Leave more up to chance

I don't like everything planned out. In some areas of my life I have to plan - a lot. So by the time I get to the studio, frankly, these days, I don't feel like ticking off a checklist. 

I've been messing about with this method of working. Its relaxing. It feels a lot like how I played when I was a child - more concerned with the process than the outcome. (I posted about earrings I made this way a couple weeks ago.)

I start with a big marbled sheet of clay in colors that I like, or colors that I'd like to watch combine, and make repeated passes through the mill. 

This is how I start the beads for my Reef bracelets/necklace so I'm not going to end up with waste either way. I roll the sheet through, if the shapes created by chance are interesting, I cut them out using patterns and add additional abstract texture. Scraps are cut into disk beads for the Reef pieces. I doubt this makes me sound like a very good business person...but it is relaxing.

No two pieces end up a like. It is, perhaps, the antithesis of caning. 

My SALE and Mail offer is going on until the end of the month - details here!