April 29th
When i go to shows i always do demonstrations to educate the masses to the concept of polymer clay jewelry. As soon as i start working, the crowd gathers. They become a captive audience. Well, I love Jesus and when i realized that these people would stand there and watch me work for 30 minutes and not even realize it, i decided that i should take advantage of the opportunity.
Children are especially captivated. I am a teacher and every day i run in to children who have no one to tell them their worth. As people make their way to my showcase I ask them what their favorite color is and proceed to make a Natasha Bead for them to take home and cure for them selves. I share a simple message as i work.
To start i collect their favorite color clay. As i talk with them i work the clay into a twisted wad of clay that seems rather unimportant. When i look in the mirror i see all of the things about me that i wish were different. I am very critical of myself. The problem with that is that there is an artist behind the person that i see in the mirror. No one would look at a piece of jewelry that i have created and deem worthy of sharing and say that it stinks! We have social skills and we also realize that the artist made the piece to satisfy themselves. It had nothing to do with us! Yet, when we look in mirror we have the nerve to criticize the Great Artist. I force the twisted wad into the shape of a brick. God is the artist behind you and he specifically chose every detail on purpose. What we see in the mirror is perfect but the real magic is what he has created inside our hearts! I slice the brick in half and open the two pieces to mirror themselves beautifully. There is a gasp from the crowd and a wonder in the magic of it all and the message is clear. I send the one of a kind bead home with one of the people and ask that it be a reminder of the fact that they are "fearfully and wonderfully made" by the greatest artist!
After the show a woman came up to me and asked me if I did this at every show. I responded in the affirmative. She then said something that humbled me and covered my skin with good flesh... "I wonder how many lives those beads have saved?" Wow! She is right! I never considered that those simple little beads might remind someone in their darkest moment that they are a wonderful creation of God. It is now my prayer that my beads will do just that! I pray that they will be found in dark moments so that they might share Gods light. I will not take them lightly! I will do my best to speak into the hearts of any one who will listen that they are valuable!
March
Do you ever run into a creative road block? What do you do to get around it? I have been struggling with this issues as of late. My heath has gotten in the way and when you don't feel good it is hard to be creative. It is times like these that call for desperate measures. I think that sometimes you just have to force the issue! So...I drug my lethargic body out of bed and sat in my studio....and stared.... and sat.....and stared some more... and then i picked up some pieces of random scrap clay and just started mixing them together. What else could i do? I lacked the energy and the inspiration to do anything of consequence. As i mixed, I began to see that a beautiful accident began to develop. The random colors began mixing to create a beautiful springy green with an edge of earthiness to it! And with the birth of that magical, miraculous color accident came the inspiration I was looking for!
