Most creative individuals recognize that sometimes you have more ideas than you know what to do with and other times you can't even fathom what made you think you were creative in the first place. I never know when inspiration is going to strike or when my motivation will lag. As such, I've been trying to keep a divided plastic craft box stocked for those times when the inspiration is just not there. It's also served me quite well on those days when I'm away from home. In fact, that's how this bead box began. Since then, I've worked my way through (almost) three boxes worth of designs. This is the fourth.
If you're interested in the others, take a look.
This time around, rather than just show you pictures of what I prepped in the box, I also created a video of me going through the content of the box.
As with the previous posts, I still have the pictures with a quick explanation of what all I put in the box. You should be able to click on the pictures for a larger view.
Because I was heading out of town for several days, I decided to go ahead and re-stock the box before I had completed all the designs in it. As such, these first six are carry-overs from the previous one.
1: This one is mostly done as I had started it in the other box but grew tired of the process. When I packed this box, I decided to go ahead and transfer it over just in case I needed something repetitive to do. I've got beading needles, a small pair of scissors, tiny crystal beads, the bracelet's start, and beading thread.
2: You may be able to tell that this necklace was also already started. I just transferred it over. It's a super simple design involving purple glass beads, silver tone wire, and a decorative key (Tim Holtz).
3: Here's another design that was started but left unfinished because of its tediousness. Again, I thought I might get to it if I was in the mood. It's simply a couple of large silver tone rings, beading thread, and seed beads.
4: Pink and green beads perfectly match the altered Vintaj pendant I created for this design. It should be fairly easy to throw these together with a little wire.
5: My niece had this Buddha charm that she asked me to use in a design. I picked out some small black and dark blue beads to go with it.
6: A ceramic pendant from Gaea was the start of assembling the components that went into this section. Several different violet beads and some aqua seed beads complete the ensemble.
Once I moved those around in the box, I still had eleven spaces open for designs. To start, I pulled out the elements I had created as part of The 100 Day Project and spread them out for inspiration.
I let them inspire me to stock the rest of the box.
7: A tassel that I made from eco-dyed fabric (from Art at the Beach 2018) is paired up with turquoise and tan marble beads.
8: A pendant that I created from tin that was then darkened seemed to need little more than black cultured sea glass tubes and gold tone wire and findings.
9: To the altered jewelry piece, I decided to add gold findings, black faceted beads, and aqua-dyed beads.
10: Two small projects were placed in this section. First, small bezels containing the resined-in-place paint peelings from an acrylic pour will be simply accented with salvaged orange beads, and gunmetal bead caps and findings. The other is just rectangles of tin on which I did an acrylic paint pour that need to be added to silver ear wires.
11: You can probably just barely see the Tim Holtz tag that was altered with Vintaj patina. I added a variety of artist-made beads, glass beads, and bead caps with a roll of titanium-colored wire. I plan to make a bracelet with these components.
12: The pretty, pastel flower that was created by riveting old jewelry elements together and adding a faux pearl cabochon is pictured with matching glass pearls.
13: A fancy paperclip was transformed into a pendant. To keep it simple, I've just added clear glass beads.
14: Altered copper hardware washers are set to become earrings with the addition of glass beads and antiqued copper findings and bead caps.
15: A small capsule (from Michael's) was altered by adding rolled snippets of some of my tin paint pourings to the center of it. It will eventually become part of a necklace with the help of antiqued copper beads and aqua stone beads.
16: There are only two things in this compartment: a Vintaj blank that was texture, colored with patinas, and curved and some Czech glass beads. Hopefully, that's all it will take to make a stunning bracelet.
17: Finally, a bracelet bar that I created with layers of reclaimed tin will be the centerpiece of a bracelet that also contains green Czech glass beads and small brass beads.
I have to admit that I'm already about halfway through this bead box as I planned these out well and have whizzed through the designs. But, you'll have to wait to see the reveals.
I hope this post gives you some insight into planning designs ahead. I know it helps me out a ton to have these ready to go when I'm ready to make.
I was thinking of putting together 1-2 projects to take with me on my long trip and I couldnt have found this post at a better time. Thanks for sharing all the different project ideas and approaches
ReplyDeleteDivya, Yay! So glad I could help. I'm at my mom's house every week and this box goes with me every time. It fits nicely in my computer bag with a set of pliers and my baggie of wire. I hope you enjoy your trip and find some time to create too!
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