Another FAT Swap

Three beaded blessings/prayer pillows....for my fiber art traders group.
The link to the site doesn't appear to be working but this is the definition given on the FAT group.

Definition:

A Beaded Blessing/Prayer Pillow, is a pouch or
envelope made out of material of choice, size
(recommend 1.5 x 1.5 -2 x 2), and color. Each one
contains a written wish, a hope, a dream, or a prayer
inside. The pouch is sewn shut to be honored and
remained closed.

Materials:

Silk, leather, Cotton, Printed Fabric, Weaved Fibers

Embellishments:

Artist's choice and techniques; fabric painting,
dying, art stamping, quilting, photo transfer,
crocheting, the ideas are endless. Found objects,
charms, personal mementos you want to be with your
intention, even polymer clay art pieces.

Birdy Pin Cushion

She makes me smile...inspired by a design by meloearth on flickr.

Another Weekend

Not that weekends mean all that much now except for my saturday job gallery sitting....unless I'm subbing at the gallery, my time is my own and I'm beginning to wonder if I'm making good use of it...
I think I'm going to start setting weekly goals and see how I do. Next month I'll be working a lot as one of the staffers is going on vacation, so I'll get a lot of beading done. And my closest friend is going to visit her sister in california....so I'll have more "free" time. Maybe I can get to the halfway mark in the basho series.
Last weekend I got some done on one of the basho pieces and started a small felt & silk & beaded bird...not sure yet what I'm going to do with him...whether he'll just be one-of-a-kind that I keep or the beginning of something new. I'd like to see if I can't do some tiny pins to sell on both my etsy shop and in a local gallery that carries kinda cute stuff.

Silk Sale

Sadly, our fabulous needlework shop is closing...our local economy is just not robust enough to keep it going. On the plus side, the closing sale allowed me to buy some silk threads that are just gorgeous....I'm guessing my work this winter will lean more in the direction of increased areas of thread embroidery and slightly smaller areas of bead embroidery! I've always been enthralled by color...
I guess the old loves are the best....(photo is of me at 4 yrs...sewing with the "help" of my big cousin Gene!)

Gathering for October

I'm starting to gather stuff for the october page but haven't got any of the seed beads picked yet...

More Faces

Last week wasn't terribly productive...just trying to adjust to summer, such as it was, being over already and fall being colder than usual too for this early in it...
So, I tried to sculpt a few faces and made a bunch more with some of my commercial molds....then I had to paint and repaint them....some will have to be done yet again until I find something I can see beading around.
We have a friend visiting from portland next week....hopefully that will snap me out of this slog...

Beaded Hand Portrait Finished

Front and back took me about 5 hours, so a 6 hour class will allow most students to finish it or at least come close.

Future Classes

I spent the weekend working on some ideas for new classes....one for next month and one for next year (I hope!) at the Puget Sound Bead Festival.
The one for next month is a combination stitch a friend showed me a couple of years ago and I've been playing with it off and on ever since. It's an interesting combination of herringbone and peyote that is very sculptural and makes very different shapes depending on how many beads you start with....my first samples start with 3, 4 or 5 beads and go on from there....now I'm working on seeing what kind of jewelry can be made with them. I use the 4 bead start to make my angel wings earrings and have seen a class on combining two of the 3-start ones, but the 5-start makes the most interesting shapes. I don't do this kind of experimenting too often, so it's quite a stretch for me.
The second photo is the beginning of a tiny hand pin/pendant I hope to teach next year. It's 1/4 size of my actual hand and is based on the beaders dozen I have on my flickr site but it's a self-portrait of my own hand instead of friends' hands. I thought people who have a little bit of experience might be interested in doing their own hand as a self-portrait in beads. So the class will cover design and color ideas as well as beading and finishing techniques. Since it's so small it can be done in a day, although it will be a busy day!
I especially like the Puget Sound Bead Festival because their prices are such that folks without a trust fund can afford them! I looked at some of the class prices at the Bead & Button shows in Milwaukee and was appalled.

September BJP

I think September is done...

Silk Purse

My silk purse is finished for the FAT swap...

Another Bead Bezeled Abalone Disk

I used RAW, peyote and netting with this one...and then added nailheads to the outside edge...but I don't think there's a camera made that can show all the colors that ripple across the surface of this piece.

New Buttons

Got some new buttons from a local shop that carries interesting fabric, trims & buttons...

September BJP

It's started...