Category Archives: Art and Craft

Onwards and Upwards

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I’ve been working a lot lately on the designs of my jewellery and find that the most tedious details give me the best results. I love the fact that it requires quite a lot of research because I’m learning throughout the process and discover new techniques and ways to solve issues. Also the treasure hunt for certain materials is an amazing way to find new basics or special items. I mostly work with leather, pearls, aluminium, gem stones and shapes or stuff that I find in nature.

I’ve bought really cool tiny mechanical clock parts which I’ve used in my latest designs along with a technique called wire wrapping. It looks cool and is a great technique to combine with rough materials and/or nonsymmetrical shapes like shells which I use a lot. Although it can be quite compelling at times, it is still a very intensive technique to work with and not as easy as it looks nor as complicated as chain mail either. As I have only started I’m sure I’ll learn soon enough.

Working on my designs puts me in zen mode and after a couple of hours -no matter how tedious things become- I find myself being either totally relaxed, singing or sighing. Not a sigh of frustration though, the opposite: a total contentedness kind of sigh. One that reoccurs regularly within a certain time span. Also the reactions I get from people around me are very rewarding, they seem to be really enthusiastic when I show them my stuff and encourage me to sell them at a store.

Which is something I’ll keep in mind for the future, for now it is ok to just explore all the different kinds of techniques and go treasure hunting for new and cool small items that I can use for my designs.

Shoo Shoo

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I’m wasting my time reading stuff about friends or people in general on the internet or FB. There’s no point reading all that stuff, tho it’s relaxing in a way it also has a downside to it besides lost time. I’ve decided that whilst I’m enjoying time off from having to look for a new project, I should be using this period to clean out boxes and throw away stuff I no longer want or need in my life.

I’ve forgotten to get rid of clutter and people, so it’s time that I’d practise some more. It’s rewarding… The weird thing is that whenever I clean out the old, new stuff comes in at an even faster rate. Good new stuff tho but still. I’ve been listening to NLP CDs again, lessons that helped me reach my goal a few years ago when I’d moved back to NL and had to start from scratch.

These CDs tell me lots of valuable info on how to organise your brain so that whatever it is you wish for will happen. It’s about clutter in your life, wrong people, attitude, belief and that you need to surround yourself with those who are positive, supportive and encouraging. Those who add to the creative flow instead of taking from it only. So I guess that’s why I’m in this modus once again.

I’ve found a way to make my new plans work, but in order to achieve this I will certainly have to make room to make this happen *literally*! I should stop reading about others because -according to science reports- reading about others on FB is not a healthy thing to do. It leads to comparison which leads to having feelings of unhappiness and in the worst case, resentment and/or jealousy.

I’m not jealous, I do feel like it’s a waste of time though so I’ve stopped the habit. Instead I’ve started cleaning out boxes and throwing out things I don’t need. Space… I need space in my head and in my life. I’m working on furniture projects this time which is awesome and fun. A start of something bigger along with the jewellery designs. So more energy should flow into that direction!

Whilst I’m thinking about how to decorate the furniture using really cool techniques, I’m also thinking about how to finish the necklace that I’ve designed. So far I’ve had amazing reactions. People who are eager to see the finished items. So there it is: whilst I still have time, I should clean out and once that’s done there will be energy ready to finish what I like to do most!

I’m on a high ;) so I guess I should continue cleaning out those boxes and tonight I’ll be working on cutting out Asian patterns out of paper to decorate the furniture with. Yes I know I sound vague, that’s because it’s an evolving idea and whilst typing this I feel the urge to stop the writing and finish what I should be finishing *hehe*. So I’m gonna stop writing this post now :D