Around the World with 362 Jewelry Artists - Bead Soup September 2011

This is the third time I have participated in Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Party.  The first time BSP was held, I saw the list of participants who had already signed up and was too intimidated.  The next time I just held my breath when I clicked the send button and hoped for the best.  Here I am a couple of years later and I couldn't be happier that I decided to take up Lori's challenge and work outside my comfort zone.  The BSP has morphed into a worldwide event - 362 jewelry artists from 21 countries on 5 continents!  Check out the map.  You can click HERE to go see what Melissa made with the soup I sent her which included a flower pendant from Tracee Dock of Classic Bead.

a little teaser from my partner Melissa Muir

soup arrives and is full of bright silver and copper beads

The gorgeous pendant with a sparkling cz set in silver

I loved my soup when I got it because playing with metal offers so many opportunities.  Even though I thought it might make Melissa gasp and maybe even sputter - I couldn't wait to patina the copper and silver beads.  Then I set off to design a piece of bead embroidery to hang behind the pendant and set it off.

lots of ideas I didn't end up using

I was inspired by some votive cups with Moorish designs against bright orange, green, and fushia glass.  I found some sari silk and attached it to a backing and began embroidering berry hued beads.  But something wasn't clicking with me.  I tried a couple bead woven designs, but these were also not a fit.  Then I went to wrapping beads.  Some silver, some bright stones, and a couple lampwork beauties by Julianna Cannon of Juls Beads. These lovelies are going to become a bracelet with the addition of some suede and a couple of juicy copper love knots.

Finally I decided I needed to go with wirework.  This was more in keeping with the swirls on the votives which were my original inspiration.  The pendent started reading as the negative space in a keyhole.  I drew up a few patterns.  The first one above is a little too holly leaf.  It actually only took two tries with a spool of steel wire and I was satisfied.

I formed my keyhole and added some tiny beads to the sides for a little weight.  I didn't want to distract from Melissa's pendant - just frame it with something.  I made some dangles - from a stick of dyed howlite, a tiny sterling silver key, a Swarovski 4mm, and one of the star shaped pearls from the bead soup.  Then I got to wrapping and making loops.  I dug out an large vintage clear crystal with a beautiful color filled sparkle, an aquamarine piece of cut glass, and a strand of something dyed to look like impression jasper.  

To see what the other 362 participants (¡WOW!) made, click on the link below to go to the Official Bead Soup Party page at Lori Anderson's Pretty Things blog.

Golden Dragonfly

I made this dragonfly with 24K gold wings from a Good Quill Hunting pattern.  Christina has amazing patterns and kits for a variety of stitches.  If you don't weave but bead embroider, go to her site to get inspired.  The mix of beads, stones, colors, and stitches takes my breath away.  She has some free patterns and tutorials as well as an amazing list of links and resources.  Click here for Christina's blog, also full of gorgeousness and info.  My dragonfly cuff is coveted by my friends, co-workers, and students.  And you can see why:

look at all those shades of gold in the wings!

add a little sunshine and it glows

a little closer

the beads on the wings shift colors in the light - she really appears to fly on your wrist

I love the bright blue eyes

Finished with vintage glass buttons and peyote loops

I messed around with each end of the pattern a little bit so that the bands of color would meet up at the closure.  The idea didn't dawn on me until I was finishing so I didn't get it quite even, but I like the result.  I also tapered the corners to avoid them getting dog-earred with wearing.  The sweet little clover buttons are vintage pressed black glass with facets and heavy brass shanks.  I found them at an antique shop here in Q'town which specializes in vintage clothing.  They measure about 8mm across.  This cuff is about 2 1/8" wide. 

On Christina's web site she recommends Joan Painter of Painter's Art Beads as a source for small quantities of Delica beads.  I followed this advice and managed to get the quantities I needed down to 1 gram of this and 1 gram of that.  Joan carries just about every Delica number under the sun.  I saved a bunch of money on beads for this bracelet, but went a little crazy ordering beads that I had not been able to find elsewhere!  Joan takes her orders via email.  Send her a message with your order and she charges you for the actual shipping cost.  She is great!

Introducing Melissa Muir

It is Bead Soup Party time again!  This BSP my partner is the talented artist Melissa Muir of Kelsi's Closet Jewelbox.  Melissa lives just 45 minutes from where I lived in Cleveland, Ohio.  In fact, when I was visiting my parents this summer, I drove past the freeway exit I could take to her house a couple of times.  If we had met then I would have been there in a flash because she teaches metal and wire work classes.  She really does it all - riviting, sawing, wrapping, etching, forming, forging, stone setting...you name it and she does it and teaches it!  If you want to know anything about tools, check out the Tool Time Tuesday feature on her blog.  She also features jewelry and bead artists on Fridays.  Here is a tiny sampling of her jewelry.

  (all photos from Melissa's blog).

Melissa has an on-line shop Kelsi's Closet Jewelbox.  This link will take you to the shop and class schedule.

For all things Bead Soup, follow this link to find our hostess Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Party page.  You will find a list of participants, dates, and answers to any BSP questions you might have.

Aqua Jelly

Birds, birds, birds

Just last night my husband and I were talking about crows. If you are new to the blog or if you missed it, my husband is a native Spanish speaker and I am a high school Spanish teacher.  We live 18 miles from the middle of nowhere.  This is a place crows love.  Between the crops in the fields and the roadkill on the country highways, it is a crow buffet.

 One thing we discovered was that in English we use the term scarecrow, but in Spanish the broader term espantapájaros translates to scare birds. We do seem to be fixated on the crows. This morning my mom sent me a link to a TED Talk video about the Smart Bird. In searching for more info about that, I found this video about crows and our relationship to them. Some of you may have seen a video of Betty the crow making her own tools, but that is actually not what this is all about. Watch to the end to see the crow vending machine.

Festo has produced all sorts of robotic creatures using biomimicry .  Click to check out their Bionic Learning Network.  I know you want to see the robotic jelly fish, ray, and penguin!

Meet Me in St Louis

If you are in St. Louis on Friday night, you can go hang out with Kate McKinnon at The Bead Place.  She is bringing her beads and her black velvet lined bead tray to The Bead Place for some fun in the evening.  Check out her blog for details.  This is not a workshop, just beaders hanging out and having fun.  If it weren't for the 825 mile drive to get to St. Louis, I'd be there in a heartbeat.  Go to Kate's blog and take a look at the details.  She welcomes email if you have any questions about it.

Next, go view some groovy beadwork Kate and Dustin Wedekind have been doing for their upcoming book Geometrics (on facebbok) Geometrics (the website), go take a look. These pieces are awesome.

source

Also check out Kate's posts during the Seed Bead Summit back in May and you will see how the idea for this book came about.  You'll also get to see Marcia DeCoster, Teresa Sullivan, and Jean Power at work with Kate and Dustin. It was pretty amazing to read these posts as they came out and get a peek at the birth of the book.

Humblebeads Blog is having a gigantic giveaway!

Go on over to Heather's blog for the Humblebeads Blog: Big Huge Giveaway

Look at all those great colors and shapes.  She has included some of my favorites in this giveaway - from the Branches series, from Monet's Garden, and from the Garden series.  Click on the link above for all the details.