...and it was FUN!

Battle of the Beadsmith 2015 is underway! And I have done something completely different this year.  Below are my efforts in 2012, 2013, and 2014... Ghosts of Battles Past.

But this year... I made something unusual.  Meet my Urban Safari Coat!

When I started beading, I consciously tried to keep my beadwork out of my costume design studio.  Because, I beading is fun for me, and I didn't want it to distract me from my work.

And then I thought, "Why?" I have some self discipline.  So I began experimenting.  Maybe some other day, I'll show you the progression of garments that followed.  But for now...

This coat was fun, even under the pressure of a time deadline for the Battle of the Beadsmith. Maybe a little exhausting on the tails of Bead Dreams... And while it is not perfect, I don't think the flaws are in the beadwork. It's a challenge to get dense bead embroidery on fabric to lie perfectly flat and not pucker the material around it.  But I feel like I got that part right.  I didn't put much effort into the garment design and layout, and could have done more.   But even so, the project was fun, and soothing in the hypnotic, meditative way of bead embroidery!

I asked Jana Rose if I could hire her to help me with my photography, and she said yes.  I got to hold her huge camera and open the shutter.  And even THAT was FUN! Although my arms knew for sure, after a couple hours, that the camera was really big.  So... BIG fun!  :)

It was fun in the shade of city buildings... and fun in the setting sun at the park.

AND it was sneaky fun by a mud puddle!

 You have seen it on the hunt in a city street, and on a walk in the park.  I hope to have an opportunity to share all the things I think this coat can be with you... a cocktail party accessory, an evening jacket over a formal gown, a bathing suit coverup on the beach, a blazer worn with a briefcase on an office executive with panache, maybe an Asian look (it has a kimono quality, I think), and maybe even as a robe or bed jacket.  

Tantalizing fun for me!  I plan to do more for sure.  

Briar Rose

I am proud to present my 2015 Bead Dreams entry, "Briar Rose" and happy to edit my post to announce that it placed first in Ms. Maddie's Fabulous Florals.  This category honors Merle Berelowitz, and is generously sponsored by her family and CJS Sales, specialists in vintage jewelry supplies in NYC.

I did not know Merle Berelowitz, but I believe I share a love of all things floral with her.  I hope her family finds the amazing collection of works presented in her memorial category pleasing.

My entry was the result of several ideas. First, I planted a new succulent ground cover in my garden last summer and the sweet, prickly little thing was happy enough in its new spot to bloom. The flower had a flat brown face, and five pointy golden petals that curled away.  I loved it!

The basic shape of my rose components, and the idea of thorns came from this adorable plant.  I started with three 35mm cathedral jewels, which appealed because of the Pantone color of the year for 2015, Marsala.

Then I fiddled with various petals.

And finally created some I liked, and tested colors and application.

Then, I played with leaves, thinking spike-y, and rose-like.

Which were created from long oval Swarovski jewels and diagonal peyote.

Once I had leaves and flowers, I wanted to further pursue the bas relief branch technique I created last year for "Ka-Bloom", which involved couching satin cord to bead backing and beading over it.

But this time, I wanted to make thorny vines.  I sketched, trying to create a sort of dangerous looking growth of rose vines, that might have served as protection for "Briar Rose" herself, (aka Sleeping Beauty) as she lay sleeping in her castle, awaiting her true loves kiss.

I carefully plotted leaf and thorn placement, and then, began beading away... 

But I struggled with color, and made THREE versions before I could decide which I preferred.  Jeez. For what this is worth, I don't find using color challenging.  I have a pretty good idea of what I want.  It's getting the combination of beads, thread and backing that will produce that result that is hard!

 Reject #1

Reject #2

Until finally... I found a combination I liked!

Pretty happy with my little clasp too.

Surprisingly, it seems I took no picture of the backside, always a point of pride for me.

But I quietly begin to wonder.  Why do I work so hard at this?  Particularly when what I make seems somehow not to belong to me, but instead to those who would show it, if they choose?  Or to those who would see it, but only when they are ready, and on their terms.  Some little thing in my heart is broken, and I hope I can mend it.  I think my competition days might be drawing to a close.

I wrote the above paragraph on a difficult day.  I leave it here because I imagine I will need to be reminded of how I felt on some other day, when I am doubting myself and others.  I participate in competitive beading because I find it pushes me to reach for MORE in every way.  It's not easy.  And it can be emotionally draining, but it can also be a very good thing, and I hope that I can remember to keep that GOOD at the top of my heart and mind going forward.

Thank you Kinga for the photo!

Marching (Ambling?)Toward my Dream

I have arrived at the point in my Bead Dreams process where the meditation is nearly over and the magic must begin.  I generally create parts, and then engineer a whole.  The parts assembly is meditative and pleasant.  I can do some of it (once I have finished with making samples and know what to make) while relaxing on the couch.

But this moment between the methodical assembly and the aesthetic decisions and engineering is sometimes daunting.  It is the part where time to think and evaluate is most beneficial.

I'd like to show you, but I just can't.

For me, if I have a conflict with someone else, I am most successful if I work it out with them and them alone.  Anytime I try to tell another person my troubles, a kind of dishonesty begins.  And I find that not only do I needlessly burden a friend, I also cripple my floundering relationship.  For me, this is the perfect analogy.

Making a big piece is like resolving a conflict.  And in order to be honest with it, I have to work it out with the components, and my own heart and hands.

So yet another image free post.  but I look forward to being able to share!

Are you at work on a Dream?

Zoya Gutina's Fashion Colorworks Contest Dazzles!

Time to come clean.  I have considered entering Zoya Gutina's Fashion Colorworks Contest in the past and it has always looked like a substantial challenge!  This year, I was asked to serve as a judge, and I have nothing but praise for all those plucky beaders who took the challenge.

Contestants are given three groups of the year's top ten colors, as described by Pantone.  Using those color groups, participants may create work in three categories, Seed Bead Jewelry, Finished Jewelry, and Seed Bead Objects.  You can check out the rules and the three color groups here.

Judges are asked to rank entries on five different criteria:  We are given photos of each entry, (an overall shot, and closeups, no models, props, or names allowed) and judge each one with a numeric score between 1 and 10 for each of the criteria, which are:

     1) Use of color.
     2) Composition, originality
     3) Use of techniques
     4) Use of materials
     5) Overall Impression

This is a similar system to what I use myself when judging beadwork, and I find the results very fair.  It does not require comparing apples to oranges, or one style to another, just looking really closely at design elements, and ranking their use.  We rank twice, once to determine finalists, and again for each finalist entry to select winners.  The public is also given an opportunity to rank the finalists, which I think engages observers beautifully in the process.  Another wonderful thing about this contest is that there are MANY winners, both chosen by the judges and public ranking, and by various sponsors, and the prizes for this event are wonderful!

I had some favorites, among the finalists, and was pleased when Zoya asked for commentary.  My thoughts were presented in her fabulous monthly newsletter, along with those of the other judges, and I would like to share them here as well.  There are links to each piece, and if you have not seen these beauties, I hope you will take the time to look at my personal favorites, and enjoy them as much as I did!

I appreciate the words below are small and pale, and you can more easily see them in Zoya's monthly newsletter, (just scroll down below the list of winners) but I will put them here too, just because I really want to honor these brave beaders and their wonderful results in the 2014 Fashion Colorworks Contest!

Beaded Jewelry

In the Beaded Jewelry category, my favorite in the Radiant Orchid colorway was a lovely floral freeform wreath necklace, with a vast array of flower and leaf shapes. The Summer Necklace components were organized like a beautiful bouquet, keeping each hue cleanly visible, in harmonious relationships, and accented perfectly with spare use of the Sand hue. Many petals showed ombre color shifts, creating depth, and inviting the eye into the flowers.

Mirror Danu Necklace, in the Placid Blue group, showed fantastically delicate details, especially in the re-embroidered yoke. The Freesia made a perfect accent in the beaded beads and connections to the maze-like focal piece. Subtle value use throughout the work provided highlights and shadows to make the piece feel organic and alive. It is rich, luscious, and a little mysterious.

Lullaby Necklace was my favorite in the section, and a beautiful interpretation of the mood of the Dazzling Blue colorway. All the shapes in this piece were soothing and comforting, relating gently to each other. I felt wrapped in the lines, like the sweet face cab. Perfectly placed star accents twinkled, and gently gradating pearls lead my eye to the delicate fringe, long enough to have a soothing pendulum sway with a wearer's movement. The work had sympathetic negative spaces, beautifully placed component connections, and technical perfection as well, thanks to clean, flat edges and neat, concise embroidery. I wanted to climb in to this piece, listen to the song, and be rocked to sleep.

Finished Jewelry

In the Finished Jewelry category I was blown away by the soutache work in Aurora Necklace. Symmetry is difficult to accomplish, and the shapes, both positive and negative, in this work are astonishingly precise. Not only are the shapes perfect, they are beautiful, and the subtle texture stitched in Sand between the Orchid layers gives a laced-together look I loved. The added dimension of the top layer with its elegant pearly accents and round shapes is a terrific foil for the points in the under layer, and the clasp ties the layers neatly together. Extraordinary work.

The Song of Siren Set featured loads of texture in the weaving, with great color blending that avoided muddiness with careful placement that added depth to the structures. The repetition of shapes with subtle differences was beautifully done, and the addition of the fringy bits and larger beads at both ends of the work holds the different pieces together, and creates a lovely whole.

I have to honor another work in the Placid Blue colorway in this category as well.Careless Fisherman Ankh-Morpork Set has expertly selected details and great story-telling. The metal trinkets in the embroidery and throughout the work are used with great sensitivity to scale and proportion, and I liked the use of the chain as yoke and drape, adding to the picture without over powering the delicate embroidery. I think in a parure, each piece should stand on its own and combine effortlessly, and I especially like the bracelet/earrings combination.

Beaded Objects and Accessories

Flight of Fancy Handbag is a great example of color control in the face of lush texture; in my opinion, a challenge of the highest degree. I loved the divisions of hue, the related components used differently in each color context, and the rich dimensional beadwoven components. I also loved the variety of different materials, stitches, and skills presented.

The Yellow Submarine Set was a delight! The whimsy of the beaded rivets and cabochon portholes, in conjunction with the realistic ocean detritus and undersea life imagery was well-balanced, and the disparate elements sang together perfectly. The ocean bit looked like cake decoration, and the artist used a varied and rich selection of tips for her bead "pastry bag", creating textures that made me laugh out loud. The inclusion of a key chain in the set was inspired!

The delicate work in the Twilight Flowers Set had for me the quality of a colorized black and white film. The color in the flowers and doily-like cabochon edges sprang visually ahead of the steely grays, demanding attention. It would be a feminine and elegant addition to a little black (or Paloma!) dress.

Why Do We Do This Thing?

Dear heaven, another post, with only words, and no pictures.  I may climb the walls, or tear my thinning hair from my head entirely, from wanting to SHARE PICTURES!

Someone asked, a few weeks ago on Facebook, how people who created pieces for Bead Dreams did it.  Was it component driven?  And now, that question arises again, as hundreds of artists worldwide prepare work for "Battle of the Beadsmith".

I thought the question was a very good one, and I said so.  I have been thinking about it ever since.  For me, design IS a component driven process in some respects.  I usually start my work by creating components and then I arrange and assemble them.  But I don't think the right question is "how", when it comes to taking on a leviathan project for competition.  I think it is "why?" 

Probably every artist has their own answer, but I think it is my WHY that gets me through to the end of the process, and provides whatever success I achieve.  And usually my why is three-pronged. 

FIRST, something moves me. Something takes my breath away, or makes my knees weak, or actually brings tears to my eyes!  And I want to express, or maybe re-create, that amazing thing in beads.  It is this inspiration that makes all my decisions for me.  What colors to use, what shapes I need, what textures, which beads, which stitches; everything comes back to the inspiration.  I think beautiful jewelry can be made by arranging components, but I need more.  I need a purpose, and a goal.  My target changes and develops as I go, but it is essential that I have one, and that it be one with emotional meaning to me.

And SECOND, and even more important, I want to see if I can do it, or to figure out how to do it.  There is a quote attributed to Picasso, although I understand that Vincent Van Gogh wrote this sentiment in a letter to a friend when Picasso would have been 4 years old.  I think it is maybe a truism of all creative endeavor.  

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."  

Usually, what I imagine as my end result is something I have not done or seen before, so there is no path to follow.  There is not even a guarantee that I can find a means to my end.  And sometimes, the backing up, reconfiguration, and the eureka of "that is what I should have done!", stops the process entirely. It's hard to do on a schedule, and to a deadline.  And once you figure out how to make it happen, some motivational thing deflates.  A knitter friend of mine says, once she has figured out how to make what she imagined, it gets harder to keep going.  I agree.  After all that exploration and excitement of "how will I do this" is resolved, the rest is just work.

So I need the THIRD part of the why; a desire and a means to share the work.  I love to share the inspiration, and the process, and the final product. It is why I write this blog. And LORDY, LORDY... that desire-to-share thing that gets me through the end of the creative process makes waiting to share REALLY hard for me.  I go completely insane waiting to share my Bead Dreams and Battle of the Beadsmith work.  Does anyone else feel that way????? 

How do you create your competition work?  And why?   

To Make a Masterpiece

     When Steven Weiss of Beadsmith contacted me about participating in a invitational beading tournament, I was proud to be included and agreed.  Being a guy, (I think this is adorable!) he set it up just like the College Basketball Championships.  It's a single elimination event, where originally 64 beaders from around the world (and now 80) meet in random pairings.  The two works of each pair are then judged against each other, by the 78 other participating beaders, as well as a select, invited judging panel, which includes two Minnesota beading legends, Diane Fitzgerald and Jean Campbell.  Winning entries in each pairing advance to a new random pairing, until a champion is finally left standing alone.  But along the way, much quality beadwork is viewed, appreciated, admired, discussed, and serves as inspiration to all.  There will also be a public vote oppotunity, so I hope you'll all help us with that!

I am trying to consider it a festival, more than a championship, because if I thought too much about the competition, I expect I would be left a quivering mass of nerves, unable to hold a needle.  Many of my own personal beady heros are among the invitees.  I invite you to join our merry band and watch the fun on Facebook here.  A full list of competors by country, and the rules are available here.  AND, you can see the first round matchups here.  My own first round pairing is with the amazing Eva Dobos of Hungary. You can check out her wonderful work in her Etsy Shop, or on her blog. She does lushly textural work and uses color beautifully.  She also effectively combines many sizes and shapes of beads in her work. 

I have very limited beading time.  I work full time making costumes for competitive ballroom dancers by day, an activity that combines dressmaking and beading, but done with glue instead of thread.

     And this is my busiest of seasons, given the largest competition in Minneapolis is always the first weekend after the 4th of July.  Battle of the Beadsmith entries are due on July 10th.  YIKES.  So although I am a very serious follower of rules, and waited until last night to begin the actual beading, I gave a great deal of thought to what I might do and why, and ordered parts I thought I would need in preparation for threading my needle and making a start.


     Early on, Steven mentioned the word "masterpiece" in conjunction with his expectations of our work.  I quietly thought, "impossible."  I think of a masterpiece as something that is widely regarded as the high point of a career, and I don't think you can create such a thing on demand.  So I called on Merriam Webster to help me understand how to proceed.  Here's what they said:

1: a work done with extraordinary skill; especially: a supreme intellectual or artistic achievement

2: a piece of work presented to a medieval guild as evidence of qualification for the rank of master

                                                                                                                                         

                                    

     I felt a little better.  I do have some skills, although extraordinary is a BIG word I didn't linger on.  Apparently, this would not be a good time to try new stitches, or something I don't have a good handle on, skill-wise.  Supreme achievement.  I don't know about that, but managing to stay on schedule and finish this work (and all my day job work) on time will be a definite Supreme Achievement.  So, check.

     I love the second definition.  Something that has always bothered my a bit in the beady world is, there are no teaching qualifications.  Everything else I have taught requires a specific education and a test to prove you know what you are doing, before you tell someone else how to do it.  So maybe, assuming my piece works out to be something I am proud of, it's like evidence of qualification.  I've been contemplating writing tutorials, and have begun to receive requests along those lines.  So... maybe this will be a push in that direction, although I don't expect it to transform me into any version of a beading "master."

     But, WHAT TO MAKE???   A rather big deal has been made of many countries represented in this festival.  There are more beaders from the USA than anywhere else, but I think I am the only one from Minnesota.  So, my plan is to represent my state with my work.  I had to think a bit about what my own strengths are, and what form my work usually takes.  I concluded my strength is primarily landscape and botanical art.  So, Minnesota is a gloriously beautiful place, and the beauty of my surroundings should be an appropriate theme for me.
 

     Plus, I thought the piece should be seasonally appropriate.  And here in Minneapolis, when this Beadsmith Battle gets underway on the 10th of July, we have our own festival, called Aquatennial.  It's a celebration of  summer in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, and I love this year's skipper pin.  Looks like a color scheme to me!

     So I have ordered some supplies that look like water, and the braid on an Admiral's uniform.

     I am surrounded by inspiration, and I have begun my process of representing the beauty of my home, in all it's summery glory. 

Best of luck to all participants!  I cannot wait to see what everyone creates!