The little bits and pieces

Sometimes the process of creating is tedious. Cutting a zillion little fabric squares, painting hundreds of miles of wooden dowels, piercing a gagillion holes, Threading a ton of beads and sequins.
All of it is mind numbing, boring, and absolutely needed for the next great piece of art.
So how do I push past that desire to run screaming form this part of the process?
Sometimes I take it in little steps. (today I will do 6 of what ever)
Sometimes I break things into 2 steps. so not just doing one thing over and over and over, but rather 2-3 steps at a time over and over but it changes the tool in my hand or the focus of my brain.
Sometimes I give myself a time limit. I will work for 15-30 minutes at a time on a task. Sometimes I make a challenge to see how much I can get done in my time allotment.
Sometimes I just do it and let my mind wander. Considering other tasks or other projects like designing cards or writing blogs can occupy the part of my brain that rebels against the bits and pieces of a bigger projects.

The story of my bone bin

Long ago and far away in a land under the midnight sun...
Once upon a time I was making jewelry and I had a vision; slices of antler carved, polished and set with real gems stones like ruby, sapphire, garnet, amethyst, and diamonds. So I bought a couple of antler pieces locally and bought some gems on Ebay for cheap and began. I loved them and it was great fun so I found folks on Craig's list who had some more antler for sale and I bought it, sliced it and made more pendants. I invested in sterling chains and wire and created some lovely pieces that I sold to coworkers and at bazaars.
I even bought a box with whole moose and caribou antlers as well as a couple of pieces of bone from steppe bison that lived here thousands of years ago. I bought some sheep horn at a gun show and some mammoth ivory at the fair. In all I made an sold about 30 pieces. Then we moved and I lost my work space for making jewelry in this way, but the antlers and horns moved with us.
The next chapter started when I saw an add on Craig's list for some lynx skulls. I was working at a school and asked if the science teachers were interested. "Yep" they said so I bought several. I saved 3 for me.
I gave one of them to my nephew, cause he likes cool stuff too, and the other two sat on my shelf for a couple of years. Then one night I had a dream.
I saw myself painting one of those skulls.
And I did. It took several days as I needed to let each color dry. I was using some stray paints I had left over and some water color brushes I borrowed from the art teacher.
As I was painting I just paid attention to the process and tried to match my vision. As I painted though I knew this was not a skull I would keep. It felt like it belonged to someone else. By the time I finished it was quite amazing; not only did it have many bright colors but I had done a lot of over work with black ink lines and I had set 3 rhinestones into the bone.
About this time I knew just who this skull belonged to.
We had a friend with a brain tumor, who had a biology background like me and like me loved animals and even found the bones and skulls cool.
We gave her the skull while she was in the hospital recovering from yet another procedure.
It became one of her favorite things and still holds a place of honor in the house after her death.

I soon painted the other skull and started seeking more to paint. It was the process that spoke to me. and often left me amazed that the end products could be so beautiful because I just painted things as they wanted to be painted. I seldom have that kind of clear vision of the end product anymore, instead I let myself be lead from one color to the next and one pattern or texture.
I acquired way more skulls since then of all types.
 beavers, lynx, wolf, coyote, fox, otter, elk, cow, porcupine...
And so my bone bin has grown. I have no idea where my vision will lead me next.
I do have several skulls in process and several skulls on the market.
One of my favorites is the pronghorn skull my brother gave me after his hunt last year.

The joys and sorrows of multi unitasking

Then I get these ideas into my head that I should make several of something. I usually start with one and when I finish I say to myself, "that was easy, cute, clever..." and I should make 10, 20, 50 of them. 
So in my prototype I try to figure out what worked and what did not. How can I change it to improve the end result or the process? So I grab everything I need to make this item in multiples.
This can be nicely efficient. Using one tool 15 times to cut, sew, glue, wire, tape all the same thing, before moving on to the next stage in the process and picking up the next tool. Everything proceeds at a good pace and materials are used to great efficiency. As I go I figure out how to same time and materials I also work out how I would write up instructions in case I want to sell a kit form for what I am making.
But then the flip side of this method:
 Boredom
Mind numbing boredom and it makes it so difficult to get through the process 20 times. A project that would take an hour to make one of may take 15 hours to make 20 of. More efficient true, but way more time focused on a single project, over and over and over. 
Sometimes I just have to put those projects away and break out a skull or a canvas and some paints. 

The story of my fabric stash

Just like my bead stash my fabric stash has grown through many sources.
Finds,  Salvaged fabric from clothing being thrown away or even fabric itself being put out at our local transfer station.

Friends, at group sewing opportunities I often find myself in need of just a bit more blue, or black, or yellow. My friends often have scads of strips and squares and sometimes even more that they happily share. I of course offer whatever I have. I love working these pieces in to my wall hangings and quilts.

Pick ups, at the guild meetings there will often be a pile of free fabric from other cutting back on their stashes. So I grab a bit here and there that fit in with some project I have in mind or that just grabs my eye.

Bargains, sometimes when no other options are out there I will go to the store. Possibly I have a particular idea for a project and nothing I have fits the bill. My first resort is the thrift store. Here bags of fabric sometimes containing several yards are sold at half or less the cost at the fabric stores. But you never just get the one piece. there is often 4 or more different fabrics in the bag and yet I may only want the one.
So I buy it and either add the rest to the stash, give them away at the guild meetings or turn around and donate them back to the thrift store. Just recently acquired several yards of a nice multi colored batik and a lovely teal and purple fish print this way.

Fabric Stores, The only times I ever buy from a regular fabric store is when I need a very specific color or print and all my other resources have failed me. In our area we are lucky enough to have 6 shops that sell quilting fabric. And three of them only sell quilting fabric. One of these also sells fur pelts and the fabric is either for Kuspuks or lining fur parkas, but they have some of the most diverse prints and best quality fabric in the area. These three are also the only source for "Alaska" prints. So moose and wolves, blueberries and auroras all fall in this group.

No matter how much sewing I do my stash never seems to shrink. I love having lots of options for projects, and I love having fabric from friends in my projects, so I do not think I will be "destashing" any time soon.

The story of my bead stash.

Today I had an opportunity to revisit my bead stash. I have been focused on many other things, like painting and sewing.
But as I sorted out some beads for my latest project I was thinking about where some of them came from.
15 years ago when I came to Alaska I brought beads with me. Some of the coolest beads were pre WWII German beads I picked up from a thrift store in New Mexico. I bought the necklace for a buck. I have been hoarding them and using them only for special jewelry.
Some others had been a lucky find on line from a place going out of the bead business. 8mm Fire polished czech faceted beads for only a penny each. They became addicting and are still my go to bead for everything.
I have also been very blessed by friends who chose to give me their bead collections when they moved out of the State. The last lady gave me her stash from decades of collecting. She had a heart condition and her eyes had gotten bad so she knew she would not be using them. The box was huge and full of amazing things. I split the stash in half and donated half to a few silent auctions to raise money for a school garden.
My latest project is also one for charity. I am making items to be sold at a bazaar to raise money for our quilt guild.
I have found that giving things away like that so often leads to getting more things.
Here is a picture of what I am working on.

Back in the online game

Once upon a time...
I used to make things and sell them on Ebay. Then I lost my account because of a piece of paper I have yet to send them.
So I waited a few years and then tried Etsy. I had a couple dozen listings at one point in time but sold nothing and so I let the ads expire and waited again.
 I am back in etsy or at least I have a toe in the water. I really struggle with on-line selling.
taking good pictures, making attention grabbing ads, throwing enough search terms in the listing so people will find it...
But getting better at all these things is more likely to get me success in the electronic media market place than just local bazaars and shops.
So I am determined to dedicate time to learning better photography skills, writing good ads, being active in the promotion of my Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/Alaskanbonesandbeads.
I am also determined to label the things I have for sale so people know me and can contact me. I am determined to put together my Artist page and keep my name easy to find.