Ring Repair before my Spring Ring Fling Workshop

reattaching the runaway flower

This weekend's my Freeform Peyote Spring Ring Fling Workshop at Fusion Beads. 

About time to fix this poor little ring!  After riding around in a plastic baggie in the bottom of my purse for at least a month, it lost one of its flowers.  Poor little thing!

As a beading instructor, I fear I am ridiculously hard on my pieces.  Luckily the plastic baggie caught the runaway flower (and the little turn bead too, for that matter).

You can see one of the things I absolutely love about freeform peyote stitch in this photo.  Even though a thread broke and I lost a flower, the rest of the ring stayed neatly intact.  No cascade of escaping beads to corral.  Since I had to stitch the one flower back on, I decided to run my thread through the other two as well, just for reinforcement.  But it wasn't strictly necessary.

ready to wear again.

Now the ring is fixed and ready to wear again. 

With Valentine's Day coming up, it would be easy to make a another Valentine ring or two.  But I did that last year.  So I'm likely to go on to something new.  Not sure what theme I'll work with this coming weekend. 

A friend from Seedbeaders gave me a wonderful, oddly-shaped black pearl that could be a fun focus for my next ring.  Or I may simply stroll the aisles at Fusion Beads and see what jumps out at me. 

It's also fun to see what my students bring to work with - every ring made is so unique!  If you don't believe me, do a search on my blog for 'ring'.  You'll see what I mean. 

a better photo of the pearl than of the ring

Want to come play?


There's still plenty of room if you'd like to join in.  Saturday, January 28th from 2:00- 5:00pm. 

I'm looking forward to it! 

A Women's Weekend

waiting for the bus - with a party atmosphere

Saturday:  Womxns' March, Seattle

My weekend was a celebration of women.  On Saturday, Joe and I attended the incredible Womxns' March here in Seattle.  It seemed like the march was all anyone talked about in the week beforehand.  The local coffee shops were abuzz with who was going, who was meeting whom, who was knitting hats for whom.  I'd swear that in our neighborhood, it was more anticipated than Christmas.

The morning of, we headed down to El Diablo early, to find it almost empty.  We watched as one group of pink-hatted women after another dashed in, grabbed coffees, and dashed back out.  We also watched the metro buses gliding through the neighborhood packed with pink hats and signs.

the group behind us in line for the bus

We'd planned to meet friends at the coffee shop, then head over to the first stop on the 4 route about 10am.  We could see the corner, and the 40-50 people waiting there from our window seat, so we decided to head over way early.  As we waited, we watched the line grow, then shrink (then grow again) as people bailed to grab an Uber or other transport.  What was really neat was everyone worked to fill their vehicles to capacity, grabbing other people from the line. You'd hear the call, "we have one more space" and someone else would hop out of line and join them.

When we finally bailed, we did the same and brought a new friend from line with us, walking to another friends where her husband had arranged an adhoc carpool, piling ten of us into two vehicles (plus the 2 drivers).  Good thing too; the bus arrived as we were pulling out, and it was already so full that it didn't even stop where we'd been waiting.

the start of the march, before the skies cleared

On the drive to Judkins Park (the starting point of the route), every bus stop we passed was filled with pink-hatted, smiling women (and a fair number of pink-hatted men, too).  Truth is, we never actually made it to the park - by about eight blocks out it was obvious we'd have to go the rest of the way on foot.

Abandoning our drivers with many thanks, we walked another couple of blocks before the crowds simply got too thick to get any closer.  We ended up at 20th and Jackson.  Turns out none of our group had remembered to download a map of the route onto our phones.  So I asked one of the very nice policewomen for assistance and discovered that we'd accidentally found the actual starting line for the march - with a Native American group lined up right behind the police on bicycles.

inside the long river of people with blue skies overhead

YES!!!

Despite watching the start of the march, it took another 40 minutes before we made it out of the first intersection, and another 20 before we'd traversed another block.  There were so many people filtering in from so many intersections that it took forever to move more than 2-3 steps at a time.  But that was okay, because everyone was smiling, everyone was simply so happy to be there, to see the amazing turn out. And it was fun to read everyone's signs.

The signs ran the gamut of causes.  Many I believed in wholeheartedly, some were simply not my causes, and a few I didn't agree with at all.  But that's okay, because it was all about free speech and solidarity. Being able to speak one's truths and knowing you're not alone. That's why I was there.  After last year's brutal election cycle, many have been left fearful and hurting.  I wanted to be there simply because it seemed right to stand up and say 'I care, I'm paying attention, and you're not alone'.


One of my favorites was a hand-drawn sign carried by a little girl, maybe 5-6 years old riding on her dad's shoulders.  Her sign read 'Make America Kind Again'.  A goal I can definitely get behind.  It was fun walking with our little group of six women, three teenaged girls and two men.  Even when it was tricky keeping us all together in the crowds. Thank you Joe, for walking with me, and for sending the text last week, asking if I wanted to go on this particular 'date'.  Thanks Jen, for sending the text 'Come to our house now', and for organizing the impromptu carpool.  And thank you Spencer for playing chauffeur.

From Judkins Park to the Seattle Center, the full route was 3.6 miles long.  Based upon aerial photos I saw afterwards, we filled the entire route!  The first people were arriving at the Seattle Center before the last marchers had left Judkins Park.  Estimates this morning say there were as many as 175,000 people.  It was an incredible feeling to be part of such a crowd.  A peaceful, happy, smiling group of people from so many diverse backgrounds, coming together to participate as a community.

Thank you Seattle Bicycle Police!

Arriving at the Seattle Center felt a little anti-climatic.  My feet were sore, and I was ready to be off of them.  But at the same time, I was riding high on the energy of the event.  It was so powerfully positive.

Even the amazing bicycle police along the route were smiling, and wished us well along the way.  I want to sing out many praises for the women and men of the police force - thank you for being there, thank you for supporting the constitution, the 1st amendment, and your fellow citizens.

a few more signs I saw on the march

Seedbeaders!  (about half of the roomful)

Seedbeaders Sunday

And if the march wasn't enough to make me smile, Sunday was Seedbeaders.  This was the first time I'd managed to make it in about a year - I don't think I attended a single meeting in 2016.  Walking in the door, it was like old-home week, with so many friends I hadn't seen in ages.

Jennifer Porter talks about Random RAW

January's the month where everyone is asked to bring ideas for mini-workshops they're willing to teach at the monthly meetings through the year.  All of the meeting projects are free - members donating their talents to the rest of the membership.  I am so very impressed by the talent and generosity of everyone in this group.

This month, Jennifer Porter was teaching her version of embellished, random right angle weave.  One of my besties, Jennifer and I have a similar vibe (and tend to inspire each other) with our work as we're both drawn to freeform bead weaving.  (If you're wondering why her name sounds familiar, she is one of the featured artists in Explorations). 

Jennifer let me snap this picture of her talking about random right angle weave, and then a couple pictures of her work.  I'm including my best photo below (definitely not a studio setting - so the photos not as good as I'd like).

Cherry Trees in Fall by Jennifer Porter

A bright cherry on the Sunday goodness - it turns about a dozen of us from Seedbeaders had attended the march, and we all had different stories and highlights to tell.  I'll admit, I'm still buzzing from my wonderful, incredible women's weekend.

Good thing, too, because next up on my to do list today is State taxes for Skunk Hill Studio.  Yippee! 

Want to Join a UFO Support Group?

Are unfinished projects cluttering your work surface and filling your drawers?  Would you like to 'clear the decks' of some of the UFOs that seem to accumulate?  Then I invite you to join my new UFO Support Group. 

Making art is such a solitary endeavor - I envision this support group as a way for us to feel a little less alone as we tackle our 'problem' and 'neglected' children.  The group will be a place where members can ask for constructive feedback when they're stumped on how (or even whether) they should move forward on a project.  And where we can share the celebration when projects come to completion.

Towards that end, I plan to set up some sort of group forum where we can share 'insider' information during the month.  Once we have a core membership, I'll send out a survey to figure out what venue would fit us best (Google Groups, Facebook, etc). 

And to give us regular deadlines to work towards (and times for celebration) I plan to host regular FO (Finished Object) Blog Hops.  But no worries - you don't need to have a blog to join in!

this tea cozy from my crazy quilting days is crying for attention

Who can Join?  
Any artist or crafter working in any medium who would like to join a positive support group working to bring some unfinished projects to fruition.  As I've shared in private emails, some of my UFOs include a steampunk outfit that I cut out back in the Fall of 2015, and a crazy quilted tea cozy that dates back to around 2001.  And of course, I have plenty of beading projects that I hope to finish.

You simply need to commit to completing at least one UFO by the first reveal - where we will share our newly Finished Objects and pat our backs in congratulations. 

My hope is that this will be an ongoing support group, but members might not participate in all reveals.  Right now, my plan is to continue this through at least mid-summer, then see how it's going. 


When and Where?
Signups are open through January 31st, 2017. 

First Finished Object Blog Hop will be Saturday, March 11th.  That gives us enough time to work, but not so much time that we can lose focus.  Together, we'll decide whether to host additional Blog Hops on a monthly or every-other-month basis.  


How to Join
Comment on this blog, or send me a email (skunkhillstudio at gmail dot com) with your name, email address and blog address if you have one.  Feel free to also include information on your UFOs, but this isn't absolutely required up front. 



I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Cataloging UFOs

A recent email got me thinking about UFOs.  Those UnFinished Objects that collect in drawers and clutter up the work space.   Being that time of year, it got me to thinking about resolutions - new and old, and what I want (and hope) to accomplish this year. 

Sorting through some of my UFOs I realized that there are a number of reasons why different projects fell to the wayside.  I'm coming to think that the more I understand WHY a particular project got set aside, the better chance I have of determining which, if any might ever reach the coveted "Completed" state.

So I started cataloging my Reasons why particular projects end up as UFOs.  Here's my list to date:


Too Many Ideas, Too Little Time
 It's a fact: the larger a project is, the longer it takes to complete.  Not just in terms of the hours spent working on that particular project.  But also because of the times when the long-term project gets set aside in favor of smaller, quicker projects. 

The word "Done" has such a nice ring.  Done!  Bingo! Hurray!  There are some words that are just such fun to say.  That likely explains why I have more snowflakes than any other single beaded project.  They are incredibly fast - how many bead weaving projects can you finish in under an hour, and each one be unique?  So, big projects get interspersed with smaller ones, making the larger projects take even longer.

I've also found that the more time I've already invested in a project, the more risk adverse I become.  The worry about "what if I screw it up" that barely registers these days when stitching a beaded cuff, rears its head on a regular basis when working on my latest sculptural endeavors.  Bead sketching can help with this - doing little sample pieces to work out how I might move forward.

The best solution I've found is to set a concrete deadline for completion, and a reason for that deadline.  The deadline must be far enough in the future that I can reasonably finish the project.  And I need a reason for the deadline because my creative side is like a little kid, and will do it's best to find wiggle room and extensions.  Saying I want to finish it by September isn't enough.  Saying I want to finish by September so I can photograph it for a blog hop or submissions for "X" show.  Even simply telling people it will be done by a specific date is a much stronger motivator, because now someone is expecting it besides myself.


Lost without a Map
Here, I started out with a grand idea, but partway in, the project morphed into something I don't recognize.  Good, bad, it's almost impossible to tell because it simply ISN'T what I expected.  And I therefore have no clue where to go next.  Into the box it goes.  I think this is one of the most common reasons freeform beadweaving projects get left behind. 

That's okay, sometimes projects simply need time to gel.  From my own experience, my Rattlesnake Necklace is a prime example.  I'd originally designed it as a choker, but somehow the length got away from me, and it was way, way too long.  What to do?  I liked the colors, I liked the stitching, but I had no idea what to do with it.  It was several years before I thought of finishing it as a sort of Western-kerchief style choker instead.  The key is to remember to pull it out every once in a while, and keep noodling on the question "what could it be?"  (It also helped that I decided to finish this piece for a blog hop).


Too Ugly to Live
This is the second most-common reason freeform beadweaving projects get left in the dust.  The big question is whether the poor dear is simply stuck in the dreaded Ugly Duckling stage or if it has truly deadly flaws.  A cool-down period may be in order before I can make that determination.

Put it away until the disgust has faded to something more akin to pity, then pull it back out. To evaluate it's potential rebirth, I first look at the piece's stitching - is it structurally sound?  If the stitching is a mess, then it's likely toast.  Stitching is sound?  Then how's the color balance?  A quick way to play with color is to take a photo (a white or light colored background works best), print it off my computer,  then draw over the top.  Quick simple lines will do, with markers, colored pencils, crayons - whatever I have to hand.  The goal here is to play with ways to improve the color balance.

If both the stitching and color seem good, and the pieces simply seems awkward, that's a really good sign it's in the Ugly Duckling stage and I simply need to keep stitching. 


Bored Now
For me, projects that require a lot of repeats are most likely to fall into this category.  It's one of the reasons I veer away from many traditional bead weaving projects.  I get bored and I start improvising to liven things up (often with 'interesting' results) or it gets shoved into a drawer for "later".

Personally, the best way for me to work through this particular problem is to have a rock-solid, clear-cut reason for wanting to finish the project.  "I am making this as ThisYear's birthday gift for my Mom" or "I will wear it at the formal dinner on our September Cruise with my 1940s-style dress" are much more compelling reasons than "it's beautiful and I'd love to make it".  The 'it's beautiful' might get me started, but is likely to leave me stranded mid-stream as boredom sets in. 


Got It!
This is a sort of variation on the Bored Now theme, but is a little different.  When I looked at my motivation for starting these projects, I find that my true goal was simply to master a technique or determine whether something was simply possible.  Once I have the answer (either way), there's little motivation to continue.

Almost ten years ago now, I took a workshop with the artist David Chatt.  He had two Large tables covered with beading samples, mostly unfinished pieces, and explained that they were his 'sketchbook'.  They were where he worked out ideas and problems, and kept the results as quick reminders and references.  These days, I have my own 'beaded sketchbook'.  It's not as extensive as his, and I have a feeling I'm far more likely to poach from my sketchbook than he tended to be, but that's okay.  Every artists' sketchbook is entirely their own. 

One thing I have found is that it's very freeing to realize that not all beaded objects are meant to be completed.  Some are simply meant to answer a question.  Little sketches, doodles and thoughts. 



So there's my UFO Roster
Now I'm curious. 

• How many of these resonate with you?  
• Do you have UFOs that fall into other categories that should be added to the list?  What are your categories?
• Which types of UFOs are you most likely to complete, eventually?  
• What do you think of the sketchbook idea?  Do you have UFOs that are really sketches; never intended to become completed objects?  
• What would you think of joining a crafter's UFO Support Group?  A group where we challenge each other to identify, and complete one UFO at a time on a regular basis.  Say one UFO every two months?

I'd love to hear from you!