Everyone has the desire to create; it’s part of our DNA. People will say, “Oh, I’m not very creative or artistic.” If you talk to someone who says, “I can’t draw” you will find out that maybe her creativity lies elsewhere. I don’t have the talent or skill sets to carve wood, but I can stitch together intricate designs with tiny beads.
In my last blog, “Clearing out the creativity channels,” I received many comments about all the different things that hinder our ability to enjoy the precious craft of beading. The list included grief, insecurity, and crushing workloads inside and outside of the home. You have my empathy — life can be overwhelming at times.
Given the verities of life, how can we connect the dots between our relationship to the creative process and the challenges we face? How can we water our creativity and see the lovely beaded flowers blossom? I’m positive that the answer to these questions is on a much deeper plane, but if we can take some small steps toward dealing with the stuff of life, we can address our beading saboteurs.
The power of sharing
I have exchanged several e-mails with a new friend on Facebook who told me how hard it is to get back to beading after experiencing hardship. After several conversations, I gave my friend this suggestion: Teach what you once felt passionate about. In my own creative process, I find that teaching others, even another friend, reignites my creativity. Seriously, teaching beadwork reminds me why I love stitching with tiny beads!
My friend started to share her beading skills with a small group of people a few at a time. Lo and behold, her beading bug has returned — a testament to the power of sharing and teaching.
Fixes for burnout
Here are some quick fixes if you’re feeling burned out:
Go for a walk — just be sure and take a pencil and notebook to jot down thoughts, ideas, and designs.
Check out the merchandise in a fabric or yarn store. The color combinations and textures will get ideas fermenting in your beady brain.
Make a list of creative projects that you would like to accomplish. Try to write down things that you feel you can accomplish, not insurmountable things like scenes from the Sistine Chapel on your dining room ceiling.
Take control of the clutter. My friend Jill Erickson starts each new project by cleaning up whatever she had left over from the last project. It’s like a form of closure and tidying up the studio prepares Jill for the next project. Here are some before and after shots of Jill's studio. I like to take a few minutes — okay, sometimes a hour — and put all of my seed bead tubes back in their places, needles in their cases, and all the snippets of thread in the waste basket. I think about my new project and by the time I’m finished cleaning and putting things away, I’m revved up and ready to start stitching.
Carve out time for yourself!
Can we all agree that being creative and expressing creativity is good for our mental health? Where do we place nurturing our mental health on the tyrannical TO DO LIST? I know we all lead very busy lives. Can you promise me that you will put yourself on the list and take some time to bead, knit, quilt, or dream?
UFOs: Bane or boon to the beader’s experience?
I have heard time and time again that beaders end up with projects lying around on bead trays unfinished, taking up beads, space, and, hello, psychic energy. Personally, when I see unfinished projects every time I walk by my bead tray, I feel negativity and failure radiating from them. Resolving to do something with all the unfinished projects in your life will free up energy so that you can start new creations.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Are you a beader with piles of unfinished projects, otherwise know as UFOs? What made you lose interest in that particular project? In my own experience, seeing UFOs feels like receiving a stamp of failure. Maybe it’s time to deal with these projects and either let go of them and reclaim the beads or commit to completing them.
Creative people have an abundance of ideas and it’s a good thing to manage all those wonderful ideas. Here are some thoughts to consider when dealing with unfinished projects.
Which project really captures your imagination or you feel passionate about?
Can you pull out five unfinished projects and number them 1 to 5; with 1 being the project that you would really like to finish?
Could you take projects 4 and 5 and reclaim the beads by taking the piece apart?
Remember, working through one beading project can actually help you create the next beaded masterpiece; the creative juices will be fairly oozing.
Sample boards are a super easy way to get UFOs off of the beading tray.
Here’s how to do it. Unfinished projects can become technique swatches. If you are truly not interested in finishing a particular beadwork project, reclaim (rip it out) the beads but leave enough bead portion to show the technique used. Pin that swatch onto a bulletin board and attach a note that tells which issue of Bead&Button it came from and any other information. Notice how this UFO is no longer crying out negativity every time you walk by the bead tray. It now has a place of importance on your super-cool swatch/technique creativity board. Take the negative and turn it into a positive.
Has any of this helped you? I do care and would love to hear any comments that you would consider sharing.
Now, onto the lighthearted stuff — new beads!
Yesterday I received a box of sample of beads from York Beads. Perry Bookstein generously shared some strands of the new farfalle or bowtie seed beads. They have a different shape than regular seed beads, hence the name “bowtie.” This blog’s picture shows the lovely sparkly colors. Hmmm, what can I make with this unusual shaped bead? Check out my next blog, maybe I’ll have a little something to share with you.