The Triplets

Finally, finally, finally, I got some time in my bead room over the past couple of days.  It was so good to spend some time reacquainting myself with the things in there.  ("Oh, stash of crystals, I remember your sparkle.  Seed beads, how I've missed you!!")  

Yes, I talk to my beads.  Not worrisome until I report that they've begun to talk back.

Anyway, several projects got worked on, more got started, and a whole bunch are sitting there just waiting for clasps, earwires, or other finishing touches.  I'm particularly excited about one I'm calling The Triplets -- a trio of jasper beads that I'd embroidered a while back, but hadn't made into a finished...whatever.

Frankly, it had been sitting on the UFO (unfiished objects) pile for a long time, as contemplated what kind of beadwoven neckstrap to make for it.  Then today, it struck me that perhaps the Triplets would shine more beautifully if they were surrounded more simply.

Meet "The Triplets"

So here they are, suspended from a simple neckchain of onyx and gold beads.  The clasp is not yet made, so the photo only shows a portion of the piece.

Tomorrow morning brings a visit to the dentist, to get some filling replaced (oh joy, oh rapture...oh, sure).  The afternoon will likely be spent on the sofa, finishing the projects that just lack findings and other completing touches while the novocaine wears off.  (Who knows, maybe the novocaine will make the beads start talking to me!)

For My Biggest Cheerleader

Who's your biggest cheerleader?  Your spouse?  Your sibling? Your best friend?

In my life, I've been so lucky to have lots of people cheering me on.  But for sheer force of longevity of the enthusiasm, Mom is #1.

Okay, even though she isn't online and wouldn't know what a blog was if you asked, I didn't want to show this picture of what I made for Mom ahead of Christmas.  Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew that if I did, it would be the guarantee that she would become instantly online literate and the photo would the first thing she'd find.

So anyway, since the date has passed, the packages have been unwrapped, and the threat of my mother becoming an internet whiz is over, here's what she found under the tree...

It was a hit.  And now my sister wants one, too - birthday gift selection, check!

Oddly enough, I don't usually make jewelry gifts for my family.  Do you?

Trivial Pursuit and Pecan Pie

Taken before the presents were opened -
it's a lot emptier under the tree now!

Hope you're having a wonderful holiday week!  It's been a bit like Mom & Dad's Bed & Breakfast around here, and it's been great.  Good food, lots of laughter and stories, good natured games of Trivial Pursuit, lots of pecan pie, sleeping late...

No time with the beads, but that's on the docket for the weekend.  For now, I'm curled up on the sofa, tucked under a snuggly blanket, reveling in holiday laziness.  Merry Christmas!

From Gallery To Reality - The Custom Tale

A couple of months ago, I celebrated here (with no little sense of wonder) that this necklace had been selected to be part of an exhibition a the Kentucky Artisans Center.  

A short time later, a gentleman contacted me, asking if I could recreate the necklace, without the woven centerpiece, at 20" long.

If you've ever done custom work, you understand how this seemingly simple request can hid any number of unexpected stumbling blocks.

The biggest problem for me was that I no longer had any more of the cobalt blue oval beads.  The tiger iron, bone, and jasper?  Check, check, and check.  But not the blue.

Thinking the shape was perhaps the important thing to preserve, I suggested some sodalite ovals that I had on hand.  But it was the pop of the vibrant color, rather than the bead shape, that he was after, so I was on a search for beads in the proper shade of blue.  Oddly enough, it's really, REALLY hard to find a vibrant cobalt blue bead that isn't too light or too gray.  Especially when you're desperate to find them.

Several tries later, we hit on success:

Lapis was the answer!

So this was mailed off earlier this week, and I hope that it's now wrapped and waiting under a Christmas tree, ready to make someone smile!

A Fun (Non-Beady) Birthday Breakfast

If you're looking for my Challenge of Color reveal, go here!

Yesterday was my birthday.  It wasn't one of the big decade days, but we no longer put one candle per year on a cake, for fear of setting off smoke alarms, having the fire department show up, alarming the neighbors, and then not having enough cake to share with the neighborhood (plus, with all those candles, the cake would be covered in wax, and no one wants that!)

I did do something shameless and begged put out a request for folks on Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Cafe page to like my Beadsong Jewelry facebook page. Shameless, I admit it.  (By the way, if you haven't liked my FB page, maybe you'd consider it....I know, SHAMELESS!!!)

After my shameless plea, sweet husband took me out for a lovely breakfast out at a fun local restaurant known for its kitschy decor (they sponsor an Ugly Lamp Contest each year at the State Fair and put the winners on the restaurant tables) and its ample servings.

Kitschy decor, did you say?  This was how the sugar packets were stored on our table:

I'm not sure what happened to these dogs' bodies, or why it makes sense
for them to be on a piece of toast....

Ample portions, did you say?  These were our breakfasts:

This photo was taken on an angle because I was falling
over at the thought of trying to eat all of this food!

Do you see the size of those biscuits?!  Yes, those are biscuits.  Slabs o' biscuits. My first apartment wasn't that big.  You could slap four radial tires on one of those things and it would still be bigger than my first car.  

No, neither of us cleaned our plates.  But it was an epic start to a lovely day.