Grace: Issue 54

1. Looking up, and realizing it's Thursday and - holy cow! - where'd the week go?


2. Getting sucked into a surprisingly great book (Curtis Sittenfeld's American Wife.)


3. Finding a few new beads at a show, then spending the week stringing and restringing, and just staring at the pretty colors every once in a while.


4. Making incremental progress on a big-big-big project at work.


5. Instigating plans with my best girlfriends that will result in a Friday night Julia Child foodfest to usher in Labor Day weekend. (Considering making madeleines to accompany the tea that will inevitably end the evening - unless I dig up something more manageable and healthy [wishful thinking] in my mother-in-law's copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking.)

Grace: Issue 35

1. Finishing a necklace with beads from my favorite bead artist.
2. Realizing that what I like best about jewelrymaking is the completion.
3. Making incremental progress on a big project I've been stewing over at my day job.
4. Promising someone a chocolate bunny once Lent is over.
5. Watching robins hop around and knowing that spring is definitely en route.

The Thrill of the Hunt

Off to a bead show tomorrow. I know at least two vendors that will take my money - the aforementioned Louise Mehaffey and her lampworked beads, and a silver vendor that gives my pieces their "oomph."

Then, after the show, it's lunch with two of my favorite people.

After the week I've had? I cannot wait!

Grace: Issue 28

1. Deep violet amethyst
2. Shimmery freshwater coin pearls
3. Shiny-shiny borosilicate glass
4. Detailed Bali silver
5. Vein-streaked turquoise

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Because there was major cleaning to be done today, I had to put away the beads that for weeks had been sitting on my workstation-slash-desk-slash-catchall area.

And as soon as they're away, I almost literally forget what I have. Any inspiration for a pattern or a combination or a piece de resistance flies right out the window.

If you've had any dealings with beads, you know they can be a god-awful mess if you don't have them organized. And the fact that I have to live with the combos a little while to see how things truly play out means I have a lot of stuff lying about at any given moment.

Sometimes working in matching palettes is the order of the day. But for more sophisticated color schemes, and projects of varying bead-size combinations, it just takes a lot of playing around. At least for me.

So although my desk is now clear, I can't envision what I want to create next?!

Glass Bead Making

In a few weeks, I am taking steps forward on my commitment to leading a more creative life: I will take a weekend-long class on glass bead making. And I can't wait!

The class will be led by Louise Mehaffey, one of the bead artists whose work I've admired for a long time. Her creative genius has been featured in all the bead magazines, and she's recently published a book on creating glass beads.

The class will be small, just 8 students.

If I find some time, I will read up a little on the subject so it's not completely foreign to me.

Because I work with words all day long, that approach is part of who I am. I like knowing the language of a project before I learn something entirely new. That way, I can focus more on paying attention to and learning the process involved.

So stay tuned next month for pictures of my progress - who knows? I may have discovered a new obsession.