Inspiration

Nothing would make me happier than a box of random stuff.

Something sparkly, something shiny, something soft, something fragrant… Nothing that you would go into a store for, nothing actually with a monetary worth, just something interesting to look at. I am a highly tactile person, I adore fuzzy stuff. I will play with a small sparkly object for hours on end. I can’t even wear my wedding ring and be able to drive safely out of a fear that a random sunbeam hits the damn thing and turns my Durango into a disco truck. Bits of ribbon are always fun, bags of tea, a random photo of pet or a teapot. Something in a triangle shape would be pretty cool. I love beads. I have a container of beads that I run my hands through just for the feeling of it. I hate balloons. Stickers would inevitably lead to hours of fun trying to stick them on husbeast. Rocks. Feathers. Buttons. Stuff of interest just laying around. All of the above, some of the above or no box at all, my favorite thing is inspiration, and that comes from the weirdest places for me.

The above block of text was a reply to a post about some knitting swap I had participated in on one of my online knitting communities years ago. The idea behind the thread that sparked my reply was a really nice one. Being that most knitters have been in the craft for years, most had unloved (unworn, unused, stuck in a box, never to see daylight) finished objects laying around, and wouldn't it be nice if someone wanted to claim the unloved and love it? The owner would post the unloved item and people would post back if they loved said item, and claim it. It was completely on the honor system, the claimer would often offer to pay postage, and sometimes send back little gifts if they so chose to do so. It was all often arranged in the thread in front of everyone that was reading, which was pretty cool. I ended up posting this little scarf I had made, it was a little cables and lace affair,  maybe 5 inches wide in color changing yarn in a ROY G BIV colorway. It was so very soft, and very vivid. I loved the little scarf but I never wore it. Once I finished it, It was banished to the box in the closet. It was claimed thirty seconds after I posted it. I only asked for finished object pictures of it, because I could not be bothered to wash and block the thing, and the picture I had on my projects page was an "in progress photo" Somewhere along the lines, the thread took a slight left turn and people discussed things they had received in the mail, and what kind of things they would like to receive. Queue my response above. It did derail the thread a little further and for a while I had mods contacting me asking if I would like to add my address to the mod's mailing list because people were wanting to send me boxes. The thread still lives to this day and every few days someone posts something new looking for a home.

The community and their thread (however lovely it was to be a part of it) is not the thought that spurred this post. It's that box. That description of that box.  For some reason, all my life, I have loved those shiny little beads. Even now, I can go online and search for hours, without a dime to my name for beads I will never use. I do this at least once a week. I end up with open tabs containing Etsy and Fire Mountain, and Beadaholique and all kinds of different tiny shops with shopping carts full of hundreds of dollars of shiny glass. I still run my hands through that container of beads. I recently was very excited to learn that it was referred to as a "bead soup". Now that I am becoming more aware of differences in quality of beads, I find myself researching more and more. The more I look, the more ideas I get just from seeing the hues and finishes on just seed beads. Forget about crystal, that is a whole different arena of sparkle. Weird inspiration is good, really, its fine, it is fine, but being able to catch that glimmer of idea just from your materials? That is golden.

Equinox: A Work in Progress

I have this obsession with black and white. I like the starkness, I like the metaphor. I had a handful of large white and black glass stones glued to fabric, waiting to be worked on, because when I originally started beading, I saw those stones, and knew that someday I would want to make something out of them, but more immediate projects prevailed and those stones got set to the side, all but forgotten. While cleaning out my sewing kit, I ran across an onyx heart that I had kept for years. Just like that, those stones I laid aside had a new playmate.

With the frustration of using the nylon thread fresh in my head, I waited until I could take a trip to my local beading store and pick up some Fireline. I want to create a piece that I would not mind selling. I was a lot happier with the resulting bezels after using the Fireline, but the beads are still not where I want them to be.

So I had all these components, but no clear idea on what I wanted to do with them. Four white stones, three black, and the black onyx heart.The color combinations were not making me happy at all. I tried to add an AB blue to the whole mix. Was not working. Just straight black and white looked to plain. Looking at the stones I kept seeing the moon in new and full phases, and I kept thinking it needs stars. But what color are stars?? Gold was too warm, and I had no silver. I started thinking again about the Million points of light necklace. When I started that project I bought plate warmers in black, and used them as beading trays. When the clear beads were on that plate warmer, they looked like tiny diamonds. I used them to finish the last two rows of my bezel, and finally the colors were in place.

 I bezzeled all the stones, but I was left with this heart, and it was an irregularly shaped heart at that. The back of the heart is not flat, so gluing it to fabric did not seem like a prudent idea.  I had originally planned an open backed bezel. I'd read about starting the bezel with right angle weave and wanted to try it. I am glad I did. All the frustrations of trying to guess that magic number of  starting beads became completely unnecessary, as did the multiple restarts that technique required. After starting it was just a lot of trying to figure out where to increase and where to decrease.

As I worked the back of this bezel, I noticed that the tension on the back helped the irregularities in the front. I ended up just doing a beaded back. There is definitely a bit of wonkiness to the heart, but examining the other pieces, I saw that they had the same type of irregularity. I blame the beads. In fact as I started working on embellishing the other stones, that issue seemed to work itself out.If you closely examine the ones that are done and the ones yet to be done in the picture below you can see an example of what I am describing as "wonkiness".

I still had no clear idea of what I wanted to do with these stones after completing the heart's bezel. I knew I wanted to tie in the heart shape of the onyx stone So I started playing with different lengths of very tight fringe all the way around one of the round stones. there is no movement at all involved with the fringe. They are more like spikes. They give a little, but do not move on their own. As I played, I realized that I could make a suggestion of a heart using the fringe. After 4 layers of fringe, and some embellishment, I ended up with these components below, in various states of completion.

                           

It is about at this point that I ended up running out of  my Fireline. I have not had a chance to pick any more up yet so this project is kinda on the sideline, waiting.  A close up of one of each of the black and white hearts:

The new fireline I got is white, I am thinking about taking the fringe off the white stone, and using all white line on the set of white cabs.

The most notable thing about this necklace so far is that every time I end up finishing one of the components, I end up rearranging what the final configuration will be. This necklace has morphed and grown almost like it has a mind of it's own. Every time I think I have at last got the final layout done, something changes. I can't wait to finish this one!