a list of books I want to read, especially as favorite authors release new books, but will save them for later.

Among my favorite authors are Michael Connelly, Dennis Lehane, Susan Hill, Arnaldur Indridason, Aimee and David Thurlo, Margaret Coel, Steven Torres, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Louise Penny, Archer Mayor, Deborah Crombie, Elizabeth George, Peter Robinson, Charles Todd, Karin Slaughter, Donna Leon, Andrea Camilleri, and John Lescroart. As you can tell, I like mysteries.

Here's to making room for my art!

Use the Muse Contest

The Big Reveal (the focal piece) has been revealed, and if you click on the link to your right for the contest it will take you to the winners and galleries of submissions. My piece is above, it is a large (very large) brooch, which, alas, did not win any category, but was a lot of fun to make. There is a lot of fantastic bead work and artistry to see. Enjoy!

snowflake

For the last few days we've been getting snow flurries, although they haven't added up to anything. A tradition in my bead group is to make a snowflake in December. My snowflake is designed by Sandra Halpenny. I made it yellow and white, with gold firepolish beads so it would be bright and cheery. I have 3 snowflakes from previous years, maybe I'll take them down and photo them to post here. Also, on the day we make the snowflakes, people bring in treats to share, a cheese ball and crackers, candy, lemon cake...and we have a delightful afternoon before breaking for the holidays.

Winter is Here

There are two leaf pick-ups in Ann Arbor in the fall. Everyone rakes their leaves into the road and you can barely drive. Here is a pile of the leaves that the city trucks have picked up from our street. This was just a few weeks ago, and now the leaves are gone, and the snowflakes are coming down.

I am working extra hard not to be depressed with this transition in seasons. The gray skies really get me down. I already took one trip to AZ, where my family lives, for some sunshine. Over the years I have realized that taking a trip in November and February/March to a sunny climate really helps. It would even help if Michigan winters had some sun, because the temperature is not the issue, it's the sky. Expect to see some bjp on this, whose next season is coming up in January.

Bead Inspired

Above, bracelets without clasps.


I made this bracelet for my mother years ago. The plastic snaps have broken and the color on the leaves has faded off.


A pathetic snowflake and a herringbone experiment.


Thought I could make something out of this, but am now stuck on how to finish.



I don't believe this bracelet is supposed to twist and turn. In fact, it's supposed to lay nicely on your wrist with a bit of a curl, just a bit.


My tension is way off on the bracelet above. It's supposed to be flat and the herringbone is supposed to look braided. In fact, the thread snapped at one point.



This is supposed to be diagonal square stitch that automatically curls. Mine is straight as can be.



A peyote freeform idea for a bracelet. I just don't like it.



The title of my blog is "Bead Inspired," but lately I haven't had much inspiration. I've been working on a lot of various projects and am unhappy with most of them. Sometimes I have high expectations of how something will turn out, and I'm pretty disappointed when it doesn't. Depending on the project, I will pursue it further, or I may just throw it in one of my unfinished project bins.

One thing I am frustrated with this blog is that the pictures always are above my writing. I have no idea how to start writing above the pictures, even if I write first. So I always feel that I am going back in time, rather than moving forward.

With no further ado, I present a series of unfinished projects, above.

Use the Muse Contest

I don't know if we can show the "Muse" yet for the contest, so I'll show part of my project. This is only the top half of the piece. I bead embroidered on stiff stuff and then attached it to wool felt. For this contest I felt freer to use beads that were not in the kit, such as the yellow beads. The colors in the kit are not ones I would normally choose (actually, I would never choose them), so for me the challenge was two-fold, designing a piece for the contest, and using colors outside my normal palette.

Photo Thursday

There is a very nice group called Photo Thursday. Every Thursday a theme is suggested and people take photos related to the theme. Todays theme was Simple. There were photos of rocks in water, sunrises, a meadow, a boat on a lake. It's very fun to browse through these pictures. I haven't joined (yet) but I'm thinking about it. It's another way to see the world, literally, as people on the group come from all over.

Rotating Jewelry

I remember when my kids were young, we would rotate toys and books, so that just when the kids started to get bored, you could take a new group of items out and it would be like they were brand new. I had the idea to do that with my jewelry. I simply have too much, and I don't see it anymore. However, when I started sorting it out, I realized that I really do have too much-lots of class pieces, lots of pieces from magazines, or my exploration of a stitch. There are some beautiful pieces, as well as items I just don't like anymore, or that never quite fit right, or the color combos don't work.

Then I had a realization - the jewelry represents my learning curve in beading. I put almost all of it in bins, just kept a few pieces out that I really like. At first I was really depressed, because the jewelry represents years of work. Then I felt a sense of exhilaration, like I was ready to move on and develop my own style. It was a sense that now I can move into a different stage, using what I've learned, but making it mine. I've wanted to do this for a while but have been held back by fears - I'm not good enough, I can't design, I'm not really an artist - you know, all those stupid things our censor tells us. Well, I'm going to just swat that censor away and plow ahead.

Bead Retreat

My beading group's annual bead retreat was this past weekend. We had a wonderful time. For the last few years we have made our hostess, Donna, a gift. This year it was a denim jacket that we all took turns making bead embroidered flowers. Above you can see the back of the jacket.

Below is a detail from the left side of the jacket.


Another view of detail from the right side of the jacket.


Yes, it really is a bead retreat! Here are Donna, Kathie, and Hollie.

Laura made a beautiful freeform bracelet for her daughter.

One of the beading tables. A beadiful mess!
Everyone always brings more beads and projects than we can possibly do, but we are always so optimistic. I pulled all my beads out of the bags I brought up but haven't sorted through them yet - still want to hang on to the good feeling of spending time with friends, beading all day, staying up late talking, and just having a grand time.

Bead Journal Registration

Tomorrow is a big day. Besides the fact that I leave for my annual bead retreat with my bead group, REGISTRATION starts for the Bead Journal Project!!! Click on Registration to take you to the page to sign up. The project will start January 1, 2010. You've seen my bead pages, so hopefully you have an idea of the possibilities. If you want to see more examples, go to the gallery.


The Bead Journal Project is one of the nicest groups of people around. Everyone is friendly, helpful, supportive. The scope of topics that people bead about can be simple or profound, but the all reflect life, our lives, and because of that the meaning of the pages touches us all.



Come join us for friendship, beading, journaling, and more.

New Bracelets

I have new bracelets to share today. Above is the detail of the clasp from Marcia DeCoster's Rio Dulce bracelet. I started this one on the bead cruise last year and just finished it.....


Below is a crystal bracelet that I found in Bead and Button magazine from August 2009.


And the third bracelet is from a pattern from Bead Infinitum for a fringe bead, which I have strung with crystals and a rondelle.


Earlier today I met with a friend from high school - Harold, if you're reading this, I had a great visit. It was so nice to catch up and see how the years have treated us over time. I find that life, rather than being a horizontal path, is more like a spiral. It goes round, down, up, around again, it is circular, starting and stopping at different points. And, even with the down times, it is worth every minute, because it is what we have, and it is who we are.

Shana Tova

To all my friends, best wishes for for a happy, healthy, and sweet Rosh Hashana.

As I heard the announcer from the football stadium say today, you couldn't have painted a nicer day, and it's true. Today was the perfect day for the start of the new year, blue skies, slight wind, low 70s, the leaves starting to change colors. A time of transition, a time to reflect, a time to think about our place in the world, and how we can make it a safer and more peaceful place. Between memory and hope, the new year begins.

BJP Year 3

The Bead Journal Project is going to have year 3 starting in January, 2010!!!

To register, go to beadjournalproject.com/reg.htm

To see what participants have done, go to the member's gallery

No experience is necessary! Anyone can join as long as you create one visual journal piece each month that uses beads. You can also use other materials - fibers, quilting, collage, buttons, whatever appeals to you.

Come join us and embark on your own journaling experience.

August BJP Done!

Here is my last month of the BJP project, Hope. Hope is what keeps you going when all other avenues seem shut off. Hope is wishing to stay alive long enough to see your children grow up. Hope is wishing not for a cure, but for treatment that will keep you comfortable and functional. Hope changes constantly, but it never gives up.


Ann drove a 10 year old car 30 miles each way to dialysis because she believed that the director of the program had saved her life (this was a common belief of many patients, I learned). She raised 3 children, who were her pride and joy, and cleaned houses to earn money. Ann was the most generous person I ever met. She would stop if she saw a homeless person to make sure they got a meal or had a blanket. She had next to nothing herself, but she always considered herself more fortunate than others.



Ann had 2 sons and a daughter, Maria. Her hope was to see them graduate first high school and then college. At the time I met Ann, her daughter, Maria, was a college freshman. She often came over from her dorm to sit with her mother for the 3 hours of dialysis. I watched Maria grow up to be a lovely young woman, and I was privileged to be at her wedding and to share in the joy when her 2 daughters were born.




Faith was another dialysis patient whom I bonded with. She worked at the university, although it became increasingly more difficult to do so over the years. We used to have such lively conversations about anything and everything and we both shared a love of crafts.


Ann and Faith both died from health complications. Maria died when she was 32 from an aneurism caused by her kidney disease. A mariachi band played at her funeral. It's hard to be sad when a mariachi band plays, but it was also hard to be happy knowing she was so young and that her 2 children, who were her pride and joy, may never remember her.

From these incredible women, Ann, Maria, and Faith, I learned to never give up hope, and that while hope changes all the time, there is always something new to hope for.



(Thank you to Susan E. for blogging in a style that I have borrowed for this entry. You are an inspiration!)