Project Spectrum: Elements

Already in the third year Lolly (Lauren) with her worth visiting blog is putting up Project Spectrum.

This means that 2 months of 2008 are dedicated to certain colors and/or a combination of all three. This year they are combined with one of the four (western) elements.

FEBRUARY / MARCH - FIRE- orange, red, pink

APRIL / MAY - EARTH - green, brown, metallics

JUNE / JULY - AIR - gray, white, yellow

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER - WATER - blue, black, purple

There is no enrolling, no pressure. You can indulge in all kind of material, in all kind of craft and creations. The purpose is getting to know some colors better, working maybe with untypical colors, noticing those colors in one's enviroment more, trying out new arts ..........

You can post whatever you feel right for the topic on your blog, in a flickr groupravelry. and on

What caught me most is the Artist Trading Card Swap that also takes place, each separately for each element. I don't know why I feel so attracted to this now. Not at all have I been inspired by mixed media, by art postcards, by swaps so far.
I would guess it's a mixture of my interests in colors, my everlasting interest in the elements and the ideas and skills I got through the months of BeadJournalProject I have participated. (I signed out, because I couldn't follow my ideas and the topic. I'm more of an allrounder in all kinds.)
So far I have not enrolled in the Swap because I want to be sure to manage and the next weeks will be very busy with all sorts of nice adventures on the weekends. But I sneaked out half an hour here, twenty minutes there and worked on one of these tiny cards. I was so surprised when I actually knew it (6,5 x 8,5 cm). Fine for me, I like to do it on a small scale.
My material I take out of my drawers as the ideas fall out of my head. So far I've used felt, silk, cotton, beads and knitted a bit, .

I wonder where my craft creation craziness I'm more and more experiencing will lead to.

What else do I think of:

• - Buying myself Michael Freemans book on color for photographers.(german, english) Studying the according chapters.
  
  
• - Reading the chapters on red and orange in Victoria Finlay's book on colors that has been with me (unread) for a year now. (german, english)
  
  
• - Checking out and learning about color levels and curves for red etc. in Photoshop.
  
  
• - Going through my digital photos for pictures of sunsets/sunrises. I love both and the sun is the fire in the sky.
  
  
• - I already got color cards for coloring walls and furniture last weekend and put them in my studio. Need to take a picture and post it.
  
  
• - Same goes for the socks I knitted a while ago. I don't wear self-knitted socks and I don't want to post a lot about socks, but I like to knit them and this yarn is special. More later.
  
  
• - Red and orange are not "my" colors, so I won't create anything for myself. In the pink hue I worked a lot in 2007. In lack of new photos I show you some old pictures I've posted already before on my flickr.

As for the fire element itself it is not the very right season. When I think of fire I think of the tiny ones we made out of scrub in front of our tent in the cold desert nights or I think of summer campfires with friends. I'll keep my eyes and other senses open for fire around me in the next weeks. There has been a terrible fire yesterday in Germany that killed and injured many people. Yes, that is the destructive side of fire. So sorry for the people.

I would be more than happy if you drop me a short note, a mail, a comment if you are interested in Project Spectrum Elements or are already taking part in it.
I'm writing my blog as kind of a diary for myself but internet is on the same side all about international communication for me. If you don't want to write in English please feel free to use other languages.

Happy creating!

So many ideas

The last weeks I have been flooded with so many ideas for creating - it has now gotten so much that my sleep gets quite influenced. Not only that I don't sleep enough hours, my mind is rambling.
For sure it has to do with the relaxing christmas vacations after a fall full of problems and is due to the fact that I had more time than usual due to physical causes. I was on sick leave for a week and couldn't do any sport at all for some weeks.
Most of my ideas are still ideas, or are in the planning state or have become works in progress in the different states of completion. Probably most of you, my dear readers, know what I'm talking about.
Many hours I spent at my notebook, dwelling in all your beautiful blogs, marveling at all those pictures on flickr or I go through the staple of books I brought from the library when I knew I was home-bound for some time.

One of the non-private blogs I discovered in January is from the lovely french mag Marie Claire Idees. This magazine is one of my favorite souveniers from France. I don't like all that's in it, same for the blog. Sometimes it's a bit too sweet for my taste. But before blogland it was THE eye-candy for me - and candy is allowed to be sweet. :-)
Having a MCI in my hand meant I'm in vaction, I'm in the French Alps, I'm in the Provence, I'm at the most beautiful ocean and climbing spots or other parts of South France. (Could be there maybe forever.)

Finally here is the picture of a treat to myself blogged. After a doctor appointment in Hamburg I had a quick trip to a bead shop and found the most beautiful beads I can think of in the moment (and are affordable for a quick treat). They are from Svarowski and called crystal pearls. I like their non-obtrusive shine and their subtle hues. Some displayed necklaces inspired me to make myself a flying-pearl-necklace and so I did right after coming home. Good, otherwise this project might have gotten buried with all my so many ideas.
It looks lovely in real and matches most of my clothes perfect. The stones are from the gorgious beach where we spent most of our Analusion vacations.

I planned to write a tutorial for this blog, because it is an appropriate piece if one wants to begin with making jewelry. But later I found super tutorials online already so here are the links:
Perlenpaula shows exactly the way my necklace is done. On this page you find all the basics with very clear pictures. Both are in German but the pictures should be self explaining, I hope. "Quetschperlen" are crimps. If you have a question you are most welcome to mail me.

Besides crafting there is my everlasting wish to improve my little Photoshop and DTP- skills. For this and other reasons I deseperately need a new notebook (my good old one is bursting!!!) but I can't find any that I like. Just in case you have an idea: I want a non-glare display, a pretty case (not this shining black that is in fashion here right now), it must be very quite and has to be for Windows (no, I'm not a MS-fan, but I'm working with Windows in my job and can't separate between job and private a lot of times). I won't use it for games, but has to have a lot of ram for the graphic tasks.


(PS. I have a question-mark in my brain and maybe somebody can take it away: In my eyes the letters in the first paragraph are more apart, so that the words are better to read. All other paragraphs are slightly different. I can't find any difference in the html-code though. ????)

Bird's eye

I finished the central part of the first clues of SpringShawlSurprise named Bird's Eye sometimes last week.

A little delayed I would like to share with you what I always had in my mind during knitting this particular pattern. It brought back happy memories of a relaxed morning on a campground near Keetmanshoop in South Namibia.

These beautiful birds kept me company when we had our last breakfast under trees and when I did my last yoga before departing into the desert for two weeks on our bicycles.

I just love how all my interest seem to connect more and more over time.

Knitting in a knit-along

This is what kept me away from blogging, away from sleeping, from being fit for my fulltime job, from household duties .....

When enrolling in SpringShawlSurprise I imagined myself doing a lot of relaxing knitting (blogged here) , sometimes figuring out harder parts of the pattern. But no, clue 1 was not relaxing and clue 2 let me doubt on my sanity ;-) ) Knitting two rows, finally being happy with myself about not giving up only to discover the next mistake.
Being ready to go on with mistakes, almost being ready to quit - only to go back the next morning, reknitting the last rows and going on.

It was worth it and here is the result at the end of clue 3:

What really kept me going was the community. I love the feeling being connected with friendly people all over the world, knitting, helping each other, struggling, going on again, learning from their mistakes, learning about themselves.

My goal for the first clues in January included being on schedule to enjoy this community without spoiling my surprise when other are posting their pictures. And I know myself, once I'm behind I tend to fall even more behind, maybe to the point where this projects gets crowded into the drawer with all other ufo's (unfinished objects).

At one point of my struggle I was thankful for pictures, that showed how it should come out. To help other I posted more pictures with details. If you go to my flickr account you can, if you want, click on the photo you are interested in. Next you can choose "All Sizes" above the photo.

As you can see in the first picture I played around with my camera to honor the beauty of Lul's pattern.

Blogging is the joy of bringing together my interests in travel, craft, photography and internet skills. So yesterday I practiced taking photos with a narrow depth of field. (That topic would be worth another blog-post, for now I refer you to Lolly's article.)

2***0***0***8

Gelassenheit - Leichtigkeit - Geborgenheit

serenity - lightness - security