I usually find some time after the holidays to play around with jewelry and bead making. I really need that time, that time with NO show coming up, no deadline, no pressure.
This year I really thought I would be burned out after a kinda crazy year. Yet I found myself more inspired then ever. Maybe it was the trip to New York City, and the visit to the Met.
Maybe its the mixed media art and drawing I have been allowing myself to experiment with. Whatever it was, it sparked my muse into overdrive.
pen drawing mixed media
Good things came from this playtime. Really good things. And as playtime winds down, I find myself needing to make decisions of what to pursue and what I don't have time for. The last part of that sentence is heartbreaking. I don't want to admit that I will never get to all the crazy ideas in my head.
As my playtime winds down, I found out something about myself. I am happiest with no plan. If I could afford to lock myself in my studio, and play with everything, as my whims allow, I would be the happiest lady alive! If I could be the master of nothing, but have dabbled in it all, I would be thrilled.
Many good things came out of this playtime- some were like, actual things.
I played with a new technique on my polymer clay, and I LOVE it. I can also see this transferring into my mixed media art as well.
these are available in my etsy shop www.slartisanaccents.etsy.com
I also decided to make some nice, big, bold, earring pairs in polymer. I have a love / hate relationship with earrings. Sometimes I am thrilled to make them, and other times, meh.
So I need something simple to make into an earring, that is still unique and bold. So I played with shapes and techniques some more and made these.
I also have a stash of translucent polymer clay, that I have bought when its on sale, cause its cheap, but haven't really played with much other then to mix it with other colors. I have been wanting to try to embed wire into it, and it wasn't really working. So I got some translucent liquid polymer to put on top, and that did the trick. Here they are- and I just love them. Very tribal- and I can't wait to see what else I can capture in the translucent polymer.
So that is where I am at. I have pages of things I want to create and try, but a deadline is on the calendar for Berks Bead Bazaar (first weekend of march), and for some other things in the works. Time to crack down and make the beads.
Have you allowed yourself playtime?
Are you sad when it ends?
What kind of things have you learned about yourself, or your medium while playing?
Many good things came out of this playtime- some were like, actual things.
I played with a new technique on my polymer clay, and I LOVE it. I can also see this transferring into my mixed media art as well.
I also decided to make some nice, big, bold, earring pairs in polymer. I have a love / hate relationship with earrings. Sometimes I am thrilled to make them, and other times, meh.
So I need something simple to make into an earring, that is still unique and bold. So I played with shapes and techniques some more and made these.
I also have a stash of translucent polymer clay, that I have bought when its on sale, cause its cheap, but haven't really played with much other then to mix it with other colors. I have been wanting to try to embed wire into it, and it wasn't really working. So I got some translucent liquid polymer to put on top, and that did the trick. Here they are- and I just love them. Very tribal- and I can't wait to see what else I can capture in the translucent polymer.
So that is where I am at. I have pages of things I want to create and try, but a deadline is on the calendar for Berks Bead Bazaar (first weekend of march), and for some other things in the works. Time to crack down and make the beads.
Have you allowed yourself playtime?
Are you sad when it ends?
What kind of things have you learned about yourself, or your medium while playing?
9 comments:
I don't ever really get 'play' time. By the time I get to bead I have something that has to get done, either for someone or for a blog hop or challenge. I have all kinds of ideas, but never seem to have the time to just play and try them. I love your wire embedded into the clay pieces. And isn't the Met wonderful? Took my first trip there this last fall. Loved it.
we are on the same path right now. I have a huge show the first week of March and as much as I want to "play" I know I have to get busy.
Thanks for always being an inspiration to me.
The Met IS amazing- and we were way too rushed. I want to go back in the spring or summer and really take a full day there!!!
There is never enough time for play....but I think we all really need to try to make it, because its how we grow and learn. really, count it as education time!!! time to learn a new technique and experiment.
The Met IS amazing- and we were way too rushed. I want to go back in the spring or summer and really take a full day there!!!
There is never enough time for play....but I think we all really need to try to make it, because its how we grow and learn. really, count it as education time!!! time to learn a new technique and experiment.
I have been trying and trying to allow myself some play time but there's always some request for a custom order at the torch it seems so I sit myself down for another session to get it out of the way so I can play later. Last year I ended up signing up for some workshops at a retreat as It seemed to be the only way I would let myself carve out some time to play. I miss doing the mixed media that I had been doing before my shop took off.
Thanks for the reminder, maybe today will be the day I let myself play.
Glad you had some time to play (and play in NYC!!).
Embedding wire into translucent PC is genius…can't wait to see how they end up.
Love the look of the wire embedded in the transluscent clay. Very tribal.
Next week is going to be my play time. Grandkids were off school so I had 3 instead of one all day long, plus 20 below zero weather so I had them all night so their parents would not have to get them out early in the morning. School is on next week and playtime is coming!!
I love all your things.
so hard to have playtime with kids around, that's for sure!
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