Creative Spaces

“If I could just have a place of my own to bead!” 

It’s something we hear a lot from our customers. “All I want is a cozy place to call my own.” We can certainly relate. We are headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area where space is at a premium and the luxury of a large creative space is almost unheard of.

During a recent Facebook LIVE broadcast, I asked viewers to share photos of their creative spaces. I thought it would be fun to hear your tips and tricks about how you get organized.

I have seen many creative spaces over my jewelry making years and I have noticed most successful spaces share three things: inspiration, organization, and ownership.

Inspiration: Many artists create a “mood board”… a collection of pictures, colors, pieces of ephemera, quotes, and samples. The board visually expresses jewelry style, inspirations, and goals of the artist. I have one in my studio that I pin all kinds of things that I find inspirational; from a collection of pretty silk ribbons to a photo of my Gran playing the accordion in her heyday.

Kate's Mood Board. Can you find her Gran in the photo?

Organization: Searching for ear wires finally pushed me over the edge. You know how it goes, you’re ready to start creating and a vital component in the project has gone missing! That just puts the brakes on and creativity comes to a grinding halt! Sorting my stash has always been a struggle for me, but once I invested the time into finding a place for my beads and components, my creative process just flowed better… not having to stop to search for those missing findings was a game changer.

Janice's Repair Stash

Those drawers hold treasures!

Ownership: “Whether you have a large room or a cozy corner in which to practice your craft, proudly proclaim it My Studio.” This is a line that I repeat again and again to my students and customers. It’s important to have a creative space, but sometimes we need to think outside the box to make it work. 

Our customer, Sandra Luck, shared photos of her cozy corner and it embodies all three elements for success. Don’t you just want to jump in and bead away? She has photos and charts pinned to the walls along with favorite items on the top bookshelf. A cute mini-quilt adorns her chair. 

Sandra's Creative Beading Space

We spy drawers and boxes that look like they are holding her bead stash and just underneath, can you see how she has repurposed the jewel box to hold her seed beads? 

What a great idea!

She has definitely proclaimed her bead studio as her own. We also love that she is watching our FB LIVE broadcast in her creative space… it’s like we are beading together with friends. What could be better than that? Thank you, Sandra for sharing your very personal studio with all of us. What a treat!

And, everyone out there, stay creative my friends! If you’d like to share a photos of your space, we’d love to see. Send them to kate@beadshop.com.

Happy beading!

~Kate