torn, torn, torn

I think I've reached critical mass.

That is I can't possibly spend anymore time on the computer and I'm stret--c---h----e-----d in a few too many directions.

So I'm thinking of cutting out a few things. I have accounts that I rarely to never use and shops that don't seem to go anywhere or do anything.

I'm afraid of missing something though-- I might miss the chance to be seen by that one customer who wants to buy Hamunaptra . . .

On the other hand, my customers find me via Google and on Etsy and 1000Markets. I've never had anyone say-- oh yeah I fell in love your profile on Indiepublic or DeviantART.(Which is probably why it's been months since I logged on.) And I've had stores open for what seems like forever on some venues and they get zero attention. (But I faithfully update them.) So if they're not working what would I lose by taking the time I spend updating those sites and spending it on the places that do garner me some love?

How and when do you  make the choice to let some things go and just retrench? Rethink? Rework? As in work smarter, not harder? What is a fair amount of time to try something that you really want to work before you just admit that for some unknown reason-- it won't?

Hamunaptra

No, those aren't rhetorical questions! Share your wisdom people!!!

monday's picture post

BAO Items of the Week (March 30 - April 4)

We haven't had this many Items of the Week for you in a while. Take a look at the individual items and the specials associated with each on the BAO blog. Enjoy!

And take a look at this weeks offerings my Treasury Curators!!

Green Batik Butterfly Bag by bagsandbuds

Quiet by artandangelsbyrose

Magpie Cuff by nemeton

Cup of Coffee with Cream Necklace by ShannaMichele

Golden Spiral Pendant by LavenderCottage

proposals

Couldn't resist sharing this wry litany. I love the opening-- who could resist reading on-- especially if you've felt the same way!

Then there are the fabulous phrases, like 'sloe-eyed and slinking out of his grief' and 'like some glittering, tattered scarf'.

And the end-- how fabulous! I'm no 'angel of home and hearth', but don't we all have fire in our hands?

Proposals
by Cecilia Woloch

Mistaking me for someone else, he asked me to marry him. This has
happened more than once. The first time, I was eighteen and the boy had
a diamond ring in a box. It was the Fourth of July, it was dark, he said, Happy
Independence Day. Of course, the ring was too large and slipped right off
my finger into the grass. (It belonged to someone else: the woman he
married, eventually.) And when I was twenty-one, that redhead, sloe-eyed
and slinking out of his grief, said he'd imagined I'd be his wife. But he was
mistaken. It wasn't me. Then a drunk who drove too fast, who threw the
proposal over his shoulder like some glittering, tattered scarf. I staggered
out of his car, saying, No thanks, No thanks, No thanks. And the man over
eggs one morning, in the midst of an argument, saying he planned to wait
for spring to ask for my hand, then he never asked. (So of course, I married
that one for a while; spent years convincing him I was not his cup of coffee,
not his girl.) And in Prague, on a bridge called the Karlův Most, a stranger,
a refugee, who mistook the way I stared at the river for thinking of suicide.
Who mistook my American passport for his ticket out of there. And
others-the man whose children grabbed the food off my plate, called me
her; the man in Chartres Cathedral humming the wedding march into my
ear. And tonight, at dinner with friends, happy, discussing their wedding
plans, a man I've known for a couple of hours turning to ask me to marry
him. I don't know who they think I am. Do I look like a bride in these rags
of wind? Do I look like the angel of home and hearth with this strange green
fire in my hands?

"Proposals" by Cecilia Woloch, from Late.

don't blame me

World, meet Rip. Rip, thankfully doesn't have to meet the world-- he's a bit nuerotic . . .

It's really not my fault that I can never get anything done! I've got one hand for coffee and one for the computer right? Not!

And it is supposedly a laptop-- I can sometimes perch it on the edge of my knees . . . otherwise it's kind of off to the side and I have to twist to reach it . . .

The good thing, I guess, is that when I'm actually trying to make something he usually can't stand all the moving around and leaves. Usually . . .

And despite appearences he's really not into guilt trips-- quite forgiving actually-- and he fortunately likes everyone else's lap too. When I annoy him too much he'll go find someplace more comfortable.

But that frequently results in someone more comfortable saying, "Sarah, why don't you pet your cat?" You can tell that he's really starved for attention, poor thing.

what's in a bead?

Aside from history, potential, and pleasure?

Depending on the bead, it could be allot of hard work, a few hopes and dreams, maybe even a play for independance . . .

Lately I've been working a fair amount with beads from the Soul of Somanya project. They're beautiful pieces-- unique, high quality and easy to work with.

Some of you may remember when the Soul of Somanya project was cover in Bead&Button and in Beadwork. I remember finding the articles interesting, but I never suspected that I'd wind up working with those beads one day!

On a recent search for African glass beads on Etsy (As I failed to procure them in Arizona) I found  that Melody MacDuffee was selling the beads on Etsy for Soul of Somanya. Today I found that she's on ArtFire too!

After an exchange last night with Melody MacDuffee regarding my mentions of the project in the listings where I use beads made by these artists, I started thinking about a blog post. I always try to mention the artists who create the beads I work with. I see us as partners, working together to create objects of beauty to adorn people who appreciate connecting with art, artists and the thread of personal adornment that is as old as humanity itself and that stretches accross all our differences.

So this is me, talking about my latest 'partners'!

Soul of Somanya is made up of a group of coming-of-age orphans in the town of Somanya in Ghana, West Africa. Melody and Helen help them to design, produce and market their jewelry and beads in the U.S.

This group would otherwise have very limited prospects due to their lack of family support and/or limited levels of education. It is a population that is commonly overlooked. But these nine young people now have marketable skills and an ongoing means of making a living. All proceeds go back into the Soul of Somanya bead workers' self-empowerment project to pay for wages and materials needed to create the distinctive, colorful products for which they are gradually becoming known.

There are a lot of pictures and project information, as well as updates on Soul of Somanya's progress on SoulofSomanya.net

the adventuress earrings

guess my favorite flower?

I've never been much into gardening or botany. I have a few plants that do okay when I remember to water them. I probably prefer grass and trees to anything because they're just there-- you don't have to do much with them to enjoy them.

Always loved animals-- not so into flowers. That said, who doesn't think they're pretty? And my favorite?

The inspiration for this one came from Triz's Pink Flower, gypsyeyjewelry's Ornate Moth and theeye's Canada Geese Quartet.

They look so pretty together and have been sitting in my favorites for ages waiting on this!

Etsy has an incredible amount of peony art. I found myself drawn especially to shots where the light was almost surreal. peoniesandpolaroids, loreca, and anneclark all had brilliant offerings.

hadleyhutton's above and beyond is pretty irresistable and the lighting on Gingeroni1's The Peony And The Swallow is killer.

I round out everything with a few Bead Art Original Team selections and SandFiber's Soft Raku Dreams, time2cre8's Raspberry Lemonade and AKDlampwork's misty mauve disks were perfect color and presence-wise.

fashionidea's scarf was a great tie it all together piece!

You can see everything closer HERE.

and so it grows

I had a nice surprise last night.

I was contacted on Etsy by someone looking to purchase some of my Primitive Series pieces for wholesale purposes.

We concluded the deal today and now I have a bunch of wirework pieces to complete and get out by the end of the week.

It's exciting. It was just a small order, but still, exciting.

infinite choker-- primitive series

kaleidoscopic confetti

kaleidoscopic confetti

You can get a better look HERE.

I fell in love with therainbowroom's

Kaleidoscopic Confetti the other day.

It was an easy choice to flank it with the oh, so memorable

Bois Peint by time2cre8

and the Tropical Dream Cuff by arosebyname.

dumauvobleu's pendant

was also a no brainer-- perfect match!

I searched EBW to add BeadazzledofOregon's

Rainbow Sheath and beadsforever's

Kaleidoscope.

Searching rainbow brought fabulous quilts from Quiltsbybarb

and Thelittlequiltshop,

stained glass by asmdesigns,

paper art by LeeGainer

and QuietMind

and

one of the tackiest things I've ever seen--

I say that in comfortable knowledge that the artist's intention wasn't really to create a thing of beauty, but rather a memorable, attention grabbing piece-- which annakimviolette's

rainbow pan certainly is.

monday's picture post

We're welcoming the first full week of Spring 2009 with 13 wonderful BAO Items of the Week. Check out the details HERE!

And a big thank you to all the Treasury Curators who featured my work this week. Take a look at all these pretties and visit their shops too!

TURQUOISE SKY JOURNEY NECKLACE by JAVA723

The Beach Rose by stringmealong

Spring Daisy Pearl Necklace by la01shelle

Suspended in Blue abstract acrylic painting 12x12 by mistflowerstudio

Spring Silhouette Pillow Boxes by MariaSoleil

true blue and you ... equestrian ... Vintage Vocabulary Necklace by joonwalk

Voodoo - Beaded Fringed Necklace by TotallyTwisted

the body as canvas

As I consider branching into the beaded object-- as opposed beading the wearable-- I find myself contemplating wearable art as opposed to other forms of art.

It's going to be an ongoing process . . . I think, sometimes deeply, rarely swiftly.

There are schools of thought that contend that if an item is useful, it's not art. I'm not of that school. In fact, I prefer my art to be functional. I'm more comfortable buying something that's going to get use. Not to say I don't have a bit of wall art-- I do-- and it has it's place, I love it, am thankful for it and am not knocking it. I also love my handcrafted cups, clothes, blankets, rugs etc.

Sometimes those things are more craft than art-- that's good too. I love craft. I love how Wikipedia differentiates the two-- art, it says is "intended to be accepted as a serious and unique artistic creation or statement." Sounds good to me!

Enter WOW-- the World of Wearable Art. It 'takes art off the wall and onto the moving body.'

WOW consists of 10 2-hour shows held annually in New Zealand since 1987. It's a worldwide competition with international acclaim. It's been described as "Mardi Gras meets Haute Couture at a Peter Gabriele concert directed by Salvadore Dali."

It gives me one more reason to want to fly half way around the world. Are you in?

2008 Winner Montana Supreme WOW Award & Winner Air NZ Sth Pacific Section
Ornitho Maia, Nadine Jaggi, Wellington

another primitive series offering

The Primitive Series is a bit of an odd duck.



I got the basic idea from visiting museums-- gotta love the jewelry in them!! You see all these amazing pieces that are 4000 years old and and you think, "This should not be behind glass. I should be wearing this. We should *all* be wearing this!"



I scratched some designs out in eyeliner (back when I wore the stuff) when we went to the Met.



When sistermine got married I actually made my very first pair of Primitive Series earrings for her second holes-- two years later and she hasn't taken them out-- then I started selling them on Etsy and they whole series has grown from there.



Much of it in response to customer needs and requests.

This is the latest offering-- the kumah bangle. This is the second one and it's in my shops. The proto-type was made for a friend who likes blue and green and travelling. I hope she likes her bangle!

I never got the point of those little coiling gizmos till today-- if kumah sells and I make more I may have to invest in one because that is alot of wear and tear on the wrists!

I love the simplicity of it and the African beads and they'd be great piled in fives on each wrist!

pointless and arbitrary

How many words before it becomes more than a mini-rant?

I'm not a subscriber to Stringing. I think I may have subscribed the 1st year it came out, but I decided it wasn't my thing. I picked up a copy recently for free to see if it (or I?) has/have changed.

I've been obsessing over the Jewelry Rules article for days now.

The Rule of FIVE . . . (think Darth Vader voiceover) Never wear more than five pieces of jewelry at once. Count every piece of jewelry, but a pair of earrings counts as one. Your watch counts.

(end Darth Vader voiceover)

I'm not a rebel, really. I'm a rule follower-- when they make a modicum of sense.

Who decided that we should never wear more than five pieces of jewelry at once--- I sleep in more than that. When I go out I wear about twice that, unless I'm piling it on for some reason.

Jewelry Nazi!

Seriously-- your wedding ring would count-- so if you wore 4 skinny bangles you're not supposed to wear earrings? grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Who decided that gold and silver are a no-no together and what color you should wear when and *why* in the world in this 21st century have we not gotten past the point where they're telling me (us?) how to dress?

My mother did a fine job of that, thanks, and now she's over it.

Who decided that that kind of silliness belongs in a magazine about jewelry?

I'm not picking up another one and hopefully now that I've gotten it off my chest I won't think about it anymore-- but what a waste of ink. It's just so pointless and arbitrary. Things like this give rules a bad name.

I'm going to shut up now and hope this is still mini-- believe me I could go on, and on, and on . . .

Feel free to tell me I'm wrong . . . or right . . .

grrr

a blip on the radar

That's kind of how I feel today.

First I opened up a link on my blog roll to LLYYNN's Eye Popping Gorgeous and guess what the article was about? You won't guess so I'll tell you-- my Time Machine Cuff!

I'm still in a bit of shock. I enjoy peering into Lynn's world so much! And now she's included me in that world!

Then I logged onto 1000Markets and saw that i dream i can fly has opened there. I've admired her work on Etsy before, but since 1KM has that little 'Wall' feature I just poked in long enough to tell her that I love her Curls (pictured below).

They're simple, but ingenious, original and beautifully made. She responded by saying that she didn't know I was on 1KM, but had always loved my Primitive Series.

Whoa! Meaning she'd noticed me! Who knew?

One of the awesome things about the online artisan community-- you're there admiring all of these fantastic pieces and then sometimes you find out that the artists you admire so much are sitting in their studios or livingrooms or what have you admiring your fantastic pieces.

It's a lot of fun!

awards, awards, awards

The Seductress by RachelesOriginals took the Temptation Challenge by storm:

My special mentions this mont goes to CharmingThings for her Mirage in the Desert:

Also it's past time to thank Anna at A Rose By Name for her Friends Award:

These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Thank you Anna:)

Passing it on, finally, to a few of the bloggers that are newer to my roll:

Lisa at It's a Lovely Life

Corey at Tongue In Cheek

Nancy at The Rabbit Muse

Sue at Art Ravings

Lorelei at Lorelei's Blog

And some that I've been following for awhile:

Lynn at LLYYNN

Nina at Ornamental

Alison at The Explorer's Notebook

All of these women excel in sharing their passions, inspirations and joys with their readers and are a pleasure to spend a few minutes with.

And finally an invitation of sorts. If you're on Facebook and you'd like to participate in a Craft it Forward and nab up something handmade by me for you can check it out here!

time machine cuff complete

The challenge was issued by Mariya:

I guess everybody once in a while has had that thought "What if?" Yes, what if
you were given a once in a life time chance to travel through time and space; to
travel into past or future; to travel into a real or imagined world? Where would
you go? What would you see there? Just think about it. Take the trip and share
it with us in the form of beading art with its unlimited possibilities!

Is it about the destination or the journey?

Time Machine features a wondrous selection of metallic beads woven in freeform peyote and encrusted with vintage time machine parts.

monday's picture post

The BAO Items of the Week!

This week we present another beautiful BAO dozen: twelve Bead Art Originals items with great specials associated with them. Check out the details HERE!

And some fabulous finds from the shops of this weeks Treasury Curators!

Steel Medallions Peyote Cuff Bracelet by SandFibers

Temperature Rising by mistflowerstudio

Scarf by LinenMe

Beach Pebble Gathering by JAVA723

Sunrise Temptation by njema

time travel report

I've been working on my Time Travel project today.

Another freeform bracelet.

Dark.

Metallic.

Surprise component?

teal, turquoise and otherness

teal, turquoise and otherness

Go ahead and take a peek at these fabulous shops!

odd little perceptions

I was talking to Carol Dean Sharpe of SandFibers the other day about beads, my Xanadu necklace and Botswana agate. She and I are both lovers of this humble material with its wide range of striations and subtle colors.

At one point she made the simple observation that the pieces in this necklace are pink Botswana agate. I knew this on some level of course, I saw it, bought it and have worked with it. Yet, when she said that I suddenly saw the material in a totally different light and immediately decided to pair it with pink opal at some point.

It happened again tonight! I was discussing a custom order with Janice at Naftali. I asked her to make me a June Bug green bead. I plan to add June Bug wing covers to the final piece so I wanted it to be close.

She asked me what June Bug green was-- an obvious question for someone unfamiliar with the little creatures. I found a picture and her response was that it was emerald green.

Of course it is! I felt a little silly. Emerald green is a common easily recognizable color, so why didn't I just say that in the first place-- or at least the second place when I found out that she was unfamiliar with June Bugs?

Western Green June Beetle (Cotinis mutabilis) by peppergrass

I'm not sure. It has to do with the way I think of, or don't think of, color. It has to do with me not aligning things in my mind. I have a tendancy, I think, to view a color as a stand alone thing until I'm shown that it actually links up with other things-- that the same color is shared by something else.


This sounds odd and I'm not sure what I'm getting at. It just happened twice this week that someone has made me think of a certain color in a totally different light than I'd perceived it before. It's fascinating. Little ah-ha moments. (Or are the duh moments?)


And now I'm wondering what it all means, of course, and if there's a way to use it to my advantage.

brownorange and greenblue

Tangier

Titania Drinks Midori in Atlantis

And don't forget to vote in the EBW Challenge!

passing on a little idea

flora sensitive nose ring-- primitive series

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it.-- Oscar Wilde

I recently bought some beads from Etsy seller SusanClare.

I'm used to buying artisan beads that often come sweetly wrapped in gift baggies or boxes fit to hold these little treasures. I always reuse the boxes and gift bags, packaging my own little treasures in them when I mail them out.

Susan is a supply seller. It's a side of Etsy that I don't often visit. I prefer to buy supplies wholesale or in bulk for a savings! I haven't really found a favorite source for African or Indonesian recycled glass though, so I just pick them up when the mood strikes.

When I got my package from Susan, all of the beads were packed up in little plastic baggies-- like they always are when I order in bulk. A little spark was lit.

I can hardly take all the little plastic bags and send them back to my big box suppliers, I don't use them and throwing them away hurts me. Ouch! But, could Susan use them? I convoed and asked. YES! I packaged up what I had on hand and sent them to her. This reduces her need to buy little plastic bags and my need to throw them into landfills.

This is just another step and I'm tickled with it because it helps more than just me.

In the time I've been selling online I've yet to have to buy bubble wrap. I use it, when needed-- but I use what I've gotten in packages mailed to me.

Big boxes go to sistermine, who uses them to package books and braintanned hides. Little boxes get saved, as does any kind of packing paper for my own use.

Just an idea. Most of us get packages from time to time, if you're a beader you get lots of them! If you can't use the packaging materials, do you know a small supply seller who could? Perhaps just open a dialogue and find out!

voting open on EBW temptations!

Hard to see how wonderful everything is here, so hop on over to the original post and vote!

bead art originals and treasury curators items of the week

Bead Art Originals Items of the Week, check them out!

Also, I found some major beauties in the shops of this week's Treasury Curators! Go ahead and visit!

Clay and Copper Ring Pendant Necklace by laspottery

Cinderella, 5x7 Art Print, Minimalism by thepairabirds

BLUE GLASS SKY DISKS - necklace by JAVA723

Beaded Bead Flower Pendant with Vermeil Flower Cap by enchantedbeads

Slate Gray Jersey Scarf - Black Flowers - American Apparel - screen print by VK74

Candy Twist Earrings by beadsandblooms

Brea earrings by gypsyeye

to the east somewhere feature

Katrina of Moods and Appetites has chosen two of my pieces to complete her collage to the east, somewhere. Take a closer look! She selects fabulous pieces of art from a wide range of sources.

I keep a link to this blog on mine-- it's excellent stuff. Check it out, here!

been too long

It has indeed been too long since I've snagged a treasury on Etsy. I don't really know why but I seem to keep missing them. At any rate I grabbed one tonight at the last second and threw together something blue!

been too long

I saw cphurley on the Etsy fora wondering why her shop goes unnoticed. I can't say. Her work is lovely and unique.

mistflowerstudio is a talented artist who periodically includes my work in amazing treasuries.

waterrose makes special embellished felt jewelry. She's part of the Wearable Art Market on 1000 Markets.

knittydirtygirl caught my eye with her gorgeously handdyed and handspun yarns. This girl isn't afraid of color!

I'm a sucker for weaving and LodestarWovens does beautiful work. I thought the puppet was just googly-eyed enough.

I first saw Melissabead's blue set on FaceBook, but I've bought from her before. Her beads are wonderful and so easy to work with!

Time2cre8 has a huge variety in her shop, but I link her with her beadweaving the most. MaryLou is part of the Etsy Beadweavers and a founder of the Bead Art Originals group. Here she uses a LisaPetersArt bead as focal for her fabulous work!

theeye does magical macro photography among other things. I've had this one in my favorites for some time now and she recently featured my work in a Treasury of her own.

Fellow BAOer, Lisa, at tqbdesigns has a way with beads, color and with a camera. Her work is always winning.

As a bead junkie I love looking at fellow BAOer AKDlampwork's art beads.

I've been a fan of fellow BAOer Darcy of The Jade Dog since I saw her bead embroidery in Bead&Button magazine. This is a peice I hadn't seen till tonight.

I love the embellishments on muirhughes' slip dress.

It was fun to put another one together!

shifts

Life is so strange.

I came to beads by way lots of crafty pursuits. I've pretty much stuck to jewelry and the occasional keyring. And for the longest time I was completely and totally uninterested in seed beads and beadweaving.

A love of beads became a love of jewelry became a love of wearable art.

Then a couple years ago I saw an exhibit at a museum focusing on paintings done with seedbeads. My first impluse was to translate that into something wearable.

And I did.

Now things come full circle and my attention turns again to art that is not meant to be worn. What will come of it I don't know.

xanadu

creativity and angst

In response to yesterday's little confused rant Clyde Bink suggested listening to this 20 minute speech on creativity and angst:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/453

Interesting stuff-- kind of creepy at some points.

I did appreciate her point about having genius instead of being a genius and the how her views enable a seperation from from the expectations and stresses that creativity can bring in this culture.

That's another thing-- I never thought of creativity and emotional issues being a cultural thing. But so much is linked to the way we view things.

Anyway-- go ahead and listen to it!

today, I mope

I did so little today.

I studied my new copy of 500 Beaded Objects.

I sorted through some beads and ate another mudpie sundae.

I moped. I'm very good at moping.

When I finish a big project sometimes it's a letdown. Emotionally. My focus has to change and I have to leave that project and move on. And I find myself unsure where I want to move to. There's a kind of pressure there for the next project to be as successful in my mind as the one that I just finished.

The reality of it is that I only do one or two major projects a month. Much of my beading time is spent creating much simpler things.

And I'm feeling moved in the direction of bigger things and I'm a bit scared of that. Of the commitment of that.

I finally did sit down and just make something. Something small. Something without pressure.

temptation project completed

Here it is!

I Want to Believe. A tribute to temptation in one of its more subtle forms.

I Want To Believe features 26 grams of tiny green seedbeads in a crop circle pattern and a ceramic saucer button. The button, based on 1950's movie images, was commissioned especially for this piece and was created by Etsy's siennaorlando.

When she announced her theme Karin made it clear that it was open to interpretation. This is a bit of commentary on the confusing world we live in and the way so many of us let our feelings influence our belief system.

Another bit of news . . . my Etsy shop hit 1500 Hearts today. Wow.

bead art originals and treasury curators items of the week

A collection of wonderful things! To take a closer look click on the captions!

Bead Art Originals Items of the Week

Passage to India pendant necklace by createdbyrisa

Fire and Snow Ceramic Goblet by njema

Stained Glass Belt by njema

Turquoise to Teal Narrow Cuff  by njema

Grey Day Atlantic - Pendant and Spiral Rope Necklace by totallytwisted

Bob, Why the Long Face mixed media mosaic African mask by mistflowerstudio

Hummingbird Time Lapse - Fine Art Print by theeye

update

I'm actually almost finished with my Temptation project and am thinking hard about the new Time Travel Challenge theme.

I do have an idea-- but I'm not sure if it will go anywhere quite yet.

What else? Not much! I spent the day working on that project, mostly-- and being distracted by the resident rodent. And listening to the rain fall. It's stopped now but the news is threatening snow. In Georgia. In March. Huh?!?

a ghana aesthetic bracelet