Things I learned doing the Beading Daily Earrings Every Day Challenge 2012

Things I learned doing the Beading Daily Earrings Every Day Challenge 2012

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1) I hate french hook ear wires. The stick out and poke my head behind my ears and really REALLY bug me.

2) I do like lever back ear wires. All the dangle of french hooks, none of the pokiness!

3) You CAN make beadwoven post earrings that don't dangle!

4) My photo setup sucks. Taking pictures EVERY DAY really highlighted just how crappy and inconsistant my lighting is. I will be investing in a better light box and lights.

5) Forcing yourself to create something everyday is a great way to create hate. While I never made a lot of earrings before this, I currently don't want to ever make another earring EVER.

I have come to realize that creativity can't be forced. While there were days when I loved what I came up with, there were more days where I just made something for the sake of making something. I am not ok with that. I think I would rather have days where I take a day off, do something else, build up ideas. Or, a day where I worked on something I was actually inspired by! There have been several days where I had another project but set it aside, cause I HAD to make earrings.

So, while this was an interesting experience, it is not one that I will be repeating. I will stick with challenges that allow a little more leaway in what is created and on what schedule.

 

All of the earrings I created this month can be seen on my blog: http://bysalla.blogspot.com

 

salla

http://bysalla.blogspot.com

http://bysalla.etsy.com

http://8bitrings.etsy.com

 

I learned

* that it was easier to make a couple pairs of earrings every few days than try to force myself to do a pair every day.

*that my other crafty endeavors  inspired me to make earrings in color combos that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise

*that I'm a serious slacker when it comes to actually posting pictures

*that I now have and love having such a wide variety of earrings in my personal collection

* that I need to make several necklaces to coordinate with all of my new earrings :-)

*and like you salla, my photo set up sucks

 

 

shellie :-)

Salla, you do lovely work. I'm sorry that the challenge was so frustrating.  I, too, learned several things during the challenge, but my own overall experience was positive. 

• The challenge gave me a definite (positive?) confirmation that I must get a better set up for photographing my work.  This includes an earring stand to show the earrings as they are meant to be worn.  And, of course, better lights.
• My creativity did not seem artificially forced, but there was still some pressure to execute.  I managed to post 7 pairs of earrings for each 7 day period, but they were not all completed within exactly 7 days nor did I limit myself to only one pair per day.  If inspiration and opportunity happened to coincide, then I made earrings.  If not, then not.  This wasn't Top Chef--we could give ourselves some wiggle room.  On the other hand, I felt like it was earrings, earrings, earrings 24/7, and I was thinking about the challenge when I really needed to focus on something else.  My relief at the end of the challenge was not that I could at last do other projects, but that I did not feel compelled to focus my mind on the subject in such an all-consuming manner.   Nonetheless, there were times--especially at the end of the week--when I didn't feel like stretching myself for the challenge just to get that 7th pair.  So I made something simpler or repeated a technique.  Meh.
• Along with Shellie, I now have some inspiration earrings that need accompanying pieces, whether bracelet or necklace.
• Forcing myself to take up needle and Fireline (for the first time!), I did things with seed beads that I never ever thought I would do.  Now I'm thinking they might work for something other than stringing. 
• I really need to be more disciplined in my work, clearing up before launching into something else. 
• I need to get a wider work table with a lip around the edge.
• I need more lights over my work table.
• I really enjoyed forcing myself to review techniques that I had learned and to try out some new ones.  My repertoire is nicely expanded.
• I need lots more practice wire cuz I have way more techniques to play with. 

If I had a major disappointment with the challenge, it was that there was less official support of the challenge as it progressed or ended.   There's no sense of closure (noting that I still need to post pix for my last 4 pairs) or even accomplishment.  How many people (that we can tell) participated?  How many pairs of earrings were made (that we know of)?  Who managed to complete the challenge?  Just how proud of us is Interweave?  Perhaps it's too soon to see this sort of thing, but it's the sort of thing that needs to be seen.  If it's an official challenge, it needs some official cheerleading and recognition.  I'm sure prizes or something would be fun, but "Attagirl!" is really all that's needed to make people feel appreciated as part of the community.  Otherwise, why did we do this?

I joined this site because of the bead challenge. I happen to finish a pair of earrings and thought I should give this challenge a try.

Things I got from the challenge are:

• It forced me to bead more.
• It made me reorganize my desk to make room for the beads. (They were too far away.)
• I got my son to give me a lamp he wasn't using for my desk.
• I brushed up on old skills and tried some new things.
• I won’t finish something if I don’t like it. (I've got 3 earrings with no pairs.)
• Beading with size 15/o takes me longer then 11/o but I like the look of 15/o better.
• I can still thread a needle in the dark. (We had a power outage one night.)
• My schedule is much busier than I thought so I didn't complete the challenge. I do feel I got a lot out of it though.
• I don't like to share my beads with my BFF because she always takes the colors I'm looking for.

In the end, I’d have to say I may have beads in the whole spectrum of the rainbow but I still want more. Happy beading!