Summer Fruit Kits Back in Stock, and a Sale on the Tutorial

I am going to take the assembly of these kits as a big win! 

I felt completely overwhelmed when Swarovski shut down sales to mere mortals.  Between that and Covid, I found it hard to pick up a needle or a bead.  BUT...  I got busy with some Christmas beading and my mojo peeked out from behind its rock.  I remembered I had bought oval fancy stones to re-kit this project, and finally with a little nudge, and some help from a friend, it's done!

The tutorial allows for 5 different variations of an extended, winged bezel project.

And to celebrate, I am selling the tutorial at 25% off until next Saturday.  So if this project is of interest, now is the time to grab that tut!  And if you want, the Kits are now is stock too!

And MAYBE, just maybe, there might be a new project in the offing...  Crossing my fingers!

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.  

White Lilac Tutorial - Too Stubborn to Quit and Proud of the Results

OK, this one was a huge challenge!  I am very proud to announce a new tutorial in my Etsy shop.  I have been asked for instructions for making my Lilacs more often than anything else in my repertoire. So, in this, my year of learning to write and illustrate, I decided it was time.  Please help me welcome "White Lilac."

I have not made kits.  There are myriad possible colorways, and my Facebook research informed me that people would prefer to use their own beads and choose their own colors.  So the beads I used in making this model are given, along with brief advice about choosing your own colors and beads.

The tutorial is 48 pages, and includes 122 diagrams, (if you count each step I illustrated separately) and over 10,000 words.  It will take around 25 hours to make this necklace.

You will learn to make the individual flowers that combine to make the blossom.

You will learn to assemble them on a supply unique to this work, and available in my Etsy shop 

for $1, and with the purchase of the tutorial I will refund your shipping to almost anywhere in the world.  You can't make the project without it.  

You will learn to make two sizes of three dimensional heart-shaped lilac leaves.

You will learn to make a supple, fringed Triangle Weave Yoke 

to support the lilac blossom and leaves.

And finally you will learn to make a floating connection between the blossom, leaves and yoke that  allows the finished work to fit any neck, and has the potential to be a choker or V necklace.

You can find the tutorial here, in my, Etsy shop, and I hope you will check it out.  For the first week of this listing, (through April 12th) I am offering a 20% discount on the tutorial, and everything in my shop as well.  Just use the coupon code WHITELILAC at checkout to get your discount.

This has been a tremendous learning experience for me, and the next time I approach a project this substantial, I will be armed with many new skills.  I have contemplated both starting over, and giving up many times.  But I believe the tutorial is descriptive and enabling, and that we must all move forward from where we are, rather than backing up endlessly.  

So I pass the baton (or maybe the branch?) to you.  I hope you will give it a try and let me know how it goes.  It is challenging, and labeled as an advanced project.  Like me, you may need to be too stubborn to quit.  I hope you'll be very proud of your own results!

A Dark and Twisted Salute to Alan Rickman

I gave up.

I am too busy.  I am sick with a nasty cold/ sinus infection/ bronchitis.  And although I thought I had a great idea for Bead Dreams, my first component took forever and I only liked it.  I have to be in love to work that hard.  And the deadline is way, way too early this year for my schedule.

So, I gave up, and let me fingers wander as they chose.

I had a hand stitched Russian embroidered cab that I have always meant to work with.  I used a similar one to create something for my mother years ago, and fingering through my stash, it felt timely.

And then Alan Rickman died.  And the rope Slithered in my fingers.  And the darkness of the cab seemed right.  So it became a little tribute to an actor and character I loved.  Nothing super special, but a good little dialog to have with my beads.

I was kind of addicted to my spiral chenille stitch last fall, so it popped up, this time, worked over a 3mm leather cord, to which I added my own brass end caps. Plus I wanted something snakey with a hint of green.  I don't really like silver, so I just ignored that bit.

And I added a little twist to the bezel, and a few bits of flower, leaf, and bud, because it is very cold and white and barren here, and I miss the growing things.  And flowers are often gifts for the dead.

It would have been very sensible to do "real" bead embroidery here, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that.  I am a weaver first, and when seeking comfort, I revert to form.  The little cab was cardboard backed, so I did add a little leather.

Do you recognize the line?  "After all this time?"  Dumbledore says it to Snape, about his love for Lily Evans.  Snape calls forth his Patronus, a symbol of protection and support.  It is a doe, like Lily's own Patronus. And he replies "Always."  And Alan Rickman delivers that line in what some believe to be an anticlimactic fashion.  But I admired the delivery.  It was a simple statement.  An "of course".  Because that is what love is.  I think the actor understood that.  He married his high school sweetheart, his love of 50 years, before he died.  Because love is not contingent on reciprocity, or what a partner might have to offer, or the circumstances of a relationship.  

It is because of who two people are.  And it is forever.  

The Giving Tree

My son is poised on the edge of leaving home for real. He will graduate from college this Spring, and has a great job waiting for him.  I asked him to clean out his bedroom before he moved to his apartment this fall, so it could be used as a guest room.  I meant, just to get all the stuff off the floor and off the surfaces, but he accomplished a major purge, including the last of his childhood books. He put them in the hallway, for me to give away.  Any locals looking for great junior high/ high school reading for their children?  We have purged books many times in his almost 22 years, so only the most recent are still in residence.

Looking at these books (in addition to making me feel a little sad and nostalgic!) reminded me that the Etsy Beadweavers September Challenge theme is "Your Favorite Children's Book."  There were so MANY! I read to him literally from birth. How could I choose a favorite??

I thought words from a favorite book might provide great inspiration, so I googled quotes from Children's books and happened on this article.  The first quote was from Shel Silverstein's "The Giving Tree".

"I wish that I could give you something... but I have nothing left.  I am an old stump.  I am sorry..."

Goodness!!!  That was just how I felt!  He doesn't need me anymore.  Anything he wants, he can get for himself.  I don't see myself as an old stump... although I can appreciate how some parents might feel entirely drained by their children.  The quote continued...

"I don't need very much now," said the boy, "just a quiet place to sit and rest.  I am very tired."  "Well," said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could.  "well, an old stump is good for sitting and resting.  Come boy, sit down.  Sit down and rest."  And the boy did.  And the tree was happy."

I got a copy of the book from the library, and although apparently it is a very controversial book, I loved it. I am made very happy by my sons simple presence in my life, and I am not an old stump.  I can still make apples!  Or at least, beaded apple necklaces.  I decided it was my perfectly timely, favorite children's book, and walked to an ancient neighborhood apple tree to do some research.

It was still happily bearing fruit, and I loved how the apples were partially hidden by the leaves.  I decided my work should be dense, and that the apples should have the coloring of these, some rosy red, some pale gold, with a few scars and dark bits.  I found some great ones on Etsy, ordered them, and set to work on a yoke, to support my leafy fringe.  When the apples arrived, I wove them into a pretty harvest-time apple tree.

And then I made a pair of earrings, while I was cleaning up.

Most amazingly, the piece sold within hours of my listing it!  So THANK YOU, Etsy Beadweavers for the inspiration and the deadline.  I have reaped much benefit from my many years of membership.  If you are an Etsy seller of beadweaving, you can join at the link.  I liked my necklace so much, I made myself another, with my leftover apples!  Just to remind myself of the joys of my particular child, and how very intact and productive I feel as a person and artist.

For My Friend

This work is a gift for a friend on the occasion of her 70th birthday.  Last year, for my 60th, she honored me with a generous gift certificate to one of my favorite local bead shops.  I wanted to return the favor.

My friend is intelligent, a voracious reader, and loves opera.  She is a mother to feline fur children, currently, a tabby named Holly. She plays bridge, and is a loyal companion.  She owned a cabin in Wisconsin, and that was the part of her that spoke to me, in this design.  Oh, and have I mentioned, she is a private person, and I respect that.  No names.

I wanted to return to my roots, and produce an entirely woven piece for her, and chose this jasper because it feels like a Wintery Wisconsin woods sunset to me.  It is either Cherry (sometimes called Red) Creek Jasper, or maybe Picasso Jasper. I have had it a long time, and do not remember where I bought it.  It has a nice polish, and because of this, I am going to guess, Utah Picasso.  I am fairly sure some of the supporting beads are Cherry Creek from China, judging both by their matte finish, and the not quite perfect drilling that China seems to be famous for.  I chose this stone, both because of its outdoor imagery, and because the beautiful silvery gray in the stone is very close to the color of my friend's hair.

Since as we age, dexterity dimishes, I wanted to make the work easy to wear, and especially, because my friend lives alone, with no one to fasten a lobster claw for her.  I used  hidden magnets to close the back of the necklace.

I created a delicate pair of earrings, as she is a small woman with delicate features.  The bracelet is also closed with a magnetic foldover clasp.

I had to ask her for a wrist measurement, since the oval beads will not lay flat unless the bracelet fits snugly and even though she has said "no gifts" she did oblige me.  I am sure she knows what I am up to, but I hope she will accept my gift in the same way I accepted hers; as an act of love, support, and celebration of life well-lived.  Happy Birthday!

"September Song"

The title for this work is from a song by the same name.  I love Willie Nelson's rendition, and if you would like to hear it, here is a link.

 

The lyrics compare the months in a year to the seasons of a lifetime.  I will be 60 next month, and I am certainly in the autumn of my own life.  Last fall I took a photography class, and my homework forced me to look at growing things coming the end of their existence.  Some of what I saw was just breathtaking!

One clear, crisp day, I stumbled upon a patch of weeds beside a wetland.  They had shriveled and turned bronze. I crouched to look at their pale green seed heads, and through them I could see the bright blue sky and deeper turquoise of the water.  It was such a beautiful scene, I was sad not to have my camera with me.  I picked a few of the weeds and took them home, wanting to recapture the beauty of that image in beads, and thus began my "Battle."

I call it a battle because this work was created for an international, invitational, single elimination beading tournament called "Battle of the Beadsmith".  This is the second year of the event, which takes place entirely on Facebook.  If you would like to follow the battle, please request to join the group here.  Once you are a member, use the "photos" tab at the top of the page to view each battle underway. I guarantee you will see a huge collection of fantastic work by 192 beaders, representing 40 countries.  You even have the opportunity to vote for your personal favorites in each battle.  (Use the "files" tab for information on this.)

This necklace is about having gone to seed, not the bloom of youth.  It is about berries clinging to shrubs, and seed heads with their fuzzy fruits blown away.  It is about silhouettes and thorns revealed in the absence of greenery, and empty pods.  It is about what is left when the abundance of summer is over, simple shapes, emptiness, and essences that remain when foliage dies back, and living things begin to think of sleep.  It is the diametric opposite of my lush Bead Dreams lilacs.



Detail of embellished bezels and connections.

I began by capturing the stones I had collected to represent the colors from the day in Autumn gold bezels, and arranging them in shapes.  I had a piece of lace I thought might be the basis for the design, and made some sketches, but they all felt too busy and profuse. While I was working on the components I designed a scrollwork embellishment for one of my ballgown clients, and those shapes began to appear in the necklace layout. I finally had a sort of double heart shape, with some framed focal bits, held gently in the center.  For a while, I thought the title of the piece might be "November Valentine" but although it LOOKED like a heart, somehow I had the nagging sense that was not quite what it was.

On a cream velvet neck form.

I carried it down to my costume studio early one morning, and pinned it on my dress form to think about the neck strap, and I forgot it was there when my work day began.  A client noticed it on the form when she arrived for her fitting, and remarked that the shapes looked like female reproductive organs.  

 

After she left I stood looking at the piece, astonished!  Symbologically, she was right on, if not perfectly precise in anatomical terms.  There is a tremendous femininity to the shapes. I see ovaries, fallopian tubes, and a uterus.  Hearts have represented femininity and fertility for ages, as Dan Brown's symbologist protagonist Robert Langdon would happily explain.  I had decided before my client arrived to create a spider-spun, delicate neckstrap, and to place a similar web component at the base of the lower heart.  Essentially, I was putting a cobweb in the entrance to an obsolete womb.

 

Back side view.

Once this clear relationship between the glorious autumn day and my own life was established, it was easy to see how to finish the work.

I am really proud of the structural design, and when I am able to use more images, I will show you some process photos and explain how the curves are maintained.

I am a designer fond of negative space and shape, and my "bare bones" day of inspiration is evident in the final product, I think.  What my work means to me, (and it represents much more than I have said) may, or may not be what a viewer sees.  Each viewer, like my client, will bring her own ideas, pictoral language, and symbology to the party.  So I will stop explaining, and leave whatever truth there might be to the eye and the imagination of the beholder.

But I will add that I love it, and no ranking or battle won will mean more to me than the work already does. Life goes on, seasons change, and it's a long, long while, from May to December... but the days grow short when you reach September. 

A Visit to the Emerald Isle

When the "Destinations" theme was chosen and announced by Jacquie Champion of Etsy Beadweavers, I immediately thought of Ireland.  I am a quarter Irish, and although I am a dreadful traveler, frequently completely undone by motion sickness, if I could go anywhere in the world, Ireland would be my choice.   Add to that, I usually like to make jewelry that suits my mood, and I am always longing for green when March finds Minnesota.   And with St. Patrick's day the big holiday in the month, happening right after our challenge, the deal was sealed.  Shamrocks, shillelaghs, and leprechaun gold!

I was also inspired by a book I was reading, The Witching Hour, by Anne Rice. My travel is frequently done in my imagination through books. I knew my necklace would be emerald green for Ireland's beautiful rolling hills and clover, bumpy for the famous buckthorn walking (and fighting!) sticks, and gold, to represent end-of-the-rainbow treasure.  In this book, a Brazilian emerald necklace, vintage late 1600's, is acquired and passed down through 13 generations of female designees to the Mayfair Legacy, and its description became part of my design imagery as well.  It had a heavy gold chain, and ornate gold setting.  So my necklace also represents the "Mayfair Emerald," as well as Ireland.  The Mayfair necklace had only one, large rectangular jewel, but I added more jewels and other shapes.

I began with bezels for the beautiful rectangle and triangle Swarovski emerald jewels, and the amazing vintage effect squares I got from my friend Doris Coghill at BeadsbyDee.  In all fairness, much of the magic in the necklace is in the beautiful color in those squares.  I bezeled the jewels in gradated rows of greens in teal, emerald, grass, and peridot.  This is pretty subtle color use, and you may not have consciously noticed it at first glance, but I think this kind of detail really makes a huge difference in the final product, and provides added dimension for the bezel, since the darker, cooler colors recede from the eye and the lighter ones advance toward it.

 I did the same sort of thing with the gold beads that I used.  My 15/0 beads are Miyuki 24k gold plate, a deep rich gold. The 11/0 are labeled 4202 Duracoat, (pet peeve! a label that does not tell me what bead I have bought!!!) and also fairly dark and rich.  The 8/0 beads are Toho PF557 Gold Galvanized, which I don't usually like to use because the durability is questionable, (despite the "permanent finish" advertised) but I needed gold beads, and these are what is available.  My personal body chemistry does not strip metal from beads, but I know I am in a minority. The point here is, the bigger beads are a lighter shade of gold than the smaller ones.  This provides lots of added depth and dimension, which may not be noticable without having attention called to it.  See how the beads closer to the bezel are darker?  They really increase visual depth.  Well, that, plus the negative space I left open there, and of course, the bezel ombre, helps too.



I was stuck on my frame for a long time.  I added a simple picot.

Then I closed it for stability and to create substance and size, and then I was stuck for a while.

Finally, I began to embellish the frame, aiming for both "bumpy" like the blackthorn Shillelaghs, and "heavy" from my book. The first row thickened the frame, and began adding bumps, which I wanted to look something like granulation.

Then, I added a netted picot through that layer.

And finally, I felt good about my goals of evoking Ireland, ornate, bumpy, granulation, and late 17th century, portrayed in beads. Then I began a quest for "heavy gold chain" that would still represent all the above characteristics, and relate to the framework I had already created.  I tried spiral, flat spiral, double spiral, embellished RAW, cubic RAW, tried to work out what cubic triangle weave might be (which was pure disaster!) and finally resorted to double stitched flat triangle weave.  I used moss green power pro, and although you can't see it so well in the photos, in person, it lends a kind of antique verdegris shadow to the work, which felt just right to me.

Then I laid out my components and began linking them with the triangle weave chain.  I considered a shamrock configuration, but felt it would be too literal, not pleasing to the eye, plus it denied the vintage jewelry quality I was trying to create.

I desperately wanted to add fringe, but in looking at jewelry from the late 1600's and early 1700's,  I saw few fringy components, so managed to restrain myself this time.  But those emerald faceted drops I bought are bound to show up in my work in the near future.  They are just too good to pass over permanently.

Being obsessive compulsive, I also had to finish the backs of my bezels.

Then I went shopping for a clasp and I must say, I have been spoiled by the fantastic Elegant Elements clasps I have put on my last three projects. Mind you, this clasp is good on the piece, but as I mentioned, I am spoiled!!!  Usually, when I piece is done, I hate to back up, but I would gladly rip this one back for an Elegant Elements clasp.  I've lost the link to the collection, but maybe I'll ask Steven if he's interested.  Neither of my two favorite local bead shops carries Elegant Elements clasps.  SAD!!!

Components as Inspiration

I was super excited to be contacted by Steven Weiss at Beadsmith.  They have a new line of clasps, Elegant Elements, and he asked if I might like to design using these clasps. Then, my work (and that of other designers) would be featured as a sales strategy for the new clasp line.  The product line was GORGEOUS!  And I said "Yes!"  Although I quickly discovered many of the other participants are my beading heroes, and I hoped I would find myself adequate to the task.

I have only just met Steven Weiss "electronically," but I am going to go out on a limb here and say the guy is a public relations and advertising genius.  This was a really brilliant way to collect great photos of the clasp line in action and I suspect most of us are really happy to be involved in the project.  A win-win situation if ever there was one!

I chose two beauties from the wide range of Elegant Elements clasps.  The first one I wanted to work with was a three-strand, golden nest box clasp, with snowy white pearl eggs.  I thought this piece could serve double duty, since the February Etsy Beadweavers theme is "NEST."  My first thought was to create a similar beaded nest for pearls to rest in, but after a couple samples, I found my work didn't really allow the clasp to shine.  The clasp is a soft, pale gold and although it has beautiful leaf texture, it's very subtle and super organized.  My samples were VERY textural, and one was a little disorganized, and neither suited the clasp.

I decided I needed to let the clasp lead the way for me, as I often do when I find other components I want to work with, so I analyzed it's basic design.  It sits neatly flat, and the pearls sit up off the delicate, flat, highly organized nest to be featured in their little bezels. So I began a search for flat, golden, subtly-textured components that might allow me to provide contrast to big egg-shaped pearls.  I bought some golden shadow rivolis, and those were lovely, but I really wanted something metallic to go with them.  Then one night in a parking garage in South Minneapolis, the answer jingled out of the payment station in the form of a gold one dollar coin.  I had just read an article about the reducing of production of these beauties, because they are not highly circulated, and considered to be an expense our government can eliminate.  But I just loved it.  And lo and behold, it was flat, pale gold, and delicately textured.  Just what I had been looking for.  But coins in jewelry?  And then the idea of a "nest egg" occurred to me, and it seemed perfect design concept for both of the tasks at hand.

I bezeled the coin and dashed off to the bank for more.  Turns out several different presidents are featured, as well as Sacajawea, but I liked the lady liberty backs, so I chose the ones with the best looking "tails" and got to work.  With several coins and rivolis ready I played with placement, and found a way to organize a triad of each (half dozen packaging, just like the clasp) to allow for a place for some of my big freshwater pearl drops to sit, and joined them together.  I played with several edge details, including tiny leaf shapes, but they still felt overwhelming and out of scale with the clasp, so I just netted in some bicones and found that to be appropriately scaled and detailed.

 I broke the edge detail to allow some of the pearl eggs to drip out of the nest as fringe, and to allow for a soft three strand pearl neckstrap, which joined both the focal and the clasp with big pearls again, to help keep the clasp focused as a major player in the design.

Although I frequently let components speak to me in my design process, I had never before considered the possibility of allowing a clasp to dictate a design. This line is more than worthy of  that kind of attention and I am really looking forward to working with my second clasp.