Drawing Lines

Where do you draw the line? So you go surfing on the beading sites and you see a piece you really like. You can see how to make it from the picture posted. Is it okay to make it? It sure is! There are not many people in ANY craft or skill that would not do the same if in a similar position. I'm not talking for sale or to teach others but for yourself? Yep - you can have a clean consience and make it on up. Like anyone would pay for a class or buy a book to make something they can make without the class or the book. Anyone who would, needs to get honest. It would just be silly unless you collect the books and want all of them - which I completely understand but to buy a book specifically for the purpose of getting directions for a piece you can figure out on your own? I doubt it.

I am in such a mood today. Pissed off at people who butt their noses where they simply don't belong. There are times when I simply need to be completely ALONE! and I have that right now, so I will write later. Gotta enjoy the peace!

PS even more maddening..... Beadwork.About.com Weekend project is one from Emily who was the guide YEARS ago. Re-enforcing that the current guide hasn't got any bead design talent at all.

Beading for Happy

I bead for happy. That is what I tell people. I bead at my comfort level. If a certain bead, thread or method isn't pleasing to me, I simply choose not to work with it. Some examples:

I don't like the feel of waxed thread. Why would I use something that ruins the feel of beading for me? It would not make me happy

I love thicker needles so I use the Japanese ones. They bend less and come in nice lengths. I like to feel the needle in my fingers.

I HATE culling beads. So I choose to use predominantly Japanese seed beads. They come in yummy colors and finishes and the 11's and 15's make me happy. Czech seed beads are less uniform and have tiny holes. I make the exception for Charlottes.

I prefer not to bead with a doubled thread. It's ten times easier for me to un-bead when I can take my needle off and pull the thread out.

Swarovski crystals are pretty but they can cut thread. So I choose to only use them with Power Pro or Fireline so they have less chance of cutting it.

I am horribly cheap in some ways - I love plated findings - GOOD QUALITY plated findings. Ones that are made from good quality metals and don't tarnish or peel. It gives me more money to buy beads and that makes me happy.

My beads have to be sorted by color/size/shape and are in labeled containers. Organized beads mean that I can find what I want (usually) and that makes me happy.

And IF someone asks me to make something that I don't think will look pleasing - I simply have a very hard time spending my beading time working on it. Once I had a roomie who made a pair of earrings that she thought were awful - I agreed with her. She said the customer paid her and she made them. I stated that I could not have done it - that I would have felt I was prostituting myself to make something simply for money. She said I called her a whore. Had she looked in the dictionary..... She would have seen the 2nd meaning for that word....

"to devote to corrupt or unworthy purposes : prostitute one's talents"

No sexual connotation what so ever. She got huffy and I never discussed her lack of artistic inclination with her again. I bead because I love beads and ideas come from within me to do so. She beaded to make money. If it makes me money then that is fantastic! I have a very hard time parting with my pieces and that is why I am more interested in teaching other people to make the designs I come up with. I can make a piece for an order but I think that I know it's not going to be mine from the start, and that makes it easier to let go of.

Bead for Happy people!