BeadsongJewelry: blog hop

Showing posts with label blog hop. Show all posts

Sunday, April 30, 2017

The UFO -- Completed!

It's every beader's dirty little secret - that stack of half-finished, reconsidered, abandoned, incomplete, wrongly-turned projects that lie, lonely and unfinished, in the bead room. Our own stash of UFOs - unfinished objects.

Karen Williams, in her wise and encouraging way, brought together a group of beaders to dig into their UFO pile with the mission of finishing one or more of them. Karen's great at giving me a kick in the creative pants, so I had to jump in. Read all the way down, because this one took several turns along the way...

Several years ago, I wanted to build a necklace around a lovely abalone cabochon.

The original vision was for one side of the necklace to be a Cellini spiral, with the other side a multi-strand collection of pearls. The Cellini spiral turned out great, but I couldn't get the multi-strand part of lay correctly, no matter how many times I tried.

It wasn't ugly, but it certainly wasn't right. In fact, it was so not right, I never took a picture of it. Just took the pearls off and put it aside into the UFO pile.

Until Karen's nudge. There weren't enough of the seed beads I used in the spiral to make a matching side, so that option was off the table. I decided to try the pearl idea again, this time in a braid or other structured format.

But again, it didn't work. This is that version, but this is not the final result of the challenge:

Yeah, again not right. So far from what I had in my imagination.

So what to do? I took a deep breath, picked up a pair of sharp scissors, and cut that spiral in half.

Gulp.

The resulting halves were too short to be a necklace, so I had to finish them off and add a couple of purple jade and sterling silver beads to make a necklace that I could wear without choking. The final version, while not what I had originally imagined, is wearable, satisfying, and most importantly, complete.

Whew! Thanks, Karen, for providing the motivation and the accountability. Now, go check out what some of my beady buddies have finished from their own UFO collection:

Karen Williams, Baublicious

Francie Broadie, FAB

Christine Van Dyke Altmiller, One Kiss Creations

Therese, Therese's Treasures

Kim Dworak, CianciBlue

Liz Hart, Treetop Life

Liz En, Bead Contagion

Amy Severino, Amy Beads

Cynthia Machata, Antiquity Travelers

Hope Smitherman, Crafty Hope

Christi Carter, Sweetpea Path

Bobbie Rafferty, Beadsong Jewelry

Margo Lynn Hablutzel, My World and It's Full of Books

Saturday, February 18, 2017

Bead Hoarder Swap - My Partner and What She Sent!

There's nothing like a beading challenge to kick your creative juices into high gear. And considering that over the past year my creative juices have been tucked way, WAY in the back of my brain, I appreciate all the creative kicks in the pants I can get.

So, when Lori Anderson announced a new bead swap blog party, I was ready to jump in. And this time, we were to give our partner a bead we've hoarded for ourselves. What a terrific idea!

And I was so lucky to be paired with Kathy Lindemer of Bay Moon Design. I've admired Kathy's work as part of the ZNetShows design team, and one of her necklaces was just featured on the Art Bead Scene blog.

Many of Kathy's pieces have an element of nature - flowers or plants or animals. Her work exudes a wonderful serenity that I find really appealing:

Wanna see what she sent me for the swap? It's yummy!

Kathy sent a beautiful little box, complete with a card she had made (creative lady!). And under the card was a spectacular ceramic bead by Suburban Girl Studios, complemented by a length of delicious blue silk cording and one of Kathy's handcrafted clasps. The ideas are burbling up already!

The box was so cute, decorated with washi tape, that I almost didn't want to mess it up by opening it.
Almost.

Kathy's handmade card

And the beautiful surprises inside!

Thank you, Kathy! I can't wait to get started!

Saturday, May 14, 2016

Bead Peeps Swap 'n' Hop - The Creamsicle Conundrum

Bead swaps and design challenges are a great way to get the creative juices flowing, so when I saw a call on the Facebook group Bead Peeps for a swap, I was all in. And I lucked out, too, getting the lovely Lori Alainn Blanchard of Alainn Jewelry as my partner. She sent me the delicious beads below for me to work with:

and the handcrafted focal:

Lori had asked me what colors I find most challenging to work with, and then, as any good swap partner would, she sent me that exact thing -- flourescent creamsicle orange.

I could almost hear her laughing from several hundred miles away.....;-

The first thing I worked on was the right way to highlight the focal, and I hoped to use the tilas to do so. But after ~~banging my head against the wall~~ trying several different unsuccessful configurations, I decided the tilas wanted to work elsewhere, and concentrated on the focal. Here's what happened:

All I added from my stash was some merlot and dark gold seed beads, the lapis rounds in the neckstrap, and my own fabricated gold clasp. And if you look really closely in the first round of beads around the focal, you'll see that I used some of the creamsicle seeds there.

Next up was a bracelet:

Then I wanted to use the faceted Czech glass Lori had sent. Initially, I thought those would go with the focal, but once I'd finished the centerpiece, the greens and blues of the Czech glass just didn't work with the reds and turquoises, so I set them aside on the worktable. They ended up near a piece I'd done several months ago and called Iris - the blues and greens worked really well together! Serendipity worked in my favor this time!

There were other colors of seed beads that I hadn't yet used, so a pair of freeform peyote earrings seemed to be in order:

And a ring:

And, finally, something to celebrate that challenging creamsicle color! I call these earrings Creamsicle Conundrum:

Here's a family picture:

Thanks for reading all the way down, thanks to Lori for being a fun and generous partner, and thanks to Linda Anderson for hosting the swap!

Now, go look at all the creations from others who've taken part in the swap challenge -- get ready for some serious eye candy!

Linda Anderson - Hostess - http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com



Linda	Anderson	http://fromTheBeadBoard.blogspot.com
Natalie	Davidson	http://www.northshoredays.com

Marcy	Lamberson	http://www.studiomarcy.blogspot.com
Kathy	Lindemer	http://bay-moon-design.blogspot.com/

Dita	Basu	Http://www.alankarshilpa.blogspot.com
Andrea	Glick	http://zenithjade.blogspot.com/

Kristina	Peck	http://tealeavesandtinyhats.blogspot.com/
Shai	Williams	http://www.shaihasramblings.com/

Catherine	La Vite	http://www.drygulchbeadsandjewelry.blogspot.com/
Christina	Hickman	http://vintagetreasuresjewelry.blogspot.com/

gloria	allen	http://wingsandbeads.blogspot.com
Teresa	Schurter	http://treezstreazurs.com/

Maria Rosa	Sharrow	http://willowstreetshops.blogspot.com
Susan	Kelly	http://mimismilesdesigns.blogspot.com

Jenny	Kyrlach	http://anafiassa.blogspot.com/
Michelle	McCarthy	http://www.fireflydesignstudio.blogspot.com

Terry Jeanette	Carter	http://tappingflamingo.blogspot.com
Lee	Koopman	http://stregajewellry.wordpress.com

Laurie	Vyselaar	https://lefthandjewelry.wordpress.com
Marianne	Baxter	http://simplyseablimejewelry.blogspot.com

Divya	N	http://www.jewelsofsayuri.com
Kelly	Hosford Patterson	http://travelingsideshow.blogspot.com/

Johana	Nunez	http://www.artincendi.com
Kari	Asbury	http://hippiechickjewelrydesign.com/blog

ROBIN	REED	http://www.willowdragon.blogspot.com
Kristina	Hahn Eleniak	http://www.peacockandlime.wordpress.com

Robin Lynne	Showstack	http://heartsdesiresjewelryforyou.blogspot.com/
Rosantia	Petkova	http://bairozan.blogspot.com/

Claire	Fabian	http://saraccino.blogspot.de/
Inge	von Roos	https://ingetraud.wordpress.com

Rachel	Mallis	http://mintmonarch.com
Sam	Waghron	http://palemooncreation.blogspot.co.uk

Lori	Schneider	http://beadaddicted.blogspot.com
Fay	Wolfenden	http://torchfairy.blogspot.com



SEEDERS

Suse	Stelljes	http://pearlify.blogspot.de
Ginger	Bishop	http://www.lilmummylikes.blogspot.com

Nelly	May	http://www.smellynelly.blogspot.com
REbecca	White	http://morganafeycreations.121hub.com/

sheila	Prosterman	http://catswithbeads.blogspot.com
Catherine	King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com

PALLAVI	ASHER	http://kalaabhushan.blogspot.in/
Krafty	Max	http://kraftymax.net

Renetha	Stanziano	http://lamplightcrafts.blogspot.com/
Becky	Pancake	http://beckypancakebeaddesigns.blogspot.com

Katy	Heider	http://onthepondcreations.blogspot.com/
Deborah	Apodaca	http://deborahapodacadesigns.blogspot.com/

Heather	Richter	http://desertjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
Tami	Norris	https://tamisdesigns.wordpress.com

Brandy	Scozzari	http://bhjewelry.wordpress.com
Catherine	King	http://catherines-musings.blogspot.com

Kathleen	Breeding	https://www.facebook.com/99BOBOTW/
Veralynne	Malone	http://veradesigns.blogspot.com

Bobbie	Rafferty	http://beadsong.blogspot.com (You are here!)
Lori	Blanchard	http://alainnjewelry.wordpress.com

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Getting Ready To Swap

I just signed up for a new (to me) bead swap and blog hop. I look forward to taking part in this, to meeting a new beady friend, and to being challenged by a palette chosen by another artist.

And of course, I always enjoy the opportunity to obsessively check on my mail, awaiting new beads! Perhaps I should warn my mailman that the crazy bead lady is in his future.....

Sunday, November 3, 2013

MeMaw's Quilt - The Rolling Blog Hop Reveal

A while back, my friend Christine at OneKissCreations invited me to take part in a rolling hop -- she'd send each of us a goodie package with a mystery component and some additional beads, and we could create something to share on our own schedule within a certain time period. I love Christine's sense of humor, sense of style, and sense of creativity, so of course I said yes.

The package arrived, and, with great ladylike grace and restraint (snort), I ripped it open to discover the mystery component. And my thought process was something like, "Spools! Spools? Hmmm, spools....."

The image that kept coming to me over and over again when I thought of spools was one of my maternal grandmother, who spent a couple of years (or at least it seemed to me, although given a kid's sense of time, it probably was only a several months) making a pair of quilts, which she then gave to me and my sister.

So my creation was going to be a reflection of my grandmother, who we called MeMaw, her style, and her quilt. Here's a little bit about my MeMaw -- she and my grandfather had a farm, although she also worked in town. She had gorgeous snow white hair, long legs and a terrific figure (which, sadly, I did not inherit), a great smile, and always took care to dress with flair. She had an incredible strength and spirit. I so wish my children could have known her.

Anyway, here's MeMaw, and here is a section of the quilt she made for me.

See what I mean about dressing with flair? She's wearing a silk dress and
fab jewelry, even though the infant me might have spit up or done
something else messy at any moment. The lady had style and guts!

The quilt is queen-sized, and I have yet to find a square that has a duplicated fabric center.

And I'm happy to introduce to you MeMaw's Quilt Necklace.

I decided the best way to capture the idea of the quilt was to wrap the spool in a quilt of beads. I made a right angle weave base, and added every small bead I could find in my stash to the open squares. There are gemstones, crystals, Czech glass, and pearls in there -- hopefully a faithful reflection of MeMaw's love of sparkly jewelry. For the neckstrap, I braided some beautiful sari silk that I had from another swap, AntiquityTraveler's blogoversary hop. The color was a perfect mimic for the background of the quilt. I will admit to having had fifteen different kinds of fits trying to figure out a clasp, since the silk wasn't long enough to allow me to loop it over, but I finally came up with one that I was happy with.

I tried really hard to do like MeMaw and not repeat any beads
in the squares, but there are a couple of duplicates.

The Quilt on the quilt

Thanks, Christine, for letting me play along! And if you're interested in seeing what the others have created (and the results so far are pretty eclectic, kind of like the artists involved), here's a list:

Kim

Bobbie (aka MeMaw's granddaughter - you're here)

Liz

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Bead Soup #7 - Woo Hoo!!

After six days with zero internet access (oh, my dear heavens, don't let anyone tell you that invisible connection to the online world isn't just as addictive as any drug), I'm back on line, and y'all, I'm doing a happy dance!

For the next Bead Soup Blog Hop, I've been paired with Nancy Dale. Don't know who she is? Bet you do -- just look here, and I know you'll recognize her work.

I mean, really, look at this:

Dryad, Nancy's necklace that was a 2010 Bead Dreams finalist.

There is not one piece on her website that didn't just knock me down, wow me, or cause a spontaneous case of the vapors (the Southern girl's version of drooling, panting, and falling over in a dead faint - sounds so much more socially acceptable to call it "vapors"). She does absolutely jawdroppingly beautiful bead embroidery and bead weaving. Do yourself a favor and check out her website. Seriously great eye candy. Try not to lick your computer screen.

I'm not at all sure my work is worthy of being paired up with Nancy, but I know we'll have fun with it!

Now, to get up to the bead room and start cooking up some soup...that's so much more fun than doing all the laundry that accumulated while I was out of town!

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Save The Date (You'll Thank Me!)

Y'all, mark your calendars, set your alarms, hold your breath, and make your plans to sign up for the next Bead Soup Blog Hop.

Go here to find out more about it, and enjoy the excuse to go bead shopping!

Friday, November 30, 2012

Challenge of Color - Rolling Down the River

Welcome to my little piece of the 3rd Annual Challenge of Color! Y'all just grab a comfy place to settle in and come along.

Each participant was given two palettes derived from photos in the US Geological Services' Earth As Art Gallery, which uses various satellite images, filtered to emphasize colors in the spectrum we normally don't perceive. We were only required to use one palette, but of course I couldn't choose, so in typical "why just dive off the cliff when you can jump off backwards and throw in a few somersaults along the way" fashion, I did both.

And both of my palettes are rivers. First, the Ghadamis River, an ancient riverbed in Libya:

Desert Riverbed Pendant of amazonite, peruvian opal, strawberry quartz and seed beads

The Peruvian opals were the starting point here. They matched the palette perfectly, and the striations of color in the gemstone mimic the natural striations of the landscape. I wanted to somehow capture the feathery effect of the landscape along with the colors. The branched fringe I tried first was just fugly, so I settled on loopy fringe instead.

Here they are side by side:

The second palette is called Meandering Mississippi:

And here's my Mississippi Mud Romance necklace:

The cubes were the first thing I pulled out of the stash, because they were a perfect match for the olive green in the palette. Then it occurred to me that I had the sterling silver squiggle in a pile of UFO's, where I had envisioned it as the starting point for a bracelet that never happened. Throw in a little freeform peyote, some woven leather the color of rich Mississippi mud, a hand-forged sterling clasp, and there you've got it.

And the side by side:

And what does "Romance" have to do with Mississippi Mud? On our first date, my husband and I shared a truly decadent chocolate miracle of the baker's craft called Mississippi Mud Pie. Any man who would (a) order such a fantastic dessert and (b) share it with me was obviously a keeper.

Anyway, with great thanks to Erin and Brandi who organized this wonderful challenge (thanks, ladies!!), here are the other folks playing along with this challenge. Thanks for stopping by, leave a comment if you like, and go check out the rest of the hoppers:

Erin Prais-Hintz http://treasures-found.blogspot.com/2012/11/3rd-annual-challenge-of-color-reveal.html

Rebecca Anderson http://songbeads.blogspot.com

Kris Auderer http://strandedinthecity.wordpress.com

Chrizette Bayman http://beadsoupmix.blogspot.com

Lori Bowring Michaud http://artfullyornamental.blogspot.com

Courtney Breul http://beadsbybreul.blogspot.com/

Lynsey Brooks http://yellowunicorncreations.blogspot.co.uk

Stephanie Buss http://maxandlucie.blogspot.com

Iveth Caruso http://www.creativeatelier.net/

Shannon Chomanczuk http://www.formysweetdaughter.blogspot.com

Lisa Cone http://inspiredadornments.blogspot.com/

Cece Cormier http://thebeadingyogini.com