The "Whoops!" Challenge Reveal

Have you ever ordered something online (or, gasp, horror, from late night tv shopping channels), only to discover, when you rip open the package with wild enthusiasm, that it's not quite what you had envisioned? 

Kind of what I imagine online dating might be like...

Cynthia Machata, the glorious woman behind the creations at Antiquity Travelers, had one of those "whoops!" moments when she ordered some glass pearls from ZNet.com.  When she expected to get some dainty grey beads, she ended up with some bodacious, bold 16mm beauties.  And a conundrum as to how to use them.

So she invited some friends to figure out what to do with these big balls. What does one do with Big Balls? (Now there's a sentence I never imagined I'd write!!) They brought to mind several ideas, which I had to pare down to be able to accomplish them amid the complete lack of free time that my new job leaves.  But I hope I've turned "Whoops!" into "Wow!"

First up, Big Balls become Beach Balls, when you add some equally bodaciously-sized shell beads.

These are wonderfully light beads, with the clasp in front for added fun. It may not be completely visible in the photo, but there's a lovely grey swirl throughout the shell beads that the pearls pick up beautifully. While I may be a beadweaver, I also apparently enjoy rocking some big beads, since these 20mm shell beads came from my stash...

Then, as anyone who came of age in the late 70s might do, I thought of Disco Balls!  So I added some woven beaded beads (made with crystals I had previously gotten from ZNet.com) to channel the glam.  

The sparkle is fairly subdued, balancing the size and subtle glow of the glass pearls, on a delicate sterling chain.  I don't go to the disco anymore, but work often calls for me to be in evening dress, so this necklace is probably going to get worn A LOT.

Thanks a million to Cynthia for the chance to play with these, and for the push to get back to beading and blogging. Go see what wonderful things these other folks have created with these Big Balls -- I know they'll make them from "Whoops" to "Wow!"

Linda    http://lindysdesigns.blogspot.com/

Bobbie     http://www.beadsongjewelry.com/ (thanks for visiting!)

Christine   http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/

Hope    http://www.craftyhope.com/

Therese  http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/

Val  http://missvalscreations.blogspot.com/

Cynthia  http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com/

A Wooden Wheel, A 60's Hit, and A Life Change

"What goes up, must come down.

Spinnin' wheel, got to go round.

Talk about your troubles, it's a crying sin

Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel spin...."

Some times life feels like you're strapped to a wheel that's turning in directions that you have little or no control over. All you can do is hang on for dear life and try to make sure that the wheel carries you along, rather than spinning you off or, even worse, runs you right over as it goes down the ro

For over a year. that's been me. I was between jobs, and the search for a new position was extraordinarily frustrating, taking regular smacks at my self-esteem and confidence. I tried hard not to let it affect how I acted in daily life, but it did affect the enthusiasm with which I tackled things like my beading, blogging, and general online friendship maintenance.

"You got no money, you got no home,

Spinning wheel, all alone,

Talking 'bout your troubles and you never learn,

Ride a painted pony, let the spinnin' wheel turn"

But I recently got a job.  A dream job. I am thrilled! The only hitch is that it will require my husband and me to live a commuter marriage for a couple of years until he retires.  But the new job is in Chicago, which is one of those places we always thought would be a fabulous place to retire to. So I finally feel like I've gotten a little more control over the wheel of life, but in the meantime, I've had to find an apartment, figure out what needs to move up with me, and do all the things that come with relocating.

In fact, as you read this, I will be in my new apartment, hopefully directing the movers on where to put all the boxes of beads I packed!

"Did you find the directing sign

On the straight and narrow highway

Would you mind a reflecting sign

Just let it shine within your mind

And show you all the colors that are real"

When Janet invited me to be one of a group of people to create something with some little wooden wagon wheels she had found, I was happy to have the challenge.  My first thought was that it was perfect for a color wheel. And that's about as far as it went for a couple of months. But it's amazing how motivating it can be to have to pack all of your beads up for moving -- I sat right down and figured out how to turn my wagon wheel into a color wheel, first painting the wheel black and then using flat circular peyote stitch that I anchored to the spokes with whipstitch now and then.

It's not a masterpiece, by any means, but it is a talisman for me -- just like there are infinite shades of colors, there are infinite possibilities in life. Sometimes it just takes the wheel a little longer than you would like to slow down enough, in the words of Blood Sweat and Tears, to show you "all the colors that are real."

"Someone's waiting just for you.

Spinnin' wheel, spinning true,

Drop all your troubles by the riverside,

Catch a painted pony on the spinning wheel ride"

So, a little more melodramatic than most of my posts, but I'm hoping that this wheel helps me turn the corner (see what I did there?) into being more active on my blog, more regular in reading your posts, and altogether more like myself! (Oh, and credit to Blood Sweat and Tears, whose song I've shamelessly used here.)

Here are the others turning wheels into something fantastic -- go visit and enjoy!

Antiquity Travelers:  http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com/

Beadsong Jewelry:  http://www.beadsong.blogspot.com/

Crafty Hope:  http://www.craftyhope.com/

Honey from the Bee: http://www.honeyfromthebee.com

One Kiss Creations:  http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/

Sally Russick:  http://sallyrussick.blogspot.com/

Therese's Treasures:  http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/   

Anchors Aweigh - The Reveal

The lovely and wonderfully talented Rita of Toltec Jewels came up with a great opportunity to showcase the talents of artist Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio, challenging a group of us to create jewelry based on her adorable anchor beads.  Cute, cute, cute!

(Caution - bad nautical themed puns may follow.  I apologize in advance.)

Several ideas came, and mercifully sank into the depths of oblivion before they could catch wind and sail too far. But then freeform peyote came to my rescue and gave me a way to add the flavor of waves and water, with lots of oceanic shades of blue ranging from deepest blue to the white/blue of sea froth.

It occurred to me today that the earrings are a good metaphor for the past three months. Lots of things in my life have kind of been at loose ends, drifting as if at sea (if you want to torture the comparison.) With uncertainty on lots of fronts, life has been a bit freeform, turning in unexpected directions and certainly not symmetrical or predictable.

As soon as I finished the earrings, one of major uncertainties in my life was resolved. So I'm going to look at these earrings as a talisman for smoother sailing and calmer seas ahead.

Thanks to Rita for setting up a fun challenge, and thanks to Diana for her artistry, which was a great source of inspiration.  Please sit right back and take a (three hour?!?) cruise through the rest of the creations made by the other participants.  Bon voyage!

Featured & Honored Artist:           Diana Ptaszynski

Diana's Shop:                           Suburban Girl Beads

Diana's Blogs:                          Suburban Girl Studio

                                                  Art Jewelry Elements

Hostess: TJ                               Jewel School Friends

Bobbie Rafferty                        Beadsong Jewelry (you're here!)

Chris Eisenberg                        Wanderware

Heather Richter                        Desert Jewelry Designs

Michelle McCarthy                  Firefly Design Studio

Kathy Lindemer                       Bay Moon Design

Dini Bruinsma                          Angaza by Changes

Cynthia Machata                      Antiquity Travelers

Kathleen Breeding                    99 Bottles of Beads on the Wall

Linda Younkman                      Lindy's Designs

Robin Reed                               Artistry HCBD

Marla Gibson                            Spice Box Designs

Gina Hockett                             Freestyle Elements

Renetha Stanziano                     Lamplight Crafts

Marianne Baxter                        Simply Seablime Jewelry        

Christina Miles                          Wings N Scales

Marybeth Rich                          A Few Words from Within the Pines

Shai Williams                           Shaiha's Ramblings

Cheri Reed                                Creative Designs by Cheri

Monique Urquhart                     A Half-Baked Notion

Jennifer Reno                            Musings of a Crafty Jenny

Shirley Moore                           Beads and Bread

Tammy Adams                          Paisley Lizard

Melissa Trudinger                      Bead Recipes
Jill Bradley                                 JillyBeads

Adventures In Patinas

Do you work with patinas on your metals?  I make all of my clasps from sterling, gold filled, and copper wire, but I've never really explored putting a patina on them. 

Then I read a really cool tip from Rena Klingenberg on how to oxidize metals using hard boiled eggs. And I decided to play.

I started out with shiny copper wire, and boiled up a couple of eggs. When the eggs were ready, I put a coil of wire, a copper clasp, and the eggs into a zip lock bag, and smooshed (a highly technical term) the eggs, shell and all, into a big gooey mess.

Then I waited about 20 minutes.  And this is what I got!

I need to polish them up a bit, but this is what they looked like straight out of the bag. I was so excited about the possibilities, I threw some more wire and a toggle in the bag, wanting to see what happened if I left it over night.

Sadly, when I opened the ziplock the first time, I must have let out enough of the sulfur gas to make further oxidation impossible. So after an overnight egg bath, this is all that happened.

Lessons learned? First, if you're going to do this, pull together all the metal you want to oxide to do in one batch, because the magic doesn't happen with leftovers.  Second, my husband is a wonderful, patient man who's gotten used enough to my weirdness that instead of calling the folks from the loony bin, he just said, "why is there a bag of smashed eggs and wire on the kitchen counter?" as though it were a normal thing.

I've also read about using a salt/vinegar mix to patinate copper, too. That may be the next mad scientist experiment!

Freight Trains, Gas Leaks, Wearing Tablecloths -- Must Be Show Season!

Egads. I have been out of the loop on blogging recently (family stuff that's kept me far away from the computer, but that's beside the point). The upshot is that I did two shows last month that generated plenty of stories, but I have been remiss in sharing them here.

The first show was in the downtown of a small town east of Louisville. It was my first time doing this show, and I had heard good things from artist friends. Most of the show was set up in the park, but I was on the street next to the park. We really were in the heart of the town, and every few hours, a freight train would rumble through, half a block from my booth.

Yep, that's the 12:07 freight  from Louisville...

Running concurrently with the art show, and just a block away, was the town's colonial heritage days celebration. There were numerous people in colonial costume walking around to publicize the event, and even a few stilt walkers and giant puppets.  Gotta say, I think the stilt walker was cute, but the giant puppets were vaguely terrifying -- I imagine they provided traumas that many children in attendance that day will be dealing with in therapy sessions when they grow up.

What the colonial heritage people didn't warn us about were the colonial cannons, which were shot off several times a day, at unexpected moments and on no apparent schedule. Dear lord, they were loud, and boy howdy, did they startle the bejeebus out of people walking down the street!  But every time they shot off, I thought, "another story for the blog, people.  It's another story for the blog!"

Saturday's weather was hot. HOT. So did I check the weather forecast for Sunday? Of course not. I dressed for hot weather.  (You know where this is going, right?)  Yep, it was 50 degrees and cloudy all day. I was wearing shorts and sleeveless blouse. Thank goodness I had a table cover that I'd used for a Christmas show among my setup stuff, so I spent the day wrapped in a red tablecloth. I may have looked ridiculous, but I was warm! (And no, there is no photographic evidence of my poor fashion choice.)

Imagine this in Christmas red. That was my wrap all day Sunday. Classy, huh?

The next weekend (after carefully checking out the weather forecast for both days!), I did a lovely small show just north of town. When I went to set up on Friday, there was a distinct aroma of natural gas in the show area. Turns out that the guys who were setting up the music tent accidentally hit an underground gas pipe when they were hammering in the anchor spikes, and the utility guys were scrambling all over the place to fix it.

Fortunately, the leak was fixed, the show went off without a hitch, and it was a beautiful weekend. I'd been playing with my booth setup for a while, and this was what happened:

If you do shows, you know that the perfect booth is a constantly moving target, but I was pleased with this. A few tweaks on the to-do list, but not bad.

No real "oh my gosh" moments from this show (other than being relieved that there was no way anyone could blame me for the gassy smell), but there were two things that saved my life.  First was the fabulous food truck down the street, where I found this delicious ham, chevre, and red pepper aoli crepe (yes, from a food truck, and every bit as tasty as it sounds!!). 

Second was my little fan, which kept the air moving around inside my tent just enough to keep me from melting when the sun was high and the breeze was low.  Sometimes it's the littlest things that make the biggest difference!

No more shows for a month, so I have a great excuse to hole up in the bead room and make stuff!  Have you been to any great art shows this summer?

Creative Spark Summer 2014 Reveal

My beads for the Summer Days and Nights ZNet Shows design challenge. Aren't they yummy?

I am so thrilled to be on the design team for ZNet Shows! They have the most delicious cultured sea glass, crystals, and other fun things that are perfect to create your own gorgeous creations.

Several times each year, we are challenged to create pieces from ZNet pieces that are sent to us, sight unseen. This time, the challenge was to create daytime casual looks AND dressier night time looks, both featuring the cultured sea glass.  Here's the link to Creative Spark, the online magazine of all of the designers' creations.  But if you're interested in the thought process (yes, there actually was one!) behind my pieces, read on.

I know the selections were sent at random, but I would almost think some good elf was sitting on the shelf when the packets were doled out, because I am an incurable sucker for this spectacular shade of teal/ocean blue, and the soft lavender reminds me of the inside of a seashell that you might find on a sunset stroll down the beach. I opened the package and made very happy sounds. "Squee" was likely uttered.

I wanted my designs to relate to each other somehow, and decided that the necklaces would involve chain, and the earrings would have some movement.

The cultured sea glass shapes are strung on leather, with ZNet Show chain leftover from another design challenge. I made the toggle from one of the dumbbell shaped beads, which inspired the bracelet:

You can see more clearly here how I used the dumbbell as a toggle.  Even though it's drilled end-to-end, the shape allowed me to tie the leather securely around the middle for a lasting connector. Now if only my torso was shaped like this bead...ah well!

The adorable starfish beads screamed to be the focus of the earrings, and the lentils dangling from the leather provided the casual, swinging mood I was looking for. These got worn the day they were made. Like I said, I am a completely sucker for this color.

Now for the dressier pieces.  First up, the necklace, again with cultured sea glass and chain, this time sterling silver chain from my own stash.

This shade of blue is a little lighter, a little more subtle, and a perfect foil for the delicate purple. I can see this necklace being worn to a romantic picnic on the beachfront or to a candlelit dinner overlooking a beautiful mountain vista (two of my favorite summer destinations -- not that I'm channeling my own vacation wishes here or anything...)

For the bracelet, I used the lovely lavender barrels in a matte finish. This was my opportunity to try making a chain, so what you see is completely fabricated from 18-gauge sterling wire. It is really slinky and sensuous on the arm.

Finally, the earrings.  They're pretty simple, but since there's a fair amount going on with the necklace, I thought simple would be good.  Plus, both beads are suspended from the same headpin, so they swing gently and independently as you move.

 Thanks to ZNet for the opportunity to create with such lovely materials. And thanks to Hope Smitherman for editing Creative Spark and for so kindly nudging each of us to remember the deadlines. Please go check out the online zine, and check out the individual blogs of each of the design team, where they'll give you a more in depth peek into their creative process.  Here they are:

Amy Severino

Andrea Trank

BeckyPancake

BobbieRafferty (you're here!)

BR Kuhlman

CharlieJacka

ChristieMurrow

ChristinaMiles

ChristineStonefield

CynthiaMachata

CynthiaRiggs

DonettaFarrington

HopeSmitherman

KashmiraPatel

KathyLindemer

Kay Thomerson

KellyPatterson

KlaudeteKoon

Lee Koopman

Lisa Lodge

RenethaStanziano

SandraWashington 

Shaiha Williams

SherylStephens

StephanieHaussler

TammieEverly

Breaking From Tradition - Some Previously Revealed, And Something New

I want a tutu.  And some kick ass boots like these girls.

That beady superhero, Cynthia Machata, sent a group of her friends some really cool howlite spikes and said, "Go forth, and play!"  

These were bold gemstones. Large, double holed, and gently squared off.  Below is a pair of the black spikes, although I got a mix of black and white spikes. 

They were far too funky to make something safe and predictable. So I pulled out my funky alter ego (currently taking suggestions as to what my alter ego's name should be...) and went at it. 

I revealed the first thing I made a while back.  If you want to read the whole post, here's the link, but here are a couple of pictures:





This necklace went to a gallery, where the owner asked that question: "Do you have earrings to go with this?"  Well, no, but give me 24 hours, and I whipped up some options (along with the blog post about it):





The gallery took the black pair.  The white pair has been among my inventory at my recent art shows, where people have thought they look like chickens, faces, and Madonna's 1980's bra.  The imagination of art show patrons never ceases to amaze me!

Anyway, that left me with two black spikes.  I thought about doing a quick peyote bezel around them to make earrings, but instead decided to join them with a square stitch belt.

It's a deceptively simple pendant that could go on a leather strand (appropriate for its punky nature), a black cable wire, or a beadwoven necklace (tubular herringbone, perhaps?) Deceptively simple because those suckers got a little squirrely and squirmy when I was trying to weave them together and weave the thread through the holes to keep everything firmly anchored.  Anyway, I love the illusion that I've embellished a larger double-pointed bead, rather than creating it from two separate spikes.

A million thanks, and a million and one hugs to Cynthia for the inspirational fun!  Wanna see who else played along, and what they created?  Here's the list!

Therese (Therese's Treasures) http://theresestreasures59.blogspot.com/

Bobbie (Beadsong Jewelry) http://beadsong.blogspot.com/

Christine (One Kiss Creations) http://onekisscreations.blogspot.com/

Janet (Honey from the Bee) http://www.honeyfromthebee.com/

Cynthia (Antiquity Travelers) http://antiquitytravelers.blogspot.com/