Bead Chat Magazine Spring 2015 | Page 10

wildwomanbeads creativebeadchat.com “ I encouraged myself to be honest and acknowledge the limits of my skills while I simultaneously strove to move beyond them. own benefit, was to look around at other designers, find someone whose work I admired, and worked at my own designs (teaching myself as I went, with occasional assistance from Alli) until I believed my work approximated the quality of that artist. Then I stepped it up a level, looked for a new designer whose work seemed beyond my reach, and worked at developing my skills until I truly loved what I was creating at that level. I didn’t copy. I simply found an artist whose work thrilled and inspired me, and practiced until I had acquired a similar level of skill. There were times when this process seemed painfully slow, and I was ready to give up. But, little by little, I expanded my designs. My single rule was that I wanted to feel joy as I designed and created each piece. No joy? Only frustration? Then it was not the time to work on a design. I put it down, to come back later. I w