Beaded 2 Bless

It was decided that there would be a beaded art doll shoe challenge on BAD..... Two of us are stitching shoes to offer as forms. I have been playing with some ideas to make shoes like the one I previously posted small enough and completely stuffed. This way, a doll face could be added and it could become a small art doll. There are requirements that must be met on BAD (Beaded Art Doll Yahoo group- for those who may not know) for forms that are to be used in a Round Robin. The most difficult to achieve of these requirements is size. The forms I want to make are difficult to sew and sewing them in miniature is even more difficult. after several attempts I have landed a design that I can both sew easily and reproduce often. The last time I designed a form for one of their Round Robins, I wound up making 33 teapots forms. The demand doesn't seem to be as high this time and there is another lady making forms (phew). Below are the first few, which are far too large for a RR but are ok...

Some might call this the end of the journey, when the project is complete, but it isn't over yet! It is really only just beginning.  A new doll has been born! A new season! A new Birth to celebrate! A name has been chosen! It is my privilege to introduce to you: "Firefly" Her name is quite simple and may not totally relate to the multiple meanings, but it suits. I think of the little light these little bugs give off in an increasingly darkening sky. They joy they gave me as a child and the wonder of how they lit up. It totally suits! I want to send out a special thanks again to the 14 ladies that gave her wings. Joetta Adams, Judi Burkhalter, Jeanne Evans, Aryd’ell Hotelling, Gail Isbel, Rose Mary Jameson, Catherine King, Gwen Mazzocco, Candys McCulley, Gale Michel, Ann Page, Karan Parker, Debra Pyeatt, and Jena Tuntas You all sent so many home to me that not all of them were used but everyone of them blessed me! I am sure they will all find a home at some point.  You...

If there is anything I have learned about beading, it is how much time it really takes to accomplish something. After all, the main reason I pursued beading was because it consumed more of my time, which slowed ME down. I naturally zoom through life and that is NOT always a good thing. I have learned to pace myself or to set realistic goals when something needs to be done. What exactly HAS to be done by WHEN? I decided that both legs needed to be beaded by the 18th so that I can bead the back and arms just before putting on the wings and feathers. Somewhere in there, the hair has to be figured in.  I am still up in the air on that one because it will catch on everything but  then again so will the feathers. I am almost done with both legs! I am going to stick my neck out to get some of the back done before I crash tonight. I am going to need a little leeway for the hair and or feathers. Here is how it looks to this moment. Just a little m...

One thing that always resonates with me in my art is purpose. I prefer to have a reason to make something,  for it to have a function or  a particular purpose. It gives me motivation on a whole new level.  Now this doll has its very own purpose, more than just materializing a vision. The push to finish her and have her photographed and submitted by March first is ON. I have 16 helpers making those feathers in 3 different shades from white to dark grey. They will be given credit as those who helped give her wings. Here is my progress. It is not the most recent bit of progress but you can already tell how much more quickly I am working when there is purpose. The most recent progress has most of this thigh top and bottom done. I love the pose of the feet in this picture. I am feeling confident that this can be done- thanks to the other ladies. Blessings!

I received an email that gave me more than just a gentle push to finish. It gave me a jump through my butt to get it done kind of motivation. A call for entries...from    The Worship Studio       "Unlocking the Heart of the Artist" Could it possibly be a better fit for my doll? Uhh, NO. I think I am going to need a little (a lot) of help. Remember those feather pieces??? You do?!  Feathers...   Well I am going to need help making those.... a lot of them. The due date, get this, is MARCH 1st!!!  I may have just lost my mind to even try to have this done by then. "I can do all things!" It's blurry, but this is the progress since last week. I know it doesn't look like much but you should see the SBR  RR doll I had put a lot of my time into instead. I would show you but  Oceana's (the whale doll's) mommy doesn't want to peek at her yet. I got to get to work and finish the other RR doll on my table so I can get busy on this "fl...

After  teaching at the Texas Bead Retreat, often referred to as "TBR", the beaders reading these posts need to know a simple tip that I often share. I learned the hard way and want you to find the success I did much faster and a heck of a lot easier. When beading spirals or curves, we often start at the outer most line to set a reference point for the rest of the bead rows. Then we try to bead inside the lines. Sound like something else we were "taught" - to color in the lines? Well let's forget that! When beading spirals it is easier to bead your way bigger then setting your outline around those beads. Don't get me wrong- it can be done either way- and I often do it the hard way but it is good to know that there is an easier way! Let me try to give you a good mental picture. If you lay a towel on a bowl that is upside down, it drapes easily taking on the concave curvature of the bowl. However if you lift the bowl and try to tuck the towel up in it coveri...

It would seem my time spent in New Orleans DID have a monumental impact on my perspective on life! It was there that I learned how to "Do tha Butt", much to my mother's dismay. For those who may not know, it is a rather provocative dance that is still a whole lotta fun to do! Well, while I was at the Temple Bead Retreat I was doin' tha butt in a different way... It was a whole lotta fun to tell other beaders who asked what I was doing that, "I was doin' tha butt". Sometimes you just have to get your giggles in for the day.  Laughing is good therapy and beading is even better therapy because you have someone else to share the joke with. Blessings

I had wanted to keep all of the Doll Journey post totally drama free. Unfortunately, that's just part of it- the part of the journey that eventually defines what you do. You see, as we create our art, our  points of reference, which includes our skills, culture, experiences and beliefs, influence our decisions. THAT being said, I have begun another doll one that closely resembles a form I sold to a very dear friend. I had every intention of beading that form myself if no one purchased it at the retreat last August. The difference of the two are the gesture the arms are making. The second one suits me better, so that is a good thing.However,  I make mention of all this for two reasons-1) I must post each week and this week there is NO progress, but this realization- 2) this IS JUST PART OF IT! I am being brutally honest about the progress of this doll. I received terrible news concerning a  friend and mentor's health, though not totally unexpected, when it com...

The week has slipped by without any beading being done but the inspiration is still swirling inside. Taking a passive role by just looking at magazines and books instead of creating, keeps me going.  I may still get to bead today  but I will save the progress photos to share next week.  While looking through magazines and previous journal entries, I discovered  that this has been brewing for a lot longer than I thought. I came across a journal entry created several months ago during a worship service.  It is an awesome experience! You look at the photo...seem like a coincidence to you? I used water soluble oil pastes and pen to create this journal page. I love how you can work in one medium and it inspires your direction in another. If you work with multi-media, be sure to play with them all as your inspiration allows. You will find that it fuels a much bigger fire than you had dreamed. Uhh, no pun intended ( I think). I wonder what they were saying...

As I envision a phoenix rising from the ashes I see scrolls or swirls of movement. This is one of my favorite design elements and  I especially love it in architecture and furniture. Being one of my favorite things, it shouldn't be unexpected when I incorporate it into the bead work. It really wasn't but what was not expected would be my reaction to its presence and what it added . I began the scroll work after using a moss/ bocce stitch under the flames to transition the lower half of the doll to ashes. Selecting  a matte black 11 bead for the scroll outline. I wasn't completely settled on this bead or the scrolls from the beginning,  but I made myself push through and commit to the decision that was made. I set the doll down at this point, still not certain of the direction is was taking. Later I came back to her,  looked at the black scroll of bead work and picked her up, I felt an intensity that wasn't there before. A depth of meaning. Now I am cer...

Whenever you work on a doll  you don't always have all the pieces together. I usually have more of the big picture than I did with this doll. What it has taught me is to "Take it one Step at a Time". While I worked on the flames, more and more things revealed themselves to me. I knew this doll was to have wings. What I didn't know was why. Now I DO! Follow along my thought process for a  minute. As a flame burns, there is a change created. We are left with Ashes. I remembered "beauty for ashes" and had to go find out why it sounded like I was trading beauty for a pile of ashes- when I knew it was supposed to be the other way around. When I found it,  it smacked me. I mean it resonated deep within me. Isaiah 61:3 "To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorifie...

After focusing on the flames, more inspiration has welled up in my spirit. This is what so many artist search for before they create. For me, it comes as I get quiet, busy my hands and meditate on what is in front of me as well as what is pouring out of me. The inspiration isn't just for what I am working on at the time, it overflows into everything. I mean EVERYTHING. I begin to create in the still moments before I sleep, in my dreams I am fulfilling the  promises of future appointments.  It is:  THE SWEET SPOT! The place where you know that you are doing exactly what you are called to do. Where you are fulfilling your greatest desires and drawing on wisdom that rests within. When you are led by the creative spirit instead of a  thwarted body and confused mind. Your eyes are on the prize and you can feel the hope it carries into your life. There is nothing else like it- To be exactly where you are supposed to be- No Questions asked- No Doubts remain. Blessin...

The  biggest challenge I face when I create a large project (of any kind) is faithfulness. I allow myself to toy with different ideas within the project but I am a stickler for being faithful to the vision. If it doesn't fit- it gets tossed to the side. This process is actually the part that I love. I think you might  call it problem solving but I like to refer to it as creative engineering.  When I began this doll,  I felt like I was working with a foreign medium, one never explored before. It sounds strange even to me, especially as I had my previous pieces right under my nose to contradict that feeling of inadequacy. I haven't made a doll in quite some time. I was completely disinterested with anything that had to do with bead embroidery. The last doll I completed took such a chunk of my soul to complete, I am still struggling getting over it and the events of my life that occured while creating her. So, I started to embroider on the arms of th...

Whenever a momma of any kind births, she begins to nest. She gathers things needed for a  time when little else gets done besides the nurturing of a new creature. Whenever we craft or create we do the same thing. We gather things close to us that we feel are necessary for some serious time spent on our project. On a grander scale, some may refer to it as "hoarding" but I prefer to call it nesting. It allows us to focus on the task at hand without interruption or distraction. It makes sense, doesn't it? My collecting usually starts with seed beads. I hunt down every possible color that I may want to include. For this doll I have put together 3 different mixes of flesh tones in different intensities.If you know me, you would think I am really crazy because I do NOT like my beads mixed. However, the idea is to see the glow of a flame reflecting off of a natural skin tone.  "Flesh to flames". When I gather my materials, I leave no bin untouched. I search every dr...

Whenever I start a large doll, I have a specific vision. I encourage my students to create this way too. What is a vision? A vision is something you see, it doens't have to really be there and it doesn't have to really be seen with your  physical eyes. It doesn't even have to be the whole thing- just a part. It can be a hope or a dream that you envision. It could be real or imagined, so long as you "see" it. My visions usually come from experiences that are unique to me. I may have shared events with others but the links to each event are my own. Hearing a band play a song, seeing the hawks floating on the wind, wanting to free that rooster of his beautiful neck feathers, even finding feathers on the driveway. Each of these events led to the vision of this doll. The song started it all. The lyrics say: Come be the fire inside of me, Come be the flame inside my heart, Until you and I are one. I see this part of the vision as a pose or a body position- which I have ...

Sometimes we all find ourselves in a creative funk. My funk began before I taught my class at Bead Fest. I had a difficult time getting it together to be productive. My preparations ahead of time really saved my keester. My class was successful, I had a lot of fun too. There was a lot of love in that room! But, it vanished almost as soon as I got into the car to go home. We all deal with this problem in different ways. When I am in a mild funk, I like to look at magazines, books or blogs for inspiration. I love to look at Etsy too. This funk was different, it couldn't be shaken so easily. I made myself create something- anything. I started with quick projects like ATCs. I have over a dozen new ones now. Then I fell back on the fun project and made a fish with some new beads I bought at Bead Fest. I even sewed  two new jackets, a skirt and a vest that is still half done....   The funk was still there. I knew it was something deep seated...  I needed to...