Inspiration - Where to find it and How to wear it

I've had another head cold - about the fourth one this winter (the joys of having a child in long day-care), so I had a couple of days off from my 'real' work. Too foggy in the head to read or concentrate on some beading (dammit) I was sitting vegetating in front of Foxtel. Cruising through the channels I came across Fashion TV - not one of my usual viewing haunts, too many skinny models and ridiculous clothes. What caught my eye was one of the most striking, beautiful and desirable dresses I have ever seen. I had stumbled across the Paris July 2008 Haute Couture fashion shows. The dress which caught my eye was an almost indescribable colour somewhere between silver and navy. While it was definitely a designer piece, it was wearable by a normal woman with butt and bust. And there wasn't just one dress in this show which was desirable, I watched the whole twenty minutes and was delighted with more than half the dresses shown. The only downer was that they didn't identify the designer and I am not enough of a fashionista to know who the bloke was that walked out on the runway at the end!!

But simply by seeing this fabulous dress I am inspired to try to find beads of that colour. It just so happens that I have some navy blue pearl coated Czech beads that are almost an exact match!! I am going to put them together with some glass beads in a fabulous colour called "Montana" and see what happens - I'll let you know when the piece is finished.

This brings me, by very circuitous route, to the point of this post - you would be surprised where inspiration strikes. I have previously taken ideas from paint swatches, food magazines, people in the line at the supermarket, sunsets, my son's artwork and any number of fashion magazines. When I take the time to consider how my creative process works, I do generally start with colours and then work toward decisions on metal and shapes of beads. I have found that it takes me longer to get the mix 'right' if I try to create from a different point in the process. People who know me will not be surprised by the realisation that I like working with colour - give me a choice between neutrals and bright red, bright red will win every time! Being able to create individual jewellery pieces in any colour of the rainbow has saved my sanity in my conservative workplace. I might not feel able to wear a multi-coloured outfit to work, but I can express some individuality in my accessories! And I will certainly never be able to own that fabulous silvery-midnight blue dress - but I can take the colour and turn it into something attainable.