Bead Table Wednesday: Endless



The bead "table," shifted from the bedroom and tidied up just a bit...

Color/texture sort; I see 2 or 3 projects developing here

I hear and read about people complaining of boredom and think, My God, how can that be -- there is just not enough time in the day, week, or year to do everything I want to do. When my grandfather's health was failing at age 87, he lamented that he wasn't close to finishing all his projects, and indeed he left behind notebooks filled with writings and sketches of paintings he wanted to do, places he wanted to go for inspiration, classes he wanted to take.... Last summer my mom faced the same dilemma as she found herself too weak from a ruthlessly aggressive cancer to sit up in a chair to paint, so she bought a woodcarving kit figuring it was something she could do semi-reclined in bed. This kit, still unused, is on my metalwork table now; after she passed away in July I couldn't even look at it, but a month ago I set it down next to my little bench block and hammer, both as inspiration and as a reminder that the creative spirit pulses on even as the body is failing.

Bead sorts and patina line-up (near top)

Anyhoo. Here's a glimpse of what is on my beading "table" these days; I put table in quotes because this past winter I've been beading mostly in the comfy rocking chair in my bedroom, wrapped up next to a heater, with the TV on or my 7.8 GB music collection on "shuffle." For these photos I moved my active projects into the dining room/studio, right in front of a sliding glass door that is now wide open because it is almost 70F outside!! The little lap desk in the top photo has served me very well all winter and may well accompany me outside as I shift my operations to a comfy chair in the back yard. I got the idea to use the little metal tins as beadholders from someone on my blogroll -- I'm trying to track that entry down now so I can give credit where credit is due! -- and knew exactly where to find some: in my mom's little painting studio out back. I believe these were originally her father's, and when she took up oil painting five or six years ago she was able to use many of his painting supplies that she had taken for safe keeping after he passed away. So, although I've drastically repurposed these, I feel good keeping them in service, honoring the memories of these people I loved so much and whose relentless creativity I seem to have inherited. I have a feeling that my creative sprite Maggie, who takes after her Granna so much, will snatch some of these long before I pass away, and I'm cool with that.