I'm One Button Richer

Yesterday's lecture with Robin on the 2007-08 Bead Journal Project was amazing. She presented everyone's work by drawing connections between them. Pieces that were similar in shape or whose subject matter addressed similar issues, nature, events, feelings, etc. were grouped together. This was a great way to draw conclusions about the "body of work" and the process of bead journaling.

She also showed how many of the completed journal pages were finished. Some were framed; others were made into books or wall-hangings. You can see all of them here. The entire collection is formidable when seen together as a whole and really lends itself to a museum exhibit. We have the American Visionary Art Museum here in Baltimore which would be a perfect venue. We're going to suggest it to the museum and see what happens.

Look how Pam Truog interpreted the feeling of Despair


And how Christy Hinkle interpreted the Separation she felt from her son when her ex-husband took him skiing over Christmas and it was the first time they had ever been separated for the holiday.


The beaded buttons class was a great exercise. Robin asked that we try very hard not to over-think our little project. She made us choose our fabric and beads within seconds such that we acted on impulse and not planning. She asked that, once placed and stitched, we not remove any bead that we didn't like. Instead, we should leave it in and see where it leads.

I tried very hard to only use the beads I was given, to work impulsively and to not remove anything once I'd stitched it on. The first thing I did was put in that "line" of big blue beads down the left side. For the first fifteen minutes I was working, I was hating my little button.


Robin then told us that there was a period during stitching every piece she's made where she felt like she did not like her work. Even feeling this way, she refused to take anything out. Today, there isn't one piece that she doesn't love.

I tried working the same way and eventually found that, when I finished my beaded button, I really kind of liked it. I think this way of working moves you beyond over-thinking; it moves you beyond those sticking points and, in the end, you create something that is new and very you. A nice little life lesson, indeed.