This morning this lovely quote appeared before me. Seeing Marti Conrad's bowl of freshly fired beads reminded me of it. Marti has been struggling with long and puzzling kiln repair problems for quite some time. Through many attempts her and her husband finally got the kiln going again this week! Just look at this bowl of goodies! How's that for a payoff!
I have been working on one Idea for Artisan Clay for over 2 years! Yep! I tried this, tried that, took classes, decided it wasn't going to work as I planned and now I think it is finally going to work for me. Patience.... Good luck through planning.... I think it works.Do you have a story of patience or persistence in your work?
Something that you worked and worked at and finally payed off?
Something that you worked and worked at and finally payed off?
Tell us about it! Leave a comment in this post and you will be entered to win this lovely Artisan Clay pendant pictured above!
Are you a Beads-Of-Clay blog follower? if so leave a comment and let us know you're there and you will receive another giveaway entry.
Tweet this post or Blog about it or link to it on Facebook and leave a separate comment for each mention that that you have done and you will get another chance to win for each comment!
Does that make sense?
Does that make sense?
I will use one of those fabulous random number generators to choose our winner. Good luck!
This is gonna be fun!
Does it ever work, Kristie! I think everything about Sand Fibers has been a story in persistence and patience: for the longest time, I didn't think all the time and effort I put into creating my pieces would pay. I think it finally is. Success comes to those who have the patience to work AND WAIT for it ;)
ReplyDeleteI just "shared" on my Facebook. You'll see it on my wall ;)
ReplyDeleteOoops! I forgot to set the giveaway date.
ReplyDeleteThe winner will be announced one week from today, Thursday October 1.
Yes, it pays off. Nothing in law moves quickly... but I've seen some remarkable results. I've also had some terrible results. In clay, patience is a necessity. Work the clay at the wrong stage of drying, and you have crumbs. Work with clay that's not ages, and you have frustration. Open the kiln door before the kiln has cooled, and you have land fill. Fire too fast, and you have more landfill.
ReplyDeleteI think any kind of creation is half patience, especially the pieces that are the most beautiful or exciting, Michaelangelo didn't paint the Sistine Chapel in one day. (At least that's what I keep telling myself!)
ReplyDeleteI just tweeted about this. ;)
ReplyDeletePatience/perseverance are probably interchangeable in our line of work. If we just keep on keeping on, we will ultimately be rewarded. Off to blog/FB/tweet now. Good luck all!
ReplyDeletePatience is difficult for someone deemed to have "ants in their pants." However, one's antsy pants can persevere. I thank my friend Bead Mused for bringing us together. I am now a fan of your blog and I have emailed other bead friends as well. I don't tweet, geez I only have two hands but I will post you on facebook; however Bead Mused and I share a lot of the same beady community. She is so well connected. Lucky for me. Love your work! Pick me! Pick me! LOL Look forward to reading your blog. J
ReplyDeleteI think patience is essential if your trying to learn any medium. Patience has definitely been necessary when I learned to crochet, spin and knit!!
ReplyDeletePersistence and patience are so important when a new endeavor is begun. I'm so glad I persevered with my beadweaving, polymer clay and glass fusing. Things don't always happen fast enough for me, but I keep reminding myself of the little successes and overall progress I've made and it's so rewarding.
ReplyDeleteI twittered! :)
ReplyDeleteI posted on facebook too. :)
ReplyDeleteI just discovered your blog through a FB post by Carol Dean and now I'm a follower!
ReplyDeleteRegarding patience and persistence, I never used to be a patient person. I tried to be a quilter but didn't have the patience for it. I turned to jewelry making because it offered "instant gratification". Four years after I started making jewelry I took a glass bead making class (torch work) and I was humbled and amazed by the beads that I had seen at a bead show 2 months prior to that. It took an immense amount of patience and persistence just to learn how to center a glass bead on the mandrel and I am ever so grateful that I managed to hang in there. It has changed my life! Four years after I took that class I began teaching bead making and after five years of teaching I'm still thrilled when I see the work of my students come out of the kiln.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that refusing to give up is going to help with individual pieces and with a business.
ReplyDeleteI facebooked this:)
ReplyDeleteand twittered it!
ReplyDeleteI just added a link to this post on my facebook page!
ReplyDelete... and I just posted a tweet about it too!
ReplyDeleteThat pendant is amazing!
ReplyDeleteMachine sewing used to be my nemesis. My lines, if you could call them that, were always crooked. The machine would eat the fabric. Giant "nests" of thread would randomly form underneath waiting to be discovered.
It took some time, some pulled hairs, but I finally have it (mostly) figured out!
heidig@gmail.com
Thanks Kristie! Yes, patience is a virtue and it doesn't come easily. I still get impatient to open the kiln to see the outcome, but am learning to take that in stride as well!
ReplyDeleteAh patience! That generally eludes me but when it comes to creating I have it though it's more like obsession. When I get into something it's near impossible for me to multi-task until I master whatever it is I'm doing.
ReplyDeleteAnd the thing is after you master something you tend to forget all the grief and frustration you had initially. Never had a baby but typing that makes me think of child birth - so I guess what I'm saying (clumsily) is it's like a birthing process. Think I should shut up while I'm ahead! ;)
I think I'm a patient person until I try to wire wrap--specifically a top drilled briolette, which has had me stumped and frustrated for the last few days. Sooooo, after tossing some mangled wire and even breaking one of the briolettes, I set the thing aside for a few days. When I came back to it I tried to be patient, drawing a deep breath before I started, and being very slow and methodical in my work. And it worked! It's not perfect by any means--it's something that must be perfected by lots of practice (at least for me), but I was happy with the outcome.
ReplyDeleteI just love your pendant and hope that you pick my name!!!!!
I posted about this on my Facebook:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=1755927752&ref=name
It's gorgeous, I love it.
ReplyDeleteI am now also a follower
ReplyDeleteI think lace-making has been my biggest tale of woe-turned-delight. Good grief did all that tiny tatting thread make me grieve, lol! For at least 6 months I struggled, got tangled, tried fingers and needles and shuttles, different threads, yarns, and how-tos. And, in all that time, produced exactly 0 pretty things. I mean, it's not like I worked away for hours every single night. But still, I get irritated just thinking about it!
ReplyDeleteBut I'm at a point now where it has finally clicked. Where I have made a handful of lovely things with no (noticeable) mistakes, and am confident enough to try most intermediate patterns. I'm so glad I'm not a giver-upper, because man would I have missed out!
I honestly think that if I didn't love the medium (thread/yarn/fiber), and didn't have another way to express it (I don't knit or crochet), I would have given up long ago. But I'm enjoying myself now, and seeing all sorts of wonderful possibilities for incorporating it into my jewelry:)
I also tweeted - 'scuse me;)
ReplyDeleteI HAD to enter, that pendant is just beautiful! I think my whole clay process has been a trial of persistence and patience. I definitely have struggled with warping pendants and that is fully an issue of patience!
ReplyDeleteAlso tweeted it :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I do this checking in when there is a contest and not knowing it, but I checked in to say I re-discovered a pine made by Lea Stein in my packing and I was mesmerized by it once again and I just posted about it.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful bowl of beads.
I immediately think of my experiences with PMC. When I took my first class, I made what is probably the ugliest pendant ever...I think I have it somewhere...hidden FAR away in the back of my stuff :o)
ReplyDeleteBut, I took another class this summer and did a LOT better...for me, it was a combination of a better teacher, more time to play, and being in a more creative place the day I took the other class...
But, it is definitely true that you have to be patient and give things a chance to settle and work themselves out in your mind...Keep trying, and it will happen :o)