New Beaded Beads

Got the new Bead & Button and tried some RAW beaded beads done with firepolished and swarovskis....fun and quick and I'm hooked until I run out of swarovskis!

Basho 14 & 15

I'm working on both of these and hope to get them done by sunday....then I can start the july bjp piece right on the first....or not...LOL!

Beachcombing

Went up to one of our local beaches and picked up some smooth beach rocks....wish you could touch them...they are sooo smooth to the touch...
I'm working on some ideas for using them but also looking for some other shaped ones, so will be doing some more beachcombing tomorrow at some beaches further south...

My Kwan Yin of the Sea

It's looking less and less likely that she'll be leaving home..;)
and the pin/pendant is also done, but it will be at a gallery soon...

Done and Almost Done

The lace agate bracelet is done and I'm working on the two pin/pendants and the basho piece today and next week until they're done.

Lace Agate

I got this stone so long ago, I can't remember what it is, but I'm thinking it's a lace agate or some such....I bezeled it with size 15's and am adding a bracelet in delicas....when it's done the agate will be the top of the clasp as well as the focal point of the bracelet.
This is all I got done after two days beading with a friend...we had to spend lots of time talking and telling jokes and laughing....took a little time away from our beading but I consider it time very well spent! thanks, gail!

Two more almost done....

Tonight I'll finish the pin/pendant in the blue that I started with my earring commission and I think I'll also have the larimar piece done as well.
This afternoon I'm meeting a friend at our local bead shop and we'll play around with some off-loom ideas.....it's always great creative fun when we get together and her color combinations are always delightful surprises!

June BJP Finished

My june bjp piece is done except for the back...when I decide how the pieces will all be displayed, I'll also decide how to back it. Fusing on a small piece of ultrasuede is the direction I'm leaning in, but we'll see how I feel in a couple of months.

She's Coming Along

I haven't done too much today because I don't want to go too fast and put in more than she needs...

Quizzical?

So, does she look faintly quizzical with her head slanted a bit? That's kind of what I'm going for and putting the bone face cab on the straight up & down seems too boring. But, maybe it would be more contemplative?
I think I'll be shifting it around a bit before I tape it down and bead around it!

Larimar

A crystal I'd never heard of, but the color is so fantastic I couldn't pass it up. This was the most I've ever spent on a cabachon and I'm adding some peruvian opal rondells and freshwater pearls to it, so it will probably end up being one of the most expensive necklaces I've ever made. I'm sure inspired by the colors! The bone face is one of my favorites too, so it will be hard to give this one up, I'm sure, but that's the nature of the jewelry biz...

July BJP

I've got the fabric fused onto the peltex for the july piece, but I haven't got any idea yet of what will go on it.
I've still got the june piece out and may add a couple more lines of beads to outline her head a bit more, but that's about it, unless a sudden brainstorm hits!

Rock Show

There's a rock and gem show in town and I'm always a sucker for jaspers and agates...this time I found a gorgeous jasper cab and some very nice beads, a couple strings of tiny pearls and a few agate slices too. I'm considering getting a tumbler so I can buy the rough rock and smooth out the slices and polish them up a bit before beading around them.

Blues

I must be inspired by blue this month. The earrings are done and the next basho piece is also blue and the pin/pendant left over from the earring commission is blue. Not to mention my bjp piece.

Sato Shoji

While waiting to hear on the earrings, I'm going to start the 14th Basho piece this afternoon. I have the fabric chosen and a few images. This particular stop had tons of images, ferries crossing rivers, halo moons, lonely temples and tombs, paper carp, palaces, ruined gates and the Yakushi Buddha, which is the healing Buddha.....I think I'm going with the halo moon, carp and the Buddha, but we'll see how the piece progresses. As you all know (if you do beadwork), the pieces often tell you what they need, if you listen/look.
I chose the carp especially as it represents courage, perseverence and strength in Japan...

Dinosaur

Well, I think I'm now officially in the Old Dinosaur category....I had a short email exchange with Jane Dickerson, who is an associate editor of Step by Step Beads magazine and very politely (I thought) pointed out a really bad use of grammer. Since this was a business (not personal) email, I thought she'd want to know how unprofessional it sounded.
I suppose it will come as no surprise to you (although it did to me), that she did not take my critique well and informed me curtly that they had no further interest in my work (which she had solicited in the earlier email).
I guess that shows me...lol!

One More Choice

These are both still on the blue fabric, but I put a sheet of paper over it and cut out the circles, so she could see more what it would look like after I cut the earrings out.
Given that her dress is a medium periwinkle, she may want the lighter one...that's ok, because I prefer the darker one and may make it a pin, if she doesn't chose it...no waste!
They will also look different when they are edged...

Earrings Two

I've got a wonderful commission for a pair of earrings for a wedding....these will be for the mother of the groom, and she will be wearing a lovely soft periwinkle blue dress....I've come up with two different designs and I like them both...what do you think?
The open areas will have seed beads embroidered , so you won't really see the fabric, but I wanted it to give me the right "feeling" as I am beading it.
The dark outline is a 1.25" circle....that's the outside size, although I may add a small border to it and they will be post earrings, so I'm beading on fabric covered timtex, so they will be stiff enough.

Classes

I taught my second class of the season yesterday and had 4 wonderful students, new to the peyote stitch and they all did fabulously! I'm posting a pic of their bracelets, but it's not as sharp as usual, as I forgot to check the setting on my digicam and they came out a bit blurry....trust me...they're all gorgeous!
From left to right, they are leslie's, gretchen's, linda's and nancy's...winners all!
Next up is a basic herringbone class with size 8 toho triangles...very kewl!
Since these students are all newbies at (most) beadweaving, a 3-hour class is just about perfect. And my back agrees!

Tiny Antiques

I got a master hank of tiny antique size 18's...couldn't resist the color...and they're cuts, so they sparkle like crazy. They also make me crazy to work with, as even with a size 16 needle, I'm culling quite a few. So I will use them sparingly, like in these tiny earrings.
Have a class tomorrow in basic peyote, so I'll mostly just get a few things ready for it today, and work on the earrings.
Friday I have a meeting with a woman who is commissioning a pair of earrings for a wedding...that will be fun too, as she wants bead embroidery and that's becoming my new favorite!
Next week we get to go to Portland for the Rembrandt show at the Portland Art Museum....we're both really excited about that!
I haven't forgotten the BJP or the Basho series...they're just both slowly cooking on the back burner at the moment....

Losing Track of Time

I was looking at my blogger profile this morning and realized that I had done macrame in the mid-seventies, so could actually, honestly claim I've been doing fiber work for over 30 years. But, I was looking through some old family photos and found one of me when I was 4 years old, sewing doll clothes, with my older cousin Gene, who became a newspaper editor, trying to teach me the intricacies of the hemming stitch, no doubt...soooooooo, I've actually been "doing" fiber for 53 years! Wow, that's before polyester, right?

Shinobu Done

The 13th Basho piece is done...I didn't get too many images from this one so I kept it simple and just put in the dyeing rock with ferns that is partially buried in the hill and the rising sun...

Magazines

Terry over at And Sew It Goes just posted about her magazine collection and that got me thinking of what my favorite magazines have been over the years.
When I first started seriously beading in 1991 there was only one magazine that consistently carried the high end seed bead work and that was Ornament (not surprisingly, since it was formerly called the Bead Journal) and the coveted october issue of Lapidary Journal.
Then in february of 1994 we saw the first issue of Bead & Button (and I have it and all the subsequent ones) and in fall of 1996, the first issue of Beadwork by the Interweave press which publishes so many of the wonderful fiber arts magazines. (I have all the Beadwork issues too).
Around 2000 I stopped buying every issue of Ornament as it seemed they had gone heavier into clothing design and away from beads, especially seed beads. I have always assumed that the entry of Bead & Button and Beadwork into the arena pretty much drove them out of the seed bead coverage. I still check them out of the library though and now and then they do cover a seed bead artist and then I pick up that issue.
I've got some American Craft, again especially looking for seed bead artists, and FiberArts, Surface Design, Metalsmith, Piecework, Belle Armoire, Expressions, Somerset Studio, Quliting Arts and Threads.
I've mostly just looked through some of the newer bead mags since so many seem to focus on stringing gemstones and larger glass beads and that's not my major interest....so I have the occasional Bead Style and Step by Step Beads. However, it looks like Step by Step has been taken over (or bought) and the last couple of issues have had some very interesting bead weaving projects and patterns, so I'm keeping my eye on it.
Those are my major influences, especially before the web came along!
Now, along with the mags and books, some of you are becoming part of the bead world I keep my eyes on.
Bead On!

I'm done for today...

Time to go see the third pirates movie with a couple of friends...

Backsides

This is what the backside of both my Basho series and the BJP series looks like before beading. I took some stitch witchery and fused the sides of the fabric to the back of the peltex 70. That way I'm not stitching through the fusing (which is a bit stiff and sticky) except for around the edges a bit.
When all the pieces are done, I'll be backing them with ultrasuede or some other heavy fabric and adding some hooks or something to hang them by....I haven't worked that out yet.

And yahoo for passing my 200th post! I had no idea at the beginning of this blog how often I'd post or whether anyone at all would see it. It's been wonderful discovering the whole big world of bead and fabric bloggers and I've made some delightful and talented friends along the way.

Thank You Blogger!