Performance, Feedback, Revision

A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I attended a Science Luminaries series lecture featuring a number of big names in the field.  I'd bought the tickets for his birthday, and even managed to snag my husband the last of the VIP tickets which included a reception beforehand (I sat way up in the nosebleed seats with another friend).  So now he can say he's met Stephen Hawking.  Dr. Jack Horner had a fun lecture on his work to create a dinosaur (from a chicken) and Hawking's lecture was intriguing, but they're not what I'm going to talk about here today.

Baba Brinkman performing "Performance, Feedback, Revision"

Instead, my brain keeps returning to the artist, Baba Brinkman, and his Rap Guide to Evolution.  He performed twice during the evening, effectively opening and closing the show.  His opening act(song, lecture - what do you call it?) was his Rap Guide to Evolution, which was surprisingly fun.  Who knew I liked rap?  But it's his last rap of the evening "Performance, Feedback, Revision" that caught me; where he links evolution to performance art to every day life.

It made me feel better to think that not only am I not the only artist whose craft is a constant work in progress, but that maybe that's actually a wholly desirable trait.  I know these things, but I tend to spend so much time with revision, that sometimes it feels like that's the only thing I ever do.  Especially in my written work; I'm constantly looking for better ways to describe, illustrate or photograph key ideas or techniques.  When is enough enough?

there's a cap bead hiding in the right back corner

And right now, I'm heavily into the revision stage.  After the Seedbeader's meeting in June, I have lots of great feedback, and now I'm continuing to edit and produce my Corset & Stays Beaded bead tutorial.  It currently stands at twenty pages, the title is now, Corset, Caps & Stays, and includes stub pages for a basic beaded bead using right angle weave, my Corset beads, and their evil (or not so evil) twin the Cap bead.  All three are tied together so closely design & construction-wise that it seems to make sense to include them in one tutorial.  I think. 

Once I have a finished-looking product (see I don't say it's actually finished!) it will be time to seek more feedback by posting it for sale. My hope is to have version two done by the end of this week.  Keep your fingers crossed for me! 

Oh, and at the Seedbeader's meeting I discovered that many people didn't know why I called it a corset bead - it's because I stitch the middle band off of the base bead, then lace it on, just like you'd cinch a lady into her corset.  So much easier than trying to stitch on the base bead itself.