Flaying. I think that is the word that describes my approach to bead work in recent weeks. I knew I wanted to have my beads take me somewhere but had no idea where that was. Makes picking projects very dicey.

Then yesterday, after picking up the unsold "Ghost Mouse Returns to the Great Pumpkin" from Art in the Redwood - which should have greatly depressed me - I stopped at Carla Fagan's for a Studio Discovery Tour visit. It was such a joy to see her work and scope out where she gets her beads and what she has that I do not. It was interesting. . . I really stopped to see her double strand necklaces because I have had nudges to go in that direction. Amazingly she only had one ($1,735.) because she had sold the other one. All the rest of her over 30 necklaces were single stands. Lovely yes, but I was looking for more. . . excitement? inspiration?

On the way home I realized what I was looking for what I had been doing in these two necklaces! I get to combine my delight in bead weaving with the bands around the neck (and have smooth 'no clasp' parts under the hair and bead stringing in the front that is asymmetrical. So I had to see the work of someone whom I admire only to find my way back to my own work.

One thing I did learn from Carla was how to store and display my 'better' necklaces. She had each one in a glass covered black jewelry tray. Yes! I thought and then wondered how much those would cost. To my delight I found out they are called Riker cases and can be gotten from Fire Mountain for under $10. each. A new part of my admiring my own work is to give it dust-free, professional protection and display. All in all, a very productive day in spite of the big pumpkin still on my shelf.