Creative 'block' and all that.

Hi from thepapersac
Another lovely bright morning and much warmer than earlier in the week. I'm hopeful the optimistic weather will help me improve my 'rational creativity' today. Ive come to a bit of an impasse and am feeling frustrated with the Pebbles and Denim jewels. Ive been trying to find something to improve the texture of some beads for a few necklaces and bracelets and although there is lots of available ideas (from other people and things around me).
I spent ages last night looking at many different approaches to producing jewellery from clay and must have seen hundreds of earrings, necklaces, bangles, bracelets and broaches which did not excite me but some that did. I think I'm suffering from 'overload' ?

I'm trying to find something unique ? I think I'm trying too hard and maybe I need to take a step back and keep things simple. We will see how it goes from here. One thing I do need to do, is make loads more 'smallish' beads. I had thought about mixing some bought seed beads (mainly to save time) but this is a bad idea and not going to 'do'. There is a certain 'feel' from my polymer beads anything else would destroy the whole point.

Moving on (before I start 'over' analysing ) - my plan yesterday was to begin 'the' finishing processes. I have sorted the created beads into earrings and have a whopping 35 pairs !



Some are better than others. They all need some more finishing but I'm getting there and am reasonably happy with the collection of earrings - to date.

I think today, I will choose the top 5 items from the whole range and develop a way forward -I will analyse their (the chosen ones) particular characteristics. I know, I want to keep the mainly blue thing going on. Silver is allowed and some white/cream base colours as well as the shades of distressed beads. That's about it at the moment. I will know what next after my 5 reveal themselves. I still believe I have something worthy here, so I will get there (if it kills me !)

Not sure I have anything else to share. I'm obviously obsessed with this phase of work - no point in thinking too much about anything else at the moment. It's an amazing thing to actually understand this about myself. I do feel (genuinely) like someone looking in at myself and seeing the truth of the situation. Thank goodness it's Friday - philosophising about me and self psychoanalysis is possibly not very interesting to anyone else !! Thanks for reading anyway.


Have a lovely weekend.

Bye for today.

News of my new 'moodboard'.

Hi from thepapersac
Today is a brighter day all round ! The sun is shining and I'm feeling better too and have even managed my morning run (half a run to be precise).

Yesterday, was quite a productive day. I developed a batch of jewellery bits using white and blue clay. My idea was to add to the 'Pebbles' and 'Denim' jewellery collections. I have achieved quite a range of stuff but need to put the bits together to form actual pieces. I hope to do that today. I can then start using my packaging ideas and get something which works for the designs. Here is a look at the stuff so far.















All the individual items need to be finished properly and at the moment I'm not sure exactly how I will do this. I can sand, shape and polish but I think I need to add something else to some of the items.















Perhaps, some bits need some paint or other surface treatment ? I also need to think about stringing material ? As I work through the 'building' process, I'm confident ideas will suggest themselves.


I also talked about a new colour/textured collection yesterday and have come up with a mini mood board with my plans. Here is a quick peak :



I think, I will take some basic design shapes from the Pebbles and Denim range and apply the ideas from the board. I'm inspired to use the layering idea from Genervieve Williamson's blog (see the link from yesterday) as a way of layering the different colours and textures. My plans are to have an eclectic collection of interchangeable pieces using colours and textures inspired by my moodboard. I hope to use each little 'tile' on my moodboard to inspire some 'special clay' making it look similar to each sample. The project is an 'aspiration' aim for me and a means of experimenting. I will find it challenging but it's an exciting challenge - I'm eager to get going with it. However, before any of that can happen, I'm determined to get the current Pebbles and Denim Collection complete and ready for a charity sale on 1/12/13.

Must get on.

Bye for today.

'Layering' (colours and textures)

Hi from thepapersac
Lots warmer this morning - great for me. As I look out from my window, it's very dull but dry. I guess it's an improvement on yesterday - that makes me more 'inspired' for the day (I'm still suffering with my minor illness ! ...... and feeling a little sorry for myself).

I didn't manage much work yesterday, I did conduct some research on my jewellery collection specifically to do with colours. Ive decided on a brighter collection of colours (than I had thought) and am inspired by a few pages in a recent TOAST magazine. All TOAST magazines are beautiful and I love to keep them close for inspiration. I have some of their clothes and jewellery and love the general 'feel'. Fortunately, they arrive via the postman on a regular basis. This is the particular scene I like :






I like the range of colours and may use them in different ways rather than all together. I am keen to adopt an idea from Genervieve Williamsons recent challenge to develop some interchangeable earrings. Look HERE for the idea.

From another angle, I thought I would share my Zentangle bookmark (made during my recent little holiday). The 'tile' as it's known didn't set out to be a bookmark but as I developed the design, I thought it would make a good bookmark and more importantly, I needed one at the time.






I like these organic shapes and am keen to use them as inspiration for some clay beads in combination with the colour inspiration from the TOAST magazine. I have good vibes about the direction of these ideas and I hope to begin creating my own 'signature' range of beads. I am so drawn to Genervieve Williamson's style of work that I have a need to begin to move into my own style. The problem I have is that, until recently, I have been rather disappointed with the clay jewellery I have made. Since discovering Genervieve's work my ideas and inspiration (for developing clay designs) has found new 'highs'. I like her organic shapes and the layering of textures she uses. I want to experiment with such things.


Bye for today.

New projects going on ...

Hi from thepapersac
It's a dull day today and very chilly ! I'm also suffering with a bit of a virus and as a result my workload will be limited. However, I'm going to move on with some jewellery later. Before my holiday I posted a photo of a great project from a new book about polymer clay. This project is created by my favourite polymer clay artist : Genervieve Williamson.

I'm hoping to have a go at the project with a view to donating some examples to a charity sale in December. I will definitely make a pair for myself and maybe another for a giveaway on here. Will keep you posted.
Yesterday, I 'played' a little with my painting from last weeks holiday. Here is a quick look.

I may use this version as a background design for some of the earrings (in the project above). I like the grunge colours which will inspire some of the colours I plan to use.
Not much else to report, although I'm currently obsessed with finding new ways to make my own findings. My recent success with earring hooks has made me confident I can make my own.

These little examples are great and so much nicer than manufactured items. Ive worn a similar pair for a few weeks and they feel and look great. I'm going to look for some different wire for my ideas. I like shiny sterling silver but sometimes an oxidised version suites a piece of jewellery better. I also like a brass finish - so I will try and source some new stuff for experiments. I think I'd like to research some old methods of making findings and see if I can find something which works for my jewellery. I will need to give myself a time limit - browsing (researching) often looses an entire day for me !!!
Bye for today.

Back from Holiday (almost)

Hi from thepapersac
I'm very late today - have been extending my October holiday as long as possible. Richard is working from home today so we had a final 'holiday' lunch in a local place ! That's definitely it. It was a lovely end to our great little holiday last week. Internet was poor so didn't get any photos up. I managed to not get many photos at all ! I did get this one - at the end of a walk as the sun was going down. It give as flavour of the whole week !



We had a great time. I'm exhausted and need a rest !

No such luck, back to work tomorrow and a serious workload of jewellery to get through. All my efforts will go into the jewellery collection and a little time into some Christmas prep. Each year I have a little Christmas prep. Project which leads up to Dec. 1st. I have a card design for a few Papersac workshops (look back for details) and will base my Christmas prep stuff on that design with some different backgrounds to give the style a few options.

While away on holiday, I always try to dabble with a little painting. This time I began with a Zentangle idea (I managed to make a Zentangle tile as a bookmark) and added a face. I like the idea of faces that have only one eye. I like to develop the face to need an extra look to decide why the face is not quite as it should be. I then added a moth (no particular reason). It's not finished ie the painting but I think it could (eventually) be a good background to something ? , it needs altering in Photoshop. Here is a quick look at the idea so far.



That's about it for today.
Bye for today.