Thank you Etsy Beadweavers Team!

My wonderful Etsy Beadweavers Team tried out a new voting system this month for our "Lord of the Rings" challenge.  In addition to the Popular Favorite entry, chosen by viewers of our blog, we also hosted an in-house private team vote.  I was extrememly honored to have my entry "Ash & Ember - The Balrog"  chosen as the first Team Favorite.  I wanted to offer a public thank you to my team members for choosing my work to represent our team for this month. 



I also want to offer my congratulations to all of the very worthy runners up.  I was particularly fond of the the second place winner, Amanda of ChrysanthememVeil, whose Nightingale Necklace also won the Popular Favorite vote on our blog. I am a big fan of labrodorite, and I was immediately drawn to the cleanliness and intricacy of her design.  I thought the limited color scheme allowed the elegant textural beauty to shine, and I also really enjoyed her description and elven inspiration. 

Nightingale Necklace by Amanda of ChrysanthemumVeil

I also loved the third place EDORAS Pectoral Necklace by my friend Rosita of CrownRoseGems. I think beautiful and manly sit together magnificently in her work, and I also really appreciate the multi-media use of the woven copper with the beadweaving. And the color pallette, while masculine, is also very sophisticated. Her inspiraton was from archways on the LoTR film set and a visit to her listing to see how that looks is strongly advised. Everything comes together in this piece so perfectly!

EDORAS Pectoral Necklace by Rosita of CrownRoseGems

The winner of the Team Vote is granted the opportunity to choose the next team theme, and mine will be presented in July.  It will be "Sizzling Sunshine - Soothing Water."  We will start our projects by finding an image that combines water and sunshine. We might look through books, magazines, postcards, travel brochures, or through the lens of our own camera. Then, inspired by some aspect of our image (colors, shapes, whatever we find most appealing) we will create a beadwoven work that represents the dichotomy that is the best summer has to offer. Our listing will include the image we have chosen, and an explanation of how it inspired our work. I hope to find time to participate.

I found an image I loved, via google images, and cited the blog Google credited with the image.  BUT it is now a "forbidden image," so I must have done something I should not have.  Best check into that right away.   I know copyright regulation is stringent for photography.  For example, a competitor of my other business, Made for Movement, also has a photography subsidiary.  They go by the same name as the dressmaker, Dore'.  They are using an image of a gown I made to advertise their photography services.  They do not have to credit my design, and the implication is that the gown is a Dore' gown.  Sigh.  So before I get my team in trouble, I best do a little checking here about the use of images!



I hope if you are a team member you'll find this inspiring, and if you are a fan, that you will enjoy the work we present for your pleasure on the 9th of July on our Etsy Beadveavers Team blog.

One for My Son Zak

When I announced the May theme for the Etsy Beadweavers May 2011 Challenge at the dinner table, my boys were thrilled. Both my husband Carl, (The Best Man Ever) and my son Zak (Most Excellent Teenager) are big Lord of the Rings fans, and Zak knew just what the inspiration for my challenge piece should be. He wanted to see what I would create, based on a character called a Balrog. I am so proud of my son, who will graduate from High School this spring, that I decided to do my best to honor him with this piece.

As I worked, I frequently asked Zak for description. I know that the artist who chose this challenge felt that only the book should serve as inspiration, and Zak has read them all.  I also purposefully didn't seek out images until I was finished. Here's what I found today, with thanks to Google Images.

According to Zak, a Balrog is a tall creature of shadow and fire. It is epic and ancient, like a titan. Its presence is felt as much as seen, and it is an embodiment of evil. Zak mentioned shadowy wings and a fiery whip, and horns that curved down, all of which I see here, and very much as I envisioned them from his description. He also mentioned a sword. He said in anger, the creature flames. A flaming necklace!

I wanted the necklace to be tall, but not solid, as I wanted to try to create the insubstantial shadowy aspect. I used large Swarovski jewels, in Cathedral, Magma, Crystal Copper and Ultra Orange to represent the flames and matte black cylinder and seed beads to bezel the jewels, encasing my "embers" in ash and charcoal. Those matte black Czech Firepolish beads actually felt like coal in my fingers! I tried to imagine wings unfurled as I joined the bezeled jewels.

I wanted lines that drooped, as I imagined the horns did, and created those with the draped sections of coal black Czech firepolish beads. I tried to create the flame-like whip imagery with graded bicone tassles in flame colors.

Photographing black beadwork is REALLY a challenge.  Realistically, I am not a very skilled photographer, so I find all photography challenging, but this is over the top for me. I believe I read somewhere that the bead magazines will not accept black work due to the difficulty of photographing it. So I am certainly struggling!  I did finally find an angle that would let me see into the jewels without a ridiculous amount of reflected shine. 

Now, a few words about my splendid son. Zak is a National Merit Scholarship Finalist. He has earned a full ride scholarship to the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences, and a place in the Honors program as well. He is also an AP scholar. Can you see why I am so proud? This one is for you, Zak!

OH!  I almost forgot to mention, once again, all the the Swarovski jewel components in this necklace came form my friend Doris Coghill.  She's got a WONDERFUL selection of interesting and unusual things, at reasonable prices.  Visit her rivolis and jewels at : http://www.beadsbydee.com/Catalog/Swarovski-Rivoli.html