Bead Babble
Making. Hand-work. Creating 3-D pieces of wearable art. It satisfies a deep, uncontrollable urge to weave together different things into something fresh and new. Twenty-five years and counting as a professional illustrator. Coming out as bead weaver and jewelry maker is still a surprise to me. It's been good for my illustration work. It's been good for inspiration and creativity in all parts of my life. Making and selling bracelets brings me much happiness. Seems to make customers happy too. It's a win-win-win. Saturday December 12th my bracelets and I will be my last show of 2015. Chiaravalle (sounds like Key-R-a-vell-AY) Montessori School at 425 Dempster, Evanston, Illinois. Come out. It would be lovely to see you.
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Making. Hand-work. Creating 3-D pieces of wearable art. It satisfies a deep, uncontrollable urge to weave together different things into something fresh and new. Twenty-five years and counting as a professional illustrator. Coming out as bead weaver and jewelry maker is still a surprise to me. It's been good for my illustration work. It's been good for inspiration and creativity in all parts of my life. Making and selling bracelets brings me much happiness. Seems to make customers happy too. It's a win-win-win. Saturday December 12th my bracelets and I will be my last show of 2015. Chiaravalle (sounds like Key-R-a-vell-AY) Montessori School at 425 Dempster, Evanston, Illinois. Come out. It would be lovely to see you.
Gift giving season is upon us. We can ALL save ourselves lots of craziness and frantic running around LATER if we begin thinking about what we'd like to gift our loved ones NOW. I personally have helped a number of savvy shoppers take care of any loved ones on their list. They are MY inspiration. Saturday, November 21st you're invited to the DaVinci Waldorf School on Bonner Road in Wauconda. Get a jump start on your holiday gift giving. There's an added bonus to this shopping excursion, a peek inside the incredibly refreshing environment of a Waldorf school. My daughter graduated from this school. It's not an exaggeration to say that enrolling her at DaVinci in the middle of 4th grade changed the course of her life and the life of our entire family. She had NOT been getting what she desperately needed and hungered for from the local public schools despite ALL my involvement and pro-active work. This Holiday Festival helps fund the superb education provided by the DaVinci Waldorf School. Come to Wauconda. Take care of some holiday shopping. Help insure the educational option provided the DaVinci Waldorf School where creative and independent thinkers are encouraged and rigorous academics are applied. Affair of the Arts, Sunday November 15th is a sweet little hidden gem of a show. Hidden? It's in Spring Grove, Illinois. Spring Grove? Exactly. It's north on Route 12 near the Wisconsin border. This show is totally worth the effort. Google' Turtle Creek in Spring Grove' and the directions will magically appear on your phone. Collect your friends and family and drive. You won't be sorry. The artists at this show are superb.
How to weave a perfect rainbow? I needed to step outside the box. It was a blast going through my bead collection to find the perfect colors to make the gradient work just right in this Rainbow Rap. I've been using different sizes, shapes, types and colors of raw materials for some time. Making this series of bracelets feels like yet another step even beyond what I've already been doing. Fun. I've watched and learned that many people are helplessly drawn to certain stones and colors. Sometimes the call is very LOUD. I buy labradorite every time I visit a wholesale show. It calls to me from the crowded tables. I can hear several tables away. Yet, it's tough for me to actually sell the bracelets I make with labradorite. I've done it and have no regrets. But it's like letting go of a piece of my soul. I know it's crazy. So what did I do yesterday? Made a new bracelet ,one of the 'Unearthed from Pompeii' series and used some slab labradorite I've been 'saving', saving for what I'm not sure. Now? The danger, I don't want to sell it. I put it on and am having trouble taking it off. I'll check back after the show this weekend, Fair Diddley at the Boone County Fairground, my last outdoor show this season. I'll let you know if I was able to take it off to sell it. Rose quartz calls to people in need of it's gentle healing properties. I've watched it over and over in my booth. Rose quartz emits strong vibrations of unconditional love, joy, warmth and healing. Copper is a metal of channeling energies. Copper beads can carry the energy of a stone or crystal the way copper wire carries electricity. Combining the two, rose quartz and the copper in this bracelet works by heightening and channeling the beautiful gentle energy to the wearer and all those near and dear. Several years ago I went through a terrible time of disappointment and heartbreak. I made myself a necklace using beautiful vintage rose quartz. I wore it every day for months. If I happened to leave home without my rose quartz necklace, I felt panicked and exposed. My heart has fully healed. I don't need to wear rose quartz for the soothing comfort it brought me during those very challenging times. Now, when I wear rose quartz it reminds me that happiness and joy are is choices available to all of us, each and every day. It's not a typo. And it's not 'Inspired Cleaning', that SELDOM happens in MY house! I was inspired BY cleaning this morning. Wish I had thought to take 'before' and 'after' pictures of my bead work bench this morning. I work with beads. Hundreds and I guess it's not an exaggeration to say, thousands of them. I am OCD enough that every once in a while I'll take the time to put EVERY SINGLE bead away where it belongs, with all the other beads just like it. YIKES!! There is a payoff. I re-discovered all sorts of glorious beads I couldn't see underneath all the clutter. I shopped very carefully for each and every bead in my endlessly morphing collection. I can see all sorts of new, dynamic, exciting possibilities for new bracelets. This afternoon, after I finish some of my other cleaning chores, I'll be out on my lovely patio (see my previous post) making new bracelets. |
Lynda Wallis
I've completely given into my lifelong love of beads, stones, making stuff and stories, not particularly in that order. |
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