Make It Your Own
If you create any kind of art or craft, sooner or later you'll hear the phrase: "make it your own." What does that mean? It sounds confusing because if you're making a project out of a magazine, aren't you already making it your own? After all, it's your beads, your time, and your tools, right?
Not exactly. "Make it your own" means not creating an exact duplicate of an item, but using the basic idea to jump start a design of your own. How do you do that?
One Example
I designed these pewter owl earrings for the January 2011 issue of Bead Trends. I love making earrings and this pair is one of my favorite recent designs. Lately I've been challenging myself with unusual color combinations, but for these earrings, I wanted to make something neutral (but fun) that could be worn every day.
I was surprised and delighted when I saw the version of my design created by Leslie Gidden of Mad Maggie Designs. (Scroll down on her blog to see them; they're posted after the necklace and bracelet.)
Leslie's earrings are a great example of using a design for inspiration, rather than just copying it bead-for-bead. We both used the same Green Girl Studios baby owl pendants and seed beads, but that's where the similarities end. I used navy Lucite rounds from The Beadin' Path; she used these pretty fire-polished beads from Fusion Beads. She added bead caps; I added brass saucer beads from Vintaj. She used gunmetal findings; mine were a mix of copper, brass, and sterling silver. Her ear wires had coiled ends with a bead; mine had a tiny flower.
If you've used a magazine design of mine for inspiration and personalized it in some way, let me know. I'd love to feature you (and your blog) here.
On a Completely Unrelated Note . . .
On Sunday a reader alerted me to a problem with my comment form that was affecting some readers who were viewing the blog through an RSS reader. So sorry about that! I believe the problem's fixed, but if you are feeling heroic today, maybe you can leave a comment to reassure me that comments are working? Comments still won't be posted automatically (spammers have fallen in love with my blog), but if you don't get a weird error message after submitting your comment, then you'll know that I received it and will post it as soon as I can. Thank you!