Showing posts with label Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Triangle Earrings


I love to make beaded triangles as do many beadweavers, but when I submit items for jurying at Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery, there is a limit on what we call "like items." In other words, don't submit production work, or work that is so similar, it looks like you just cranked out a batch of the same design even if using different colors...making it a little tough on the beaded triangle addict. Hence this design which I came up with around midnight, the night before jurying. I turned the ol' triangle on its edge, added a moonstone oval drop bead and voila, a new design (for me at least). This pair went in the gallery, but I can make another just like it in case someone orders from my Etsy shop...did I mention, I LOVE TRIANGLES ???

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Freeform Brick Stitch Bracelet




Well, folks, here I am again at long last...and I'm patting myself on the back for finally finishing something new in beadweaving. I've been on a tatting kick and in another failed attempt to enter something in the latest EBW Challenge, I managed to create a new bracelet. However, I missed the deadline because I got sidetracked making a "Conantree" (Christmas tree decorated with CONAN on TBS themed decorations). I am happy though, that I did make something new. It's been a year and a half since my world fell out from under me and I lost my drive to bead. Slowly but surely, I'm working to gain it back...challenges and swaps are helping the process.


I saw a freeform brick design somewhere and thought I would give it a try. My attempt was supposed to reflect the lyrics to the "Sounds of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel, which was the December theme for the Etsy Beadweavers's challenge. I chose a line from the second verse:

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone,
'Neath the halo of a street lamp,
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

....and created my design using various greys with a "stab" of neon pink. Freeform brick really suits my design style, much moreso than peyote, however, like all freeform, it has a mind of its own, thus adding to the unknown time frame for completion. I followed my own rule for freeform, though, which is: never "unbead" anything...in other words, whatever you have already stitched must stay, you have to use it. Keeps you thinking about creative ways to cure something you don't like about your beadwork. This bracelet is going into the next Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery show next week. If it doesn't sell there, I'm listing in my Etsy shop in January.

Monday, July 5, 2010

"Adrift" Freeform Bracelet



"Adrift" Freeform Bracelet, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

Again, a tale of procrastination and inertia but with a happy ending ! This bracelet started out as a project for the EBW Spring Swap, but I had a hard time moving ahead using these colors....they just don't motivate me. I used them because my swap partner liked "earth tones." I searched my bead stash for the "earthiest" bead colors I could find, and found only a few. The clock was ticking and the shape kept growing and I couldn't stop it, but knew I didn't have enough time to let it grow into the size it wanted to be. So I set it aside and started the round pendant (see previous blog post).

Fast forward a couple months and the as yet unfinished bracelet...determined to submit a completely new item to the recent gallery show, I took it out and let it reach it's destined size. It was kind of growing on me, but I probably won't attempt using these colors again anytime soon. Finished in time for the gallery jury day, I submitted it and it was accepted, and just a week later it sold to a lady from France ! And I'm happy to report, I've also sold a necklace I finished last December and three pairs of earrings ! I think my "year of inertia" has finally come to a close :-)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Blue agate necklace

Better photos will be coming shortly. This is a necklace that I did a couple years ago. I originally used a purchased glass leaf pendant, but everyone who saw it in my art gallery said "oooohh !!! did you make the pendant ?" After saying "no" one too many times, I vowed never to make another artist's or commercially made pendant the focal point of a piece of beadwork. It took me two years to come up with an idea that I like for another pendant.

I purchased the agate slab while on vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine the summer before, and at the last minute before gallery jury day, I decided it would work perfectly with the unadorned necklace. Feverishly working all day yesterday, going out for a few hours with a friend then staying up until 1:30 am, it was ready to visit the gallery this morning. I haven't checked yet, but I hope it was accepted and will find a new home shortly !