The Fantastic Four

Lately my Mojo has been limping along, so to give it a kick in the pants I've been learning new techniques and taking inspiration from tutorials and patterns I've purchased online.

I thought I'd share some of my favourites with you. Quite a task in itself because my list of besties is huge, but the four I've listed here have inspired me in unexpected ways.

Extrudinay by Iris Mishly

This is the first set of tutorials I've purchased from Iris and it won't be the last! I love the quirkiness of her designs and every project is achievable. There's none of that "I'm never going to achieve that level of perfection" with Iris. It's more "ooh, I never thought of using it that way". On the pricey side but well worth it. These tutorials will give your creativity a massive boost.

 

Graduated Color Blends by Ginger Davis Allman

A very well written tutorial and one of the easiest to follow I've come across. The three projects in this tutorial force you to slow down and smell the daisies. These simple techniques make glorious colour graduations available to those who don't want to or don't have the money to invest in pasta machines and all the fancy schmancy clay tools. I spent a blissful four hours in an almost meditative trance manipulating clay and colours.

 

Snowflake Beadwoven Earrings by Bead Sphere Jewelry

This was one of my first bead weaving projects ever. The first earring took me 6 hours to complete, the second about two hours. I've got wonderful memories of sitting on the porch of a house we'd rented for the week, swearing like a trouper and scattering tiny little seed beads all over the place while the rest of my family explored the beach and made friends with thousands of tiny purple crabs. They came out so beautifully (not mine in the picture though) and I was so proud. I lost one recently and I doubt I'll be able to make an exact replacement so instead that one earring will become a tiny wee pendant or charm. A keepsake from a wonderful holiday and a reminder that even the tiniest thing, when combined with other tiny things can create a fascinating, beautiful structure.

 

Life's a Charm by Connie Fox

Connie's beautiful bracelet (featured here on the front of the mag where I came across it) left me thinking "Flipping heck! You can do all that with wire?". And although I am absolutely rubbish at wire work I still have a bash now and then. I am constantly amazed and inspired by the work that others do in this simple medium.

 

So there you go,four of my mojo-starters. Hopefully my mojo will stant dancing and prancing again with the onset of cooler weather. In the meantime there's a whole internet full of tutorials for me to explore.