Sweat

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration

...thomas alva edison

Last post I was inspired by the aboriginal works I'd found online at this link. I don't even know if it's legal to copy someone's beautiful artwork onto a glass canvas, but I did it anyway. I don't think anyone is going to mistake my 50-cent-piece sized bead for the original, so I'm feeling pretty safe.

Here's the thing about glass. It never comes out of the kiln looking the same as when it went in. I thought this bead would be the masterpiece of my career. I was up at 7:30 (it is Sunday), excited as Christmas morning (I still get excited Christmas morning), ready to open the kiln and be awed and surprised and bowled over by my genius.

About that. That genius part. I guess I'm still in the 99% perspiration section of that equation. Because I was disappointed. The colors were dull, the large bead seemed overly busy. It hadn't cracked, so that was a good thing. There's not much worse than a bead that you've spent half-an-hour on coming out of the kiln cracked. Well, okay, there are a lot of things worse than a cracked bead, like cancer or war or throwing up, but it's up there.

But I had a surprise yesterday when Sam came home from work. He brought me some inspiration in the form of this:

which doesn't seem all that inspiring, but it contained this:

Glass. But not just any glass. Glass from Double Helix Glassworks. Reactive glass that changes its whole personality with a little coaxing from the oxygen or natural gas of your torch. It's all very exciting, don't you know, a little like getting a new box of crayons. I used the clear glass called Olympic Rain and made this set:

Nothing special; a wonky hollow, a bumpy bead I love and lots of spacers that have the look of opals and will look great with gold.

Today I'll play with another of the reactive glasses. I found this picture on Flickr and am in awe:

I know there's some silvered ivory in there, I'm not sure of the rest. I'll play around and come up with my own version. Perhaps I'll try my hand at interpreting another aboriginal painting.

Or I'll be forced to play some cards or read a book or clean the fridge.

I'll bet Thomas Edison never had to clean the fridge.

My Mused Has Been Torched

Inspiration is a fickle mistress.

I have no idea who said that originally (believe me, I looked for at least 30 minutes all over the internet and also in my handy book of quotations), but it's true. It's also true, in my case, that if that fickle mistress isn't given regular attention, she's outta here.

I do know who said this quote, however:

Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.

That would be Thomas Alva Edison who pretty much wrote the book on both inspiration and genius.

Lately, the well has been dry. Not bone dry. Not completely blocked. Just down to a trickle. Little pebbles, rocks, stones, placed by small, playful hands have blocked the even flow and have relinquished my beadmaking to a cliche of bead pairs. I have nothing against bead pairs. They're an art form unto themselves; evenly sized beads aren't the forte of a beginner. They're also quite usable in bead designs and make killer earrings. But there's nothing avant garde or inspirational in these bead pairs:

See?

I just started reading The Bone People, a book that is going to change my life, my friend Copland assured me. Well, she just said it was her favorite book ever, but I'm sure that's what she meant. So far I've been very taken with the cover, a little piece of inspiration in and of itself:

I googled the author, Keri Hulme, and an artist one of her main characters mentions, Fujiwara Takanobu, and I googled Maori and aboriginal art. I have no idea what order I did any of this, or how I ended up with this site, but I am now inspired by Colleen Wallace Nungari's Dreamtime Sisters:

Sharon Hayes's Untitled

and Betty Mbitjana's Awelye and Bush Melon

Because, honestly, how could these not inspire you?

For the next few days I'll be putting in the 99% perspiration it takes to flame this inspiration and let you all know the fruits of my labor in my next post.