EBW Members Nearly Meet !

A couple days ago I got a Facebook message from a fellow Etsy Beadweaver, Rosita aka CrownRoseGems. She was visiting the Washington, DC area and I felt very honored that she wanted to make a special trip to my fiber co-op to see my beadwork. We nearly made a connection, but plans didn't favor our meeting in person. However, she was able to visit the Potomac Fiber Arts Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center, and graciously complimented my jewelry that she saw while she was there. Please take a look at her beautiful beadwork here . I hope we do get to meet sometime and I hope I get to meet other beadweavers too. My place is always open for a visit from a fellow bead fanatic !
CrownRoseGems

The Artistry of the Etsy Beadweavers

One of the members of the Etsy Beadweavers put together this deliciously beautiful montage of works by nearly every member of the team. My Shades of Grey necklace appears near the beginning at the 26 sec. mark. Thank you, Christina, of Good Quill Hunting for making this lovely video. Now, when I need inspiration, I'll just watch the video !

Bead for Life@ Green Festival

Bead for Life@ Green Festival (PixUp), originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

Yesterday I went the the Green Festival to perform with my band at the end of the show. There were hundreds of vendors promoting green products and services, and as I was making my way through the booths, I found one of my favorite organizations, Bead for Life. This organization helps women in Uganda produce beads and jewelry made from recycled magazines. The sales of the jewelry help the women with individual and community projects in their towns. I rushed right up to the booth and started shopping. It's always so hard to choose just the right piece, but I ended up selecting two simple bracelets. The ladies kindly allowed me to take a photo. I hope they had some good sales at the show.

Etsy BeadWeavers February Challenge...

JanFebMosaic, originally uploaded by wMarlaine.

...is entitled Tropical Holiday. Please visit our Etsy BeadWeavers blog where you will find links to each entry then vote for your fave !

Beading in Red, White and Black...Batala Hey !

I love living in the Washington, DC area for all the cultural opportunities it offers and in the last 5 years, I have gained close friends in the Bulgarian, Finnish, Ghanaian and Brazilian communities through music (visit my fiber art blog to read more). Since last year, I have been a member of the USA's only Batala band, which is an all-women Brazilian percussion band. Our band is in high demand in DC for parades, fundraisers, soccer halftime shows, honorary dinners and many other events. We have a visual identity that employs the colors red, white and black and right now, I am in full production mode for a supply of jewelry for our upcoming art gallery fundraiser. One of our members is a graphic artist and has invited other artists to paint portraits of band members as we play which will be auctioned off at the end of the party. I'm looking forward to selling lots of jewelry to band members and friends.

Viking Knit Necklace

Viking Knit Necklace, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

I'm a featured artist this month at the Artists' Undertaking Gallery in Occoquan, Virginia. Along with the other artist, painter, Barbara Henris, we entitled our show "New Directions" to highlight the recent changes to our styles of work. I have hit a low point in sales at the gallery and decided to add my newest technique learned; viking knit . There is a silver jeweler across the hall from our gallery, and I wanted to try and interest some of the customers who are more attracted to silver and metals. We shall see how that goes ! In any case, I am having fun with viking knit and experimenting with a variety of shapes beyond the basic, yet beautiful rope shape. More to come ;-)

Green Glass Herringbone Bracelet

Green Glass Herringbone Bracelet, originally uploaded by ambrosianbeads.

This bracelet started out as an earring, spent several hours as a ring, then finally morphed into a bracelet.

The RED Challenge

The Etsy Beadweavers are seeing "red" with their latest beadweaving challenge and voting begins Monday, January 7th. This month's challenge focuses on the use of the color red in any and all forms of beadweaving. There are beautiful and striking articles of jewelry as well as sculptural and useful pieces. A warning though, you are going to have a very difficult time choosing a favorite !

New and Improved Ambrosian Beads Website !

Before my trip to China, I started work on re-designing the Ambrosian Beads website I share with fellow jewelry designer, Lynnelle Ediger. I found the perfect webhost, Squarespace which included a blog feature and the ability to add PayPal buttons. I also added links to certain items that I have in my Etsy shop. All in all, Squarespace offered more features than I had with my previous webhost. The website is as always, a work in progress, so check back to see what new jewelry designs Lynnelle and I have listed. You can also RSS my blog.