{Rolling Blog Hop Challenge} Tanya of A Work in Progress

A short while back, I asked some creative and inspiring women if they would like to participate in a loose kind of blog hop.  Instead of everyone posting on the same day, we will post as we get our projects done, with an end of November deadline.  I send them each a package containing vintage wooden spools like you see on the upper left of the blog (badge compliments of Hope's wonderful photography and Janet's tweaking...thanks ladies~it looks great!).  I found them while antiquing in NJ.


Today, Tanya of A Work in Progress is the Rolling Blog Hop Feature and here is what she made (click on her name to see more photos of her piece) :

                                                (photos from A Work in Progress Blog)

Oh please go and take a look at Tanya's close ups of these Gorgeous necklaces!  She has combined beadweaving and chain maille.  The look of the mix of the two is incredible~the stitches she used and the link designs compliment each other beautifully.  And her spools~are downright fun!  Frankenstein and a Jack-o-Lantern done in peyote.  Too cute!


I do not know much about Tanya other than the fact that she makes gorgeous jewelry.  She is always in my Top Two of jewelry makers.  Her jewelry looks so wearable and beautiful...whether the occasions calls for denim or silk.  She is a creative weaver, a worker of wire and metal.  She is someone who always shows stellar pieces.  She makes it look easy, even though we all know it is not.  Tanya is simply someone I have always admired, have blog interaction with, and just wanted to see what she could do with these spools.  She is also someone I would love to have teach me some new techniques and stitches.  It looks like patterns and designs and tutorials just click with her.


Here are a few examples of what makes Tanya so darn good at what she does:

Tanya's Original Design made for the Challenge of Travel 2012.


She was inspired by the Japanese flag and its meaning: circle of the sun.  It is hard to imagine Tanya's work can get better than this!  What an absolute beauty.  The link will bring you to a sweet beadwoven kimono too.









(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

A Spinner Ring Tanya made when she took a class at Bead and Button with Robyn Cornelius.


The textures and the movement are playful and tactile. What a touchstone when things need to be pondered, or a place to work out some worries.












(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

Bracelet from the Challenge of Travel 2013.

A perfect example of Tanya executing a pattern by Heather Collin.
There is also a necklace on this link that you should see!  Chain maille and beadweaving.  So good together.



(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

Chain Maille.  Click on those two words.  You will see more and it is sooooo worth your time!


That drape...Can you feel it?!






(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)

And last but Certainly Not least...Tanya's Original Design for Bead and Button Bead Soup.  

Sayin' it again...it is hard to imagine Tanya's work can get better than this.
When I saw this, I said, "Now THIS...is IT".  This one has it all!  Metal, beads, weaving, funk, glamour.  Wow.   Just Wow!

(photo from A Work in Progress Blog)




Tanya, it was our e-mails a while back that got the ideas brewing for this.  I mentioned that Rosanne Cash has a song "44 Stories" and that I wanted to do a theme of 44 as I close out my 44th year of this life.  I couldn't find a theme I wanted to work with until I saw the spools.  Then I knew that the theme was something I wanted others to participate in.  I wanted to send out 44 spools, keep a few for myself, and see how it all unfolded from there.  And knowing some spools will go unused forever or for a while is ok.  Because not all stories are written yet.
Thank you, Tanya.  I deeply appreciate you being a part of this.