Book on making jewelry with Swarovski crystal and seed beads
Posted by Administrator on Feb 27, 2008
Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski: 65 Sparkling Designs with Crystal Beads and Stones
If you’ve seen Laura’s beadwork and are familiar with her style, what she’s done with Swarovski crystal will be no surprise - her signature style definitely comes through in the projects. Lots of Swarovski crystals designed to look like flatback rhinestones, set behind intricately beaded bezels, and her excellent eye for color and texture. My friend Marilyn brought this book to a get-together a few weeks ago and I really enjoyed looking at all the pictures, despite the fact that I rarely use seed beads in my own work.
If you like working with seed beads, you would probably enjoy this book. The techniques could easily be adapted to work with cabochons, rhinestones, and other non-Swarovski focal stones, although I imagine that the Swarovski centerpieces really sparkle.
Etsy front page
Posted by Administrator on Feb 24, 2008
One of my resin pendants was featured on Etsy’s front page yesterday. Here’s a little screenshot of it, you can see mine in the right-hand column, second from the top:
All of the featured pieces are made by Bay Area artists/designers. I was really impressed - there are some talented people in this area! It was a nice surprise to see my work on the front page with so many really great pieces.
Another idea for motivation
Posted by Administrator on Feb 18, 2008
I learned this week that one way to get even less done than when tired out from pregnancy is to catch a cold on top of it. Yuck! I’m starting to feel better and catch up on housework, but it was a rough week. I haven’t felt creative at all - the only things I’ve “made” this week are tea and soup.
Today I started getting some energy back, and was looking at photos on flickr.com and came up with an idea for quick inspiration. Browse some of the groups on flickr. If you aren’t familiar with flickr, it’s a photo site where members can store and share their images, and there are groups where people contribute photos of just about anything. I found groups of photos of Death Valley, flowers, extreme macro photography, crafts, etc. There is even a group for pictures of fog and rain - something I’m very familiar with, living near San Francisco.
It was pretty cloudy this morning, so I grabbed my camera and took this picture:
I’m still getting used to my new camera, so this kind of mini creative activity is perfect - it only takes a few seconds to snap an image or two, and it gets me thinking creatively again. I plan on browsing more flickr groups to get ideas of things to photograph, just for fun, and to build a collection of images that I can use for jewelry inspiration.
Creative Burnout
Posted by Administrator on Feb 8, 2008
I think every creative person suffers from burnout once in a while - days, weeks, or even longer when the urge to create something new just doesn’t strike.
I’ve been feeling burned out the last week or so, I’m sure because I’m 8 1/2 months pregnant and lacking energy, so I thought I’d make a list of things I do to get inspired again. Maybe making the list will get me excited to make some new work before my baby is born!
- Get together with friends who are creative
- Look at art/craft web sites
- Clean the house - this works because I hate cleaning & eventually my mind wanders into things I’d rather be doing. Plus it’s productive, so if it doesn’t work, at least I feel like I accomplished something.
- Read a magazine, or flip through articles and pictures I’ve torn out of magazines
- Sort my stash of beads and other jewelry making supplies. Sometimes seeing something I’ve forgotten about gives me ideas.
- Listen to some good music
- Watch a really good movie
- Go for a walk, or just get out into nature somewhere. The coast is always a good one for me.
- Get some exercise, especially yoga since it helps me feel more focused
- Just start something - sometimes making something simple, like head pins, will get me in the mood to make something more creative
- Take apart a piece that didn’t work
- Take a nap - sometimes being tired is what is blocking me
- Talk to my husband, who is an artist, about where we’d like our creative careers to be in five years
- Fantasize about the perfect studio
- Work on paperwork for the business - my least favorite thing to do - but it makes me feel productive, which sometimes gives me an energy boost once I’ve gotten it over with.
- Write or sketch in a journal
What do you do to get over creative burnout? Leave me a comment, and a link to your art/craft site so I can see what you’re up to.
