On Bead Porn and Inspiration

Looking at beads on the Internet is my porn. I could waste away the hours just soaking in all the colors and shapes and sparkle. I get inspiration for my own bead making from lots of things like nature, fabric, paintings, bold graphics and other non-bead-related-art just to name a few. But the most fun way to get inspired is to look at beads made by other artists. I don't want to "look" to closely at the beads, because after all, I'm not out to copy them....I just want to be inspired by them. This is where my failing eyesight has it's advantages. What I do is browse the eBay listings for lampwork beads and I just scroll down the pages looking at all the little thumbnail pictures all in a row. I can see the beads just well enough to get a whisper of the color combinations, a hint of the shapes and a brief feel for the design. I do this without ever clicking on the auction for a larger view. After a few pages of browsing this way I can head off to my torch with all kinds of ideas swirling in my head, and at the same time, not really remember what any one bead actually looked like. It's like a fast inspiration drive by. You should try it sometime!