Hit A Creative Wall

So you may or may not know that I have had a lot of extra creative time in the last month. I had this huge long list of things I wanted to do while I had this extra time. Honestly I have completed most of them and been very very happy with what I have created I have learned a few new things and improved on some others.

I do however have one project that has been #1 on the list and I just can not bring myself to do it. Why? I do not know what I am afraid of in completing this project. It went on the white inspiration board (thanks Luny) as #1 I did 2,3,and 4 and then added more once I erased completed items did a couple of those as well but #1 is still sitting there. It is like it is laughing at me. I want to do anything but #1.

I can not really go into what #1 is (TOP SECRET) but I can say I feel confident about what it is going to be and that I know exactly how to create it and it is going to be so beautiful once completed. I just sit down at the table and anything but that project calls my name. Have any of you faced this dilemma? If so how did you overcome it? At this point I can really use some help from my friends here.

HELP!

Usually I go to the rock bowl when I am stuck but that will not help on this one since I know exactly what the completed project will be and how I will get there. So to help you if you get stuck here is the rock bowl.

Here is the link to a few of the rocks I can not find the one of them in the bowl right now sorry but you can get the idea.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/82656386@N00/3208742392/

So any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

Eyelets

I am a member of city o clay and we have swaps there. They are real fun and I get to see what everyone had made because I am the one doing the shipping.

So one of the swappers Tabatha Pimentel sent in beads that had eyelets OMG what fun. Some of Tabatha’s work can be seen here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26263366@N02/

I love her work she is so talented which is probably why she finished her beads this way. I can not show you hers since she is in the swap and I can not post her pictures until the swap is finished so I hope I have done her justice by this attempt.

Here are the eyelets. These are from Joanne’s I am sure you can get them online. I would like to find some sterling silver ones to use. (Writing on the to do list!) They are the Craft Essentials 1/8″ Eyelets.

I am sorry but can I just say that picture looks freeken good. Okay no light box but that is a good close up (patting herself on the back).

Is this the correct way of using eyelets?  I have no idea I am telling you what I did and BTW it was really easy.

 What I did was to make a bead,  then poke my hole with a poker, make the hole bigger with a clay shaper, insert eyelet, work eyelet in by rolling in your hands.

They still need more time in the tumbler the idea you want to get from this is the eyelet idea for finishing your beads.

Try it you will like it I think. The one thing I do recommend if you are using scrap clay try to get it as close as you can to the color of the bead. I used white scrap and you can see the scrap. Looks Tacky. Another idea would be to use a contrasting color for interest Hmmmmm that is a cool idea as well. What can you come up with? Or have you already done it?

Take care and have fun claying!

I have an obligation to use my talent!

I have an obligation to use my talent!

It is a gift!

All I have to do is do!

Inspiration provided by Luny

Back To Basics

So I took my son snowboarding yesterday and since I do not ski or snowboard I decided to take some of the books and print-outs I have on hand to get organized and hopefully inspired.

What a rude awakening I got.

OMG

I learned that I do not think I am doing some of the basics right! We are talking clay 101 here people!

I mean I know that there were times that I made the same silly mistakes a couple of times then remembered to jot it down in my tips binder but man o man.

Was I ALWAYS looking in the binder? NO!

There are a lot of the foundations in clay that unfortunately I am not following every time. No wonder my stuff is not as good as I know in my heart it can be. I am not following some of the basic steps. You know the baby ones that you take before you run with a technique and make it your own.

I now have another binder but I plan on looking at it every time I start on or am working on a project. Every time I sit down to work I will look at that book for my baby steps. It is divided into a lot of sections that are very specific so I do not waste time trying to find what I am looking for. I also will add as I remember or encounter new clay facts to the appropriate place in the binder.

If I do not do this then I will never have the simple important professional ways implanted in my brain.

On a positive note I am really doing a lot of great things with clay and I know I am very talented. My work will only improve with this wonderful new addition to my claying repertoire.

Fun Stuff

A new technique to me is this one I loved the way the colors turned out on this one. This is something I will be doing again soon. I just love the look.

Kaliedoscope Experiement

Okay so I was goofing around today and decided to do an experiement. Lets make a simple cane with just a few colors and see how many different canes we can get from it by piecing them together in a different way.

So here are the simple colors used.

Okay I added an orangish color to the mix but didnt picture it but you can figure that part out lol.

Now to make the simple cane that all the other combos will evolve from.

Am I proud of this cane? No but it is going to serve its purpose well. Simplicity and since there are not a lot of complex canes used it will be easier to see the formations come together.

I started by just piecing them together then by shaping them either in squares or triangles and then recombining.

Check this out!

And this

What the heck? Now my mind IS racing!