Tutorials and Contests and Chaos. Oh my!

The last few months have been, I must say, surprisingly productive. I've somehow managed to add even more designs to my stash of soon-to-be-released tutorials (numbering something like 25 unreleased lessons at the moment). This little bundle of goodness is available here.

Hello, my name is Nicole, and I have a problem. I'm addicted to writing tutorials.

Far worse things to be addicted to I say. Thankfully beads and cabochons are not among them or I'd be in real trouble.

And, that productivity has also paved the way to the next long-awaited "Finish It!" Tutorial Design Contest, which was originally slated for last September but, you know... life and all that jazz. However, where there is a will, there is wire! And the contest is now live!

I've also been highly addicted to a new design aesthetic I call "chaos" wraps. I know the word is not entirely original. It's been used to describe all sorts of varieties of wire wrapping beauties in the community. For me, however, I settled on the name for this reason:

In physics, chaos is defined as "behavior so unpredictable as to appear random, owing to great sensitivity to small changes in conditions".

And I found some irony in the use of physics terminology to describe artistic expression, which is normally far too abstract to define so... definitively.

But the idea of "sensitivity to small changes" and the random nature of movement and flow certainly inspired me to release myself from the idea of expectation and allow the wire to exist on its own terms.

In another strange pairing of words, there is zen in chaos. There is calm. There is an undeniable dedication to expression. Which is a pretty cool experience in which to take part.

So, I've revisited my love for beads while creating a little chaos. Beads. Now there's a subject I can talk about in depth. Maybe I will.

Stay tuned!

And happy weaving!
Nicole