First fairy steps on a magical journey

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass

I read this quote on another blog a few weeks ago and it really struck a chord in me.   My beading mojo comes and goes but mostly stays gone so I do what I bet most of you do when that happens - you buy more beads hoping for inspiration!


Well enough of that - I have decided to set myself a beading challenge and I am really excited about it.  There is a book that has been causing a bit of a stir in my beading circles - Sabine Lippert's 'Beaded Fantasies'.  Its a wonderful book filled with all the bling a girl could wish for.


My challenge is this: I am going to bead my way through this book one project at a time and will blog about my experiences as I go along; searching for beads, mishaps, etc.  What do you think? I contacted Sabine for permission and she thought it was a great idea so I am all set.


I do want this to be an interactive challenge though and would love to hear from you which project you might like me to tackle first / next. 


Wish me luck.....................................and watch this space!


ps - I can swim!


pps - latest designs from me: