Monday, March 2, 2009

Notes to Self - Stuff to Share

Hiya everybody. It feels like forever since I was here. And I've got a couple or three things to tell you about. And it's all here on this blog!!


1~ Are you stuck on a design? Either you've got an idea that just isn't working or worse! you have no idea at all!!


In the right hand column I draw your attention to several featrues: Microscopic View of the world, Astronomic Pic of the day, and Masks from around the world.


Microscopic ~ it is amazing the shapes and colours of things so small the eye cannot see them. Do a quick rough sketch of a 'thing' and then start bringing together the beads and threads and such you will need to render this 'thing' in beads. You are not likely to go away and come back to do it. The bugs'eye view changes every time you move away from the page. Yup, there are that many wee things that they can populate every blog view with a different wee-un.


Astronomic ~ not astrologic. We gaze at the heavens and marvel and ponder our place in that heaven. Here you will find things about the sky: the stars, planets, weather, ... Maybe you'll see the Northern Lights or the Southern Lights. Or a view of the wake of Halley's Comet. Start sketching. Don't try to define anything. Just move the pencil around, keeping your eyes on the screen and not on your sketchbook. After you've done that you can look at what you've done and think about it in terms of beads. Would it make a lovely beaded embroidery? Or a piece of artisan jewellery, something that will make a statement?


Masks ~ I spent 25 years in Canada's western province and territory ~ 2 years in Yukon Territory and 23 years in Vancouver BC. I revelled in the artistry of the Pacific Northwest First Nations people: their work is wonderfully graphic. Clean lines, limited colour palette. Spiritual meaning in their totems; whether on a pole or on a piece of artisan jewellery. The most famous among these First Nations of BC is, perhaps, Bill Reid. His work is in the BC Museum of Anthropology and graces the Canadian Embassy in Washington DC USA.


Masks are not limited to Canada's First Nations. Borneo, African, American, Mexican, .... The list is as long as ~~ Well, it's immeasurable. As in the Astronomical and the Microscopic exercises, try to draw a mask without looking at the paper. Then do another drawing but this time looking down occasionally. Draw what you see, not what your brain tells you it sees.


Those are great exercises, aren't they. It gets easier the more often you do it. And talk about cutting down that artsy block! Pretty soon you will be drawing that mess on your workbench, a still life of a coffee mug filled with scissors, pens, a fan, ....


2 ~ On a different note, I've just come across a new widget. For artisan jewellers there is a Wire Gauge Calculator, from Irma Pretorius of Wire To Jewelry that will translate a) millimeter to inch and gauge, b) inch to gauge and millimeter, and c) gauge to millimeter and inch. It's a handy tool because there are only 3 countries in the whole wide world that DO NOT use metric: Myanmar, Liberia, and USA.** You can copy it from this site and add it to your blog or e-store. It's FREE ~oh how love the sound of FREE!! Get it for yourself. And offer it to others free of charge. And keep in mind that this is the Beta version of the widget.

And that pretty well sums up what I wanted to say.
Happy Beading Helen Glass0Beads

**from Rena Klingenberg Jewelry Business Blog

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