/* */ Beulah Bee: The First Dream

January 15, 2019

The First Dream

I am so grateful to be in the studio again and to have something to share with you today. Other responsibilities can rob me of the time I'd like to spend creating and then sometimes I just can't muster-up the motivation.

But whatever keeps me away makes the return that much sweeter!

I used this week's prompt at Simon's Monday Challenge Blog--Recycle Something--to create a tag and nothing emphasizes recycling more than collage.

We save our bits of scraps because they might be perfect in a future project and just shuffling through them can be cause for inspiration. The happenstance is perhaps what I like best about working in this medium.


Using layers of thin papers to build this tag, I embellished it with a Japanese Haiku poem that is fitting for my first tag of the new year.

The Japanese attach special significance to the first of many things they do in a new year. Some traditional firsts that are notable are kakizome (first writing), hatsuyume (first dream), hatsumōde (first shrine visit), hakizome (first house cleaning), and hatsuburo (first bath).

the first dream of the year —
I keep it a secret
and smile to myself

–  Sho-u

from The British Museum Haiku, translation by R. H. Blyth

Regarding technique, I have once again reinforced the fact that I am clearly "embossing impaired" especially when it comes to white on collage mediums. I need to figure out what the problem is by spending time experimenting. I just gave up here and used a gelly roll pen as a substitute.

UPDATE (1/19/2019):

I am happy to report that the error of my ways regarding white embossing has been resolved. After some experimenting, I discovered that I must use white powder instead of clear powder (ink color doesn't matter). I always reached for clear powder (using white ink) so I didn't have to worry about stray bits but now I know I can't have it both ways. Lesson learned.