March 5th, 2026, Issue # 117

Ordinary Week? Not a Chance!

Four Women, One Studio & the tales that happened.

Howdie!

Happy Thursday!

What a week!

Three afternoons. Four creative souls. Pure, glorious chaos. My friend Sheila, her daughter Denise, and her daughter-in-love Rose turned my happy playground into a whirlwind of creations, laughter, discovery and the best kind of noise.

Together we sculpted precious metal clay jewelry, fused shimmering dichroic glass pendants, shaped clay spoon rests and bowls, and crafted pop-up cards.

When I wasn’t answering questions or guiding hands, I stole moments to work on a fused glass suncatcher for our niece. Her birthday days ahead.

Once the girls left, the suncatcher remained under construction. I was wrapping wire around a piece of fused glass when —

CRACK! A sharp, explosive snap so loud that Dan, out in the field, was left wondering what our neighbors were up to.

Airborne for a split second, I hovered before crashing to the studio floor. The wooden chair beneath me had collapsed. One moment wrapping wire around glass. The next, flat on the studio floor.

More on all those adventures in next week’s newsletter.

Creativity doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. 🦋 The Butterfly Experiments Continues: a story of discovery.

Between projects, I chased ideas floating in my head: butterflies so light they looked ready to lift off and fly off from the dress worn by my soon to be born butterfly fairy.

A Pinterest rabbit hole introduced me to gorgeous cloth butterflies. Beautiful — but I was chasing that elusive, weightless look.

The Great Coating Experiment

I coated sheer, translucent, whisper-thin curtain fabric with three products to see which could tame fraying, unruly edges:

Mod Podge- Workable, but not exceptional.

WeldBond-Sharp edges. Clean cuts. Fine details revealed beautifully.

Stiffy -Dried blotchy. Cuts were rough. Needed heavy scissor help.

WeldBond outperformed both by far.

Adding Color & Light

Wondering whether color would make a difference, I painted all four butterflies with LuminArte Metallic Mica pigments.

The WeldBond sample came closest to the look I was chasing.

But “closest” was not the magic I was seeking.

I reached into an old experiment: a box containing tissue paper dyed with crepe party streamers. *

According to textile and color research, transparent layering increases perceived depth and luminosity — the same principle painters use with glazing.*

After brushing a coat of WeldBond onto the tissue paper, I allowed it to dry.

The result?

Light. Translucent. Shimmering.

The metallic-printed tissue paper caught light like dragonfly wings.

The WeldBond had strengthened the tissue paper without stealing delicacy.

The die cut sliced cleanly. Strong — yet feather-fragile.

Closer than ever!

Why This Matters

Creativity thrives on iteration. Studies on creative problem-solving show experimentation — especially failed attempts — increases innovation and originality. **

Failure isn’t friction. It’s fuel.

A broken chair.

A blotchy butterfly.

That’s how ordinary becomes extraordinary.

Ready to turn YOUR ordinary into extraordinary? That’s the playground you’re invited to step into. Because in this studio, we play hard. We fall. We test gravity.

And sometimes…We discover how to make butterflies that look like they can almost fly...

By for now,

Nora

PS. Know a fellow maker who'd love this information? Be kind ! Forward this newsletter — creativity loves company.

*If you’ve never tried it, it’s beautifully unpredictable. One creates layers using tissue paper with strips of streamers in between each sheet of paper. Misting each layer with water as one goes along. When the paper dries out completely, separate the paper from the party streamers. You will be amazed to see how the colors bled. Blossomed. Married.

**See the color layering techniques of masters like Johannes Vermeer.



*** Research summarized by American Psychological Association.