Breaking Blocks with the Back Catalog

Every beadmaker gets bead block once in a while. Many times, I will sit down at the torch and just draw a blank. Sometimes making a few spacers is enough to spur my imagination into action but other times, the ideas refuse to come.

When suffering from a particularly stubborn case of bead block, I will often leaf through the pages of my back catalog. I have obsessively photographed nearly everything I’ve ever produced at the torch so I have a complete record of all my past beads. I find it inspiring to go back and revisit a design I did a couple years back and apply my current skills to it. I am usually thrilled with how much better the beads look and how much easier they were for me to make.

In the process of copying myself, I often find myself spring-boarded in a new direction and excited by the process of making beads again.

Sometimes, I will take an idea from one set, a color scheme from another and the bead shapes from a third to combine and make a whole new set of beads. Those sets will inevitably be so different from the originals that it would be difficult to see how they are derivatives of them.

Ideas come from all over and when your brain is inundated with too many of them, creativity gets blocked. Copying myself allows me a place to start. It eliminates the dreaded “blank paper” syndrome that artists fear. One bead leads to another and another and suddenly a new pathway is revealed and a new voyage begins.

Assembly Part 2 - Just Do It!

The comments and a couple private emails on my first entry about my assembly style made me realize how intimidating some people find the process of design and assembly. This is a shame because the comments/emails were all sent by people I know for a fact are tremendously creative. Therefore, part 2 is going to be a bit of a pep talk along with a few ‘rules’ I have come up with along the way.

1 - Don’t be afraid, beads don’t bite.

You can do pretty much anything you want with beads. You may be the only person who likes it but as long as you are happy who cares what anyone else thinks of it? Jewelry is so subjective that no one can ever tell what will or will not sell.

2 - Stringing or other Assembly techniques are not permanent.

If you make a piece of jewelry and don’t like it, redo it. Stringing a bead is not a permanent commitment. Nothing says that you cannot take your piece apart and redo it if you don’t like it. The necklace in this picture was taken apart about 10 times before I came up with a design I liked.

3 - Symmetry, Take it or Leave it.

Symmetrical or pattern based pieces can be quite lovely, but don’t be caught up in the trap that says all pieces must be symmetrical. As long as a piece you are working on is properly weighted so that it hangs properly the rules of symmetry can be tossed out the window. Try using a pretty clasp as a focal point, group a few focal beads together in one section but don’t have an identical cluster on the other side. Here is a picture of a necklace I made where I decided the clasp shouldn’t stay in back.

In this picture you can see the cluster of lampwork with no corresponding cluster on the other side.

4 - Experiment with different sized beads and uses for the beads.

Just because your focal bead or the bead set you are using in your piece is a certain size don’t be afraid to use other beads that are wildly different in size from your focal pieces. Seed Beads can be great with lampwork despite the vast difference in size.

5 - Experiment with wild colors.

Just because your focal bead is one color doesn’t mean the accent beads have to be shades of that color. The necklace I posted in the first Assembly entry had a teal focal, and yes, some of the seed beads were teal, but I also had cobalt, light blue, and emerald green in the necklace. The colors didn’t match, but they did coordinate into a harmonious whole. If you missed that post you can see it here, complete with the picture of the necklace.

6 - Experiment with fibers.

This is one I haven’t used yet but I plan to. There are so many cute eyelash yarns, silk ribbons, and other fibers available now there is no reason not to add them to your work. These fibers will add not only an interesting visual component but a textural one as well.

And last but not least, the most important rule of all.

7 - THERE ARE NO RULES!!!

What I just typed is what works for ME. If you find that you wildly disagree with one of my rules, or it just doesn’t work for you then toss it out the window. Not only is jewelry making subjective for the buyer but it is also subjective for the maker. If you take nothing else from this post I want you to take away one thing. Just Do It! As long as when you complete the piece it doesn’t fall apart and you are happy about it then you have done it right. There is really no wrong way to create jewelry.

Now get up from your computer and go make something. Don’t forget to let me see what you have done.

Heather blogs from her studio in Wisconsin. If you would like to see more of her work check out her site at www.squareonebeads.com.

Twisties and Stringers…

Recently I’ve been having fun playing with twisties and stringers. I used to avoid them because I just couldn’t find the right spot in my flame. But a few months ago I decided to give them another try. Funny… even though I’ve been making beads for over five years now I still consider myself a newbie. And it always surprises me when I realize that I have enough control to use techniques that used to escape me!

It’s fun to play with bright colors and twist reactive glass together. I’m not always sure what the outcome will be but I usually like what happens! Now that I’ve added these techniques to my repertoire I’m trying to decide what to try next. I think it might have to be some new off mandrel work… See you soon!

Nancy Sells Puffer is a lampwork bead/jewelry artist from Grand Rapids, MI. Check out her very own blog here and visit her website at www.nancysellsglass.com

Introduction: Lori Peterson (Loribeads)

Helloooooo! My name is Lori Peterson - AKA loribeads - and I’ve been making beads since January of 2002.

I’ve taken a couple classes, early on in my beadmaking career but, for the most part, I have learned through trial and error and lots of practice. Every moment at the torch is time well spent and there is no wasted glass. There, now that the formalities are out of the way, I can delve into the question at hand….

Who am I?

I can honestly say that, after 40 years on the planet, I finally have a pretty good idea of the answer to that question. I could go on and on about my daughter, my dog, my husband, my friends, etc. etc. etc. until you all lose interest and quickly click away but I promise I won’t! I want to use this platform for talking about what I am selfishly passionate about and that, my friends, is beads.

I am a beadmaker.

I love making beads, I love looking at beads, and I love talking about beads. I started out wanting to make sculptural, cute, sweet, little beads, and, for the most part, that’s what I make.

I had a vision and I am happy to say that I have honed my skills all these years to realize it. I am happy with my beads and my beads make me happy! I feel pretty lucky in that respect. There are always new avenues to explore, though. I have many, many things yet to try and many ideas that have yet to come to fruition.

Over the years, I have learned a few things about making beads and also about how to market them, mostly through trial and error. Generally, I learn most things through trial and error. I have garnished a wealth of information from fellow beadmaking friends and colleagues, also. I’ve learned to look at the world through a color wheel of glass rods, noticing color combinations that work.

I hope to share with you my process for creating and how I get ideas for making beads. I am really excited to have this opportunity!

Inspiration. Using Others’ Work to be Yourself?

Bright color inspires me. One color gradating into another. Fantasy-like stuff. Complimentary secondary color combinations.

All of these are very interesting to me because I feel most comfortable working with earth tone and earthy forms. You would think that I’m inspired by nature. But I’m not.

Any idea what that’s about? Sometimes I wonder if my brain is backwards. No comments from the peanut gallery. If you know me you know that I have a backwards sense of direction. Exact backwards. If I walk out of someplace to go to my parked car I turn the opposite way. The exact opposite. So, reasoning would tell you that I know exactly where to go…the way opposite of where I want to go. Hm.

Anyway, here is a picture of some magazine clippings that are taped above my workspace:

While it doesn’t look anything like my work, or the colors I use, it surely represents my personality.

 

I have tried and tried to do work that generates the same feel of these images (and those of brightly colored silk paintings) and am always disappointed. Sometimes I wonder if I should just enjoy what I see here and keep going on with what I do (earth tones, pods, structured organics) or if this is something that I need to push through and conquer.

 

I think we all know the answer to that, right? Be myself. ::sigh::

Lori Greenberg blogs about beads and the business of beads from her studio in Cave Creek, Arizona. You can see more of her beads at her web site: www.lorigreenberg.com.