Inspiration

Hi--here is one of my inspirations--I want to (maybe--my projects always seem to be influx and change as they go along) create a "sample book" like this antique one of fabric samples here--but a sample book of beading samples (the actual beading samples could explore different areas each month--like color one month, stitches another month, textures--quite few possiblities). With this in mind, I bid on and got an vintage(antique?)unused scrapbook for Ebay---with cool looking covers, and a binding easy to take apart...that will be my starting point, anyway.



Obviously, I think we should all post our inpirations here--isn't that kind of discussion what this blog is for? (Robin, correct me if I'm wrong:-)

Design decisions...

After much consideration and deliberation... I think I'm going to opt for the book format, as I'm thinking of this project as a place I can try out ideas... maybe add a few personal happenings... the idea of a journal done with beads and hand stitches on some of my hand dyed/painted fabrics seems to me the perfect place to maybe share a few secrets in the bead/stitch work... therefore a book seems to be the perfect setting... I have started making a paper journal that I will keep during the next year... somewhere to jot down any design ideas and developments... maybe I can combine the two journals somehow...I'll have to think about that a bit...

really looking forward to starting this project... best wishes to all

Colour and Shape inspiration

Size: Not a square, rectangle, triangle or circle.
Colours: Not typical earth tones, khaki greens or other muted colours.
Inspiration: Nature, starry skies.

I've taken a list of the months and I will be writing what I think would be a good topic to do for the month. For example:

June - during work, it's a transitional time with new doctors coming to the US and doctors graduating my program and moving on. Many of them give me gifts to thank me for putting up with them for three years, and many bring gifts from their home countries because they are happy to start this exciting time in their lives. It's also the Bead and Button show that I will be taking the train to. Lots of eye candy there. So the theme could be gifts from doctors (beads of course) or graduation theme.
July - Vacation! Can you say camping, rafting and drinking and generally having fun in the sun in Michigan. Check out all the stars in the sky. Can't see them from home. Wow, the humidity index (my hair) says that it's a hot and muggy summer.

Pictures? I think that they are in your head now.......Take care - Liz

Freebird made a post asking what we all thought about posting pictures of works in progress as well as pictures of our inspiration. I started to reply and realized it was getting longer, and longer, and longer so switched to posting my thoughts as a separate item:

Personally I have no problem viewing works in progress. I find watching the creative process very inspiring. It gets my own creative juices flowing as it were. As for it influencing my own work, I feel that my tastes and beading style are my own at all times. Looking at a sunset can influence my creativity just as easily as looking at a painting or a pattern in a magazine or even something I've already done. To me the point of this project is to expand my horizons, grow as an artist, and really look into myself to see who I really am.

I like your (freebird) idea of posting pictures of our inspirations, whether side by side with the work in progress or on its own. This too could "influence" another artist but since ANYTHING at ANYTIME can be an influence how could this be wrong?

The count down is on everyone. Get ready to let your real self out of that box. There is no wrong way to approach this project except untruthfully. I'll be stepping through the mirror June 1st. See you on the other side!

Pictures

Hi everyone. I see many of us are wondering about pictures and whether posting our works-in-progress may be good or bad. What do you all think about posting pictures of the inspirations we find for our pages? That may help to inspire without compromising anyone's feeling of doing their own thing without getting biased in one way or another. I plan to use the colors from my work space; showing a picture of my space wouldn't influence anyone yet they would get a small idea of what I am doing. What do you think?

Introduction from an Australian Artist

I just wanted to introduce myself and provide a bit of a looksie in who I am and why I decided to participate in the BJP. My name is Bianca, I live in Australia and I found that I could not resist the call of the bead around 9 years ago. I have always been a creative person, as a child, as a young adult, lost it on the way to careers ville but found it again 10 years ago. Beads and beading appeal to me cause I can paint with beads. Embroidery is my favorite technique, it is free, no boundaries and as the old adage goes - if it don't move, it can be beaded around. I also work with hot glass, ceramics (pieces to use in embroidery) precious clay, sterling, basically anything I can get my hands on really. No limits :) I don't do rules very well.

The reason I am joining the ranks of wonderful BJP artists is to document in a language that is tactile, emotive and evocative. I have always wanted to leave a ripple in this world and journalling is an activity I have undertaken throughout my life. I have decided to go with small size pages, postcard size - that seemed fitting as a living document of the "journey". Now this could either become Postcards from the Edge or a beautiful record of the travels of a bead artist. Another objective is to challenge myself with my use of colour. I am a woman of some substance and of the earth although I am a fire sign - and this tends to reflect in my work. I'm going to somehow force myself to use different colours and beads than I would typically use and hopefully grow.

Well there you are - 'tis me. Glad to be part of it and meet you all. I am looking forward to see what occupies our creative minds in the next year, how that differs from continent to continent but also where our wants and thoughts are shared.

Eye Candy

I stumbled across this Montreal artist a few months back and thought i'd share her site. Phenomenal 3d work, quite inspiring! I would never have enough patience to even attempt some of what she's done, but i can dream and drool :}
"Her pieces... take from two to five months of ten-hour days to complete..."
http://natashastmichael.com/statement_en.html

So happy to be here.....

Hello Everyone!

Wow, Robin, what a fabulous turnout you have gotten for this idea. It's evident that a Bead Journal is appealing to lots of folks.

I am very excited to get started on this. While I am too busy for words, and already have tons of commitments on my plate, this is something I will be doing solely for me. For my personal well-being actually!

I've done a little online research to learn a bit more about journaling, as it's not something I've ever done before. I'll share a few of those links with everyone in case there is some inspiration or information others can gather from them as well.

On About.com I found this link with some great information about Journaling. I especially like the first few sentences under the "Definition" of Journaling. http://stress.about.com/od/stressmanagementglossary/g/Journaling.htm
Stress reduction is a good thing! =o)

I will probably base most of my Bead Journal on my dreams, as they have always been a strong influence in my day to day life. I found this link with some interesting information regarding Dreams and Journaling: http://www.kporterfield.com/creativity/Dream_Journal.html

And this site has lots of great links that took me on a several hour long ride around the Internet! http://www.self-help-healing-arts-journal.com/

I hope some of these links will be helpful to others as well!

Happy Bead Journaling All!
~ Beki

Hello

Hi everyone! I'm Karen from Massachusetts and I've enjoyed reading your posts. Pleased to meet you all. I'm really excited to be part of the Bead Journal Project and wrote about it on my blog here. I have experienced some challenges in the past 4 years and am feeling like I am finally emerging into a wonderful light filled place. This is so right! Happy Bead Journaling!

Adding links

Is it alright if we share links of bead related art that we find inspiring? I have a few that i think people would find interesting but am not sure of the protocols here! :}
May i make a suggestion also when we all post? If we "tag" our posts, we can find specific things that interest us, or posts by a particular person--with the list growing of participants, it would make it much easier :}

Hi to Arlee

Hi arlee, just wanted to say hello from a fellow artist who is a former Vancouver Island girl. Born and raised in Nanaimo, then five years in Ucluelet. You are definitely living in the land of Inspiration!

Hello....

I here.....I posted a plea for help earlier but I've now understood what I was doing wrong.... well I'm really looking forward to joining you all in the project. I'm thinking of working in a book format, with a notebook where I can keep a track of ideas etc. I keep this first message short and once I see that it's worked I'll post more....

best wishes

Tricia

my blog

Beginnings

I'm one of the new-to-beading rank beginners.

While I've been involved in sewing and other creative endeavors, especially photography, all my life, it wasn't until after 9/11 that I began quilting. All I wanted to do was make some patriotic bandanas for my dogs to wear to the dog park.... You can guess the rest!

Years ago, I had done some silversmithing and made some beaded jewelry but the idea of beading with small beads held no attraction for me. A class with Mary Stori at the Tucson Quilters Guild inspired me to add beads to a quilt project. I still hadn't gotten the yen to bead though I liked the results.

Then I picked up Larkin Van Horn's book, Beading on Fabric. I really had no idea what I was going to do, but I had picked up some intersting beads at the Tucson gem shows. Might as well do something while watching Dancing with the Stars and American Idol, right?

Result, I finally fell in love with beading! In doing some Internet research, I came upon Robin's blog and learned about the journal project. Here I am!

This morning I blogged about a technique I've adapted from quilting to mark the edge of my beading. I don't know if this is original with me (probably not). I did spend much of my career as a professional writer so I do enjoy documenting techniques.

I have no idea what I'm going to do for the journal project but I'm looking forward to the adventure!

http://dreamrunnerquilts.blogspot.com/

-- Joanna Strohn in Tucson

My ideas :}

I'm arlee from Vancouver Island BC in Canada. I've considered myself a textile artist for some 40 odd years. Recently i've been mixing mediums so have decided to create a postcard sized journal, but with a twist. And being a floral designer in my "day job", i think my theme will probably be floral, but with mine own eccentric spin on them :}
Can't wait to see some photos here soon from everyone!

Hello-some ideas ???

Hello,

I have plenty of ideas (but I'll keep some to developp them).
My idea is to use linen fabric to build a journal which will have a postal card format... I will thus encounter problems: I have used Linen for my Universe necklace and it entangles (I'm not sure to use the right word here for "effilocher"?). So I have to find something against that. Second, the Linen I used was very smooth, so I wil look for either a "hard" linen" fabric or to tighten it. Or use another hard fabric. But I love the idea of the linen, especially the beige one which looks like a raw material... Then I'll have to find how to fasten the pages.
A lot of questions for an enthusiastic about this project. I know mainly what I will put inside and I have decided (it is the first time) to do a "journal inside the journal", that is : I will buy a sketch journal to draw my pages, to construct this journal and to add comments on each page.
Another problem for me : If I go on with the idea about what I want to embroid, I will have a total of 17 pages to do (I will not tell you why...now) ; but this point is not really a problem : just a matter of organization.... oh...did I say the WRONG word? Organization????
:o)))
Until then, I hope that many of you will write in this online Journal to share our experiment, ideas, progress.
LOL ( Lots of Love). Marylo, la Rêveuse

Greetings!

Hello everyone! I am so excited to be a part of this group. This is going to be an experience for me in more ways than one.

Hello!

Wow! There are a lot of people getting involved. This will be so much fun to see what others do. I live in a rural area so I don't have a lot of contact with other artists.

I am new at blogging and pretty new at journaling ( a project journal and an idea book are about it)!! I am so glad to see I am not alone in being new.

I am hoping to do a felt penny rug for my journal. I spent half my day looking for felt on-line ( I have a very slow land line; no high speed internet here yet).

I see others feel a providential hand in getting them here to the BJP. I feel that way too. Sometimes it just seems as if everything falls in line when you need it most. For one thing, I got a digital camera for Christmas and it will be perfect for posting my journal pages, won't it? That's what I mean about things happening with that silent hand pushing me along.

Now, I've got to get back to reading the rest of the posts and planning my project for the Project.
Happy beading everyone,

freebird

Hello !

Just wanted to say how happy I am to be part of this project - and also a little frightened maybe.
Kindest regards. Hélène

Aussie Bead Journaler

Keeping a journal is nothing new to me, but the idea of using beads to journal pages is entirely new. I've been an avid journal keeper for about 18 years, with sparodic attempts before that. Beading has only been added to the ever widening circle of crafts I enjoy in the last five years, maybe less. I can't recall when I went from a dabbler to a manic collector. Somewhere along the line it happened, though, as my beading desk shows. It is currently piled up with supplies.

I was so excited about this project I blogged about it: Bead Journal Project.

I'm really looking forward to seeing some wonderful creations and some amazing journals from this project. Greetings to all from Western Australia.

test post

Dona A. doing a test post

Life is like a puzzle

Hello everybody,

It is funny to see how things very different one from another happen in your life and suddenly all these facts which have nothing to do together match perfectly, like in a puzzle...

Last Sunday, I went to Paris with Emilie, my daughter and one of my sister (we are 5 sisters!) to visit a sculptor friend of her (she offered me a beautiful piper) and artists open workshops. All we had to do is wander through the streets for the whole district is devoted to artists and all the workshops were open to the public for 4 days. During our "ballade", we entered a voyage association whose exhibit was about travel journals. I saw wonders there. Especially a young lady who draw travel sketches and present them, in a tiny fabric book with linen pages. At the time of my visit, I really fall in love with her journal and now that I'm a member of this project, I realize how these two facts (so far away one from another) match perfectly. Isn't life wonderful???
I have questions to ask about the medias we can use for our Journal. But I will ask later. Now I let the other speak :o)))
Have a nice friday and a beautiful week-end (it seems that here, near Paris, it will be grey days... the sun is still sleepy).
LOL. Marylo, la Rêveuse

Excited about this project

Hello, my name is Jenni and I live in Alberta. I have been a crazy quilter (a devotee of crazy quilting, also a quilter who is a little crazy!) for many years, and still have so much to learn. I like to try new techniques, and I love embellishing with beads, buttons and found objects. I'm really excited about this project, the first time I have joined a challenge like this.

I'm thinking I will work in smallish pieces, maybe 6" square. I plan to join the squares to make a wallhanging, by putting grommets in each corner and connecting the squares with metal rings like in 3-ring binders. My theme will be something like "through my sewing room window" or "through my kitchen window". We are moving to an old farmhouse in a couple of weeks, and I'm going to pick a window, and depict the view from that same window through the changing months/seasons. This will be more of an abstract view, a "suggestion" of what I see, not actual landscape quilting. 6" squares will be a fun size, and not too intimidating, since I love starting projects and I often run out of steam midway if it's too ambitious. Seeing everyone else's pix will keep me inspired and working steadily.

Can't wait to get our move done, so I can unpack my sewing/art supplies and get stitching. Until then, I'm surfing the net, and making sketches of all my ideas.

I've never posted pictures, so that will be my next challenge, once I have some eye candy to show off. Thanks for letting me join this creative group!

Hope this Works!

Hey All -

This is my very first blog post so I am hoping it comes through OK.

I am so excited to be part of this project. I have been beading for about 7 years and am completely self-taught from books and all of the online groups I belong to, which are way too numerous to count. I love learning new off loom stitches and really don't have a favorite but find myself working with tubular herringbone anytime I am not sure which stitch I want to work with.

My very first embroidery project was a stuffed animal I covered with seeds beads using the backstitch method and I fell in love with the mindless stitch. I was looking for a project to use all of those "cheap", uneven seed beads I bought when I first became interested and I have now covered 3 stuffed animals (and have bought many more to do) and made one beaded doll.

I have decided that I am going to make 1 beaded doll a month for my journal project and I am really excited to get started. June starts off a new road in my life. My oldest child, which is my only daughter, will graduate from high school and she will be traveling many miles from home in August to start college in North Carolina so I am going to put all of the emotions that go along with my oldest flying the coop so to speak into this project and am excited to see what I get at the end of the year. I am going to bead hangers on the dolls so that they can hang from an ornament stand and have the perfect spot picked out to display them for many years to come.

Jamie

I'm a newbie!

This is an experiment.......(and a recorded message, I suppose). Not having done any blogging before and not having a clue as to what I'm doing, I'm not going to post any fancy pictures (yet), just say HI! and let you know I've joined this exciting new adventure, made a comitment for one piece a month for a year, and that it scares me a little and excites me even more. So Hi! If this works there will be pics of my dragon (in progress) soon.
Thom