I guess I'm one of the lucky ones... I really have no problem finding inspiration for the things I create. In fact, I have an overload of inspiration -- there's nature all around me, I have books and magazines galore, and I have oodles and oodles of beads at hand.
Among some of those oodles and oodles of beads is a MASSIVE collection of polymer clay goodness from my friend and fellow member of Bead Art Originals, Ddee Wilder (aka Malodora). Last year Dee released some of her creations into the wild (okay, she filled big boxes full of them and sold them on eBay), and I captured some of them.
It was while I was sorting through some of those beads, looking for something completely different, that I happened upon a collection of beads that share the same colors; and because they were all different shapes and sizes, I thought they'd make for a neat addition to a rather plain bead crochet rope. The rope is mostly white, but I added a sprinkling of transparent purple beads. And then the fun began as I added Ddee's beads to either end of the lariat.
This piece is called Sugarplum Fairy Dance, and even though sugarplums are typically thought of as a Christmas sort of thing, I just couldn't come up with a better name to describe this lariat. It truly does look like a dance, don't you think?
Another source of inspiration is the Bead Art Originals color mosaic challenge. Every two weeks the members of this team are challenged to create bead art using a photo as inspiration. The photos range from works of art, to photos of nature, to photos of fabrics; and our challenge is to create something using two or three of the colors from the photo.
The newest challenge was to create something using the colors from a painting called Let Me Tell You a Story, by an talented artist named Jeannie L. Paske.
The painting is from a series called Obsolete World, and I can say without reservation that I would love to own each and every painting in the collection.
I don't know what it is about them - the colors, the subject matter, or just the incredibly poignant imagery. But I think they're wonderful. (And I'm pretty sure I'm going to own several of these after we get our house built!)
My creation for the color mosaic challenge uses Czech glass beads in turquoise green with a picasso finish paired with some dark copper colored beads with a silky semi-matte finish. The bracelet is part of my Knot, Ready for Prime Time collection. Because the colors mimic the patina of aged copper, I've named this bracelet Weathered.
So, I'm curious. Where do you find inspiration?
I watch a LOT of TV. My justification for all the TV is that I use my TV time to do my beadweaving. I do a lot of beadweaving; hence, I watch a lot of TV. It's a vicious cycle. :-)
Unlike a lot of people, I don't have a studio or even a dedicated workspace for my beady work. I just camp out in my big comfy chair with my task light next to me, legs scrunched up underneath me in pretzel-like formation, and an old cutting board which acts as my work surface propped on my knees and the arm of the chair. Whatever works, right?
A couple of years ago I saw some catchy ads on TV about a website called hulu. And almost immediately, hulu became my friend. On it I could watch shows my husband doesn't like - science fiction, medical dramas, etc. And it was on hulu that I was first able to watch what is now one of my favorite shows, Bones.
Even though I'm a big fan of the show, I hadn't really paid all that much attention to the fashions on the show until one of my beadweaving friends pointed out to me all the striking necklaces sported by one of the show's main characters, Temperance "Bones" Brennan. She does have some style! There's even a flickr photostream dedicated to Bones' Necklaces.
So why am I babbling on about Bones? Well, because the Bead Art Originals team decided that we wanted to start doing challenges -- creating something for a particular theme to get our creative juices flowing. And the theme that was chosen by the last challenge winner (Darcy Horn, aka thejadedog) is a Bones-worthy necklace. The official name of the challenge (which I'm proud to say I thought of!) is No Bones About It. :-)
It was serendipitous for me that the details for this challenge were being talked about shortly after I received one of those ginormous boxes of polymer clay goodies from my friend and fellow BAO member DDee Wilder (aka Malodora). Mixed in with all the other goodies was a polymer clay cabochon that I determined would be PERFECT for the challenge.
What do you think? Would Temperance Brennan wear this? I think so. I even decided to name this piece Temperance.
Now it's time to go back to watching TV. And playing with my beads, of course.
Another Friday, another Fabulous Friday Finds post. I can tell these are going to be fun. And the good thing is that I'm not even having to look very hard to find fabulous stuff!
The first fabulous thing I want to show you is on flickr. Begun by Nina Dinoff, a talented jewelry designer, the Ring a Day challenge is without a doubt one of the most creative undertakings I've ever seen. One of my favorite artists, DDee Wilder (aka Malodora) is participating, and I freely admit to stalking her flickr feed to see her rings of the day every day.
One of my favorite rings of Nina's is this Shooting Gallery ring. What a hoot! She has some equally fabulous ones in her photostream, and it's only February!
And this one by my friend DDee is just wonderful:
Those are just a couple of the rings. There are LOTS of people participating in the challenge, and you won't believe what some of them have created. Check out the entire Ring a Day challenge pool HERE.That's not all I wanted to share for this Fabulous Friday. One of my beadweaving friends posted a link to Mary Harding's Etsy shop because she's having a fabulous Valentine's Day sale -- 40% off!! I've been ogling the creations in her shop all morning, and I think I'm going to grab a few goodies before they go away. Her ceramic pendants are gorgeous, with such detail and such surprising colors. Check this out:
Okay, it's time for me to have some latte and do a little beadweaving. Before I leave, let me remind you that you can still receive a 20% discount from my friend Doree (aka PinkQuartzMinerals) on some of her wonderful mineral makeup. Check out last week's Fabulous Friday Finds to see how.
AND... I'm still having a 3-for-2 pattern sale on all peyote patterns in my Etsy shop. I have 25 patterns listed and am working on getting more of them ready to publish, so if you have a particular favorite design that's not listed yet, let me know! The 3-for-2 sale goes through the end of February -- purchase two patterns and receive a third pattern of equal or lesser value FREE (leave the name of the third pattern in the Notes to Seller when you check out).
Happy Friday, everyone!! :-)
