UFOs and "hey, what's with all the string?"

Not to be confused with unidentified flying objects, the pieces pictured above are indeed UFOs, which in the crafting world stands for UnFinished Objects, hence all the strings.

While I work, my ideas seem to ebb and flow. I have a flash of what I want to do but somewhere along the way I get distracted or bored or just don't like what I am doing. In some instances I actually put all of these pieces together into one piece but in most instances they end up in a box, ignored and abandoned. One of these boxes sits on my side work table so that I have easy access for tossing in my rejects (oh, that actually hurts to say). Okay, not rejects exactly but, um, experiments.

While thinking of something to write about today, these "experiments" started calling out to me to be photographed. I didn't want to tie in all of the strings because that is my least favorite thing to do. Perhaps that is why I don't care for loomed beadwork - too many strings to tie in, but I digress.

There is something about revisiting abandoned work that I really like. I try to remember how to do certain techniques and as I play I find myself moving into other directions. I get frustrated when I can"t reproduce my own work and I wonder why I just didn't write it down to begin with.

I have created so many techniques and technique variations that I could fill another book. My third book, "Bead, Play & Love" is a culmination of a number of structural technique variations as well as a number of original techniques and variations. I was sad to have stopped selling it and hope to be able to offer it again either in book or ebook format. I am still looking for different options, especially ones that aren't cost prohibitive. In the meantime I have lots of ideas to share and have even toyed with the idea of sharing "365 techniques in 365 days." That would be huge undertaking given the fact that the instructions alone would take a while to do. I may just share a picture of the technique and write instructions for some of them. So many ideas. I hope to have it all sorted out soon.

If you have any UFOs lying around, take them out and see if they inspire you to create something new. And if you do, let me know.

Have a fabulous rest of today.