Changes at Beadweaver

I am currently making some changes to my website. I always had it in mind to sell my beads on TradeMe as well as at Beadweaver but I have decided to stick to TradeMe for the bead selling and use Beadweaver as a place to showcase New Zealand beadweavers.

We are few and far between. I am going to enjoy scouting out all the others. Most people think we are nuts because they can't perceive of where we get the patience or the eyesight to do all that fiddly stuff. It gets in your blood once you start,in a very meditative, very creative, sort of way. Either that or one pulls ones hair out and tosses the beads to the winds.

There have been a few ladies on the trademe message boards having a go at the tiny bead industry, with mixed reviews I might add. I can't wait to see if any become converted and I can add their beauty to my site.

This picture is one of the amazing robes made by Sharmani Wirasekara. She is a huge inspiration to me and I have been in the process for many months, growing to years, making my own robes. I completed one recently and will post some pitures when I can get a decent shot.

I spent this morning in the most tedious of tasks, undoing hundreds of rows on my current robe. It is extremely frustrating but I know it will be worth it. It just wasn't looking right and I realized at some point that I had spent hours using the wrong finish beads, so undone she comes....the joys of being a beginner and self taught into the bargin.

Never mind...patience, patience, patience.

The Beadweaver Tips For The Day

Here are my 'first thing in the morning' tips for ensuring you actually get some magic creation happening in your beading world today...

1. Right NOW, determine what slot of time you are going to get some of that bead project done today....I find if I discipline myself to do at least a little beading every day there is a continuous sense of creating and my brain is free of the 'I really must get around to...'

2. Tidy your workspace...another brain declutterer. Every time you bead then do a quick reshuffle of your space. Throw out all the nymo threads lying around, restack your beads, make your space into a fresh place to step into next time.

3. Look for at least one lead of inspiration for future beading projects today....it could be anything but when you find it then note it, in a book set aside for that purpose. I find my 'ideas' file in the the brain can only hold so much and spits out inspiration once reaching capacity

4. Connect with other beaders ....If you have a network then talk to at least one other beader today. If you don't have a network then find one...like here, with me...chat, comment and support each others process of creating.

5 Suss out your next buy...even if your not buying today, keep abreast of what's out there in the bead department. I like to go online and check out what people are making or what suppliers are bringing new to online. Magazine adverts are great for finding new supplies or other creatives who fashion their own focal beads.

Its Time To Start!

I decided its about time to get this blog up and honking. Its been sitting, waiting for me to get my act together on the shop side of things for months now. I am slowly filling the shop stock but no reason not to be chatting anyway.

I come across some great people in the beading world. Beadweaving can be such a solitary game but when you meet the people you discover a real kinsmanship.

I am particularly passionate about tiny beads...the type that most people think you are nuts to work with because they feel like they have to squint to see them. EVERYONE says 'you must be so patient!'. I am pretty patient but then again tiny beadweaving has grand rewards.

Its rhythmic and there is a real meditative quality.

I love that place of quietude while I pass from bead to weave to bead to weave.

I also love the creation of something from a blank space, row upon row it slowly buids up. There is real satisfaction in it.

The first piece I ever made was a butterfly from Sheilah Cleary's book on beading. I don't even know where it is now but it was a big turning point. I was in Australia on holiday and walked into a bookstore and saw the book and just went 'that's what I am going to do', and I have never looked back...short and simple. A whole new direction of interest and pleasure...funny how things can just start out that way.