Back At Work

Here's a photo I took last week, looking down the main patio. You can see that all those trees, jacaranda trees, are no longer in bloom. Now they are developing seed pods. I saved a dried one that I found last year. I like the shape. I think they're too fragile to make into jewlery or something, but they are very pretty.

Yesterday was my day off. I spent a couple of hours going to several bead suppliers. I needed more gold-filled wire to finish a necklace I started Sunday. And I wanted to get some chain to use with some stones to make another necklace. I thought originally that I would need to drive up to the northern part of the county to a place where they carry chain, but fortunately I was able to find it at a supplier close by.

Now that I have wireless internet, I'd like to start ordering online. Well, certainly I could have done that at home anytime these last months, but being here in the studio and thinking about my jewelry seems to lend itself to ordering. In addition, now that I have the studio, I can ask suppliers to deliver or mail items to me here at the Village. That's handy as well.

I have a great deal of stuff piled on my glass top table, mostly because I move things to make room for my computer on my desk. So today I'm hoping to take some time to work on clearing my table and finding places to put stuff that's sitting around. Of course, that takes away from my time to create art, but I have to have some organization or eventually I won't be able to find anything. It's a problem already to keep track of beads and various other items. I have a pegboard where I hang strands of beads, and that works very well. However, I don't always hang up half strands of beads that are left. And I admit I have unfinished pieces sitting around. Those have strands of beads associated with them. So those need to be organized, too.

I suppose that's the nature of life nowadays. We live in a consumer society and if we buy/consume items, we have to find places to put them. At times, I feel as though there are so many items I need to buy. But do I really need them? I think sometimes everyday you do without a particular item, you save a little money. Sometimes, though, you need to spend the money to have the convenience that an item brings. The trick seems to be to reach a happy medium.