Commitment

A friend recently asked me if I was interested in participating in NaNoWriMo – the National Novel Writing Month – the deal is you pledge to write 50,000 words in a month. Broken down that is 1667 words a day. Now considering I have trouble writing more than one small blog post in six months, I kinda thought I probably wouldn’t be very good at it and politely declined.

My beading journey tends to go in fits and spurts, I can be very focussed for a time and then have long gaps where I don’t think about it at all. I’ve come to the realisation that it isn’t something I can commit to as a serious pursuit. It is a hobby, a passion perhaps. So I have decided to take the pressure off myself. I will bead at will, sell when the opportunity arises and blog whenever the urge takes me.

Above is a necklace I made for an art show earlier in the year.

Lately I have also been participating in an online beading group organised by a beady friend Karyn aka Rufydoof. The idea behind Beading Babes is that a project/s is picked each month (mainly from Beadwork and Bead and button magazine) and everyone has a go. the aim is that by the end of twelve months you will have tried 12 new things and have 12 pieces of jewellery. It’s a good way to get the creative juices flowing. So far I’ve attempted two projects, the first called Camelot’s Cross was one I had bypassed in the magazine because it didn’t appeal to me, mainly due to colours, but I’m so glad I had a go. It was a lovely pattern to work on and I’m really pleased with the outcome.

Camelot cross

I’m currently working on a necklace called ‘sleek in silver’ which I’m actually doing in bronze. I’ll post pictures soon.

Cheers
Sharyn

A new year, a fresh start

Last year (as you can probably see) I neglected my blog shamefully. I apologise to those loyal few (probably just my mum) who have visited to see no change for so many months. I have no real excuses. Yes life was busy, other things got in the way but mostly I was just very slack!

So I have decided to start the new year with a bit of a make over, a fresh start, a new look, but no promises. I will try to bead more and blog more but there are no guarantees.

2011 looks as if it will be a year of change. My daughter is about to head off into the world of full time employment somewhere in the state (still don’t know where) and my son will be heading off to uni. So that means my husband and I will return to being just the two of us at home. It will be a time of adjustment, but all good I think. Hopefully I might get myself more organised and have more time for creating.

Last year I participated in a few exhibitions and taught workshops at the Sydney Bead and Gem show and also, for the first time, the Victorian Bead Society Bead Expo in Melbourne. I’m hoping I can do that again this year as well.

For now I leave you with a series of pendants I made for my girlfriends for Christmas. I hope you all have a very creative and fruitful New Year!

Cheers
Sharyn

Beauty

Time keeps on slippin’

How time flies when you’re having fun! I can’t believe that April is almost over, that’s a third of the year gone already! Why is it that as we get older the time goes by so much faster. Is it because we are more aware of our demise getting nearer?

A friend of mine who moved to Australia to live last year said recently that moving to another country is a good way of getting time to slow down. His theory is that it is because your days are so full of new sights, new experiences, new things to learn. Perhaps he is right, maybe when we get bogged down in our daily routines – get up, go to work, come home, cook tea, sit in front of the TV – one days is much like the next and each week just melts away until before we know it another month is over. Maybe what we need to do to slow down time is to fill it up. Make a point of doing something new everyday, make the most of the time we have.

Perhaps just making a point of doing something everyday – like the 365 challenge is what we need to do. Spending a short amount of each day focussing on something that over time you can look back and see a progression – it could be doing a bit of work on a major beading project, or maybe stopping to take a photograph every day thereby recording your daily life. Another idea would be to write – not necessarily a diary detailing each day (because honestly some days are really not worth writing about) but more a journal for writing whatever is in your mind, it might be something that happened that day, it could be a memory from long ago, it could be something you read or saw that piqued your interest.

Maybe in the end filling up your time won’t make it slow down, however at least you will feel like you are achieving things rather than watching it just slip away. I’ll keep you posted on how I go with the slowing process!

On the beading front I’ve had a few exciting things happen recently. I was invited to display my jewellery at a new Gallery that opened in Parkes in April (my first gallery exhibition!) and received some very positive feedback (along with some very welcome sales). I also entered a piece in the local Waste to Art competition and was awarded first prize in the Community Functional section. My entry was titled “Plastic Fantastic” and was made using discs cut from plastic cards – eg. credit cards, reward cards and gift cards. It was a statement on consumerism and our throw away society. My entry will now progress to the state finals of the Waste to Art Competition. This weekend coming (Anzac weekend) I will again have a display of jewellery at one of the gardens that will be on display for the Open Garden Scheme. So all in all a busy time.

Cheers
Sharyn

More on Inspiration

Wow I can’t believe it’s been so long since I updated my blog!  I do apologise profusely.    The last few months of 2009 just flew by, we were so busy!  I think we were away just about every weekend from mid September to mid November!  As for December, well that always speeds by in a blink!    I didn’t get to do much beading during this time, life tended to get in the way but I did get a lot of inspiration!

Our whirlwind social life began in mid September with a weekend in Mudgee, we met up with friends from Sydney and stayed in a beautiful house perched high up on a hill called Hendohaven.  The view was spectacular, could have stayed there all weekend just looking at it but we had plans to be out and about  and our visit was too short to allow for just sitting back.    Mudgee itself has so much to see and do and on Saturday morning we ventured into town and discovered two markets – the local farmer’s market and a craft market.  Lots of goodies to look at and I managed to buy some lovely pieces of agate from a stall selling gemstones and rocks.

The spectacular view from our house in Mudgee

Hendohaven valley views mudgee

The following weekend I headed to Sydney by myself for the Bead and Gem show.  I was really pleased to find that both my classes were booked out and that I was the only teacher to do so!  I thoroughly enjoyed both my groups and hope I sent them away with skills and inspiration to create beautiful things!  When I wasn’t teaching I helped Joanne Ivy of Cranberry  on her stall.  It was a tad difficult to stay focussed on serving customers with a rainbow of seed beads laid out before me, but I did my best (I wish I could just buy one tube of every colour and shape bead she has.  That would be bliss!).  It wasn’t all work though, I did get around and chatted to various people, drooled over the displays and spent a bit of money (well maybe a little more than a ‘bit’).

Some Beady Friends with one of my favourite Bead Sellers, Sue of Bead Glass

Some of my bead show 'Stash'

I was only home for four days and then we were off again, this time for a well earned relaxing holiday.  We spent a week at Smith’s Lake on the mid north coast of NSW in a lovely holiday house with friends.   The weather wasn’t great, it was windy, overcast and rainy most days but in some ways that was good, it made us sit back and just relax, read, watch tv, play cards and do a little bit of beading (of course).  The house, Vainui, was perched on the side of a hill looking out over the lake.  Every day on the deck we were visited by beautiful birds that came to feed on the bird seed we left out.  At night we were visited by Possums who finished off what the birds left behind.  The days we did get out and about we drove through grand forests, walked along beaches and walked to the seal rock lighthouse where we were rewarded with stunning views and Whale sightings.  It is such a beautiful place.

One of our visitors, this fella was very friendly and sat at the back door waiting for us to come out

a couple more visitors, these two were very bossy!

We did manage a couple of weekends at home after that but then we were off again, this time to Mildura to attend the wedding of our niece.  It was a beautiful wedding, the couple had chosen a theme of orange blossom and citrus with the invitations, place cards, church decoration etc reflecting that.  Unfortunately the 40+ degree heat did make it hard going, but we had a great time all the same.  It’s always great to have the opportunity to dress up and I did take the time to make myself something grand to wear.

The citrus theme

The Wedding Party

One week later we were off again, a flying trip to Melbourne to attend the Victorian Bead Society Bead Expo where I once again helped on the Cranberry stall, spent too much on beads (again) and saw some magnificent bead work.  We stayed with some good friends, Fiona and Ray,  and I was inspired by the creative mosaic work that Fiona creates in her studio tucked in the back yard of their home. http://ftmosaics.weebly.com/

 All these weekends/weeks away provided me with lots of inspiration however I was so busy unfortunately beading took a very definite back seat during this time.    I did manage to complete a couple of pieces, firstly my designer quest entry and as I mentioned earlier a necklace to wear to my nieces wedding.   I didn’t even have my usual Christmas open house because I didn’t feel I had enough stock, however I did make dozens of Angel Earrings which proved very popular!

The necklace I made to wear to the wedding

My latest Quet entry

Things have settled down a bit now and I have used the start of this month to try and get my work room into order.  I’ve also dabbled in trying some new bead stitches that I’ve been  wanting to do for some time.  Some of my beading colleagues have taken up the “365 challenge” – that is to be creative 365 days this year!  Some are even documenting their progress on blogs and with photos!  I admire them, I know I couldn’t keep to that! I’d like to but  between work, family and home some days there isn’t enough time for anything else.  However, perhaps I can take the “52 challenge”, try to be creative at least once every week, that seems far more achievable!   

Here are a few people who have been brave enough to take up the 365 challenge Greenstar Jewellery  ,  Veeanca  and  Rufydoof

Cheers Sharyn

Sydney Bead and Gem show

Just a quick update. Once again I will be teaching a couple of workshops at the Sydney Bead and Gem Show. This year the show is on in September (before the school holidays) running from the 25th to the 27th of September.
I am teaching two classes this year, the first on Saturday 26th in the afternoon (2.00pm – 5.00pm) is a spiral rope bracelet with vine like embellishment. Not only will students learn the very versatile technique of Spiral rope but also how to add embellishments including simple leaves, peyote leaves and little daisies. This Class is open to all levels of experience including beginners.

 
The second class (onSunday 27th in the morning – 10.00am – 1.00pm) is an exploration of Tubular Peyote – in this class students will learn how to start a tubular peyote piece, increase and decrease and how to put a ‘twist’ to it. Also during the class I will be demonstrating and discussing variations such as Cellini Spiral and Dutch Spiral. This class is also open to all levels of experience.

 
Information on the class times, costs and other details can be found at the Bead and Gem Show Website. www.beadandgemshow.com.au
During the show I will also be helping out on the Cranberry stand so if you have the chance to attend please drop by to say hello – I’ll be the one ignoring customers and drooling over all the seed beads! LOL (not really Jo, I promise to work!).

Cheers
Sharyn

Obsessions

I’ve always said that beading is my obsession, but lately that has been pushed to the back as two other ‘obsessions’ have taken over. One I like to think of as being a noble obsession, the other a pathetic, time wasting but very addictive one.
When winter comes along I get an urge to knit and usually have two or three projects on the go at once. A few months ago (after my knitting phase commenced) I was cruising around Ebay and stumbled on a fabulous 1940’s knitting pattern book, I put in a bid, won the auction and so started my passion for vintage knitting patterns. I was like a woman possessed! I was in a bidding frenzy on Ebay and Oztion and I scoured all the second hand and charity shops for miles around hunting for interesting patterns from the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. I also dabbled in a few vintage fashion and women’s magazines as well. Soon my collection was growing daily and I started cataloguing and filing them in folders, one folder became two, then three, then four…. I guess you get the idea LOL. My husband asked me if I was going to knit anything from all these patterns, and my reply was … maybe. I explained that what I liked was the idea of preserving something that in some ways was a throw away item. As fashions change people might just throw old and dated patterns out. Putting together a collection and keeping it for the future appealed to me.
I started with buying what ever took my fancy but as time went on I refined my search and concentrate on collecting Paton’s patterns only and mainly those for women. Some of the patterns are amazing, evening dresses, swimsuits (can you imagine that!), underwear and fabulous hats. Some would be just as fashionable today as they were back then. Some are in ‘not so good’ condition where as others are pristine, either unused or well taken care of.
I guess it is the same when you embark on any new hobby or interest, at first there is a frenzy and then as time goes on you get a feel for what you really want. It was the same with my beading, there was a time when I bought beads all the time, what ever I could get my hands on, but now I am far more discerning in my choices, I buy better quality and only things I know I will use. My biggest problem with my beading is letting go, actually using the beads I have collected in pieces rather than just keeping them because I love them.
Having obsessions, hobbies, interests is, I think, what keeps us alive, well it certainly keeps me going. I can’t imagine life without some sort of obsession to keep you going. It’s all about having something to strive for.
As to my other recent obsession, the pathetic time wasting one, well, I’m embarrassed to admit it but it’s Facebook and in particular Farmtown! I can’t keep away from it, I love planting crops, harvesting and plowing. I spend far too much time on it when I should be knitting or beading or even talking to my family. I’d like to think that it’s a bit like getting back to my roots, being a farmer’s daughter and all, but that’s just trying to make it sound better than it really is. Oh well, as I tell my family, it’s mostly harmless, at least I’m not drinking or gambling!
Anyway I better go, I think I have some tomatoes that need picking and I want to earn some money to buy another cow.
Happy farming
Cheers
Sharyn

inspiration

It’s been awhile since I last wrote, actually I wrote this a while ago I just hadn’t got around to posting it, so much for my resolution to keep my blog more up to date!

We recently travelled to Victoria to attend my father’s 80th birthday party. We decided that it would be easier and perhaps quicker to fly down, even with the 3 ½ hour drive to Canberra first. We left home at 8.00am and finally arrived at our destination 11 hours later at 7.00pm – It usually takes us 10 hours to drive! Although not quicker it was probably a more relaxed way to travel. We arrived in Canberra an hour before our flight was due to leave, had some lunch and sat reading and watching the planes come in and out. Unfortunately due to a huge storm our flight was delayed for over an hour and that put us behind a bit. On arriving in Melbourne we picked up our hire car and headed off only to come to a complete standstill once we hit the M , I can see why it is nicknamed the “Monash car park”. But what does this all have to do with beading? Just stay with me.

We had booked into the Royal Hotel at Loch for two nights, which is just down the road from where my parents live. The hotel had been recommended to us by an on-line beading friend. I have to say I was so glad we took the advice. The Royal Hotel is a fantastic place to stay and our hostess, Sybil, was just lovely. There is art everywhere, in the bar, the dining room, the hallways and the rooms as well an eclectic mix of memorabilia and knick knacks. The hotel has such a cosy home like feel and the food, oh the food! Sybil is not only a fantastic hostess but she is also a fabulous cook making the most of local produce. We were only able to have one dinner there plus our breakfasts and wished we could have more. The smells coming from the kitchen in the morning of, what I can only guess was the lunch menu, was mouth watering!

Before heading to the 80th party we had a walk up the street and dropped into see my friend Kay Lancashire of Kay’s Artycles. Kay’s shop is a treasure trove filled with her stunning creations both jewellery and accessories and also a great supply of beads and other bits and bobs. I only had a short time there but it did allow me to consult Kay on a project I was working on and buy a few things to add to my collection.

The party was a great success and I think my parents appreciated the effort we made to get down for it. On Sunday we headed back to Melbourne and after attending to a couple of errands we popped into the Victorian Art Gallery which we haven’t visited for many many years. It was very peaceful strolling through the galleries. Whilst in the European collection I took the time to sit and just take in the paintings around the room. They were very rich in colour and quite beautiful. After awhile I started to notice the large ornate frames and one in particular had me pulling out a pencil and pad to jot down an idea for a design.

What I thought was going to be just a quick trip to see my parents and celebrate my father’s birthday turned out to be full of art and inspiration. In fact it made me realise that inspiration is all around us and it really is a matter of ‘looking outside the square. I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend away and can’t wait to get into my work room to start playing with some of the ideas that are bumping around inside my head.

My Place

I’ve been thinking about my work space a lot since the beginning of the year. I spent some time trying to clean out my beading room and reorganise it to be more ‘workable’ but haven’t really had a huge success yet. This is the main reason I haven’t produced a lot since the beginning of the year.

Recently I experienced some major “work room envy” when a very talented friend of mine (http://www.gurucreations.com/news) showed me a picture of her new workspace. Across the front of her bench she has an array of small drawer units for her beads, making everything literally “at her fingertips”.
In my work room I have a big window under which my table is sited. This means I can’t really have drawers or shelves right in front of me. All my supplies are kept in shelves at the side of my room meaning I am constantly getting up and down to look for things and always end up with piles of containers precariously perched all around me, with my actual work space becoming smaller and smaller (usually with disastrous results).
Mind you, having my table right under the window is wonderful. The amount of natural light falling on my work area during the day is great to work with. Not only that, when I look out the window I usually see my little dog playing with her ball as it is her favourite place to be.
I daresay there is no answer to my workspace dilemma. Even if I had the space and money to design a ‘perfect work room’ I’m sure in the end I’d still have the same problems mainly because of the way I work. Perhaps I should try to be more organised, plan my designs and source all the materials ready to go? Somehow I don’t think I could work this way, I don’t tend to plan my pieces as such, it’s more that I get an inkling of an idea and then start searching through my supplies for things that ‘might’ work, try some things, get out more things, change my mind, pull out more and before you know it I have multiple “leaning towers of Pisa” beads just waiting to topple.
Perhaps what I really need is a bead maid who could just be there to tidy up and put things away as I decide I don’t need the. Actually, I think that is exactly what I need! Anyone want to apply? Pay is woeful (well non existent really) but I can offer lots of jewellery and the occasional G & T!

Cheers Sharyn

PS – Actually I have been doing a little bit of beading.  I finally finished my Designer Quest Entry from last year.  I didn’t actually get it started until the competition was over but I was determined to do it.  So here it is – the Cranberry Designer Quest.

Summertime

Well Christmas has been, the New Year has begun, the kids are back at school and Elvis has left the building! The year is well and truly underway! After my flurry of beading before Christmas I have to say I haven’t done a thing since!

There are a few reasons for this, firstly I was away over Christmas, then when we arrived back home I went into overdrive and gave my house a big clean (and oh my did it need it!). After that we had visitors for the Elvis Festival, which was even bigger this year than ever before! We had a great weekend with our friends and even attended a few ‘Elvis’ events (if you are interested there are some photos in my flickr album). With the Elvis festival came storms and rain, on the Sunday night the heavens opened and it poured down. As usual when we have a downpour my darling husband realised the gutters were overflowing and headed out into the storm to clean them out. As I passed through the lounge on my way to get him a towel I heard the sound of running water coming from my beading room. My first thought was that I had left the window open but when I went to investigate I found it was closed but there was water pouring down from between the architrave and the window frame. Talk about panic, I shrieked, our visitors came running and we quickly moved as much as we could away from the window (which was no mean feet as I had left it in quite a mess after my pre Christmas flurry of beading) and used just about every towel in the house to try and quell the stream of water- especially when we realised it was happening in the office above the new computer as well. Meanwhile hubby (still outside) discovered what the cause was and with drill in hand fixed the problem. Needless to say when everything had settled my Beading room was in an absolute mess.

It has taken me nearly four weeks to put it back into order. Why so long? Well I decided while I was at it to reorganise and move things around. I’m not sure if I have made it better but at least everything is put away and labelled so hopefully I should be able to find things now without having to pull the room apart!

In the last week or so Summer has really hit hard and I feel so sorry for people in Melbourne and Adelaide who have had unrelenting high temperatures. On the local news the other night they said this was the hottest January for many years with several days of 38+.  Summer is not my favourite month and I tend to go into a sort of ‘hibernation’, going from home to work and back again. In fact I even ‘like’ being at work because at least it is cool (and that is saying something). At home I tend to stick around the family room where I can sit under the air con and I don’t do much, hence another reason why I haven’t done any beading.

So I have nothing to show. Not even of my pre Christmas beading as most of the pieces sold before I got a chance to photograph them (and I’m not complaining about that!). Now that my beading group has started back and my workspace is all spick and span I hope the creative juices will start flowing again soon.

Keep Cool Sharyn

Christmas Greetings

Well the silly season has come, in fact I think it started in October! I’ve been very busy in the last two months making and selling jewellery. I’ve also been flat out at work which hasn’t left me much time for other things – like my blog! However, I just wanted to take this opportunity to say Merry Christmas to all who visit my site, thank you for your interest and I hope you have a safe and happy festive season and come back and visit again in 2009!

Sharyn
PS – I have a new design tutorial in the lastest edition of Australian Beading. If anyone is interested in purchasing a kit for the Herringbone necklace complete with instructions they are available at www.crystalflair.com.au.