Waiting for The Muse

Once again, I'm in this period of time (almost three weeks now) when I don't feel creative or inspired enough to work on a beadwoven item. Other things in life keep my mind busy, unfortunately, unpleasant things. I'm not trying to push my Muse this time (a thing that usually produce more frustration and zero results..) I'm just waiting patiently for "Her" to visit me, so I'll be able to find relaxation in beadweaving again...
I used the time to rearrange my bead boxes, check my inventory or just hold beads in my hands... I found those beautiful, light sea-green beads, which I totally forgot I had them and used them to create this simple stringing necklace. Knowing how much time it takes to create beadwoven or embroidered work, I'm always surprised by how much time it takes me to string a simple necklace like this one... I don't know why, but it takes me twice the time to chose the beads and to come up with the arrangement of them that satisfies me.. But I enjoy stringing anyway. I find it to be a nice way to pass the time until my beadweaving Muse is back..

New Sparkling Bracelet

I usually don't use a lot of Swarovski crystals in my work and especially not this many in one piece. But that doesn't mean I don't like BUYING them.. ;D So, I bought these Light Colorado Topaz bicones almost two years ago and I finally came up with this pattern that includes a lot of them (144 beads, to be exact). I have to check how this pattern comes out in a different color palette, but that will have to wait until I'll finish two other works I have in progress. As always, too many ideas to try but not enough time...

Bead Artists Help Fight Breast Cancer Project

A few months ago I blogged about my contribution to Jeanette Shanigan's project "Bead It Forward" - Bead Artists Against Breast Cancer. Jeanette Shanigan collected the beaded squares, donated from beaders from all over the world and stitched them into quilts. A few members (15) of the Etsy BeadWeavers team donated 35 beaded squares, and Jeanette stitched them into one EBW quilt. The finished quilts are all beautiful and colorful - you can see more of them on Jeanette's site.
The quilts are going to be auctioned at the Bead&Button show and the money raised will be donated to help fight breast cancer. I am happy that I have participated in this project. I might do this again next year.
Special thanks goes to Susan of Clinkscalesarts, who organized the whole thing for EBW team and did a great job at it!

Etsy Beadweavers Quilt

First row (left to right): Susan Clinkscales, Eddy Downing, Eddy Downing, JoJo Curley, Swanee Hielscher
2nd row: Swanee Hielscher, Swanee Hielscher, Swanee Hielscher, Linda Davis, me
3rd row: me, me, me, Lisa Savoy, Lisa Savoy
4th row: Lisa Savoy, Jama Watts, Jama Watts, Jama Watts, Kerrie Slade
5th row: Kerrie Slade, Kerrie Slade, Kerrie Slade, Victoria Thompson
6th row: Kim Shaver, Dawn Nelson, Melody Murray, Melody Murray
7th row: Ileana Munteanu, Ginny Bracht, Ginny Bracht, Ginny Bracht, Ginny Bracht

Treasures of the Ocean Freeform Bracelet

EBW April Challenge - Time Machine

***Thanks so much to everyone who voted for my entry!, which came in second place***

Etsy BeadWeavers' Challenge theme for April was "Time Machine". This theme was brought to us by Mariya of BeadCatcher, who won the January/February Challenge
Here's what Mariya had to say about this theme:
"I guess everybody once in a while has had that thought "What if?" Yes, what if you were given a once in a life time chance to travel through time and space; to travel into past or future; to travel into a real or imagined world? Where would you go? What would you see there? Just think about it. Take the trip and share it with us in the form of beading art with its unlimited possibilities!".

Voting on this challenge is open and will last until the 15th. Please visit EBW blog, pick up your favorite and vote for it. My entry is #9 on the list.

Excited about this inspirational, imaginative theme, I decided to use the time machine for traveling in the future. The beautiful women I met on my journey had smooth brilliant hair and they were wearing bright silver elegant outfits. This is the necklace, earrings & bracelet I designed for those women I met on my journey to the future… :)

My Best Student Ever! :)

These two bracelets were beadwoven by my 14.5 years old daughter, and I am so proud of her!
She has always been fascinated by my beadwork and recently asked me to teach her a few things. I thought basic herringbone and even-count peyote would be a good start.
I think she did a great job, not only with choosing these colors, but also with the quality of her first beadwoven creations.
She is now able to look at my work and say what technique I used. Next techniques I am going to teach her are the tubular versions of the above. I am pretty sure she will quickly have a firm grasp of them, too.
I am a happy mother! :)

My First Publication In Print

Finally, I got my copy of Jan/Feb Bead&Button magazine this afternoon. I have my first publication in print in this issue! I am proud to have one of my designs published among all the gorgeous projects in there. :)
It was a nice and pleasant experience working with B&B editor Lynne Soto, who tested my project and created the pendants that are in the magazine.
In the next issue of Bead&Button magazine, one of my bracelets will be published, so I am excited about it, too ;)

I got "hooked" on the Saraguro Hojas pattern and have already created a few items by using it. This pendant is one of the results of "playing" with this lovely traditional pattern. If you would like to make this pendant, you'll only need an hour or so to complete one... That's why I managed to create 6 of them in one day..

Yuki Onna - Japanese Snow Woman - EBW Challenge "Snow Queen"

Etsy Beadweavers Challenge theme for December was "Snow Queen". My entry is number 18.
Please visit EBW blog, choose your favorite from 31 gorgeous pieces and vote for it. Voting begins on the 9th and lasts till the 15th. I am sure that voting is going to be a challenging task, as all 31 entries are just stunning!
While I was Googling for some inspiration, I found this fantastic mask I immediately fell in love with, named "Yuki-Onna", on SoCal Design site. Their site is beautiful, full with other fantastic designer masks, inspired by many cultures. Check them out! And thank you, Claudia of SoCal, for giving me permission to use the photo here!

I really liked the design of the mask. In my eyes, the designer succeded to reflect well the nature of Yuki Onna spirit. In the Japanese folklore (and like in many other cultures) she is described as a beautiful woman with long hair, but her intentions are murderous and far from soft femininity - she's "cold as ice"... You can read the story about the evil snow woman here on Wikipedia.

In my necklace I tried to represent the beauty of Yuki Onna by using soft curly lines of beads, and her ruthlessness by the two sharp points at the top and by the icy sharpened crystals. It took much time and a lot of unpicking before I was satisfied with the design, and now I really like the final result. I like it so much I even created matching beadwoven earrings, something which I rarely do.. :)

In fact, this necklace is the second one I made for this challenge. I had to unpick the first one, shown in the last photo, (I kept only the "snowflake" that is in the center) because I didn't really like the design and the way it was laid around the neckline- the structure was not good.

And although I was a bit frustrated of the time got lost, I had doubled pleasure creating two of them. That's a positive way to look at it, isn't it?.. ;)

EBW Challenge - "Animal Instinct"

Etsy BeadWeavers' theme for October Challenge was "Animal Instinct".

I couldn't find any idea just until a few days before the deadline. But then, I remembered a nice cat & mouse toggle clasp I saw the other day at Bogal's, my bead supplier. The cat & mouse clasp is humorous and fun and I thought it would be nice to make something that is unusual for me, somewhat "out of the box". So, this is my entry -"Gotcha!", a beadwoven cat & mouse bracelet, No.17 on the voting list.

I used BeadTool program to help me design the cat's head, which was the easy part of implementing the idea. The mouse was a bit of a challenge to make. I had to unpick it a few times because it wasn't stiff enough to act as a toggle, but then I came up with the idea of filling its body with pieces of wire to make it stiffer, and that led me to the idea of making the tail and ears from wire as well.

It was quite fun making this bracelet, and I enjoyed having my two kids looking over my shoulder every few minutes to see its progress :)

There are 19 wonderful entries this month and it is interesting to see each participant's interpretation of the theme. Please visit the Etsy BeadWeavers blog to see all 19 entries, pick your favorite and vote for it. Voting lasts from the 9th to the 15th. You might as well leave your comment.

"Sunrise" - My First Embroidered Cuff

I finally finished my first embroidered cuff. I planned to make a rather geometric pattern, but when I started working I was drawn to a freer pattern. I worked on one section at a time, without much planning. (Some photos of the work in progress are here and here).
To be honest, I am not sure how I feel about the result. It didn't come out the way I saw it in my mind.
BUT, I got a lot of satisfactory by the fact that I managed to finish it, and more important – I have learned a few important things about bead embroidery and gained some experience. I've learned a few things about myself, too; One is that I need to be more patient and stay positive when dealing with unexpected major problems in my work (and stop to scare my family with my frustration screams..) Another one is to really accept a compromise when I decide to make one, and not think about it over and over again after it has already been done; To practice a lot more, just as I did when I taught myself beadweaving- to start with small projects and progress gradually (did I mention patience?...;) So, all in all, it's an accomplishment for me, regardless the imaginative cuff I had in my mind… :)

I finished the body a while ago, but then faced the challenge of sewing it to a genuine leather backing - it was so hard to pass the needle through the leather - my size 10 beading needle was not good for this (I actually broke two of them by trying).
I had to use a special thick needle for leather works. The thick needle did pass trough the leather (though not easily), but it was too thick to pass even trough 6/0 seed beads holes. So I had to take separate steps: first connect the two materials and then stitch rows of beads to cover the connecting points. Step 1 caused my fingers to feel numb for a few days. I didn't succeed in using a thimble to help me push the needle through the leather, so I used my bare fingers. I still have this ugly distortion on my thumb – it is now acts as a reminder for me, to find and buy Ultrasuede in a few colors for my next embroidery works… Step 2, the diagonal rows on the edges, actually added about 15 mm to the final width of the cuff. I didn't plan to make a 2.4 inch (6 cm) wide cuff, but I couldn't think of another way to finish it. And I just had to finish it! ;)

Concentrating Test

This bracelet took me quite a lot of time to finish, much more than it would normally take for this kind of work. I decided to stitch it in repeating segments, but didn't expect it to be such a difficult test of my concentration! (am I getting old?! :D ) I had to unpick the work several times because I mixed up the order of the beads time after time. Eventually, after almost 6 hours, I was able to call it a finished piece...

New 3D Rectangle Pendant (Aiko vs. Delica)

I'm hooked on the three dimensional geometric shapes lately. This is my new design of 3D rectangle and beaded bail. I used Delica (red) and Aiko (all the other colors) beads.

Until not long ago I have used regular seed beads for this kind of works, but then I started to work with Japanese Miyuki Delica beads. The result is much better, because these beads are more uniformed and allow you to make clean lines. You can see the big difference of the two kinds used to make these 3D stars.

BUT then, thanks to a very dear friend, I discovered another kind of uniformed beads. She has sent me some of her favorite Japanese Toho's Aiko beads as a gift (and some more exciting things :)) to try them out.
What can I say? She is right - the Aikos are even better than the Delicas! They are much uniformed and have a larger hole, which makes it easy to pass the needle several times, without worrying about breaking the tiny beads.
Thank you so much my dear friend, I really enjoyed using the beads ! And I hope you like what I made with them! :)