CC7A :: Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

This month's Creative Continuum of 7 Artists challenge is designing with one of Therese Frank's beautiful glass cabochons and a rather generous extra stash of crystals and stones. Thanks Therese! 

I just love Therese's focals, and this one is particularly beautiful with blue foil just under the glass surface which gives such a glow to it. I wanted to use colors in the beading that would bring out the blues and let the focal still stay center stage. I used muted blues and black, and a pattern that Christine recently shared with me (she featured it on her blog a few weeks back). I love this pattern! It uses three stitches; ladder, brick and then a whip to line the edges. I doubled the pattern and it turned out just fantastic in this choker. The back uses black velvet and a double loop belt closure so you can adjust it to fit just right. When Therese described her outfit for her wedding, I pictured this piece as something that might match up - she'll have to let me know how close I came (LOL).

I also created 2 other pieces using the crystals. First I made a bracelet using Kelly Wiese' Beaded Allure book. I've used this pattern before and really enjoy the rhythm of the stitch. But I have to say this time around it took me several tries (aka ripping out the entire pattern more than once), much swearing and a broken needle before I found that rhythm. The gold beads are just large enough to swallow up the seed beads throwing off the count in the pattern all over the place (insert another swear word). So I ended up improvising using a combination of stringing a loop of seed beads and coming back through the gold bead to pick up the thread on the last loop like you would for brick. A bit wacky - but it worked! It was a bit of a photo challenge to show just how much this one sparkles ... oh that Therese loves her bit of bling! This one is for you my friend.

Finally, I'm very proud of these earrings. Not because I made them, but because they are my daughter's first creation and design. She came to me after I heard an excessive amount of tapping in my studio and handed me the earwires and asked "is this right?" I did not show her how, she just figured it out on her own. I think she has it in her blood. She and I talked through the design and then she directed me on making the crystal and owl drops. I think they are just fantastic, and I can't wait to see what she designs next.

Now to see what the rest of the artists did with their stash from Therese: Alicia (our host), Christine, Emma, Monique, Sally and Therese.

Native Peoples :: Symbolism

The hourglass symbol has signified many things through time. I have found it in Native American culture, Egyptian and even Free Masons. One of my favorites is the Lakota, a Native American tribe from the Black HIlls of South Dakota who believed there was a powerful connection between the sun and the Earth. They saw the design as an inverted triangle on top to symbolize the sky (sun or stars) as it touched the earth ... the bottom triangle being the earth. 

The Lakota followed the path of the sun by the shadows through the seasons (their version of a sun dial). They were nomadic and didn't always camp in the same place, so the shadows marked time and told them when to migrate to another location. 

Buffalo (an integral part of the culture) also had migratory patterns that coincided with the tribe's sacred sites. The Lakota painted star maps on hides, and believed buffalo embodied solar power; thus eating buffalo meat was eating energy from the sun.

While my bracelet here does not use colors that would have been typical to the Lakota (blue, white and brick red - the natural pigments of the time), the pattern embodies their sacred symbol and uses some interesting negative space. It is a pattern that Christine and I worked on using a design she created with a brick stitch, but I reversed the pattern to create the hourglass shape. 

Pacific Northwest :: Foggy Days

I know I've been a bit sporadic at blogging lately. Life has been busy. A good busy, but busy. It hasn't left as much time as I'd like for beading, blogging and such. I've been traveling a lot, and just returned from a trip to Oregon where we were visiting with my brother and his family, and made a large migration of family to the coast to see my Dad. I rarely make it 'home' these days, but I do miss the Pacific Northwest.

I got a bit of time yesterday to paint before the flight home. I have a new toy called a water brush. You just give it a little squeeze and voila you've got water color paint to go. I gave my new toy a spin and painted a local icon called the St. John's Bridge (c. 1931). Its design is Gothic to echo neighboring Cathedral Park, and it was declared on St. Patrick's day that it would be painted green. The St. John's Bridge was the first of its kind west of the Mississippi; a suspension bridge, just like the Golden Gate in San Francisco (c. 1937). If you've ever been to Portland you know that it is known for it's bridges that crisscross the Willamette River that runs through the city. The bridges are simply everywhere, and add to the feel of this water city.

I managed to get some great 'moody weather' as my husband likes to call it. Personally, I love the rain and fog. It is relaxing and feels like home. I got a lot of it while I was there. The fog creates the perfect backdrop, and I decided to paint in a bit to my watercolor.

Beadweaving :: Spring Thaw

I don't know about the rest of you, but this spring weather is long over due! I don't even care that my allergies are about to hit me hard. I just need some warmth already.

I recently met up with Christine, and as we usually do; we beaded, swapped ideas and perhaps sipped a bit of wine. Gotta be careful on the wine front so there aren't any 'bead injuries' with all those needles. Lord knows how many times through the years I've stabbed myself with a needle or accidentally hammered a finger. So we were careful. I only stabbed myself a few times.

Christine showed me several new patterns. That woman can bead! And she is always coming up with amazing bead weaving ideas. One of the patterns she shared is called Spring Thaw. So appropriate don't you think?

The base stitch is herringbone with a twist using bugles (yes bugles with twists of course). Typically Christine uses bugles on either side of her center anchor (you can see it here). I decided that since my bugles were on the longish side that I'd do only one side. I kind of like its off-kilter look. It's a bit like me, and suits me just fine. Thanks for the bead lesson my friend. 

Stones: Connemara Marble

Over Christmas we took a trip to Ireland. I posted some pictures a few blog posts back (Doors of Dublin, Castles and Gathering Moss). I promised I'd be back with a design that was Ireland inspired. And so I am. This piece uses a focal stone called Connemara Marble. It is said to have 40 shades of green in it's wild pattern which perfectly represents the landscapes of the Emerald Isle. 

If any of you follow Karen over at Backstory Beads you will have seen her stunning design with this same focal I shared with her. It was amazingly designed and can be worn as a necklace or a pin. Seriously, it is very cool and you should click on over to her post. Liz from Bead Contagion also has one of these stones, so there is still one more stone to share with you all from Liz that will no doubt be a completely inspired design.

When I saw Karen's design I giggled to myself because I was half way done with my piece when she posted her's and I noticed that we had both looked at this stone and thought it needs fiber and knotted beads. Could not agree with you more Karen! Karen even went so far to include some beautiful macrame for her closure using a Sherri Stokey's technique.

I actually used a technique I saw in Erin and Lorelei's Bohemian Inspired Jewelry book (I never get tired of this book and come back to it again and again for inspiration). The knotting around the stone is called a lark's head knot. I included moss agate rounds to bring out all the shades of green in the focal. I added my own wire wrapped chain and then finished up with a bit of extra chain to make this a rather long necklace that slides over your head without a need for a closure.

Ok, and now for the history behind the stone. You know I can't resist a bit of that. Connemara Marble is over 900 million years old and is unique to Ireland. The name is tribal from Conmacne, a tribe with many branches from all over the Connacht region of Ireland which today is called Galway County. One branch of the tribe that lived on the Western coast was called the Conmacne Mara with mara meaning 'of the sea' in Gaelic.

The stone itself is a serpentine-rich rock, which has been used and traded since Neolithic period. Yeah, that's pretty old I'd say. During our trip we saw old ring forts that were from 6,000 years ago and weather-beaten stone huts that housed the people living along this wind-whipped part of the world. The rugged beauty is stunning as is their rich history. Absolutely a place worth visiting.