This is Rita's second annual hop to celebrate Octoberfest! And she's got quite a line up of participants. She's already at 50 people, and had nearly as many last year.
Rita of Toltec Jewels calls this time of year "October Magic" and the colors of Fall "glowing embers in the sky."
I'm inclined to agree with her. I do really love the deep orange-red you can see in these images, and that I can see all over New England during "Leaf Peeping" Season (as they call it around here).
The colors this time of year are an inspiration for design, and so I started with the images straight off of Rita's blog post. I do have a tendency to create Pinterest boards for inspiration, and of course I have one for New England that is full of these colors of Fall. Yeah, I'm a tad obsessed.
Alrighty then, back to my project for this hop. Using Rita's images as my inspiration I created a series of earrings.
The colors remind me of carnelian stones, copper and brass. And so, that is exactly what I used in my Fall-inspired earring series. The beautiful copper in these are from Melinda of Orrtec. She makes her own components and they really are gorgeous!
I also belong to Blogging Business Artisans who have a challenge out for this month to get ready for the holidays. And while I'm not one to do Christmas inspired jewelry, I am certainly one to use the colors of Fall in my designs! I do really love this time of year, and can't wait to see what all the other artists created for Rita's Octoberfest-inspired hop!
We are coming up on week 43 of Sally's weekly photo hop. I can't believe how this group has banded together and kept the momentum! I will miss the weekly hopping around from blog to blog come January! It has really been so much fun getting to know everyone better through photography and learning more about each of your lives.
Ok enough teary stuff. For this week we were focusing on shadows. We were to capture where we see shadows, and the patterns that they make. Well at this time of year they get long. And for me, it can be a challenge since I was trying to take pictures during daylight hours, during the work week. Because the buildings are so tall where I am, it is hard to catch shadows! So instead I focused my camera (ehem iphone) upward and watched them dance across the Helmsley Building. It sits straddling Park Avenue at about 46th street. A nice way to take a break from a long day at work, and the weather is just perfect at the moment!
I am coming up on 2 years of blogging, which seems to have gone by so quickly! I can not believe how many amazing people I have meet through this experience, and I am so glad that I decided to start a blog. I decided to ask a few fellow bead weaving friends of mine to join a challenge using a focal as a theme. I saw this piece and just had to ask for a custom order!
Luckily for me, five lovely ladies agreed to help me celebrate using this amazing focal created just for us by Jana of Happy Fish. If you have not yet heard of Jana, then do click over and check out her beads. She is one very talented artist! I now have quite a stash collection of her work! So there will certainly be more coming from me using her beads ... just as soon as I can part with them.
Today I will be showing you what I did with my focal from Jana. I call him Sleeping Giant because he looks like the mountain range here in Connecticut with the same name. But as I continued to look for background on the local park, I realized that there are quite a lot of places with the same name. There is one in Ontario Canada, Colorado, Hawaii ... just to name a few.
The local legend (from the Quinnipiac Native American Tribe) goes something like this. The giant stone spirit Hobbomock (a nasty character in many old stories) became angry about his people being mistreated, and stomped his foot so heavily that he changed the course of the Connecticut River that runs from the top of the state to the bottom. To prevent him from creating such havoc again in the future, the spirit Keitan (the 'good guy') cast a spell on Hobbomock to sleep ... forever. Thus lying down and creating the mountain that looks like a Sleeping Giant.
And one more quick little indulgence that I found while searching was this icicle discovered in the Seattle area that revealed the same profile of our focal. Did they carve that? or did it melt that way? Got me, but that is cool!
Ok, so on to the focal. I did fight just a little with him at first. I originally had him upright (like the picture at the beginning of the post). But he just kept wanting to lay down in all designs. So I ripped the first piece apart (after being roughly 75% done with it!). But I like him so much better laying down, and now he does look like the sleeping giant.
I decided to use a graduated grey, to twilight, to deep blue colorway to represent the night sky. A few sparkles here and there for the stars coming into view. The grey below is a night reflection on water. So you'll have to use a little imagination to see my guy laying down for his long sleep!
Now that I've shown what I've done with my focal from Jana, I'm off to see what everyone else did with their designs. I simply can not wait to see what each of them have created! Here is everyone's link so you can check out their reveals.
Janet Bocciardi Honey from the Bee, Christine Altmiller One Kiss Creations, Bobby Rafferty Beadsong, Therese Frank Therese's Treasures, Alicia Marinache All the Pretty Things, Cynthia Machata Antiquity Travelers (that's me)
This week Sally asked us to think about all the various things that happen in the course of a day. I decided to give you a little photo tour through my day; through my usual routine to and from my 'day job'
I've been playing around with silk a lot lately trying to find new techniques that fit my repertoire. This piece features a beautiful deep turquoise blue 'reclaimed' sari silk from Darn Good Yarn.
Darn Good Yarn employs women in India and Nepal. And when asked, why women? They will tell you "globally, women experience poverty more than men do. The money they will make with us helps promote their family's education, healthcare and provide basic necessities like food. It also lessens the effects of gender and caste discrimination by providing them with a hand-up rather than a hand-out." That is a cause I can support!
I wanted to create a piece that was soft, and relaxed with that touch of boho to it. The silk is the perfect fit for this look. I also wanted to play with turquoise giving the ends of the silk fringe a little extra something. The focal is a piece that Christine had in her stash for some time it seems. So she asked if I wanted to have a go with it. Um, yes please. After I made this one, I wrapped it up and gave it back to Christine. I hope she finds some good use for this boho-inspired piece. I sure had fun making it.
Many months ago my friend Christine showed me a pattern that she created called "Gallery." I had asked her if she'd show me some basic bead weaving stitches, of which one of them was square stitch. Not a difficult stitch, but does take time to work your way through a bracelet.
However, it really shouldn't take 6 months! I started it, and then got side tracked with all the other projects on my beading table. Only to find it several weeks ago and to pick it up and finish it.... one evening just hanging out with the family.
I've been wearing the bracelet ever since. It fits so comfortably on, and actually feels like I'm not wearing it at all. Which in my opinion is a great thing since I type at the computer most days. And can't stand to have a bracelet clunking into my desk and key board all day long! I've had lots of compliments on this one, but this one isn't for sale. I know I've told you all before that I don't wear much of the jewelry I make, but this one will get a lot of rotation in the ones that I do actually wear. It's my new favorite.
This post is crazy long over due. Back in July my friend Janice over at Bikbik & Roro sent me the sweetest package. It included this cute little guppy pin that I absolutely adore! And she included some fun stuff for my girls (stickers - which my youngest still loves to collect) and a ghostlet postcard.
She makes each pin by hand with recycled heavyweight paper and fabric, and a lot goes in to each one. She mounts them on thick illustration board and painstakingly hand cuts, paints, sands and varnishes each one to make these cuties. But then all her wonderful items in her shop are such wonderful handmade items like her soft toys and tabby cat totes. Check out her shop!
It was back in July when I sent two of my beaded fish to two big sisters over in Singapore that were expecting a baby brother. Yes, Janice has a beautiful new baby in her family. And even in her last weeks of pregnancy, she was so organized to exchange fish with me! And I absolutely love mine.
I need to play catch up again. So apologies for the few extra pictures I'm showing this week. Let's start with Sally's prompt from this week. She asked us to think about connections, and I thought I'd show a whole lotta connection in one place! It really was fun to meet so many of you in person this August at Bead Fest. Yes, I know I'm cheating just a little since I took this picture a few weeks ago. But still, you have to admit it works for this week's prompt!
I actually have been taking pictures for each of Sally's prompts from the previous weeks, I just didn't get a chance to get the post put together. Sometimes life just gets in the way of everything else going on. And that darn day job .... tends to get busy as we head into the holidays. So I tend to get a little behind this time of year.
Anyway, so for last week's prompt Sally asked us to show you a smile. Now this isn't my daughter Anne's usual ear-to-ear grin, which she is known for, but her subtle "I-see-you-taking-my-picture-mom" smile.
This next picture may not be the most amazing one I've ever taken, but here's the thing. I've been wanting to upgrade my camera so I could play with focus. Focus in on the subject - blur out the background. I wanted to be able to take better macro photography of my jewelry. I finally got my camera in July and have been playing ever since. I've taken lots of late season flower pictures like this one where I can zero in on the flower and the bee resting just on top. I'm so excited I can do photography like this now!
And just one more. When Sally asked us to focus on a quiet moment, well nothing says quiet to me like tea, in my favorite chair reading over all of your blog posts! This happens to be a cup of homemade Chai. I don't buy Chai in the store, as I'm not exactly sure what that is supposed to be? But it doesn't taste like true Indian Chai. So I buy tea and spices to make my own. I also have a hand whip to froth my milk. Most of the people I saw making Chai on the streets of India would froth the tea by pouring back and forth between containers. I'm just not that skilled - it would be a kitchen disaster for sure. And would completely ruin my quiet moment!
One of the most amazing things I've discovered in meeting so many people in the beading community is watching artisans grow. I love the comradery especially when I see artists helping artists. It warms my heart.
I have been working with Linda Younkman on Bead Chat Magazine for some time now, and have seen her evolve her style and really come into her own. It is an amazing thing. She's been working with Melinda Orr and picking up all kinds of ideas and use with leather. Melinda really enjoys showing and teaching others what she knows. She's just a kind soul that way.
But Linda does have her own flare. When she told me she was a 'cowgirl at heart' I could not resist picking up this amazing focal from Jana of Happy Fish for her. But I tell you, I would never have guessed she'd create this design. Isn't it awesome! And look at the beauty of it displayed prominently in the pages of the magazine (pg 59-60).
I don't think this one is for sale. I popped over to her Esty and didn't see it listed. Can't say I blame her as I'd want to keep this one too!
This month I have a turquoise leather necklace featured in Bead Chat Magazine (page 103 - just in case you missed it!).
It's quickly becoming one of my favorite styles: simple, Boho inspired. I think it would look fantastic with a simple, white, flowing, cotton summer dress. Or perhaps a little denim.
It uses a little leather fringe in the focal, some turquoise and pearls in the focal and everything hangs on a beautiful rustic leather cord by Orrtec.
I think I might just be addicted to leather as it is starting to show up in so many of my designs, but I just love this look. It is so that 'easy to grab and go!' and dresses up pretty much any outfit.
You'll find it listed in my Etsy Shop.
I'm inclined to agree with her. I do really love the deep orange-red you can see in these images, and that I can see all over New England during "Leaf Peeping" Season (as they call it around here). 
