It never fails. It’s only six weeks before my big retail show, the annual League of NH Craftsmen’s Fair, and I’m bursting with new jewelry designs.
Every year, this show seems to pull my best work out of me. This year is no exception. I’m stunned at the new ideas that seem to flow out my brain and through my hands. Nothing like a hard deadline to get those brain cells pumpin’!
I sometimes stop in mid-necklace design to rush over to my polymer station, feverishly making new beads that I just “have to have” to complete the look.
I have a billion beads. Yet late Sunday night I pored over one of my favorite bead sources, buying unusual new beads for a new design that’s been floating in my head.
The colors are amazing, too. It’s like the new soapstone material I invented last year has opened a whole new color palette for my work. I find myself digging through my bead stash, looking for those red coral beads I thought I’d never use…. I’m using semi-precious stones whose names I can’t even pronounce. What the heck is variscite?? I thought gaspite was bad…
These designs look even more tribal and eclectic. The beading looks like someone found a handful of beads at an archeological dig and restrung a broken necklace. I know that doesn’t SOUND beautiful, but trust me, it is!
I’m just about ready to call my photographer for an emergency photo session. I want to post a sneak preview of these new creations on my website.
As I finish each piece, I take a minute to pause and admire it. I find myself murmuring, “This one is perfect!”
I caught myself at it this morning, and had to laugh.
Because every year I think I’ve found the perfect design. I can’t imagine how it could be better. I get a little anxious–“How will I ever top this??”–and fret about when I run out of ideas.
And every year, it just gets a little better, and a little more exciting.
Isn’t the creative process funny?
Luann Udell 
Yes, it sure is. I’m always amazed at my own ability to come up with the “next new thing” which will energize my previous work and/or take me in a whole new direction. Like you, I worry about those times when it seems nothing new is happening, and I’m learning to treat those times as the ruminating period–I’m actually thinking of the next new idea, and I don’t even know it! Creativity, the muse, the journey, the process…it’s all a wonderful adventure.
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