Just before Christmas Alicia of All the Pretty Things asked a group of us if we'd be interested in coming together to share beads and create as a team: The Creative Continuum of Seven Artists (CC7A).
First up in our group of seven is Monique of A Half Baked Notion who gave us the theme of a current exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada. She was inspired by this exhibit to create a polymer focal blending the look of wood with an artistic flower in the center.
This particular exhibit features a unique mix of artists, architects and artisans, or more specifically how their work and styles blended together from 1890-1918 in Canada. Quite a unique collection. During this time of Canada's history they were moving from agricultural colonies to an industrial nation which included a demand for new buildings both civic and domestic. The building boom created a growth period where artists and architects worked together to design and decorate their towns and their homes which introduced the idea of combining painting with architecture in design. It is a beautiful example of Canadian Arts & Craft period, a style of architecture that is my absolute favorite and which I use for my own home. You can read more in an article by the National Gallery of Canada Magazine.
I pulled a few examples from the exhibit to give you a flavor of the works (numbered left). (1) 1904 Oak Sideboard by Jeremy Adamson a piece that as William Morris, founder of the Arts & Craft movement, said is “characterized by a return to simplicity of design.” (2) 1897 book binding (book of Ruth & Esther) for Will Bradley which is tooled, gilded and colored cow skin from Nova Scotia. (3) 1906 mural painting by Gustav Hahn; many of the artists were commissioned to paint for the new Toronto City Hall and Parliament Buildings. (4) 1912 sideboard from the main dining room of the Legislative & Executive Building at Regina, Saskatchewan built by Edward & W.S Maxwell. (5) my favorite ... a 1900 Arts & Craft piano! Built by Reid Brothers Manufacturing in Toronto. The piano is stained oak with three oil paintings. I would love to own this one for sure.
I used Monique's wood & flower focal with a design I recently saw from Erin Seigel's in Stringing called Glistening Garland. While I used Erin's technique of tying beads in clusters, I did put my spin on it (because I can never seem to follow directions!) I changed it up with beaded fringe around the focal. I thought the hemp used for the stringing and the sway of the fringe reminded me of the old book binding above (#2 picture from the exhibit). For anyone else that would like to try Erin's design, you'll find it in the Winter issue of Stringing and is quite easy to follow.
As a bonus, Monique included a second polymer focal with a mosaic heart. I took the opportunity to practice my chenille stitch for Christine & Therese's A Time To Stitch #4 Challenge. Chenille has become my favorite new stitch and I seem to be using it non-stop. I've already made several necklaces, and a bracelet (you'll see the other pieces posted on my ATTS post).
Once I finished this chenille chain for the heart necklace I went in search of a very loving home for it. And I found it with Christine's youngest daughter; just look at that sweet smile. She was wearing it for her recent piano recital where I hear she did an amazing job wowing the audience. Rock on Lanie!
And now to see what the rest of the seven artist's created please visit: Alicia (our host), Christine, Emma, Monique, Sally and Therese.
Before Christmas I saw some interesting spike beads at my local bead store. Now spikes really are not my usual 'style' but I have been wanting to at least give them a try. I was hoping for something a little less .... metal-dog collar-ish. So, when I saw these howlite ones I thought, well alrighty then these could work.
The thing with these spikes (or any spike) is that they are a 'one way only' kind of bead. So what you do with them is somewhat limited. I decided to start off a bit predictable. I know, I know. That isn't really like me. But at least 2 early attempts were disastrous 'fails' that were ripped out. Surprisingly (at least to me) the feel of this bracelet is so comfortable around the wrist. Totally wasn't expecting that!
The beading here is an organic ladder stitch (aka, freeform to work around those ginormous spikes). I wanted an earthy feel to it, so I grabbed some mud-colored seed beads that are a bit irregular. They really pulled out the light veining in the howlite. I still have a stash of these, so I will go back to trying something a little more adventurous and let you know if I hit on anything worthy of showing you all.
This round of bead weaving hosted by Christine and Therese has us using patterns with a choice of chenille, netting, spiral ropes or chevron stitch. I decided to try all of them because, well I'm just enjoying learning new bead weaving techniques. And these two ladies are wonderful encouragement for my repertoire!
Ok, let's start with netting. I pulled out an older bracelet I'd done a while back (in a brown/ tan color) that I had trouble with the closure. I ripped it out and added a slide which I like so much better. Then I made a second bracelet (in blue) with a vertical netting. It beads up much more tightly as a pattern for some reason, but has a nice feel once on the wrist.
I still wasn't quite done with netting, and decided to try a necklace. I had this really cool multi-piece fish bead I bought from Firefly Design Studio that I love. And I thought it would be such a great design to do a 'fisherman' design, or 'fisherwoman' as the case may be! I decided to gift this piece to Christine's oldest daughter who is quite the fisherwoman catching more than 100+ fish last summer! As you can see, the design really seems to suit her (just look at that beautiful smile), and I'm so please that she likes it.
Next up I decided on spiral rope. I made two versions of a bracelet. The first is a true, simple spiral, but the second is a bit of a twist - literally! I used the silver zig zag chain (I featured in my zig-zag tutorial) and added hematite rounds between the chain. For some reason the difference in the size of the hematite made the pattern twist in a way that resembles a spiral. Huh? who knew that would happen? And a complete bonus discovering a lazy way to bead a spiral rope - ha!
On to chenille. I believe this may be my new favorite rope; I'm completely in love with the rhythm of stitching this. I started with a bracelet. I used a variance in size to create a 'bead-bar' focal. It is actually a 'double pattern' as I stitched up over the first round to fill in with more beads. Kinda love this one and may end up in my stash of bracelets that I actually wear. Next I wanted to make a necklace and matched it with a beautiful jasper drop stone. I love the cut and shape of this stone, and look how wonderful it is in its simplicity with just a beaded bail to finish it. Small tip on this piece. I simply glued the ends of the spiral into the copper caps with E-6000. Easy peasy and holds perfectly!
Ok .... are you all still with me? Just one more stitch: chevron. For this last piece I did a bracelet and made two matching bands that I stitched into a braid of reclaimed sari silk. I added a leather button which really brings this one to life for me. Christine gifted me this button last Fall and I was waiting for just the right project to use it. I think I found it here.
Now to see what all the hoppers, and our hosts created:
Therese Frank (host), Christine Altmiller (host), and all the hoppers: Amy Severino, Janet Bocciardi, Cynthia Machata (you are here), Alicia Marinache, Paula Kramer, Kim Hora, Dee Alcalde, Dagi (Kokopelli), Maryanne Gross, LizE, Sally Russick, Becky Pancake, Jasvanti Patel, Karin Slaton, Alenka, Sarah Sequins, Tanya Goodwin, Debbie Rasmussen, Shirley Moore, Crystie Willard, Nelly May, Ana Cravidao
While I was away a lovely Christmas package came from a friend of mine, Janet.
Some of you may know her blog Honey From the Bee where she shows you some of her talents like photography, travel writing, painting, knitting, crocheting, and even hooking rugs. Seriously ... is there anything that Janet can't do?
But of course my favorite is to see her jewelry. Deep colors, romantic style ... just simply gorgeous jewelry. You can check out her Etsy shop to see her work.
I was totally surprised when I got the package from Janet and opened it to find these beautiful, red lampwork glass earrings inside! Aren't they stunning! And so festive for the holidays! I've been sport'n these babies for days now.
There is a series that Janet created last year that is one of my top favorites from 2013: bullet casing earrings. Yep, I said bullet casings. I can't think of a better way to use bullets than to make these pretty etched earrings! She calls the series Flower Child, which she used the image of a protest in the 1960s with a man putting flowers into the barrels of a soldiers' guns. The soldiers were protecting the Pentagon during an anti-war demonstration.
This series also introduced me to a new favorite fiber bead (middle right earrings), which I am now the proud owner of an array of these beads from Jimena's Treasures. I used these copper & fiber coil beads in one of my designs for Christine's Vintage Wooden Spool Challenge back in November. Thank you Janet for my new earrings, introducing me to a new artist, and for your continuing friendship.
While they say a rolling stone gathers no moss, I would say that in Ireland the wind blows too hard to stand still. I took a short video (at the end of this blog post) standing along the coast of the Dingle Peninsula, and as you can see I had quite a bit of difficulty trying to stand still (with 60-70 mph winds) for any length of time. We did find an abandoned bike seat walking around Dublin covered in moss. Given the rain, it probably didn't take that long to grow.
We started our trip to Ireland by renting a car and driving down to Dingle. I think driving in Ireland rates as one of the more adventurous things we've done. But we didn't realize it until we were there. Before our trip we checked with our car insurance, to see if we had coverage in Ireland. Nope. Huh, really? We've never had any issue before, so we were very curious as to why. We discovered why driving in Dingle.
The road narrows like I've never seen before. There is no shoulder, and the gnarled shrubs are trimmed back just to the painted edge lines of the road. No joke. At one point they seem to have given up on a center line, so that on-coming traffic buzzed past you on the one-lane road, including around blind corners. Add to that the speed limit was 100 kilometers (that translates to roughly 60 mph). A 'white-knuckle' experience! When we returned our car I noticed a smashed rental that had exploded from a crash, and only the burnt shell of the car remained. Ok, now I understand why insurance is outrageous in Ireland. One of the Dublin cab drivers asked us where we had been so far in Ireland and when we said we'd been to the Dingle Peninsula and had driven ourselves, his only response to my husband was "brave man."
I've missed our last two posts, for a good reason. We've just returned from our family trip to Ireland for Christmas. I'll come back later and post about some of our trip later, but for now I'll give you a few pictures of the holidays.
For us, this time of year is not just Christmas and New Years, but it is our anniversary and both of our daughter's birthdays. Suffice it to say that December is a crazy month typically for us. This year we spent Kate's birthday in Dublin, and she and Anne shared a local favorite from a cupcake shop to celebrate. So for my 'togetherness' prompt from Sally I have a birthday celebration in Ireland.
As for saying goodbye, I will say that I am not much for big goodbyes, or send offs. I'd rather think about it as a continuum and what comes next. So as we started the year with the holidays, we end this part of the journey with the holidays. This is a view from the top of a popular shopping center in the heart of Dublin. They really do this time of year in style! But I really don't feel like this is goodbye. We have been on a journey together for a year and I've met many new friends along the way that I hope to continue to blog with in the future. So to you I say Happy New year and see you soon!
Last week I found out that I won a pair of Patti's earrings! I confess, I have been coveting her work for awhile. What's not to love? her metal work is gorgeous! Check out her Etsy site and her blog to see her work.
I saw a pair of her earrings up close a few months back and can tell you they were as beautiful up close as I had imagined. And when these arrived in the mail ... seriously beautiful.
This is exactly the kind of wire work I'd like to do some day. Maybe we can get Patti to teach a class?
Thank you Patti for my new favorite earrings! I put them on and haven't taken them off since. They are fantastic!
We have an annual family tradition of decorating the tree together adding each item and recounting the story behind it. When we travel the one souvenir we all vote on and pick up from each destination is an ornament. Some years we pick up several, other years it might be only one. But there is usually at least one new story to add to the collection each year. I did a pinterest board if anyone is interested in seeing some of the ornaments and the destination they represent.
So far this year we've added only one ... but there is still time, and we're hoping to add just one more. But I'll save that story for a later post.
As we wrap up the year of Sally's Focusing on Life photo hop, my last few pictures to share are of the holidays and family. This time of year is always very special for me. Both my daughters were born during the holidays (one at Thanksgiving time, and the other between Christmas and New Years), and our wedding anniversary is in December.
I need to play a bit of catch up with Sally's hop as I've missed the last two weeks. So let's begin with Giving Thanks, which is an easy one for me. My girls. I cannot imagine, nor would I want to, my life without them. Nothing can prepare you for how much your life will change by being a parent. My life is forever altered in the most amazing way. Something that I am thankful for everyday.
The next prompt was to focus on a little sparkle, which is also an easy one as you can see. Our tree provides plenty of that both literally and figuratively with all the glorious memories of our travels together through life. You can see this one from the Cayman Islands is a bit worse for wear, but still has a wonderful story to tell.
And now for this week; provide a little pop of red. Yep, also easy. This past Wednesday was our 20th Wedding Anniversary, and my travel partner gave me roses. So very sweet of him. I got up crazy early (as I always do) to go into the office. Followed by an important morning meeting, and then back home by lunch to celebrate our special day --- only to see he'd made it out to pick up flowers for me. They are on the pink-red side, but then I've been channeling my inner pink lately as you can see from my post earlier in the week!
A few weeks back I showed you all a bracelet that my friend Christine taught me called "Gallery." It has become a favorite of mine to wear as it is so comfortable and easy to slip on. I have to admit that it surprised me just a bit since pink is simply not my color. But I am finding that I can wear the bracelet with much more than I thought it would match up with.
At the time that Christine showed me how to make the Gallery pattern (a square stitch), she showed me another one called "Something Fine" that uses simple ladder stitch to anchor rows of stringing (right). One more comfy bracelet, and I used exactly the same beads. But this time the dominant color is the multi-brown/ pinkish beads. It gives the look a deep, rich color tone for Fall. The other thing I added was a large vintage pink button, also gifted by Christine. She is bringing out my inner pink I had no idea was there!
Last summer I was shopping around over on BluMudd and came across this cool bracelet bar. It jumped out at me, probably because it has such wonderful Viking tones to the pattern. Yep, total love for this one.
It sat on the bead table for quite a few months simply because I was hording it. But this piece is just too cool to not put it to work.
I did want to create a somewhat rustic looking beaded bracelet, albeit it isn't in brown tones. But who says the Vikings didn't sometimes wear green? The stitch is a square stitch. A sturdy stitch and one you could image used in Medieval times. I wanted to create a belt buckle look to the bracelet, and a little twisting to the edges to create a braided look. The closure wraps around to button in the back with braided hemp finishing with a hammered copper button.
Ok, and now for the fun part. I went looking for some antiquity eye candy and discovered a great blog called Viking Metal. It's written by a woman in the UK who is doing post doctoral research on .... yep, the Vikings. She had a piece posted that probably would have been used at the end of a waist belt to keep the ends from fraying. The time period is likely the late 9th or early 10th century. It is a standard interlace pattern of the time, and reminded me of the bracelet bar from BluMudd.
Each month my Esty Blogging team does a challenge, and this month the theme is to look to nature for inspiration and Fall colors. Well that's easy enough, so what took me until the end of the month?!
I decided to create a simple choker using a gorgeous jasper focal, some copper detail, leather and a little black to draw out the veining in the stone.
I love japser; it is one of my favorite stones. Of any of the stones I have built up in my stash, jasper is absolutely top 5. I never get tired of it as there are so many varieties to choose from. Half the fun is trying to figure out exactly which one it is. I thought this one was red poppy jasper, but my friend Therese is guessing leopard skin jasper. Let us know if you have a better guess!
I've been trying to figure out a little history on turn of the century folk art toys, some call them "Prim Dolls."
I just had this picture in my head of homemade, sewn rag dolls. But, there really is very little information on them. Plenty of pictures, but next to no background or history.
This necklace just seemed to have that same touch of handmade, folk art, rag doll flare. A bit of whimsy and a lot of swing when you wear it. The large grey rounds are matte hematite (LOVE this bead) and have a good weight to them, so it adds to the swing of the fringe. Oh yes, there is fringe. Fringe seems to be on my mind lately. And I used the zig zag stitch for the necklace as I wanted a chain with a more rustic feel to add to the folk art look. I am really enjoying playing around with this look lately.
Several of you asked about how to do the zig zag stitch. It really is very simple; using 3 beads to shape a triangle. I like using metal colored beads as it does create a chain look and feel to the stitch. Below is a step-by-step to explain:
I've had a lot going on lately and haven't been able to get out and snap pics for Sally's hop. I am hoping to catch up today since I took the day off to celebrate my youngest daughter's birthday.
Sally asked us 3 weeks ago to focus on an industrial photo. I confess that I had some trouble trying to think about how to capture that in a photo. Yes I work in New York, but a single photo? When I think of industry it makes me think of the turn of the last century when machines made life easier, which made me think of the old sewing machines. I learned how to sew on an old Singer with the crank wheel. And when I bought my first machine I wanted one just like it, so I bought this one. It only goes backwards and forwards. Nothing fancy, but it is what I prefer.
The next thing Sally asked us to think about was to reflect. This time of year I do reflect on all the things to organize as the kids go back to school, the days become shorter, and the rains come --- soon to be snow. I actually enjoy the cooler weather, and don't mind the rain. But that is probably because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest.
Ok, so one more photo to share with you all. Today is my youngest's birthday, and my centerpiece. She is very excited as we are having several of her friends over for pizza, cake and then off to the opening night of the Hunger Games. It just happened to coincide with her exact birthday. She's just a tad giddy today as she awaits the arrival of all her friends showing up to help her celebrate. So I might be a little delayed in getting around to everyone's blog posts tonight!
Just before Christmas Alicia of All the Pretty Things asked a group of us if we'd be interested in coming together to share beads and create as a team: The Creative Continuum of Seven Artists (CC7A).
I used Monique's wood & flower focal with a design I recently saw from Erin Seigel's in Stringing called Glistening Garland. While I used Erin's technique of tying beads in clusters, I did put my spin on it (because I can never seem to follow directions!) I changed it up with beaded fringe around the focal. I thought the hemp used for the stringing and the sway of the fringe reminded me of the old book binding above (#2 picture from the exhibit). For anyone else that would like to try Erin's design, you'll find it in the Winter issue of Stringing and is quite easy to follow.
As a bonus, Monique included a second polymer focal with a mosaic heart. I took the opportunity to practice my chenille stitch for Christine & Therese's A Time To Stitch #4 Challenge. Chenille has become my favorite new stitch and I seem to be using it non-stop. I've already made several necklaces, and a bracelet (you'll see the other pieces posted on my ATTS post).
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