Newest Pieces
These are two newer creations. I was trying the right angle weave. I’ve never used that stitch before. These pieces have been done for a while. It’s just taken me a long time to post them
When one line drops from the sky…
thoughts on writing and living with intention.
Tag: beadweaving
January 7, 2008
Short, sweet and to the point
I have two bead pieces listed in this month’s Etsy Beadweavers challenge. There is a crazy abundance of talent on the Etsy Beadweavers Street Team. Our theme was red. Each piece had to have some red. Just click on the the Etsy Beadweavers link to the right and you’ll find the blog and see the entries. Don’t be shy. Vote!
Other than that, my poems were rejected by Feile-Festa, an online publication that calls for Italian and Irish themed writing. Oh, well. It’s just part of how it all works. The note did say that they especially liked one of my poems, so it wasn’t a canned response. That’s a good sign. I always take these rejections as opportunities to look at my work with a bit of a new perspective. That’s after I’ve licked my wounds.
December 31, 2007
Thoughts for the New Year
The above is my latest bead creation that I call Red Whimsy.
I should be stringing words. Instead, I’m stringing beads, hundreds of teeny tiny seed beads. People always say they don’t understand how I can have the patience to work with seed beads, but for me it is meditation. I’m not good at sitting still. My hands always have to be moving. I blame my mother who put a needle in my hand pretty early, not for practical reasons, but for pleasure.
I don’t know how many needlepoint projects I did as a kid, but I think I got the same thing from it then-peace and meditation. I’ve translated the needlepoint and cross-stitch of my youth into off-loom beadweaving. Off-loom beadweaving means that you get the look of loom beading, but you don’t use a loom. You stitch each bead together individually. I love the texture created by stitching each bead together, and I’ve always loved sparkly things, not necessarily diamonds, but sequins. That must come from my youth when my mother and I would watch the Miss America Pageants. I know that’s not very feminist in nature, but my mother always wanted to be a fashion designer and that’s why she watched the pageants. I just liked the way the sequins sparkled in the stage lighting.
Now, off-loom beadweaving is like a metaphor for writing, or a distraction from writing. I don’t have a pattern. I just use a specific stitch and let the beads take me where they will. I love the process. It’s just another form of creativity for me. It’s normal for a writer to be captivated by other art forms. That’s the basis for the creative writing MFA program that I am in. Sena Jeter Naslund, our director, always talks about the interrelatedness of the arts and how many writers were painters, sketch artists, photographers and more. I’m a writer and a bead artist. All I want is for my life to be filled with creativity and I want the same for my children.
In 2008, I hope that we all can use our creativity and have fun doing it. Cheers and Happy New Year!!
December 8, 2007
Writing through the holidays and beadweaving
One of the great things about the MFA program that I’m in is that it promotes interrelatedness of the arts. That means that there is an understanding that while we are writers we are creative in other ways. That doesn’t mean that we do anything differently for our MFA. It just means that that awareness is built into the program. I say that it’s a great thing because outside of writing I express myself creatively with beads. I love shiny glass beads. In fact, stringing beads reminds me a lot of poetry, trying to find the right bead that goes next in order to create something beautiful. Actually, beadweaving is quite meditative and it doesn’t require a ton of space. I don’t get space. I get a corner at the front of the house where my desk sits and all the stuff that I need around my desk sits. It’s beautiful, really, just not very private. I do get to look at the little Japanese maple. Right now it’s bare against the white sprinkle of snow we’ve had.
I know this is more rambling than anything. What does it have to do with writing? Not much probably, but I do have a point. I wrote my 20-plus page first draft of my extended critical essay and turned it in (dropped it in the mail) yesterday. I needed time away from writing, if only for a day, so I picked up my beads. I can’t keep my hands idle. It has nothing to do with religion. It’s just that I like to do something with my time, even if I’m veging out. So, in lieu of poetry or an excerpt from my novel, I have a photo of my current bead projects, which are now up for sale at Etsy.com.
Keep writing.
