Why Beads Are Better Than Chocolate
"Why Beads Are Better Than Chocolate"1. 100 grams of chocolate has 588 calories, but beads have zero calories.2. Beads don't melt in your hands while chocolate can become a real gooey mess.3. Beads don't give you acne, so your dermatologist likes them too.4. Beads don't give you cavities, so they are recommend by 9 out of 10 dentists.5. Beads are caffeine free though some of us lose sleep when we dream of that next bead creation we plan to make.6. Beads come in a rainbow of colors, and chocolate only comes in white and shades of brown.7. Chocolate can get crusty and funky when not fresh, but beads get better with age.8. Etiquette requires that you share your chocolate, but beads don't have to be shared.9. An average 10 gram tube of good seed beads is $3 while a pound of good chocolate can go for $50.10. While chocolate has endorphins, beads can make you happy without making you fat.11. Beads are hypo-allergenic while a lot of people are allergic to chocolate.12. Beads last forever while chocolate is usually only around for few minutes.13. Beads can be recycled while chocolate is gone when it's gone.14. It's impossible to find a string of chocolate to match your outfit.15. Beads don't trigger migraine headaches and instead are proven to relieve stress.
Back in the Saddle... So to Speak
Well, after several weeks of not beading, or just doing orders, I was able to carve out a small amount of time this week to bead creatively. It was sooooo nice! Funny, the next day, one of my coworkers commented that I seemed to be in a much better mood. I didn't get much done, just worked on a free form piece for a couple of hours, but it felt so good to just let the creativity that's been trapped in my brain flow out through my fingers.
I did start one of the Frost pieces last week, but I think I'm going to start it over... I got some technical input from my friend Sandy that changed my thoughts on how I'm going to do it. I've never done an amulet bag before, so this is new territory for me. I'm still excited about this series... I just hope my enthusiasm levels stay up, as I sometimes have a tendency to start things and then let them fall by the wayside.
Duh!
Well, DUH!!! I almost forgot one of my absolute favorite (and perhaps the most visually evocative) Frost poems: Fire and Ice. That's a definite!!! I can't believe I hadn't thought of that one before... and I already have a pretty good idea of what I want to do with that one!! Stay tuned! More brain farts are sure to come!!!
Plans and Possibilties
I have so many things I want to accomplish as an artist this year. I've said for a couple of years now that my goal is to be published in one of the well known beading magazines. Hasn't happened yet. I have a series of rather complex pieces in mind to start on, wearable art pieces based on Robert Frost poems. Frost is one of my favorite poets, and I think the combination of the literal and the symbolic in his works will lend itself well to visual interpretation. I already have the beads ready & organized for "Choose something like a star," and I have a definite idea where I want to take that piece. I also have a pretty clear vision for "Nothing gold can stay," and "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood." "Stopping by woods on a showy evening" and "Good fences make good neighbors" are others I'm considering. I realize these are probably his most famous works, and because of that perhaps almost cliche, but I like them, and I think I can come up with something special. I need to find a copy of his complete works, as all I have is a small volume of his work. I really love the challenge of working within a set and somewhat limited creative framework. It's something I found I was good at when writing poetry, and I'm hoping I can translate that talent into beadwork. I also love the crossing and mixing of artistic forums and genres. In part, my inspiration for these pieces comes from my memory of a series of choral works I sang in High School and College that were based on Frost. (I believe the series was called "Frostiana".) I don't remember the name of the composer, but I do remember how impressed I was with the series, and how well the music and poetry meshed. I just hope I can do this project justice. I'm a little nervous, but also excited!
Another issue for me with this series is time. All the pieces I want to do are going to be stitchwork, primarily peyote and freeform. I'm VERY s..l..o..w when it comes to stitchwork. I'm hoping this can challenge me and motivate me to work at a more rapid pace. My first art show this year is in Hutchison, KS, around the end of April. I'm planning to have at least the first two pieces in the series done by then. Ideally, I'd like to have three, but I also have to work on my general inventory as well.
There. I have it down in writing. I've been talking and thinking about this project for a couple of years, so maybe putting it out there for the world to see will help me be a bit more accountable for accomplishing the task. If any of you reading this have any ideas about other Frost poems that might lend themselves well to an artistic rendering, by all means, please let me know!
