Scotland: Iona

It has been awhile, a long while, since I wrote anything on my blog. I can't say exactly why since I have loved meeting and getting to know all the many people in the blogosphere. I kept telling myself that I'll feel like blogging again ... someday. But the mood just never did strike.

Occasionally I'll pop over to some of my favorite blogs to see what people are up to and to, hopefully, find a little inspiration to pull out my beads and create. Then it hit me. I was over on Sj Designs blog and saw this dreamy picture of Iona an island in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Earlier that day I had been laying out a plan for a trip to Scotland that combined castles, islands and the highlands. Now I had to join in on her challenge to create something with these blues.

I actually ended up making six pairs of earrings, but thought I'd post the blue ones today. My daughter seems to have claimed the lace blue agate pair (right), and they are fun with a lot of swing to them. 

She's been talking about piercing her ears, so maybe she has a bit of incentive now. I've been enjoying the labradorite teardrops (left). They are light, easy to wear and just a bit of fun for all the zoom calls that take up my day now.

I made one other pair that are long, elegant aqua crystals. I did try those out as well, but they might be a bit more 'evening' and too much bling for my zoom calls.

So, back to Iona. The island's history goes back to the Iron Age with the word Iona meaning island in Gaelic, but it has had many names over the centuries. The island is said to be the birthplace of Christianity in Scotland and is considered a holy place. St Columba and 12 companions went to Iona from Ireland in 563 AD where they built a Celtic church and established a monastery. The monastic community is one of the most important and influential in the British Isles. Today, this tiny island, which is 1.5 miles wide and 3 miles long, has a a population of 170 people. While there may not be a lot of 'things' to do around Iona, just look at that view. Do you need more?

UFOs :: Round 2

Karen announced another UFO hop, and like many of my bloggy friends we're all in. The motivation to work through all those half finished pieces on the bead table is strong. 

Many of us have stared down these UFOs for years shifting the piece this way and that trying to capture a glimpse of what the piece might look like finished. Myself included. I know I, for one, want to see these pieces come to life and move off my bead table once and for all!

The process is slow trying to work through my collection of UFOs, but I have finished another piece. This one actually includes two UFOs into one (score!). I paired a bezeled glass cab with a small bit of grey, beaded herringbone to create a 'bib fringe.' Not sure if a bib fringe is a real thing, but hey I'm in to fringe these days and I'm trying all kinds of variations. I liked how it looked together, so I went for it in this piece.

The problem was that I could tell that once I tried to include a backstrap it was going to twist and turn. So I mounted it (aka glued it) on a heavy gauge piece of silver that I had hammered. This created the perfect anchor for the focal and an easy way to attach some leather. Not sure why this final UFO was such a struggle with so many starts and stops, but it is finally in the finished pile. Now I'm trying to decide what might be next to tackle from this pile of UFOs.

Be sure to check out everyone else's finally finished UFOs: Karen, Francie, Christine, Therese, Bobbie, Kim, Liz, Liz E, Amy, Hope, Christi and Margo

UFOs :: Flipping the Rorschach

Oh those UFOs, they are the bane of a beader. They taunt you from the bead table, calling to you, as they lay there unfinished. You simply stare down at it knowing you need to either change direction or rip it out. Ugh, but the amount of work that went into it, and that original image you hold in your head keeps you from ripping it apart. Sound about right? Sigh.

I have so many of these unfinished objects that I've lost count. I knew for this hop I had to pull out the mother of all UFOs ... this beaded collar. Or at least that is what it was supposed to be, and yet when I assembled the collar it hung like a large rectangle. Why? Because I had the curve of the collar at the neckline completely wrong. Or should I say that it had no curve at all, it was a straight edge. I mean come on, who has a triangular neck? Clearly I had not thought this through, and yet I'd spent all this time putting these beads in place. Yep, the moment you just want to chuck it at the wall. This is my first attempt at a collar necklace, and a mistake I won't make again. Hugh sigh. 

I could not get myself to rip this one apart. Look at this piece. I spent hours upon hours beading in vintage, irregular Turkish seed beads and then lined the edging with vintage glass pearls. Then backed the piece with suede. There was ab.so.lute.ly no way I was pulling this thing apart. And so it sat on the bead table for more than a year. When Karen announced this UFO hop I knew I was going to pull this thing out and force myself to deal with it. 

So here is what I did. I decided that the one side of the collar could actually be the focal of an asymmetrical necklace. I went back to my stash to pull out more vintage pearls to balance the other side. My mother had given me a pile of old pearl necklaces that matched the small Turkish pearls from a friend. I also needed to pull out the backing and get rid of one of the connector jump rings I'd embedded on the left side. I left the other connector on the right to use as part of a toggle. I wanted to balance the width of the pearls to the collar so I added a square plate that I could anchor the pearls. Then it was just a matter of adding a backstrap.

What took so long to come to this solution? A solution that took me roughly 2 hours to complete? I think it is the same angst for all UFOs. You start a piece with a vision in mind, and it is hard to re-set that lens. But once you let go and flip the Rorschach you can finally re-imagine your piece. 

There is a crew of us working on UFOs, so check out the rest of the blog hop: Karen, Christine, Amy, Therese, Kim, Liz E, Margo, Cathi, Liz and Francie.

In Memoriam :: Carrie Fisher

This is a blog post from 3 years ago that I'm reposting. I think Carrie would have enjoyed this one given her sense of humor. If you want a good laugh check out a recent interview with her and her dog Gary.

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Christine's Rolling Blog Hop is, well... hopp'n! I posted two of my spools 2 weeks ago, and I was waiting for a lull to post my third spool reveal. But looks like I'm going to need to squeeze back in.

The posts are just roll'n in, and we've seen some fantastic designs! I have all the links to everyone's reveals so far at the end of this post so you can check them all out.    

For my third design, I was working with this large, more irregular shaped spool. I did struggle just a bit with it trying to figure out what direction I wanted the design of the spool to be until I remembered an image I saw of a young Native American girl. She had beautiful dark hair tied up on either side in what is called a "Squash Blossom" style. The hairstyle is a Hopi custom which represents the sign of a girl's marriageability. The young girl will twist her hair in the shape of squash blossoms, which is the sign of fertility for an unmarried girl in the tribe. 

I wanted natural colors and fibers in this piece, so I used a linen colored silk from Darn Good Yarn, a mix of seed beads, Czech beads and howlite. I am loving this howlite stone with native designs. It has subtle tan-cream veining throughout the stone, which gives it a natural look. I also stained the spool so it had a deep color. The focal is long (6 inches!) and has a good weight to it. I envision it being worn waist length.

Ok, I know this is an irreverent move on my part, but once I started putting this blog post together I simply could not get an image out of my head. Is it just me? or do those squash blossom twists remind you of Princess Leia in Star Wars... I always thought of her hair as more of a Danish pastry swirl, but maybe that is just the recollection from the Ross and Rachel scene in Friends. Once I started googling images, both the Native American girl and Princess Leia kept coming up together. It was all over for me; the image stuck. The one I can't get out of my head is Nicolas Cage dressed like Princess Leia ... that is one that cannot be unseen... Gah!

We're almost through the rolling blog hop! Check out all the links and projects already revealed. Our host: Christine (Christine's post), and all the rest of the rolling bloggers: 
Janet (Janet's post), Hope (Hope's post), Bobbie (Bobbie's post), Tanya (Tanya's post), Maryanne (Maryanne's post), Cynthia (my first post), Liz (Liz's post), Lisa (Lisa's post), Kim (Kim's post), and the bloggers still to post: Therese (Therese's post), Karin (Karin's post) and Erin (Erin's post)

Pretty Palettes

Erin Prais-Hintz of Tesori Trovati asked if I'd like to partner with her this month for her Pretty Palettes series she hosts over on the Halcraft site. I always get so inspired by both Erin's designs and her creative challenges. So, she pretty much had me at 'hello' before I even knew what I was signing up for. 

She mentioned that for September she was thinking about a challenge to design using school colors. She let me choose between my alma mater, University of Oregon (go ducks!) or my daughter's current school, Simmons College. 

As much as I loved my college, I'm just not wild about designing jewelry using kelly green and road-crew yellow. Nope, just couldn't do it. So it took about half a second to decide I'd rather go with Simmons colors of blue and grey. Go Sharks!

Erin sent me a gorgeous stash of blue and grey with druzy in both colors (LOVE druzy) and hematite in both silver and a green-blue hue. I started with the druzy, of course. And used them to bring out the colors in a glass cab I've been hoarding for years. I picked this up in a little hand blown glass studio on the Oregon Coast called Fernhill Studios. I kinda love the weight of this necklace. It is simple with substance. 

I kept thinking I needed to try designing with a shark, but I don't have a shark bead, nor have I ever seen one. But, I do have lots of fish. And so I decided to use a whole school of them for this next design. Plenty of fish fringe in this piece and a bit of shimmer in the silver sequence and hematite. I kept thinking about the story I used to read to Kate when she was little called Rainbow Fish. She loved that one.

So one last design as I really wanted to try out those square heshi spacers in the green-blue hue. I went for an accent color in a pair of earrings. And yes Erin, you're right! They do kind of look like a wild version of a shark's tooth!

Don't forget to hop over to see some of the other designs over at the reveal on Pretty Palettes. And check out Erin's designs! A stunning necklace with coral reds and creamy pearl white. Love the feel of this piece! Go Badgers!

Erin Strother also joined our challenge with with her school colors of purple and white. She created a beautiful piece of amethyst and pearls. Elegant and spirited all in one. So much fun to join these guys in a fun challenge. Thanks for letting me play along this month Erin!

Camping :: Adirondack Style

When I think of camping, I think of the Adirondacks. We go up every year to our little house on the lake. It is not what they call 'winterized' which means that there is no insulation. 

Anyone been in Northern NY State in the dead of winter? Believe me when I say you need insulation. So each year we 'open camp' in the spring once the snow has melted and we 'close camp' in the Fall once the leaves turn.

What makes the place special is that it is quiet. Just you, the birds and the water. Well and in our case a few dozen families with cousins, extended cousins, long-time friends through the generations. It is the kind of place where families hand down the camp to the next generation, which is what happened with our camp. 

Originally my husband's grandfather (Alfred) and his brothers discovered this remote location. They bought the camp we own, and built several more along the lake. Our camp is full of the memories that Alfred brought back from his decades of living in India. Nothing of great value, just the memories and stories of another place and time. But I have told you all this in a previous post, or on Instagram where I have lots of pictures from the lake.

This post is actually in response to a challenge Erin has going over on Earrings Everyday asking for our designs inspired by camping and the deep colors you see in the campfire. She wanted to know what images or memories it brings. For me it will always be this place. There are many gatherings around the dock campfires (it is safer to have an open pit fire near the water), or on cold days we will sit in front of the fireplace (in the camp) to roast marshmallows with the girls with the same long camp forks my husband used as a child. 

My design uses sea urchins in an orange-brown color and gold-orange beads with an Indian flare. And of course one of my two favorite models is showing us how they look. Thanks Kate. I will miss you more than words when we take you off to college in September. You can see everyone else's designs at the reveal over on Earrings Everyday.

CC7A :: Blue Skies

We are wrapping to a close on our second year of our CC7A group hop, the Creative Continuum of Seven Artists created and hosted by Alicia of All The Pretty Things blog. Each one of us have co-hosted a month by sending around a photo to the team to inspire our creative thinking. 

This final month is hosted by Christine. She sent around such a cool inspiration as we head into winter. A view of an open blue sky that can consume the landscape once the trees are bare. It makes me think of seeing the migrating birds heading South for the winter. It is a dramatic sight in an empty sky.

That is why my piece for this month is of a bird in flight. That is exactly where my mind went when I saw Christine's photo. I think we all struggle with finding that bit of breezy blue sky inspiration once the days turn short, and often the skies are grey and heavy with snow. But on those rare days when the sky just opens up with a burst of blue on a cold day it makes you want to breathe in deeply and enjoy the short bit of warmth on your face. Thanks for this photo Christine. It is that warm blanket on a cold winter's day.

I also decided to add a pair of earrings. They match the necklace, but only with the agate rondelle accent beads I have included in both. The skeleton of the leaves reminds me of what is left behind after they fall. That delicate, decaying lace stretching between the skeleton of the leaf that was. Ok, one last turn about the rest of the blogs for our group hop: Christine, Therese, Sally, Alicia and Monique. Be sure to check them all out!

ATTS 8 :: What's Your Bag?

I think ATTS (or A Time To Stitch) is my favorite blog hop series. My friends Christine and Therese have managed to create a hop that is constantly reinventing itself and getting us all to try a new technique. And I love to try new things. 

This time the challenge was to try making a bag using beadwork. Now that could be an amulet bag, or a beaded bag or whatever else you decide you want to try your hand at. That is the best part of this hop --- it has pretty easy going rules. I was going to try an amulet bag, but instead I decided to make myself a jewelry travel pouch. 

What's that? Well the one I had, I'd had for years. It is still in very good shape, in fact almost new. It has all these little zipper pockets in it to stuff your various earrings or bracelets in. Then you roll it up and you pull a cord around it to secure it. (Here is a similar one) So why did I need a new one? Well, the one I had was from my mom, and when my sister came to visit I sent her home with it. I made quite a few pieces of jewelry for her to take home for herself and several of her friends. I tucked them all into the jewelry travel pouch from mom. She lives so far away from the family and has so few things from our mom that whenever she mentions that she likes something from mom I tuck it in her suitcase.

I actually ended up shipping her some green glass bowls that my grandmother used to use for desserts but my sister said "oh those are awesome champagne glasses!" Huh, yea I guess they are. But I had been using them for pudding or jello for the girls. She had a much better idea of what they were. So I shipped those to her. I would bet that my grandmother spent less than $5 for the set of 8, and I paid nearly $130 to ship them to her (New Zealand is not cheep to ship to!). 

Ok, officially down a rabbit hole. Back to the topic here. My travel pouch. I love this rusty copper color. I cut a swatch of raw silk and assembled it by beading the sides together with peyote. I used some suede for reinforcement of the magnet closure and added a bit of beaded design around the top of the closure. Pretty simple actually, but will be just the perfect thing to keep my bits of jewelry in when I'm traveling.

Don't forget to check out all the other bloggers for the hop: Christine, Therese, Bobbie, Amy, Alicia, Dagi, Jasvanti, Karin S, Debbie, Liz E, Lori F, Maryanne, Paula, Samantha, Jenny, Ana, Motidana, Becky

CC7A :: Colorful Chaos

Our CC7A team is back to creating after a summer hiatus. This month Monique is hosting and she picked a beautiful photograph of St. John's in Newfoundland that she titled Colorful Chaos.  

I didn't realize that the picture was North, in Canada. With all those colors I thought it was somewhere South, perhaps in South America. But I bet all those colors are beautiful peeking out of the snow in the dead of winter!

St. John's is said to be the oldest settlement in North America dating back to 1494 when John Cabot (a Venetian explorer) and his son Sebastian sailed into the harbor. And for the next 300 years this migratory fishing town turned into a strategic port that the French, Dutch and English continually battled for control. It ended with the French and Indian Wars in 1762 where the English successfully defeated the French in the battle of Signal hill and the French turned the city back over to the English.

I checked into why a Northern city might be painted so colorfully? It is an area called Jelly Bean Row. Tourist will ask to find the street or row where these house are, but it is a generic nickname that refers to all the row houses in the downtown area. Some say that they were originally painted so the fisherman could find their way home through the fog, which is a nice thought but not accurate. You can't see much through a dense fog no matter the color of the house.

They are actually the result of a revitalization began in the 1970s to the downtown in an effort to preserve the heritage of the houses that we're falling into disrepair and heading for demolition. One guy can be credited with the colors: David Webber, the Heritage Foundation Executive Director. He painted a sample block in bright colors. From there it spread like wildfire with people painting over the drab, dark colors of their houses and adding all kinds of fancy trims as well. At this point the majority of the downtown is decked out in these bright colors.

I got a little distracted in figuring out some history behind this picture, that I need to get to my project for this post! I went with the center colors in the pallet: orange - red hues. I love this piece of deep, cherry sea glass. I did another pattern with this red sea glass a while back that had an Egyptian feel to it. The red does sort of look like a burning sun hanging over a desert. I took some thick copper (14 gauge) and happily twisted and hammered away. Then shaped it around the glass so I could wire it in place. But first I dipped it in patina and tumbled it. I love how the tumbler takes the shiny edge off and buffs out the scratches from all my hammering. Last part of the design is a soft leather strap in the back that holds the necklace from shifting around too much.

And now on to all the rest of the CC7A artists: Monique (this month's host), Alicia, Christine, Therese and Sally

CC7A :: Soft Summer Hues

This month's CC7A challenge is hosted by Sally Russick and is inspired by these beautiful soft summer hues.

I confess that I had originally designed my cabochon #3 as my piece for this month, but I ended up posted it early. Truth be told, I posted it and then remembered several days later that I meant to reveal it for this hop. It was too late to switch it around! That is exactly how distracted I've been lately. 

Ah well, I did have a plan B. I had also made a sweet pair of earrings in the color pallet using a beautiful pair of headpins by Genea that I could not resist buying. I love the celery green color mixed with earthy colors. It just feels like summer to me. I really love her headpins, and all those silvery additions to the beads were perfect for me to add just a touch silver fringe to bring it out.

Be sure to check out everyone else's creations this month: Alicia, Christine, Therese, Sally, and Monique.

ATTS 7: Bead Embroidery

I just love this hop hosted by Christine and Therese. Each one has been a challenge for me to try something new. To practice a stitch or technique. This installment had us trying our hand at bead embroidery. 

While I have been doing quite a few bead bezeling pieces lately, I wanted to try some stitching into fabric. So that is where I wanted to start this challenge. With a piece of fabric, some beads and a simple design. 

The last time that Christine and I got together for a beady weekend, I decided to get started on a piece for this hop. Christine happened to have a bit of grey cloth that matched a bead bezel focal I had just finished. She gifted me the cloth and I got started. I attached the focal and continued the design on the fabric with the same beads. I was going to fill in more beadwork, but both Christine and I agreed simple was better.

But it did just need a bit more, and so I decided to do some bead crochet for an edge. I stitched that in place and then added a suede backing to the fabric. I love the way this one feels on ... that suede backing is so comfortable! And the cuff has that bit of boho elegance that I love. So a win, win for me!

I thought I'd show you all another piece I recently finished. I've been in a bezeling mood lately and I've created a number of pieces with some small polished stones that Melinda Orr gifted me. There is a wide variety and I've had so much fun mixing and matching them. I'll come back and show you more later, but here is one of my favorites. 

I've discovered a nifty trick. If I glue a jump ring to the back of my focal, and then add the suede, I can stitch the whole piece together with a small loop for me to connect the focal. So instead of a large embroidered piece, I get a few individual pieces that connect and have a bit of swing to them. I have a growing collection to show you all that I'be been working on for months. Yes, I am just a tiny bit obsessed with this style.

Be sure to check out the rest of the hoppers today: our hosts Therese and Christine, Amy, Liz E, Kim, Janet, Bobbie, Maryanne, Karen, Becky, Shirley, Lola, Lori, Karin G, Debbie, Paula, Wendy, Jasvanti, Ginger, Alicia, Sarah, Lizzie, Samantha, Sally, and Niky

Make A Statement :: Featuring Therese Frank's Cabochon

Today's hop is hosted by Sally Russick featuring cabochons. She's left the rules a little loose so that people can create with their cabochons using metal smithing, wire wrapping, bead weaving or bead embroidery. I decided to go with a beaded bezel for my cabochon. But not just any cabochon, but one created by my beady friend Therese. 

I wanted to give a little shout out to her hop for next weekend with the ATTS crew (A Time To Stitch) for the 7th installment. Christine and Therese have been hosting this hop for the last few years now (has it really been that long?), and this upcoming hop (Saturday June 6) features bead embroidery. Therese was so sweet to share with many of us her cabochons that she personally made. Her skills seem to know no boundaries, and now she's added lapidary to them. Click here to see some of the other's she made.

The one she sent me I think is just beautiful. It is a plume agate and seems to have a landscape pattern to it. In doing a bit of homework on this type of agate I found that there are several large areas in Eastern Oregon and Idaho (the Owyhee Mountains and Graveyard Point) where they mine this type of agate. They say that plume agates are a seam agates and get their names from the plume like shapes from inclusions in the stones. Many are cloudy plumes, but you'll find brown and black mineral inclusions as well. One 'rock hound' said that when the agate is exposed to the elements it tends to make it look fractured, stained and cloudy. However these stones form, they make for some gorgeous eye candy to bead around.

For my cabochon I decided to use a mix of 'mineral' colors in gun metal grey, copper, brass and gold to highlight all those beautiful inclusions in Therese's stone. I tried (for quite some time) to add leather for the strap, but it just wasn't going to happen. I gave up and went with a simple chainmaille instead which gave this piece just the right balance and substance that I was looking for.

Please be sure to check out all the other artists and their cabochon pieces: Sally (our host), Therese, Sandi, Karin, Paula, Veralynne, Elizabeth, Niky and Terri

Happy Birthday Alenka

Today we are celebrating Alenka's birthday with a butterfly-inspired hop. She loves these beautiful little creatures that she calls METULJI!  

I do love the amazing colors these little guys can come in, along with lots of other small creatures in our world. For a bit of fun eye candy, check out my pinterest board for some inspiration.

Alenka is an amazing polymer artist who creates beautiful beads, cabachons and even something called 'inchies' out of polymer clay. She has such an eye for color, and I simply love her heavy use of vivid spring colors like yellows, oranges and sprout green. If you haven't seen some of her other work then check out the interview I wrote on Alenka a year ago right about this time in our March/ April issue of Bead Chat Magazine (Pages 86-89). Just look at those sweet flower earrings she made! And one of my all-time favorite pieces ever ... the zipper heart. Her creativity knows no limits.

Ok, so on with the hop. I confess that I love looking at butterflies out in the yard, on a hike or up at our cabin in the Adirondacks. We always get a large variety of admirals, and several with vivid reds and oranges. But when it comes to jewelry I don't usually use butterfly shapes. But I knew this hop was coming up, so I purchased a beautiful silver piece that slips on to a licorice leather band. So I created a simple, rustic bracelet for the hop.

Be sure to check out everyone else celebrating Alenka's special day: Alenka (our host), Monique, Beti, Kathy, Kepi, Christine, Amy, Dini, Alicia, Sheila, Therese, Rebecca, Rachel, Liz, Ana, Jasvanti, Carolyn and Nan. That makes 19 of us (including me) ... happy hopping!