If you have lost your creative inspiration, it is a good moment to clear your beading corner or ”toy box”. I wrote earlier about benefits of tearing down less good ones of your work. At the time I took a critical look at my collection and I planned to dismantle those that didn’t deserve to exist. Some I dismantled right away, others waited and waited. My beads and tools are in my closet but I have in-between-place for things I need for current projects. Well, that’s the original idea of the place. It turned out that there were leftover beads from several previous projects, necklaces waiting for their dismantling and lots of other things. Place should be called ”I’ll just put this here for a minute and forget it”. This clearing was quite a journey to my recent beading history but it could have also been an archaelogical digging site. ”Oh, I remember these beads. Are they here?”
Starting point: a mess. Tools, beads, parts, unfinished objects… Too much on my plate, literally.
Halfway there,. I started with items I will not need and got to a point where only necessary things are remaining.
I wonder what plans I’ve had for these.
Gorgeous byproducts
Clearing your corner is a very slow process, because it’s interrupted by inspiration. As soon as I got started, I found beads I had forgotten I had, and suddenly I got dozens of ideas how to use them. And the best ones must be realized immediately, don’t you think? ”Technically the clearing is going on”, I said to myself. ”I just found out where these beads belong and I made a necklace of them.” Then I brought other things I need to make the necklace and temporarily the pile just kept growing.
There is a point where you have used all the creativity that can be milked from the mess. It’s interesting that three hours is a heartbeat when you’re creating but when you sit down and really start to clear up the spot, half an hour is a long time and filled with hard work. But it’s worth it. Keeping your beads in order makes it easier to find them. My hobby is on that limit where I have difficulties to remember the exact locations of all my beads. Recycling makes things a bit easier, I only buy new ones once a month.
Is there a lesson here? Yes. I managed to make a beautiful necklace and a bracelet. I found the beads lying around my beading plate. I had no idea of this kind of extra result. Without clearing the space there would have been no creative moments of inspiration. If your spark is gone, try clearing your beading spot. You may find it lying there and waiting.
