Finishing the Things I have Begun - Featuring Cherry Creek Jasper!

August has been a joy so far!  My new bead storage system has allowed me to find what I am looking for quickly and finish projects I have started over the last year.

A Brassy Blast

First, I finished a piece I began last Winter.  I have named it " A Brassy Blast of Autumn."  In February it was more about being colder than a witches... well, you get the idea.  When I put this together initially, it felt too crowded; desperately in need of breathing room. But now at the end of summer, surrounded by bounty and lush abundance, it seems fine as it is. Maybe even perfect. Someone suggested it looked like nuts and seeds, and I love that. Time sometimes heals my aversion to my work.  :)

I culled these cabochons from a big group of Cherry Creek Jasper, pulling just the golden green ones.



I thought it was done, but the tips of the three primary cabochons seemed blunt to me... so...



I contemplated a more substantial component as the drop.  But as soon as I laid it out, it looked like a little pursed-lipped, pouty face with a long beaky nose and slanty eyes.  Can you see that???  ACK! It is so easy to do that by mistake with symmetry.

So, you can guess what I did with that little component?

Earrings!

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

And then there was this other half finished piece... a spiral chenille rope and some cabochons.  I wanted to imply an animal, and had two pieces of stone that looked like a hoof print. But then I found this yummy marsala Cherry Creek Jasper teardrop and rounds, from Rainbow Artifinds, a lapidary couple in St. Paul, whose work I really love.  All kitties really have four toes, and a more oval central paw pad, but these had enough suggestive tiger-ish illusion when put together, to allow me to create "Jungle Boogie."

I like how the broken edge around the bezel kinda blends with the broken edge of the Chenille.

When I started this necklace, I was thinking specifically of a piece of fabric I have. I love animal prints, and will maybe make something for myself with it.  So I tried to think clean, simple, and bold, because the print is very busy!  The piece will need to be displayed on a plain (looks great on black!) ground, so the fabric could be a jacket, or skirt maybe.  Otherwise, the camo will eat the necklace!

  

Someone on Facebook suggested a jacket and LBD, and that sounds pretty good to me! But who knows when that might be.  It's funny, although I still have my Etsy shop, it almost never occurs to me to sell my work these days.  Maybe it should.  

I had fun with these claw/talon beads.  I am not sure of the official name, but I am quite sure they are Czech.  I give everything I make a "test wear day", and I put this on this morning, and when I looked in the mirror, I thought "claws out!" Brings up all the cat fight stuff floating about in my head.  If there were a buyer for this, who would that be?  Makes me smile thinking about it!

I could not resist the claw at the end of the extender chain! 

So, to list, or not to list.  I have some other beady work to list in a week or so, pertinent to another project. I'll contemplate between now and then, I guess.  

In the mean time, it feels good to be both organized and caught up.  Now there is only one thing to work on at my beading bench, but it's a long-term project, and it might wait a little while.  

Purple Painted Turtle - The Flurries Continue

Still thinking about that beaded bead, I wondered if the structure of it could be made into a domed covering for a cabochon.  Something that would mostly hide the cab, but just allow a hint to peek through.

I had some purple oval Lunasoft cabs in two sizes, and those seemed like just the right thing.  So I used purple beads.  Plus I have a new purple, gold, coppery, scribbly tunic, with some flashes of white.  I really like designing for clothing.  And this was supposed to be time to play without thinking too hard about perfecting my designs.  "Just do it" time.

I'll show you the bracelet first.  

The cabs covered in the structural dome reminded me of painted turtles, and this picture shows that the best.

 I am pleased with my rope.  :)

Earrings?  Well, I had the two little cabs left, and part of the Flurry plan was to leave no leftovers.

My two favorite takeaways from this exploration are the little fringe finials, which I would love to use again...

And the loop for the toggle, the shape of which I adore.  I will further explore this idea for sure.

I am pretty happy with the structure of the bracelet too.

But after all that, I felt really guilty that I had not made any of the little beaded beads.

So...    I used the free beaded bead pattern from Crystals and Ice to damp down the guilt. I tried to keep the work sketchy, like my tunic from Art of Cloth.

 It is a really cute little bead.  Here's the tunic of inspiration.

And the accessories.

I worked to finish supplies off, and this was all of the SuperDuos in this color I had.  (Which by the way looks awesome with the tunic, but not so much in my photos.) There were just the two leftover 8mm rounds of Crazy Lace Agate, and I am more likely to wear those than the beaded bead ones.  I forgot that stringing is its own special challenge.  Nice to be reminded.

What did I learn?  Well, when I am not trying to be really proud of the whole, it's easy to crank through a lot of beading.  And in the mix, are some bits I am pleased by, to futher explore.  But nothing that really sings.  Except maybe the one that is not done and needs lots of frogging and some serious design effort.  This is not what I want to do with my time generally, but it was an interesting experiment, with some mine-able results.  

February Flurries

February began with a visit to the Upper Midwest Bead Society meeting on Monday the 1st.  It had been a while since I had been. My fall was insane! Many of the people I know best were in Tuscon.  They were smart, given February in Minnesota!

Anyhow, the topic of the night was a little beaded bead, from a British bead shop, Crystals and Ice. The pattern is free, if you would like to try it out. (Our presenter had their permission to share it with us, in case you are wondering.) I had to hunt to find a picture of the beaded bead, and this is not a good one; ugly knot, mistake, bad lighting, but you get the idea...

I loved the color way I used in my bead, and when I got home I hunted through my stash for things that might allow me to use those colors again.  This little quest became a month long event of trying and testing ideas with out spending much time perfecting anything.  I had some pieces of Jasper that had the soft gold of the 11/0 and the range of greens, grays, and tans in the SuperDuo, plus a hint of the matte gold O beads, so that became my first project.

I had two shield shapes like this one, and two teardrops.  What I liked best about the beaded bead was the O bead hiding the Superduo holes.  So I set out to see how that might be used in rope and other structures.  I thought the beaded beads were a little too thick, and too "jewelry-ish" for my small and earthy jasper.

I ran out of both SuperDuos and O beads fast, and re-designed to use what I had allow the finishing of one necklace.  Thanks to Cath Thomas, it has a name!  Meet, "Bells and Buds".

I especially loved the little brass buds I created for bezel embellishment.  

I started another piece with the two shields and the other teardrop, but ran out of O beads AGAIN, and had to order them, with some delays involved.  I was pretty psyched about it, and nearly tore the first necklace apart for beads!

I will show you what it looks like now, but I am not going to finish it right away.  I want to take it all apart and put a little breathing room in between the components.  I like the components, but they are just too crowded, and ripping didn't fit into my Ferbruary Flurry plan, so here's just a peek.

Lol, this is probably the kiss of death, because in the past, when I have shared things in progress, they have NEVER been finished.  But I do really like this, so hopefully this piece will break the trend.

I had only begun my Flurry of February work with these bits...

Next up, stay tuned for Purple Painted Turtle!