Fresh Berries

The beautiful side of the business

 

These are the straps of the necklace I've been working on. It's completely woven now but I left it on the Boomerang for safekeeping.

When you run a one-person business from your home, you wear all the hats there are, and right now in this business there are two: the craft hat and the business hat. I strive to stay balanced between the two, but this weekend I put one on and didn't take it off. Four days, nothing but beads. Call me cross-eyed but happy.

The next step is cutting the whole piece off the loom and sewing in those lovely warp ends, all 172 of them (86 top and bottom). I actually like sewing in warp ends. That's when a piece gets its wonderful finished look and the odd dropped bead is picked up. Everything is perfect. And it gets a clasp.

And then it's done!

There will be more business to do this week, things like target markets and strategies, but I'll be back at those loose threads just as fast as my fingers will carry me.

Have a good Monday!

 

The most important element of my business: Thought.

Many beautiful images, like a mountain peak or a beam of light, capture the idea of single-mindedness. But I like this one because it's intentional and clearly human made.

The painting is called "Magic Circle." I don't believe that intentional thought is magical in any way, but the "magic" of a magic circle alludes to an important eternal principle: the concentration of thought to bring things about.

In this sense, I've been drawing my own magic circle this week. Everything I've done has been with my goals in mind.

I've read and written about this principle many times. This week, the hook deepened.

One more lesson: persevere.

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Not by the way, there are two sides to intentional thought. It is well to remember that every thought is a prayer, and there is One who hears that prayer.

Here's a poem I got from a book called Working with the Law by Raymond Holliwell. An old-fashioned illustration of how it works.

 

Thoughts Are Things

 

I hold it true that thoughts are things;

They're endowed with bodies and breath and wings;

And that we send them forth to fill

The world with good results, or ill.

That which we call our secret thought

Speeds forth to earth's remotest spot,

Leaving its blessings or its woes

Like tracks behind it as it goes.

 

We build our future, thought by thought,

For good or ill, yet know it not.

Yet so the universe was wrought.

Thought is another name for fate;

Choose then thy destiny and wait,

For love brings love and hate brings hate.

 

Henry Van Dyke

 

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With this in mind, I'm off to start fulfilling my first order. Hey!

Greetings from the Bas-Kat.

 

This is how many ideas I have. So what?

 

These are sand dollars I collected on the beach in Mexico. I would walk next to crashing waves every morning and pick up shells and sand dollars as I went.

In Ensenada, sand dollars wash up on shore in the hundreds after a storm. The abundance was so great that some mornings it was all I could do to carry them. Of course, I had to pick up each and every flawless one, just for fun.

This is how many ideas are swimming in my head today.

 

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You may have noticed that I changed the descriptor under my Fresh Berries blog title from "Rambling writer..." to "The blog behind the business..." That's because it's time to stop rambling and start focusing.

Today is a red-letter day.

I was thrown a challenge this week. It was a simple observation: "I don't think you really want to be successful."

Ouch.

Well, Durga, look around. If our surroundings reflect our states of mind, then I would have to agree. There are signs of contentment everywhere in my life, but not many signs of success. This is not good.

I knew that trying to convince with words would never work, so I resolved to demonstrate that yes, I did indeed want to be successful. This is what I did:

First, I started rereading (for the umpteenth time, but this time practicing it) Wallace D. Wattles' little book, The Science of Getting Rich. It is an amazing and powerful text.

Next, I shifted my thinking to envision the business side of what I do, not the art or craft. This was not as big a step as I thought it would be, but what a difference it made in my world view.

Here's the thing I realized, and this may be true for others of you crafters out there who also want to sell but have never connected to the marketing frame of mind: I will always make things. It's like breathing for me. I don't have to worry about that. It doesn't kill the art to place it in a business framework. Artists have made money with their art for centuries. The challenge is to embrace the unfamiliar business limitations as an artistic challenge and use them to create something new.

Simultaneously with this shift in thinking, I got my first paid commission for a bead item: a necklace intended as a birthday gift. Meeting the requirements of my customer is teaching me things I cannot learn in any other way. It's Business 101---but hey, you're never too old.

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After all that, I signed up for Ryan Deiss's Digital Marketer Lab, which includes his Idea Incubator program. If you want to watch a video of what he's about, click here.

Many online marketing advisors and teachers have never sold anything except marketing advice. Ryan says this and I know it's true because I've bought things from them. Almost all of it is hot air. But I believe that Ryan's knowledge is based in experience and I value that.

I don't think I'm the kind of small business that Idea Incubator invests in, but what great information he offers! Clear, concise, and insightful baby steps to discovering the nature of my business and how to market it in a changing Internet environment.

So I've narrowed my plate of sand dollars down to two:

FRESH BERRIES Bead Art        and        Durga Walker, Author

Narrowing down was a feat in itself. But I'm learning.

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By the way, did you know that sand dollars grow on the ocean floor, standing on end until turbulent seas dislodge them and deposit them on the shore?

 

If you want to see more beautiful images, scroll through these.

 

Have a wonderful day, and remember to take your ideas in your hands.

Red toe shoes

 

I could use some of this today. I'd like to sit on the edge of that bank and luxuriate in the cool gray. Temperatures have been in the 90s and 100s for weeks now. Yesterday, we had some of this. Glorius rain and a drop of two degrees. Today, we're back to just plain muggy.

I can't complain. I have central air. Not everyone does, and I say a prayer daily for those folks. They're the ones who need some of this.

 

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Lots has happened over the last few days---not just for me, but for all of us. Standard and Poor has lowered the US's credit rating for the first time in history. You can read about it here.

This is an indication of the road we're on as a country. I take this very seriously and have revamped my plans to buy a house. As perfect as the new house would be for me, suddenly all the little defects of Moose Lodge don't seem so bad, or irreparable.

I'm going to stay put and concentrate on growing what I've got.

 

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Last night, I uploaded a colored-pencil drawing I did some years ago into BeadTool and manipulated the image until I was satisfied. This is th first time I've worked with this program in this way. BeadTool let me print out the pattern with the bead count of each color, in sequence, for each row. Today, I'm working on my first sun catcher.

Again, no affiliation with BeadTool. Just a satisfied customer.

In my working file, I've named this pattern "Yellow Ballet Dancer," but I'm thinking of calling it "Red Toe Shoes." See if you can guess why.

 

 

And here, surprisingly, is my workspace WITHOUT my furry assistant, who is normally right on top of things.

 

 

Take care, everyone, and enjoy the weather, whatever it is wherever you are.

 

My Fairy Wandmother says...

 ...buying a house can sour the stomach, Durga, so just relax.

I've found the house I'd like to buy, and the friendly owners would like to sell it to me. Now it's just a matter of getting everyone's idea of the perfect closing date to match. We're looking at anything between October and February.

Sigh.

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So, while this cosmic drama unfolds--to a large extent out of my hands--I'm preparing my next beading project: a sun catcher in transparent beads with an image of the wish-fulfilling tree of the mind. The lush, juicy fruit of everyday life ripening in a midnight-blue sky.

Yum.

Back when I was enrolled in Expressive Arts at Sonoma State, one of our seasoned mentors, Putney, said something that stuck in my mind.

"When babies are first born, they're often ugly." He was referring to the newborn creative work, of course. That's where I am. After all these years, I'm still in that scrabbly, scattered state where some of it's good and some of it's not and some of it's downright ugly. All process and very little product.

Jude Hill has made an entire art out of process. In her case it's beautiful, and there's quite a bit of product.

As I look back over my two living (and semi-living) blogs, which have each expressed different parts of the creative and prosperity process for me, I see no cohesion. I've even gotten lost in my blog intent. Are they personal or professional? Intimate or authoritative? None and all of the above. Better start over and add yet another dead blog to the scrapheap of cyberspace.

Actually, I wish the reverse. I'd like to scrape together all the bits of blogs I've left in my wake since 2005 and pile them up. They would resemble me.

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Did I mention that this house I have my eye on has a lovely workroom within the house and three separate workshops on the property? Plus, the house is blue.

I've learned the value of staying in one place, wherever that may be, and building from the materials I've already gathered. I'm not going to scrap my blog, no matter how uncohesive its many phases, but I'll stay with it and let it evolve. Even though I don't know where we're going.

For me, buying a house is a symbol of commitment to one place. A place to stay and grow and build. To finally accumulate product.

The process will obviously take care of itself.

Eye of the storm

 

Clearly not a hurricane, this. It's an old piece I had to scrap long ago because I'd used black warp thread that damped all the colors down. Nevertheless, today it struck my fancy.

My house has been a quiet hurricane of organization these last few weeks...beads, files, internal computer workings (translation: I finally got an iPad)...

...and...

...(drum roll)...this weekend, I officially stepped into the housing market. Yes, Durga's looking for a house to buy! Major project whose time has come! True, I'll have to leave Moose Lodge (with a tear in my eye), but, well, not today. Stay tuned.

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I've reactivated and updated my copy of BeadTool, a wonderful little software program for bead weavers.

BeadTool comes loaded with a handful of bead palettes (like all the Delicas offered in various sizes, all the seed beads offered in various sizes, etc.). From these, you can select a palette and then design from those beads, or you can create your own palette from the original palettes. You can even paint directly onto the pattern graph. If you've been working with pencil and graphpaper like I have, you'll love this.

So yesterday evening I entered my own bead inventory into the database so I can design from what I already have and not have to order new beads for a specific design if I don't want to. Then I set up three custom palettes for the different kinds of work I like to do: transparent, matte and glossy. This will make things a lot easier when I design sun catchers (transparent), necklaces and pouches (matte or glossy), or small tapestry-like things (whatever I want).

I'm not affiliated in any way with this software, but I do like it so far. And the technical help is great. Here's a little video, so you can see what it's about.

 

 

 

Last night, I also set up a pattern graph for my next project: a sun catcher in transparent beads. I've decided to look for interesting fixtures for suspending these pieces in windows. I was thinking along the lines of vintage handbag rims and so on.

In the midst of all this, I'm also researching Etsy as a venue to sell things. I know so many of you are much farther along this path than I am. I'd love any tips or suggestions you might have. It's taken me a long time to get to this place of beginning.

 

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My storm has covered more territory than disorganized beads. A flurry of papers has been scanned and thrown in the trash, projects have been defined, goals have been set.

Here in the eye of the storm, things are calm and organized and ready for beginnings. The flurry is at arm's length and I'm very proud of myself for all the work I've done. Prayer and elbow grease, and everything is getting better!

I'm getting the hang of it.

Life doesn't have to hard and complicated. It's possible to simplify and organize. It's possible to stay positive and let the blessings rain down. It's possible to be humble and let God work.

How wonderful to be learning this at the magical age of going-on-60. It's truly never too late!

Really, a fuzzy toy and a spot of sun. What more do you need?

 

The dance

There's something so especially wonderful about playing with fabric. What a comfort on blustery Sundays. I'm still trying to figure out what these pieces are -- I've got a stack a foot high. Maybe someday they'll turn into a quilt ... or several. Maybe it doesn't matter. As long as I'm happy.

The recipient of my little pouch was very adamant that I should post pictures, so here they are.

The light and the random shapes of the seed beads give the surface a very irregular look. Delicas are squarish and lie more like a brick wall. Seed beads are more surprising that way, but I do love the way they feel in the fabric.

 

Her's the piece on the Boomerang loom, almost done. It's three inches wide. You can see the buttonhole being worked at the top:

 

 

Here it is off the loom, with the lining next to it:

 

 

Here's the back of the pouch, with Kokopelli dancing away:

 

 

And here's the front, with the stone that slips through the buttonhole:

 

 

It's lined as well. I gave the lining a little give so it wouldn't pull with use. The lining is also not attached to the interior bottom or sides, so if the it needs to be reversed and shaken out, for example, it can be, then later poked back into the corners with a stylus:

 

 

You wouldn't think it would be so hard to find a stone to fit through a buttonhole, but I searched the shop for almost an hour for this one, just the right size, with the hole in the right direction. The owner of the store was very patient, jumping in to help and rummaging through boxes. In the end, he charged me 59 cents. It was quite lovely.

 

 

You can order a little bag like this, made by me, or with another motif. Click here -- CUSTOM BEAD BAGS TO ORDER -- and see how that works.

 

I'm excited about going on, honing my technical skills and learning more about designing in beads. This particular design was Native American-inspired. Now I'm excited to see where my personal aesthetic takes me.

Here's some inspiration for a new project. I want to find out how to incorporate different-sized beads in one flat surface:

 

 

Colors, beeds, threads, and an awful lot of unrealized ideas. It's a never-ending race to make the next thing because it will be better and more beautiful. The next idea is always more astounding. It never ends. And don't we love that?

 

Where was I again?

 

Picking up where I left off.

One of my favorite things to do in the world is sit in a cyber cafe and write. It's been a long time since I could indulge myself. Licking isn't exactly burgeoning with cool and rustic cyber cafes...or any cyber cafes at all. The one possibility down in Houston (Mo.), ironically enough called The Moose something or other, doesn't exist any more. It was anyway too far to go for a morning's walk.

Today, I'm in Rolla. Showed up at the courthouse to cover a story that ultimately was taking place down in Houston, unbeknownst even to the court clerk. So--after picking up "The Full Monty" at Radio Shack after leaving it in a returned DVD player three months ago--here I am, at the only cyber cafe within 30 miles of my house. The Giddy Goat.

Rolla is a university town. Well, sort of a giant strip mall crossed with a university town. This cafe services lots of university students, but today there are three tables of old ladies, including me. It's a cute, funky little place with wooden tables and Christmas lights.Just color me happy to have a window seat and an endless cup of coffee.

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The victory of sitting here at The Giddy Goat is simply being able to pick up where I left off. I've passed through the transition from life with Momma to life without, and I've shaken the foggy funk off my shoes.

Time to start a new beading project. A nine-square patchwork (each square beaded on its own and sewn together afterwards). More on the subject later. Rolla is also the home of two cute bead shops, each offering completely different things. I'll stop off after coffee and select stones to feature in the piece.

But this time I'll be able to show you what I'm doing. Lots of pictures, I promise.

Until then, just for fun, here's a sneak peek of the fastener to the bag I just made and sent as a birthday gift. It slips through the beaded buttonhole on the flap. On the reverse of this surface, the stone is sewn trough several layers of fabric bits to hold it in place and attached using the technique applied to coat buttons, to leave room for the layer of beads that forms the flap. That's a seed bead on top of the stone, so the thread came up through the stone, through the bead, which is slightly bigger than the stone's hole, and back through the stone. Perfect, pretty and functional!

 

 

Wishing you a sunny day, wherever you are!

 

Making time.

 

It's done!

Last night, I finished a beaded birthday gift I've been working on for weeks. I won't be posting any pictures of it because it doesn't belong to me, but boy, is it beautiful. You'll just have to trust me on this.

Unique, too. I don't intend to make another. A small pouch of glass-bead fabric using No. 15 beads on my Boomerang loom, woven with an image of Kokopelli on one side and an Aztec-type sun on the other. I wove a long strip, folded it into a pouch and sewed up the sides, attached a stone as a button to slip through the woven buttonhole, then lined it with golden fabric. It's a nice little thing.

No pattern, of course, so I was solving problems all the way along.

Now that I'm done, it'll be a while before I make gifts again. I spent the last half of last year making Christmas presents, but now I'm ready to devote my "making time" to building an inventory to show and to sell, to hang on the wall...and, by the way, to post on my blog!

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Today, I'm off to see my first house. This is the home of a newspaper colleague. It's not on the market yet and will take months to be available, but if it's the right house, we'll work it out.

God answers immediately.

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Speaking of burgeoning prosperity...I've ordered an iPad. Yes, I broke down and done it, and am waiting with great anticipation. Getting organized. Getting prosperous again.

I also ordered a Brother DS600 mobile scanner for receipts and small bits. When it came, it turned out to be a defective piece of equipment with the worst technical support for Mac I've ever seen, and a return policy that was a slap in the face.

I'm sending it back, but not before Lucy has a chance to test drive it for review.

 

 

Bluster no more

I've finally found something to write about. Today, I started looking for a house. To buy.

I began this blog with this picture. I love it. It's an illustration of the greatest lesson of my life: the mind is the wish-fulfilling tree. I want a house. Let's see what fruit gives forth.

Slowly, gently, from branch to branch. Looking, squeezing, plucking.

Thank you, God. What do you have in store?