We all of us have a particular wellspring that we continually draw upon in our work- sources of inspiration, rules for doing. It can be anything from working a lot/ mostly in a particular colour or group of colours to the kinds of things that one generally makes, or even the preferred way of working.
For me, it’s largely unconscious- I just find myself drawn to greens, blues and purples most of all (although I use materials in almost every colour under the sun), to crystal and glass. Lately though, I’ve been wondering about the merit of introducing something completely different- new materials or techniques, or a new place to craft- to see what would come out of that.
So, thing the first: I challenge myself to create something in a colour I’ve never used before. (The only one I can think of is buttercup yellow.) Thing the second: I challenge myself to find some focal beads I would never normally be drawn to, and create pieces to showcase them.
I’ll post the results of my mini-experiments here shortly.