Category Archives: Saturday with the Spark

Creative pursuits and life-related happenings.

Expanding the World Inside Your Book

August 27, 2011 Robin 1 Comment

As I’ve progressed further and further in writing my first novel, I’ve found myself thinking about the world my characters live in rather than just about the characters themselves. After all, a book with great characters is one thing, but if they live on blank pages rather than a colorful fictional world with its own backgrounds and settings, the characters feel a little flat. We as authors have to provide information about our book’s “world” so that its characters’ actions make sense.

The following parts of a fictional world, in my experience, need to be fleshed out:

Geography/Topography

What does your book’s world look like? Where are the mountains, beaches, deserts/plains, forests, oceans, volcanoes, and so on? This information impacts the characters’ ability to travel and adds to the mythos of the world you’re creating.

Political Divisions of Land

How is the land divided up, politically? Are there separate countries, states, provinces, regions, etc.? Determine where these boundaries fall in your fictional landscape, and what that means for your characters.

Weather Patterns and Seasons

If your book’s world has different seasons than our Earth’s, you have to note that in your book, otherwise readers will be very confused! Also, any weather patterns that impact your characters’ travel plans and daily lives should be described.

Governments, Social Classes, and Social Structures

Is your book’s world largely governed by representatives, a monarchy, or some other structure? What about the social classes–is there just “rich” and “poor”, or are there subtler divisions, like “upper middle class,” “lower middle class,” etc.

Also, think about how people’s jobs might divide the population into classes, such as those dedicated to a particular deity, those who work in service industries, etc.

Races, Ethnicities, and Genders

How diverse is the population of your book’s world? Is it largely the same as our world, or are there more or fewer races/ethnicities? Are there just two genders, or are there more? (Hey, in fantasy worlds, you never know!). These decisions will impact your characters either indirectly or directly, depending on your book’s events.

Society Type

Is your fictional world based in an agricultural or technological society? In other words, are they mostly farmers or mostly not-farmers? This will determine what all types of conveniences your characters have available to them, such as running water, toilet facilities, and electricity, among other things.

Technology

What kind of technology is available to your characters? You’ll have to determine that too, and note that for your readers so that they know what parameters your characters are working within. It’d be weird, for instance, to be reading a book that’s supposedly about an alternate reality of ancient Greece, and then come across a Facebook reference in there somewhere.

Religion(s)

What religion(s) are present? Are there even multiple religions? What is the deity or pantheon of deities like? What are the rituals associated with each religion? Outlining your world’s basic belief systems will be very helpful in determining how your characters will interact with each other on a spiritual basis; it may not be necessary for all plotlines, but a subplot or two may require it, so it’s good to have it fleshed out beforehand.

Where to Contain All This Information?

Keep a written record somewhere of this world-building information–for instance, I have several digital files on my computer with these details, kept separate from my novel but backed up in the same places. But you might find it easier to build your fictional world using a journal, notepad, or even a visual inspiration board to help you remember what places look like, etc. Whatever helps you access this information and reference it most easily!

Summary

Certainly, building a fictional world is difficult and requires a lot of questions to be answered. But if you want to make your book a fully-enriched experience, this background work will help readers appreciate your plot and characters.

(And even if your book is largely set in our world, it still helps to directly express the truth of the world as you experience it–other readers will be approaching your book with a different take on the world and will need to know how you see it to understand your book!)

Saturday with the Spark

Papercrafting Post #2: Ornare

August 20, 2011 Robin 2 Comments

Though the word “ornare” may look exotic and strange, it’s actually the word for piercing paper to “draw” cool patterns and designs.

I never knew this crafting art existed until I was researching my first papercrafting post and happened across supplies for “ornare” among the listings at various papercraft websites. “What in the world is ornare?” I wondered. Then I clicked and found out!

Ornare the Professional (More Expensive) Way

You can buy actual ornare kits, complete with special foam board, all kinds of pretty paper, and special needles to poke the holes with. Along with Creative Papercrafts’ page, I discovered a couple of other interesting sites where you can pick up ornare supplies, like pattern templates, piercing pads (to protect the surface underneath your pierced paper as well as to give you a cleaner punch), needle tools, etc. They appear listed below:

Kamya.com Ornare Templates
EcstasyCrafts’ Ornare Section
TerryficTimes.com Ornare Introduction
PaperWishes.com Ornare Template

Ornare the Cheap Way

However, while looking at all of this, a thought kept popping to mind: “Why couldn’t I just do this with regular printer paper of any color, a few pieces of foam core or flat styrofoam, and a regular sewing needle?”

So, here’s what I brainstormed (and my theory is backed up by this post over at Gem’s Cottage):

Find an outline of a picture you like (nothing too detailed or you’ll go crazy trying to copy it).
Lightly draw your chosen pattern on your printer paper with pencil. Make sure the outline can erase neatly!
Lay your paper pattern on top of some foam core or flat styrofoam. Likely you will need to affix it using either some sort of clip, or even a piece of easily-removable tape or pins.
With your needle, begin to punch holes at small regular intervals along the lines of your pattern–almost like Connect the Dots in reverse!
Once you’re finished piercing the pattern out, erase all the light pencil marks.
Now, you can leave the paper as is, cut out your pattern and layer a contrasting color of paper underneath it, or whatever your crafting heart desires!

With these kinds of instructions, ornare is an approachable and easy art form for making delicate and beautiful paper art!

To Learn More

The Search Press Book of Traditional Papercrafts offers even more insight on how to start doing crafts featuring ornare. Try it and let your imagination pierce through the paper!

Saturday with the Spark

Play-Doh: An Exercise in Mooshy Creativity

August 13, 2011 Robin 1 Comment

For most of us, Play-Doh is a product probably best left in our childhoods, due to the messes we made (remember that mixture of blue and orange Play-Doh that would never get un-mixed, or the bright green blotch in the beige carpet?). Not to mention the unintentional hair extensions we might have made with purple Play-Doh (I was 3 1/2 and thought it was pretty…the adults around me weren’t quite so enthusiastic, as I recall). 😀

But I loved playing with the stuff, because it was just so delightfully MOOSHY in my hands (“mooshy” being a word our family came up with to describe the unique texture of Play-Doh and other similar products). I loved squeezing the slightly-cool mass through my fingers, the smell of it lingering long after the little yellow tubs were put away for the day. And most of all, I liked making strange little shapes, even if they were just really long, skinny snakes that particular day.

I’m sure you have your own childhood memories, positive or not, which involve Play-Doh or another type of soft molding clay. Trouble is, they’re just memories. As adults, we don’t often let ourselves have the time to just mess with something fun. Fun has to be educational or possibly work-related, fun has to be multi-tasking or going towards an eventual goal, because we’re adults and we’re too old to play.

…Or are we?

I would venture to say that if given the chance, we should all play a little more. Not just play with a computer or a video game controller, but really play with our hands, interacting directly with our environment. In fact, there’s a few things Play-Doh can teach us about living in and reacting to our world, lessons we might need to relearn.

Things Play-Doh Can Teach Us

#1: You Can Make ANYTHING With Your Imagination

We tell our children this all the time, but do we really believe it?

With Play-Doh or something else that is infinitely moldable (even Legos), we can form anything that we wish to. Even though my Lego-building expertise sort of stopped with building skinny skyscraper-looking “buildings,” I still had fun doing it, because that’s what I imagined. Even though I couldn’t sculpt a David or a Venus de Milo out of Play-Doh, I still had fun making fake hair and funny face shapes.

But as adults, we tend to lock ourselves into a traditional mode of doing things. We might do something the same way every time because it’s easier–it involves no thinking, perhaps, or it’s just comfortable. We might also do something the same way every time because we were taught that way, and we aren’t sure how to innovate.

Play-Doh teaches that you don’t have to do anything any particular way, because it begins as just a nearly-formless mass. Feeling and instinct, therefore, guides us, where intellect and reason would only keep us away from possible new ways of doing things. We can look at that little blue or red ball and just start squeezing and mooshing at it rather than planning every step.

#2: If It Ain’t Right, Moosh It Up and Try Again

Ever seen a kid playing with Play-Doh? They might spend a lot of time sculpting something, only to look at it, shake their heads, and merrily mash it all into a vaguely potato-shaped mass again. When the Play-Doh doesn’t match what they were thinking of, they think nothing of just mooshing it all back together, and more importantly, trying again.

Here again, as adults, we forget that lesson. We get so attached to our creations, knowing the effort and knowledge that it took to make it, that we can’t fathom just erasing it all and starting again, even when we’ve reached an impasse. But when what we have created doesn’t match our vision and is not successful, we must either tweak what we’ve got, or mentally moosh it all up and start again.

Play-Doh represents the flexibility of our brains to visualize, tweak, re-vision, and if necessary, totally reshape. If we can let go of our pride long enough to moosh up our failed ideas and mix them all up again, maybe with some fresh thinking added to the mix, we just might come up with the solution.

#3: There Are Endless Ways to Tweak

Once we have an idea we like, we tend to be obstinate about changing things. Somebody else thinks your work project ought to be done this way? “Not on my watch; I worked hard on this design and I don’t think it needs to be changed.” Young children often think in similar ways–“it’s MY Play-Doh and it’s MY shape, and you don’t touch it!” We are very protective of our ideas and don’t usually like to hear criticism or suggestions of change.

But Play-Doh teaches us that there are endless ways to pinch, curl, flatten, and roll your ideas without changing the basic essence of what you have created. That smiley face made of purple and green Play-Doh is great, but what if it had a blue nose instead of a pink one? And what if its nose wasn’t a long, skinny shape, but a squat flat one? No matter what the nose looks like, you’ve still got a smiley face, haven’t you? When we are open to tweaking (open to compromise), we allow others to be part of the creative process, and in so doing, experience a bonding that usually doesn’t escape the kindergarten classroom.

#4: Just Because It’s Dried Up Doesn’t Mean It’s Trash

We’ve all had it happen–one of the little yellow canisters gets left open overnight, and we’re greeted with the sight of crumbly, dry Play-Doh the next morning. Usually, such sad lumps get tossed in the trash, because there’s no way to revive it, right?

As adults, we can feel the same way about our old, tired ideas. We’ve run them around so much in our minds that we’re sick of them; we’ve tried to make them work so many times that we’ve lost count. The idea feels dry, crumbled, lifeless in our mental hands. Sometimes, we end up just throwing them away, tossing them aside as failed projects that will never, ever work.

But even Play-Doh can be brought back from the brink of crumbling death. I remember one morning, when I was about six or seven, trying to figure out how to get my beloved blue Play-Doh to be springy and full of life again–I’d left it open two nights before and it resembled blue scrambled eggs that morning, falling apart in my hands.

I tried working at it and working at it with no success, and finally I went to the sink and washed my hands because they were coated in little bitty blue crumbs. I didn’t dry my hands very well (I was too impatient for that), so I returned to work on the Play-Doh with slightly damp hands. Imagine my surprise when the dried pieces began to feel just a bit softer, and began to stick together again!

Inspired, I went to the sink and got a few more drops of water directly on the Play-Doh, and then a few more, until it felt just a bit slick in my hands. I ended up kneading it and kneading it, and I worked that dried-up old mess into a moldable ball of blue beauty in about 30 minutes. (I’m still not sure what exactly happened, but I think the combination of the water and the oils from my hands and the hand soap helped rehydrate it.)

Believe it or not, we can do the same with our ideas. We may not be able to “just add water” and get everything working again, but we can add new inspiration, new research, or even other people’s input to help us try to revive our old, dried-up concepts. Sometimes, it just takes someone else’s eyes on the page to help; sometimes, it just takes being away from the idea for several days (or weeks) for us to regain some perspective.

Summary

We might not be kids anymore, but sometimes we ought to allow our brains to play instead of chaining them to desks and computers. We might be surprised at what we can come up with when we aren’t hindered by tradition, pride, tiredness, and lack of compromise.

Saturday with the Spark

Soul Notes

August 6, 2011 Robin 1 Comment

Since I was a child, I’ve often “heard” musical pitches whenever I meet someone. It’s not a actual sound, but a tone resounding between my ears–a strange “mental hearing.”

This probably sounds pretty wacky to people who don’t experience this. I mean, how can somebody “hear” something that’s just in their heads? But for me, these pitches are not just random occurrences; they are clues to that person’s personality, and perhaps even their soul. I call them “soul notes.”

Detecting Soul Notes

My perfect pitch likely helps a lot in this, but it seems to be an automatic, possibly instinctive process to pick up on someone else’s soul note.

For instance, when I met my boyfriend for the first time, I heard, clearly and distinctly within my head, a high B, as if played controlled and soft on a stringed and bowed instrument. This matches his quiet mien, his way of carrying himself, but it also matches how he approaches life–with utmost self-control and logic. The key of B is gentle and subtle, but definitively “there.”

By contrast, when I hang out with one of our mutual friends, a very boisterous (and funny) person, the brassy trumpet-like sound of an F is in my ears, at a barely-conscious level, the whole time. F is a key of celebration to me, a key of joy–but also a key of solidity and strength. While our friend may be a little loud and wild at times, he is also a steadfast buddy and a family man at heart.

As for my own soul note? Well, it’s been quite a bit harder to hear than others’, but I believe my soul note to be C-sharp (aka D-flat). It is a very deep, “original”-sounding tone, almost foundational, and it can both fade into the background as well as sound itself loud.

Soul Notes as Predictors of How I Get Along With Others

It’s funny how the harmony or dissonance of these perceived notes seems to predict how another person and I will get along together. My boyfriend’s soul note and mine are a major-second interval apart (B and C-sharp)–they could strike against each other in disharmony, and yet when played together, they form a shimmering duet of each not overpowering the other.

Our boisterous mutual friend, on the other hand, reacts with my boyfriend differently than me. B and F pull against each other a bit more, creating the framework of a B-diminished chord; C-sharp and F are a major-third interval apart, more harmonic. It’s weird; I sometimes understand our mutual buddy better, understanding possibly why he gets mad or frustrated, while my boyfriend can be puzzled by his reactions to situations.

Usually, other people’s soul notes interact with mine on first meeting, and then get stronger as I continue to be around them. A person I met a few months ago had an indisputable A-flat (G-sharp) soul note, which sounded harmoniously but hollowly with my C-sharp. Being a fifth apart, it had the potential to either be a major chord or a minor chord, to either have a happy sound or a sad sound. This interaction mirrored how we got along–we were usually in accord, but there always was a little tension, as if we were both waiting for the other person to disagree.

How I Use These Notes

Initially, I use these notes as another clue to the person, doing my best to harmonize with them not only verbally, but subconsciously. As I get to know people, however, I’ve also been able to write and perform piano music that “represents” people in my life, writing how I “hear” their note (and eventually a melody) in my mind. (Most famously, I wrote a representative song for my boyfriend, about a month and a half before he became my boyfriend… 😉 )

I write and play these songs because they are great ways to honor friends and family. It’s not always a love song, but simply a “This is what you sound like to me” song.

Summary

Most people are either amused or weirded out when I tell them of this ability, because it is so unusual–I’ve never heard of anybody being able to do this, or of others even being aware of musical tones in their heads. It’s not like I’m hearing voices or anything, but it is a very cool phenomenon. I like to think of it as just one of the ways God is making my life unique and fun. 🙂

Saturday with the Spark

Papercrafting Post #1: Greeting Cards

July 30, 2011 Robin 5 Comments

When we think of paper, we usually just think of writing something on it, or perhaps cutting shapes out of it. Maybe back in our childhood heydays of Elmer’s Glue and pipe cleaners, we did something more with paper, but as adults, we likely don’t give much thought to the material. It merely carries messages for us most of the time.

But there’s a whole section of crafting that just involves paper. It’s not just kid stuff, either–papercrafts can turn out some of the most astounding creations, and you’ll never believe it’s just made of paper. Today, I’ll cover one of the more accessible forms of papercraft–greeting cards.

Why Make Greeting Cards?

In these tough economic times, who wants to pay tons of money for greeting cards and gift tags that will more than likely just be thrown out with the gift wrap? Not to mention that it’s difficult to find just the right message amid the sea of overly obnoxious or generic cards.

So, instead of trying to buy the right card, we can make some ourselves–that way, they can be treasured items!

Robin’s Homemade Greeting Card Solution

You will need:

1 sheet of card stock, color of your choice (available in large packs at most office supply stores)
(optional) Construction paper or printer paper in different colors
Markers, colored pencils, or crayons (whatever you have handy that has a color other than blue or black)
Regular ink pen and/or pencil
Scissors
Calligraphy markers and/or access to a printer
Glue stick or double-sided tape

4 Styles of Greeting Cards

Basically, a greeting card needs 3 things: originality, a fitting picture on the front, and a meaningful message inside. I personally like to draw simple, almost clipart-style images and write pretty poetry on the front of my card and then extend the poetry into the inside message, because I write better poetry than I draw.

You, on the other hand, may love to draw but hate to write, or you may feel that neither your drawing skills nor your writing skills can match up to the people at Hallmark. Don’t fret: there are solutions for every level of artist.

Folding/Sizing The Card Stock

Fold the card stock either in half width-wise to form a larger card, or fold twice into quarters to make a smaller, thicker-feeling card.
Alternatively, you can cut the card stock down to a specific size you want.

If You’re Creating Everything From Scratch

Sketch the appropriate picture for the occasion, either on a separate sheet of paper or directly onto the front of the card. If you’re sketching on the card itself, use light pencil lines first so you can place your picture appropriately (you don’t want to end up with something lovely but off-center!)
Once you’re satisfied with the drawing, go over its lines with an ink pen or marker (whichever thickness of line you prefer)
Then, color it in using your favorite medium, or leave it colorless as desired.
Write out your message on a scrap sheet of paper, checking wording and spelling.
Letter your finished message directly onto the card, or print it in a cool font, cut it out, and attach with glue stick or double-sided tape.
If your art was on a separate sheet of paper, cut it out and attach it to the front of the card.
Sign the card inside, and you’re done!

If You’re Drawing but Not Writing

Follow the first three steps of the “do-it-yourself” instructions above.
Search the Internet for a meaningful poem or quote that would mean a lot to the person you’re giving the card to. Great resources for poetry and quotes: Bartleby.com, BrainyQuote.com.
Letter your finished message directly onto the card, or print it in a cool font, cut it out, and attach with glue stick or double-sided tape.
Sign the card inside, and you’re done!

If You’re Writing but Not Drawing

Search the Internet for fitting (and free-usage) clipart, images, or photographs; alternatively, you can use your own photographs.
Print your image(s) out on regular paper or glossy photo paper, cut them out, and attach to the front of the card using double-sided tape (glue stick won’t hold photo paper as strong).
Write out your message on a scrap sheet of paper, checking wording and spelling.
Letter your finished message directly onto the card, or print it in a cool font, cut it out, and attach with glue stick or double-sided tape.
Sign the card inside, and you’re done!

Super-Quick-Style Greeting Card

Search for a free-usage image or two on the internet, and a poem or quote that works well with the person and occasion, and print both of them out.
Cut out the image and message, and attach to the card using glue stick or double-sided tape.
Sign the card, and you’re finished in record time!

Optional Steps for Extra Care

If you want to, use the scissors to trim out a pretty border on the card (gentle curving waves look pretty, as do pinking-shear-style edges). You could trim out just the front three edges of the card, or all six edges (front and back cover).
You can layer a different color of printer or construction paper in the interior or exterior of the card, cut to either the exact same width and height of the card stock, or cut to leave a border of the card stock color around the edges. Attach with a few swipes of a glue stick or double-sided tape.

Saturday with the Spark

Becoming Creative

July 23, 2011 Robin 1 Comment

Because I’m naturally so creative, I often forget that for some, creativity is not the instinctual, natural process that it is for me. When I talk to others who don’t do a lot of creative stuff, they’re sometimes puzzled or amazed by how much time I devote to these activities, or how I come up with the ideas for poems, music, jewelry, web layouts, etc.

This disconnect got me thinking. Might there be a way to become creative? Is there a way to tap into creativity you never knew was there? I find it hard to believe that there are people who do not have any creativity whatsoever–when I taught in a city middle school, I was actually able to help some students find creative expression that they never knew they had, and they were energized by that.

Working off my teaching experience as well as my social experience, I think there are ways to tug out your creativity. The following two exercises might just tease out a few creative fibers in your spirit!

Exercise #1: The “Meh” Object

Have you got an object in your house that you’re kind of “meh” about? It’s okay, but it’s not exactly your style, not exactly your favorite color, etc. You may not even be sure why you don’t like it a whole lot, but it’s just kind of…there, and it doesn’t do much for you.

If you could change this object, how would you change it to make it fit your personality/style better?

For Instance…

In my freshman dorm room, I had the standard orangey-brown desk, dresser, wardrobe, and bed, and while the furniture was really basic, I had done pretty well with most of it. I had decorated my desk with some personal pictures, had dressed the bed with my favorite blue bedclothes, and had even hung cute little decorations on the front of the wardrobe, but the dresser was just…BLAH. It had to hold my TV and DVD player on the top, leaving no room for anything else that was purely decorative.

Finally, I found myself thinking one day, “If I could just put something on it that was navy blue, it would match everything else, at least.” Then my eyes drifted over to my desk chair, where I had a navy chenille throw with delicate fringe draped across the back of the chair. The throw always bunched into uncomfortable shapes against my back, and usually ended up in the floor anyway.

Inspiration struck, and struck hard. In a few minutes, I cleaned off and dusted the top of the dresser, and settled the narrow throw longways across the top of the dresser, letting the fringed edges dangle gracefully to either side. The previously-plain dresser was transformed, and I still had room for the TV and DVD player!

What Does This Have to Do With Creativity?

Creative people see the world around them and see how they could make it better. For example, they might dress up a plain, clear bud vase with a decorative bow affixed to the front of it; they might throw a bright, solid-colored tablecloth across a beat-up card table to make it fit for company. They might even take a bunch of wooden candlesticks of different heights and group them together, tying them together to create a fun, multileveled centerpiece for a table.

And it doesn’t have to be just decorating things, either. You can make your personal world better through arranging your desktop icons in fun shapes, fixing up your profile picture with some color or text, or rewriting your profile information to portray your sense of humor. Anything you see in your world that you wish was better, try something new to fix it up and make it better!

Exercise #2: The Room

Look around your personal space, and answer the following questions (mentally, ’cause this ain’t a test):

How would you describe it?
What is most special to you in this room?
Where do you spend the most time in your room?
What colors/lighting/fabrics are used?
How do you feel when you’re in your personal space?
What does this space mean to you?

Make a quick list of your answers to these questions. Now, how would you describe all of what your personal space is and what it means to someone who’s never been in your room? Would you use words, pictures, sound, gestures, etc.?

For Instance…

shaded dappled light filters
through old lacy curtains;
too lazy to try climbing down the wall,
it instead splays itself across the ceiling,
echoing my sprawl across the bed,
luxuriating in the fan breeze,
the cool crisp sheets under my body,
and the rare quiet of this afternoon room

This short poem I wrote describes my room as I experience it–quite simply, a haven. Each description in the poem (such as the lazy light, low breeze, crisp sheets, and rare quiet) creates an image of rest and ease, and oozes the enjoyment I have in just kicking back and relaxing in my room.

What Does This Have to Do With Creativity?

Creative people describe their world through their creations. Writing, art, music, drama–all those arts describe, celebrate, or seek to change the world they experience. My poem both describes and celebrates my room; if I was instead unhappy with my room, I would write about how all the junk on the floor and in the closet really depresses me every time I look at it. (Well, it kinda does, but that’s beside the point at the moment. LOL) I would then write about how I want to change it.

Many artists of all types make art about the things they see in the world that they want to change, or they make art celebrating the world they came from, viewing it with pride and encouraging others to take pride in it as well. Beginning with your room or your world, you can choose your favorite medium for art, and then use that art to talk about your experience. That’s definitely part of creative expression!

Summary

Being creative, and becoming creative, doesn’t just mean making a bunch of decorative “junk” or spending your days with your head in the clouds. Seeing your world for what it is–or what it could be–and describing it to others through all sorts of mediums is creative, too!

Saturday with the Spark

My 5 Tenets of Beaded Jewelry Design

July 16, 2011 Robin 1 Comment

I consider myself still an amateur beader in many ways, but I like the process of coming up with new designs for the simple, delicate necklaces I favor. I might not be able to weave thousands of tiny beads together into a wearable maze of color, but I can at least string some pearly and sparkly beads on a wire! 😀

I’ve noticed, though, that I tend to use a certain set of rules when it comes to creating beaded patterns, though–and those rules sparked the idea for this post! Read on to discover how I design my pieces!

Tenet #1: Use smaller beads at the ends of the piece and larger beads in the middle of the piece.

This technique, called “size graduation,” is one of my favorites, especially for necklace design. You start out with small beads at either end of the necklace, and then use larger and larger beads till you get to the center of the piece. This draws the eye to the center of the piece, and also helps the wearer know where the necklace is supposed to be centered!

Tenet #2: Make patterns of interlocking symmetry.

I usually do lots of small patterns to make up my necklaces and bracelets. For instance, on either end of the necklace, there’s usually a couple of little symmetrical patterns; then, closer to the center of the necklace, there is a larger symmetrical pattern that surrounds the centerpiece (usually one to three large beads). All together, this necklace pattern looks like a wearable palindrome, both sides mirroring each other.

Pattern: tiny pink pearl–clear seed bead–tiny white pearl–clear seed bead–tiny pink pearl. This would be great at the ends of a necklace.

Pattern: clear seed bead–tiny pink pearl–small white pearl–tiny pink pearl–small tan/gold pearl–tiny pink pearl–small white pearl–tiny pink pearl–clear seed bead. This longer pattern would be great for building up toward the center of a necklace.

Working with small units of patterns like these seems to create a much better-looking product than some of the non-symmetrical designs I’ve attempted over the years. Somehow, I never finish the non-symmetrical designs–I don’t even get around to stringing them. The symmetrical ones, however, always end up finished. 🙂

Tenet #3: Use colors that play well with each other.

In most of my pieces, I sprinkle in a good bit of neutral and metallic colors, like white, clear, gold, tan, black, silver, or gray–and then I use one or two stronger colors that stand out. Old favorite combos like pink and gold or blue and silver also work well for me. Sometimes I’ll use all beads of the same color but in various finishes to achieve a neat effect (sparkly purple, for instance, looks very different from pearlescent purple).

I do occasionally like to weave in a few distinctive beads, but that’s usually saved for the centerpiece of a necklace, using patterns of more “ordinary” neutral beads around it to visually support it.

Tenet #4: Different light textures are welcome.

What I mean by “light textures” is how the light bounces off each bead (as mentioned briefly above). Sparkly beads sharply reflect light, while pearlescent beads softly glow, and metallic beads shimmer. By putting the three different textures together, you get a neat effect on the eye–the eye constantly moves around the necklace, taking in the different sparkles, shimmers, and glows.

My favorite necklace, by far, is one that I made using light teal sparkly beads (Pacific opals) and white pearls, with clear and silver seed beads as accents. It always gets delighted comments when I wear it, and I think it’s because of the different light textures (plus the pretty color combination).

Tenet #5: Don’t go too big.

I like to use smaller beads because it lends a delicate, fairy-like look to my jewelry designs. In small sizes, any sparkly beads are pretty rather than flashy, keeping the overall effect clean and modest. It also doesn’t draw attention away from the outfit as a whole, but enhances and plays up the good parts of the ensemble. (Given that I’m pretty clumsy, I don’t like to wear any jewelry that I could potentially get tangled up in or injure myself on, so that’s probably another reason I go for short, simple jewelry. :D)

Summary

Small, balanced designs with colors and textures that play harmoniously with each other represent the five rules I go by when making beaded jewelry. But what do you think? What are your favorite ways to design? Tell me in the comments!

Saturday with the Spark

Glassics: Saturday with the Spark

July 9, 2011 Robin 1 Comment

This is a complete topic review of all the posts in the category Saturday with the Spark. Looks like I need to do more drawing/art-related posts, as well as general creativity and crafting posts! But don’t worry, I’ll get to it all. 🙂

Music/Songwriting

Sight-Reading Fail
Seeing and Feeling Music
Perfect Pitch
Melodies from Dreams
Joining My Voice with Others
There’s a Reason the Piano is Called a Percussion Instrument
Phases of Songcraft
Confront the Giant in Song
Studying the Songcraft of Others

Poetry/Writing

Novel Therapy
Poems: Kernels of Art
Writing as a Pressure Valve
A Twist in the Web: Complex Subplots in Simple Storylines
Awake in the Middle of the Night? Write!
The Enemy of Creativity: Self-Censorship
Coming Up with “Novel” Ideas
Journals in Verse: My Personal Poetry
The Impromptu Writers’ Club
Connotation: The Search for the Right Synonym

Drawing/Art

Happy Little (Sketched) Tree
Little Doodles of Life

Crafts

Getting All Beaded Up

General Creativity

A Fickle Playmate: My Muse

Saturday with the Spark

Sight-Reading: An Acquired Taste

July 2, 2011 Robin 2 Comments

I may be able to pick up melodies quickly and compose my own piano/vocal music, but I sure don’t sight-read well. Even after many years of musical study, I still sometimes have to squint at the page and use the old sight-reading tricks, like “Every Good Boy Does Fine”, “F-A-C-E”, “All Cows Eat Grass”, etc., to remember which notes are which. And sight-reading a piano piece, trying to play both staffs together? Forget it. It’ll be a hot mess, especially if I’ve never heard the song before. Having to produce music based on something visual is definitely not natural for me.

But sight-reading doesn’t have to be a stumbling block forever, as I’ve found out! Scroll down to discover a few tricks I’ve picked up to help me play along a little faster (pun intended).

#1: Look at Sheet Music for Songs You Know Really Well

Don’t dismiss this as pointless before you try it! Since you already instinctively know how the melody “goes” and what the rhythm does, it’s much easier to read a known song’s sheet music. Sites like OnlinePianist and MusicNotes have sheet music for even very current popular music–find a song you know, and start putting the notes and rhythms in your head with the marks on the page.

#2: Memorize At Least One Note’s Position

If you can learn to at least recognize one note (like E, noted above), then you can build off that. Knowing that the first note on the bottom of the staff is E means that the next note, the one in the first space, is F; then the note on the second line is G, and so on. Use that one note as the key to the rest of the scale!

#3: Practice Notating The Chorus of Your Favorite Song

This works as both ear training and sight-reading training. First, sketch out a quick grand staff (you can use the one in the image above as a guideline), then listen to your favorite song, and mess around on an instrument of your choice until you find the starting note of the chorus. Mark the line or space where it belongs, and then move on to the next note and the next until you’ve noted the whole melody.

Once you have the pitches marked out, then you can go back and add in the correct rhythm value for the notes, such as quarter note, eighth note, etc. Here’s my example for a favorite song of mine:

I did this in Photoshop, which has no rests or ties available, but at least the basic melody is there for the chorus of “Somebody’s Watching Me.” See video below for comparison:

Summary

Sight-reading can be a huge pain, but these 3 tips have helped me inject a little fun into practicing this skill. Try any or all of them out for yourself, and let me know what has helped you the most!

Saturday with the Spark

Piano Playing: Easy to Start, Hard to Master

June 25, 2011 Robin 1 Comment

Pianos can express such a wonderful range of emotions. Even before I started taking piano lessons at the age of 10, I had already heard for myself how a master pianist can make the simplest melody or chord progression absolutely gorgeous, just with the way he or she strikes the key–and I bemoaned my own inability to match this effortless grace in my early days of training. A pianist can glide across notes of joy, bang out a song of anger, sound soft sorrowful tones, strike quick, fearful notes, and even create the warm resonation of love–but it takes the knowledge of how intensely to strike the keys so that they give the right effect.

This makes the piano one of the most difficult instruments to master, in my opinion–and this comes from somebody who can’t wrap her head around the guitar or violin! It takes a real “feel” of the music to make the piano express an emotion.

Bad Playing vs. Good Playing: It’s All a Matter of Feeling

The above video is an auditory example of “bad playing” (mechanical, passionless, choppy somehow too strict on timing) as contrasted with “good playing” (flowing, passionate, human, slightly improvised timing). While it is important to stay in tempo, especially when playing in concert with others, there’s a decided lack of feeling when you try to adhere so close to the tempo that you become almost robotic.

This video, one of my favorite video game music arrangements for piano, shows how passionate playing can still be in tempo but express emotion. Slight rubatos here and there, harder strikes on the keys sharply contrasted with softer, gliding strokes, and the ability to let the melody ring out above the chords is what grabs me about this video–but what do you think?

If You’re Just Starting Piano: Some Tips

Don’t be disheartened when you begin learning piano–you’re not going to sound like a master overnight.
Listen to many different experienced pianists play, determine what you like and don’t like about their playing style, and then develop your own taste from that. Just like all other forms of music, everyone’s got their own style!
Find sheet music for songs you absolutely love–that will make the “feeling music” part much, much easier to learn!
Practice your pieces so that you know the rhythms and pitches inside out…then, allow yourself to slow down and speed up the tempo, just a bit.
Listen to the melody of a song as it’s played. Which notes are louder? Which notes are barely there? Would you play it the same way, or would you stress different notes?

Summary

Piano can seem easy to learn at first and then startlingly difficult–but it can be mastered! Just be willing to feel the music rather than just play it, and you’re halfway there!