November 16, 2008
Today I tried something new. I’m sure it isn’t exactly new to some folks out there, but it was new to me. I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I added metals to my glass beads, sort of a steam punk tipping of the hat, you might say. It’s crude and might be a failure come morning, but it has been an idea bouncing around in my head for a while, and so I tried it.
I started with just white glass and small nails and even smaller screws. I tried out tube beads and round beads, elliptical beads and some irregular who- knows beads. I heated the metal parts to make them stick in the glass, and found the whole process to be highly dependent on where in my mouth my tongue was placed. Very scientific.
First I drew the beads in a journal. Well, actually, first I dreamed about the beads, then I drew them in a journal. In my dream, I made the beads and then put them in my mouth. That’s actually an urge I have to beads I make in waking life, so having that happen in my dream wasn’t disconcerting or anything, just a normal response. At least normal for me. I woke from my dream when I put them in my mouth, because in my dream they were like ice, and that surprised me. Yeah. I don’t know what that means, but there it is.
So I drew them. That wasn’t very exciting to me but it seemed necessary. I didn’t feel like coloring them or anything. I liked the pencil look of it. To be accurate, drawing the beads didn’t excite me but I loved drawing the metal implements I planned to use, so I got a kick out of some of it, at any rate.
Then I thought about the beads some more, and talked to a friend about them. I talked to my son about them. I talked to my husband about them and then I told my mom. That seemed like enough stalling, so as soon as I rearranged my helpers (see below) on my work table and organized my supplies, I began the process of making the beads of my dreams.
We’ll see how that worked out in the morning.