Freeform Friday: A Room of One's Own...

"A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." Virginia Woolf  

“Women need a space to be creative -- creativity thrives in solitude.” SARK

I can't imagine a more inviting scene: calm dog, sunlight streaming in... (all the clutter is out of this view. )

 Virginia Woolf penned that famous line 86 years ago. And while the status of women's culture is much improved in regards to education, voting... the quote still resonates with me. I have a room, where I can create in solitude, and abandon. I can make a mess and not clean it. I can leave work strewn about until the Muse returns to guide my hands. My studio is more than a room though. Its a sanctuary, a safe haven, a hide out. Its a treasure trove of gems and art supplies to rival a dragon's hoard. Its filled with memories and potential, and its 100% me.

We have been discussing workspaces of late on the blog, cleaning, organizing... and I was sadly missing mine. Before summer I was working in THIS studio a few days a week, alternating with the ceramics studio; achieving a creative balance so to speak. Then an intensive teaching and show schedule, and a bout of sick derailed me. Wednesday and Thursday this week I was back in the studio. Oh how I missed it!

Vignettes and a WIP: Beads by Susan and Karen nestled in a teacup, my abandoned daily art journals, new materials to play with from ICE Resin, a beaded bezel in progress, seals and mermaid treasure waiting their turn. 

I started to panic. WHAT was I going to work on?! WHERE to start? SO MANY things I want to do/try/finish/start/create.... I started with cleaning a little. It was so nice to BE in the studio that I relaxed into the small chores. I am organized, a Virgo trait I embrace, and it makes me feel calm and receptive, ready... when things are put away and I have space to work. Its cathartic. 

Antique watch crystals. Vintage images. Polymer. Stay tuned for BeadFest 2015

This is the place of creative incubation. At first, you may find nothing happens there. But, if you have a sacred place and use it, take advantage of it, something will happen. (Joseph Campbell)

The gorgeous kiln bounty from the wood fire. Shrines awaiting interior elements. 

People who aren't artists seem to not understand exactly what a studio is. It's not a store. It's not a factory. It's not a theme park. It's my personal space and their company is not so invasive. (Eleanor Blair)

Recognize the adorable critters from Rebekah? Mixed media pocket shrines inspired by her beads. 

Room service? Send up a larger room. (Groucho Marx) (See video at end of post)

An artist's studio should be a small space because small rooms discipline the mind and large ones distract it. (Leonardo da Vinci)

I think it wants to be a wall hanging, Lesley. With cobalts and iridescence, and stars and swirls. 

Does it sound silly to say I feel better having spent time with my stuff? Because I do. I did little more than clean and organize on Wednesday; hope to actually work on Thursday. But I had missed my little room so! I still have a million things to do. I still panic when the emails remind me that Bead Fest is 7 WEEKS away!!! But I feel ready to tackle it, a bit more grounded, a bit more in touch with my self, my Muse, and all that...

So tell me -
Do you have a room of your own? A space for creativity? Solo space? Shared space? And how often do you get to go there?!

I leave you with a song by the White Stripes. A tiny little song, but its so true! Give it a listen - Im off to the studio! 

Freeform Friday: Skeletons in the (bead) closet...

 Now - we all love beads.
Seed beads. Czech glass. Gemstones. Artisan beads. Polymer, ceramic, lamp work... Metal, Bali, Hill tribe... bicones, super duos, magatamas... lentils, daggers, rondelles, briolettes... Sorry I got lost there for a sec. But I know you are with me.

These last 2 weeks have been a flurry of productive time for me - getting ready for Spring festivals and shows. And as such I have been in the clay cave (basement ceramics studio, you know) for much of the time. Once tiles and pendants are glazed I can create new wearable pieces in clay, gems and polymer.

What's your point, Jenny? Oh - well... I have nothing really unique and new to show you from the jewelry studio - yet. But I do have a few skeletons that I recently uncovered, and thought I would share.

Zoey guards the entrance to the Studio Closet of Doom

Ah! The Chaos! The treasure! The perils that await our intrepid explorer! 

Spiral rope in 2 pieces. That's NOT supposed to happen. St. Petersburg stitch? chain? (w/ blue teardrops) app 3".
Tubular/circular peyote. Yes, that is a taped together toilet roll. Ha. I wanted to make amulet bags. Still do, actually. 

Here we have unearthed evidence of my love-hate relationship with seed beads.  While I am currently loving seed beads, these false starts are at least 10 years old. And yes - I had them packaged with their ingredients, like space explorers in cryogenic chambers. Just chilling, waiting to be revived. 

 Egads! A relic from the past! The tins that used to arrive via post with a CD inside for AOL. Whoa. That places this artifact in the popular culture timeline. What's inside?!

Why its more seed beads! A blue and silver peyote soup in progress as a bracelet. Not very old - as it includes a stoneware cab made within the last 4 years. Was I planning on stitching a bezel onto the bracelet? We may never know. And on the right - I don't even know what stitch that was GOING to be! Its a lovely raku leaf pendant from a mother/daughter team based in Washington state. We carried their pieces at the Shepherdess ( San Diego, CA) when I worked there  - like 12 years ago! 

Speaking of the Shepherdess/San Diego years... this wasn't really hidden as I go to this tray often. When I worked at the Shepherdess I was the lowest bead girl on the totem pole. I spent many, many days tubing seed beads. After I punched in I would be handed a tray with half a dozen gram bags... of beads. To tube. Scoop, scoop, tap, scoop, lid, hammer. Repeat. The left overs were bagged and sold on the cheap. Yes, I personally felt compelled to adopt many, many bags of orphaned 11's, delicas, 8's... I do still use them in pieces today.

And now - a little bead confessional:

1. Vintage/antique crystals from necklaces I took apart to repurpose. I was in my teens. Still have these in my stash. 

2. Bells. While I wasn't hippy enough as a teen to wear bell anklets, I love these bells, man. 

3. Hand painted beads fro Peru. I think I was in high school when my older sister travelled to Chile and Peru. These aren't my style any more, but I still have them.... 

What skeletons are in your closet?

What projects are buried treasure waiting to be rediscovered and reworked? 

What tools or materials did you purchase with good intentions and lofty creative plans - that have  languished in solitude? 

I myself will definitely revisit the peyote in the round. Peyote stitch is the one stitch I feel comfortable doing... and I would love to make amulet bags with a wee ceramic icon or charm tucked inside. Maybe I will look at the St. Petersburg (?) again; I like the drops on the edges, and I have seed beads friends now! Thankfully Kristen has done a AJE tutorial on spiral rope so if THAT urge flares up I can tend to it... 

Please share your skeletons with me! I don't want to be lost and alone amidst the abandoned projects... 

Jenny 

www.jdaviesreazor.com

Freeform Friday: Girl's Bead night

Welcome to Girl's Bead Night! 

Razz is one of the girls; door greeter, carrot eater.

When Kim's email hits my inbox, I get that feeling of optimistic excitement.  "M has travel, lets have a Bead night..." What started out as convenience - to meet at Kim's when her husband was traveling for work,  has gone from habit to tradition. (We DO entertain the idea of meeting at each other's houses as well. But Kim is a fantastic hostess, and our tradition stands for now.)

Then the emails circulate as to time and food. Girl's Bead Night is on!

We are, in no particular order, a chemical engineer, an accountant, an entomologist/ceramicist, an artist/photographer, and an artist/educator. Between us we also garden, sew, scrapbook, tackle home renovations, travel the world, ride elephants....

Sangria. Stir fry. veggies. Life is good. 

We start with dinner, and a beverage and a chance to get caught up. Tales of travel, updates on family members - old and new! Anecdotes of crazy dog antics - there are 5 dogs between us all, and Razz in residence... and then we settle in - taking over the dining room as Kim's teen boys ignore us in favor of TV and sports. (an appropriate reaction.)

Kim - bracelets started AND finished. 

Bonnie - peyote with 11's & cubes, conquered the diagrams! 

Marsha - creating clasps, work time and leisure time. 

Me - seed beads with my focals, the new obsession. And they travel well! 

Lisa was working on her laptop, always has her eye on a cool composition. 

That face! 

I of course, ran this post by these women, and post with their approval. We discussed GBN as it was the first time all 5 of us had been together in months. It's a chance to share ideas and have fun, naturally. It's a respite from accounting, or teenager drama at home. A chance to talk to adults, not cats and small children. GBN provides a reason why you have to pack up that languishing project to work on and finish, or make time to bead, amidst the busy day-to-day! It can be a welcome "respite from reality" where all the stresses and concerns are left at home, and we can relax, unwind, and feel infinitely refreshed and restored the next day.

We swap, and trade, and share; to have a group of friends dear enough to share the bead hoard! You see my point... There is often good old fashioned "show & tell". We teach each other new techniques, and share resources. Problem solving, business advice, encouragement in many forms. Between us we bring so many interests to the table - from wire wrap to bead loom... there's never a dull moment!
I am grateful to have been welcomed into this group of women, now good friends. And I treasure GBN whenever, wherever it occurs. There is an environment, an atmosphere created when like minded creative people gather that is hard to put into words. It's welcoming, and invigorating. It's safe, and comfortable, yet exciting. It's familiar, yet always new. I wish each and every one of you finds a creative community to be apart of...  To me, AJE is one such network, but there is a different magic created in person. So thank you Marsha, for inviting me. And thank you Kim, Lisa and Bonnie for making GBN what it is today! 

Until next time... 

Jenny

www.jdaviesreazor.com

Links: 

Kim's Etsy

Lisa's Etsy

Marsha's website