Be Flexible

flex·i·ble \ˈflek-sə-bəl\ adj.
1 : capable of being flexed : pliant
2 : yielding to influence : tractable
3 : characterized by a ready capability to adapt to new, different, or changing requirement

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Are you flexible? {And I am not talking about touching your toes!}

I find that my creativity is greatest when I am willing to be flexible and not rigid. When I am loose and able to bend, seeing materials in a different way than they were meant to be used, that is when my greatest ideas are born.

When I was a teacher, I was always told that I was 'unflappable' that nothing ruffled me {good trait to have when you teach English to 7th graders!}. I think that this could have stemmed from my naivete as much from my willingness to be flexible to whatever was happening around me. If we went 'off book', that was okay. It was a teachable moment and that adaptability served me well.

Last summer at the Bead & Button I met Sara Hardin at the SoftFlex booth. She was showcasing the new Trios that Soft Flex came out with last year. These tri-colored wires are really fun and vibrant. Last year they started a yearly contest called "Flex Your Creativity" inviting designers to submit a jewelry piece using the Soft Flex Trios. The catch? You had to SHOW the wire. Now usually jewelry designers tend to see the wire as a very utilitarian component. You string the beads on and it gets hidden. But with the Soft Flex Trios the wire can be the star.
But I am flexible, right? So I thought, "what the hey!" I entered the contest with my piece entitled "The Key to Kandinsky (is Color)." I created this necklace to enter in the June 2009 Art Bead Scene challenge {I am all about killing those two birds with that one stone}. The inspiration painting was Kandinsky's Farbstudie Quadrate (Color Study of Squares) shown above. While walking around at Bead & Button I found this cool circle component and flower link from Jangles and matched the Trio to it. The rest, as they say, is history.
I am also thrilled that this piece will end up in an ad for Soft Flex that should be hitting the newsstands in magazines this summer. Watch for it.
Once I got selected as a finalist in the contest it was open to a vote. And I was honored to take 6th place. The first three places won gift certificates - first prize is $500! - but the rest of the contestants won a Trio of their choice. I selected Egg Hunt for the green color in particular. I plan to make that the center of my theme for this years' contest.

The "Flex Your Creativity" contest for this year has a theme of Steampunk. That is all the rage, so it should be fun to see what gets submitted. There is plenty of time to enter the challenge, deadline is September 1st.

But more than the free spools of wire, I am pleased to share with you that I am the featured Designer of the Month at the Soft Flex website! Pictures of some of my favorite pieces and a little more about me can be found there. I hope you will go over and check it out. And maybe be inspired to enter this years' contest, too.

What is your favorite color? Is there a color that you have a particular challenge creating with?
Are you as flexible as you would like to be? Are there times when you could challenge yourself to be more flexible in your life?
In the Soft Flex Designer Highlight, I mentioned the "life is too short" to do what?
Do you agree with me? ;-)
Do tell!

Enjoy the day!

Check It Out::Soft Flex Girl