Spring Acorns for Caramel

Teaching Caramel's Acorn Earrings at the Upper Midwest Bead Society (much better than my first teaching effort, but still not what I would consider to be flawless) wiped out my stock of Acorn Earrings kits, so I have begun re-stocking.  A wonderful friend has volunteered to help with these kits, which are crazy labor-intensive!

I have a new color way, called Spring!

  I had hoped that by the time I was ready to publish these new acorns, there might be some real ones to shoot.  Some oaks set acorns early in the year to mature slowly through the summer.  I had hoped to have some photos to show you when I published these, but the Oaks here have only just stopped shivering. They really are amazing, and flower first, with long dangly catkins of golden green pollen-producing tassels.  I promise to add some images to this post when they finally appear.  EDITED TO ADD here is a starter! I found the twig of new oak leaves blown down on the path during my walk yesterday and the color was so fresh and similar to the acorns!

It has been a very slow Spring in Minnesota!  Yesterday, I dragged the deck chairs up from storage through my house, because it was finally warm-ish!  And the Best Man Ever put on his snow boots and brought the table around the house through the melting drifts for me.  I am so starved for sunshine!  And all my outdoor critters, including Caramel the squirrel, are very hungry  I keep my feeders full to meet demands.

In the mean time, you can check them out here.  My personal favorite acorn is from this site:

https://montereywildflowers.com/tree-fagaceae-quercus/

Scroll down to the Valley Oak/Roble, and check out the color in that acorn!

  

Or take a look at a range of images of catkins and Spring acorns here.  

The Canopy Melon beads in this colorway have a pinky sheen, and the colors I used are both from nature, and in support of that sheen.

If you want to duplicate my results, here is the bead list, and if you want a kit, visit my shop through the linked photo below, and choose "Spring"!  

A - 12 pcs CzechMate Crescent Opq. Rose Gold Topaz Luster

B - 12 pcs Toho 8/0 Hex #262 Light Bronzer Lined Crystal Rbw

C - 25 pcs Toho 15/0 #764 Rose Chalk Matte Opaque

D - 38 pcs Toho 11/0 #764 Rose Chalk Matte Opaque

E - 38 pcs Toho 8/0 #169 Light Rose Transparent Rainbow

F - 24 pcs Toho 11/0 #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF

G - 14 pcs Toho 11/0 Demi #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF 

(plus 2 pcs #994 Bronze Lined Crystal Rainbow)

H - 2 pcs Czech 14mm Melon Bead Canopy

J - 2 pcs Toho 8/0 Demi #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF

K - 2 pcs Toho 6/0 #PF551 Peach Galvanized PF

3 yds One-G Thread 

3 pcs Copper 2” Headpins

2 pcs Copper Fishhook Earwires

2 pcs Earring Nuts

Find the new kits here, and the tutorial here.  I am in the process of getting most of the colorways re-stocked, so I'll keep you informed as they appear.  And the Silk Butterfly Bags are in process!

Persephone's Return

Persephone's Return was created for (and WON!) the Bead Mavens Vernal Visions Challenge.   I like challenges because they provide inspiration and purpose for my evening's play with beads, and this particular challenge was especially appealing, because I live in the frozen north land of Minnesota.  Here's the view out the door next to my beading bay.  This is on track to be the snowiest winter on record where I live, and personally, although I find beauty in almost every landscape, I have had enough of this season!

Below is the inspirational image the Maven's posted for their contest.  Is there any question about why I'd rather live in their world?  I find myself anxiously awaiting a day when the walk with my dog does not entail long underwear, hooded parka, scarf and boots.  I felt the Maven's imagery provided a content and a color scheme I was totally ready to embrace.    

              

Well, OK, in all fairness, there were two images provided.  March is the month of, "In like a lion, out like and lamb," and the other image is colder and wintery.  But I am ready to move forward, and so it was an easy choice for me.

This work of mine is a sister piece to "Zephyr's Spring Flower Neck Lace," created last year, about this same time.  It is based on a piece of hand painted lace from Etsy seller Jennie's Heirlooms.  I find working from the lace is a labor intensive process.  I think most bead embroidery allows the application of many beads at a time, backstitching 3, 4, and even 5 in one needle stroke.  Given the softness and vulnerability of the lace, I find I can apply just one bead at a time, stabilizing the lace as I go, and placing the beads in different relationships to the edges of the lace, depending on the result I want.  When you examine the work from the front, I did not want the lace visible, and from the back, I did not want stitches visible. I found I frequently had to reinforce the lace with a darning stitch to give it the stability to allow me to embroider on it, and I tried to disguise that as well, but if you know what you are looking for, you can see it. 

As a sister piece to Zephyr, and to honor the Vernal Equinox and return of springtime, I named the work for Persephone, the Greek goddess of springtime. Persephone was the unwilling wife of Hades, king of the underworld. Mythology says when she was stolen from the earth to live under ground with her husband, the flora of the earth died, and slept below the ground through the winter. Her return brought the rapid growth of flowers and grain.

My piece, designed to honor the balance that is the equinox, has formal symmetry, yet is organic in character. The delicate loveliness of Persephone’s Return springs forth from the slumbering earth in full bloom almost overnight.  I anxiously await the vision of the first crocus, peeking out of the snow.   And in the meantime, I have captured that joy in beads.