Sunday, March 13, 2011

Time to vote on "Fashion Through the Ages"

Etsy Beadweavers Blog


There is still time left to vote for your favorite beadwoven creation in the Etsy Beadweavers' monthly challenge. This month's challenge was selected by our previous winner, Patrizia of Triz Designs. Patrizia has challenged our members to "Choose a fashion style from any period of fashion and design a piece to fit that chosen style/period." We do this for fun and to show the world the extent of our creativity...the prize is just the honor of selecting the next month's challenge. Please take a minute or two to look at all the wonderful designs, created entirely by hand and with original designs (using patterns from other designers is not allowed), and vote for your favorite. This month I entered a piece (#32) entitled "Metropolis", which plays on some of the design elements popular during the Art Deco period.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Metropolis Necklace-Etsy Beadweavers Challenge


This month's Etsy Beadweavers challenge theme, Fashion Through the Ages , struck a chord with me because I had a pattern developed that fit perfectly with the Art Deco style of design. I created the triangular portion of my Metropolis Necklace using the pattern I made with my BeadTool design program and stitched it in herringbone using 4 beads at a time. Then I worked upward in brick stitch to a decent choker width of 1/2" and finished out the rest of the choker in peyote. I had fun looking through my vintage button collection and found the perfect button to complement the Art Deco design. Of course, I finished it all last minute and could only get some basic photos done. Next time, no procrastinating (yeah right) ! You can check out all the amazing entries from our beadweaving team now and vote on March 8th.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Custom Order from Facebook Friend !


Recently, a fellow "Coco-nut" (fan of Conan O'Brien ) ordered a pair of my Starflower Earrings . She wanted me to choose the colors and her only requirement was that the two colors be contrasting. I tried to elicit more info from her, and finally established that she likes metals, so I picked out a copper and gunmetal color scheme. The plan worked ! She loves them ! Whew ! Plus, I included a strip of stickers I made using my beaded Conan logo from the old "Late Night" show...she loved those too :-)

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.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Copper Treasury


Here is a gorgeous treasury simply titled Copper ! My Natural Beauty agate slab necklace is one of the featured selections. Thanks to fellow Etsy Beadweaver, Connie of Asterope Bead Creations for including my necklace.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Needle Tatting Tutorial Uploaded !


Needle Tatted Earrings with Beads


It was so hard getting this project off the ground. My Windows Movie Maker maker and I were no longer married, so I had to figure out how to do it myself :-/ and I had to wait until the mood hit (which is the way I've been operating since we split). Anyway, I figured out how to import, drag and drop, add fades, titles, captions and music (which disappeared when I added narration...arrrgh !) and voila ! My second tute in two years. Now that I know how, there will be more to come :-) I prefer making photo sequences because if I screw up while in the middle of a project, I would have to start another one and work up to that point just to re-record the video. Maybe I'll use video with a quick project. However, I have a very vocal parrot who tends to dominate the airwaves whenever he senses something important is going on (aarrgh !). I hope you like the video (don't know why it looks so out of focus...the photos were crystal clear when I was working with them...maybe compression altered them...oh, well).

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Etsy Front Page Happy Dance !

Fellow Etsy Beadweaver, Crownrose Gems, posted this treasury a few days ago and today it spent a short time on the front page of Etsy.com ! My Venezia bracelet is part of the collection which is based on the popular Millenium trilogy by Swedish author, Stieg Larsson. I wouldn't have know about my front page appearance if it hadn't been for Statsy.com. I totally forgot about the fact that I linked it to my Facebook profile and besides generating an email to me, it automatically posted to Facebook ! Very handy indeed !

Sunday, July 18, 2010

A Novel Treasury




My Venezia bracelet is part of this treasury based on the novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This collection is so interesting, I'm tempted to go check out the book !