Pages

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Creative Continuum of Seven Artists~January

Today is the first of Seven dates from now through July we will be posting work we made with goodie bags other Bloggers sent us.  Alicia had the idea that we each send out six packages with beads or focals and on the 26th of each month we reveal what we made with a certain participant's package.
I am honored to be in this group of Seven...these ladies are a creative bunch.  
Participating in this Event and their Package Month and theme are : 

Monique of A Half-Baked Notion  :  January ~ National Gallery of Canada

Moi  :  February ~ Round and Round 

Sally of The Studio Sublime  :  March ~ Contrasting Colors

Therese of Therese's Treasures  :  April ~ Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

Alicia of All The Pretty Things (and the brains behind this lovely continuing hop :-D )  :  May ~ Seasons

Cynthia of Antiquity Travelers  :  June ~ SomethingOld/SomethingNew/SomethingBorrowed/SomethingBlue

Emma of A Polymer Penchant  :  July ~ not sure if Emma picked a theme but I would say, Beauty!  



Monique sent us packages with two focal components and some wooden and glass beads.  The focals are polymer pieces she made.  The first is this darling bird silhouetted against a faux wood (polymer) background.




Monique sent me all the beads except the seeds.  The wood, the glass flowers, and the beautiful bird focal.  I strung it on green fireline.  My husband is The Bird Man, so it was very appropriate this is the focal I received.  I put the orange leaves on the side the little bird is flying toward...a hummingbird to the nectar.


I want to feature more photos but Blogger is being a royal pain and not letting me do much of anything.  It took 2.5 hrs to post this one photo.  Fingers crossed the next one goes faster.  (Monique, our "luck" with each other continues!)









The other focal Monique sent is an incredibly gorgeous polymer mosaic heart.
I do not like hearts.
But this ~ I LOVE!!!!!  I mean, really really LOVE.
(I do not like hearts but have a heart shaped rock collection.  Go figure.)


The Bug (aka Fish Kisser) and I are both arguing over who gets to wear it, so we will share...which is something I do not do with jewelry.  I give, but I do not share.  But I am trying to have a Big Heart with this and share.

I had a few chains in mind, but if I was going to make heart jewelry, it would have to be a bit tattered and pieced together.  So I made these cloth beads and wrapped wire and red and gold fire polish beads around them.  They will fray a little, shift a little, have that darkness and sparkle.

I wore it to a medical facility a week ago and all the nurses were asking to touch it.  Love that!








This was a really fun challenge.  I got the main project ~ the bird focal ~ done in a couple days.  It is exactly how I sketched it and I am very happy with it.  The heart floated around within sight for weeks, but when I decided on a look, it turned out so much better than I hoped. It has life in it.

Thanks Monique and Alicia!!!

Now please click on the names above to see what they made with Monique's gorgeous polymer art.




























Wednesday, January 15, 2014

A Time To Stitch 4 : Blog Hop

Therese and I thank you all for being a part of this hop~whether you are an admirer of the work, a participant, or someone who suggested a stitch...we get to do another A Time To Stitch Hop because of You!
Aside from compiling the list, we were very hands off with this hop.  Freedom with beads is a wonderful thing! Thanks for making it a breeze :-)

The stitches for this hop are Netting, Chenille, Chevron, and Spiral Rope.  We all had to do Netting and then pick at least one other stitch.  I know Chevron fairly well, so I picked Chenille.  I LOVE IT!!!  It makes a nice rope and it makes for nice beaded beads (which will show up in future projects).

Here is a photo of a Chevron Bracelet I did a few years ago:


Size 11 and size 15 seed beads, Swarovski flowers, red drops.


















Here is my first Chenille Bracelet...there will be many many more in the future:


Size 15 seed beads, copper and sterling toggle, leather compliments of Cynthia, copper wire with size 11 seed beads.















And my Netting Necklace:




Size 11 and size 15 seeds beads, druks, a button clasp,  and a Manhattan Schist Rock from Monmouth Beach, NJ (it has a lovely sparkle which doesn't show up on camera...nothing shows up on camera today...gloomy, rainy, blah).  Oh, and a zigzag weave chain.
                                                                                                     
I wore this out a few times and people were asking to touch it~Love it when that happens :-)
                                                       
When I set out to learn netting, my intent was to make a full netted collar necklace.  It took 13 hours of screwing up to come up with this tiny panel.  I decided to embellish the panel and make the zig zag chain.  I took a few ceramic cabs and did netting around them, but once I laid them on the panel they didn't look right.  Then my head went where it always goes : how about a rock?!  I recently purchased a Black Brazilian Kyanite. I rarely purchase rocks but we needed each other.  It is really cool and edgy and I thought a pocket with this wild rock jumping out was just what this dainty white net panel needed.  Well, the kyanite would not stay in the pocket so I scrapped the pocket and made all sorts of beaded straps to hold it down.  It looked like Beadweaving Bondage...a little TOO edgy.  So I gave up on the kyanite and looked through my free rock stash and came up with this Manhattan Schist...which obeyed right from the start ;-)  






Here is the list of all the Lovely Weavers you need to go visit today...I am really eager to visit them and see what they did~surely it is fabulous.
Thanks Ladies~you always make these hops a pleasure.  And Thank You Therese~you are always a wonderful partner. 


Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Double Header: Getting My Rocks Off On Hump Day and WTWednesday?!?

This week's rock comes with a big Question Mark.

I want this to be supported by tension.
But I am wondering if that is going to work.  Maybe more beaded support?  Anyone think a couple dabs of E-6000 is a good idea?  Any other ideas?

This is the one with the best fit...it is a shell from Monmouth Beach, NJ.   I am thinking it might be too busy.  But it is a really cool shell so if it doesn't work here, I will be finding a project for it real soon.


side 1


I like that big grain of sand in the channel on the right.












side 2.


The big grain is peeking through the hole on the left.















The second is a stone from Monmouth Beach, NJ.


side 1


side 2



















The last one is the original rock for this necklace, from the shores of Lake Michigan.  I chose the bead colors and the pearl colors based on this rock alone.  But if I go this route, it needs the slightest bit more tension or an adhesive or further beady support.  Not sure what to do.





Thanks for looking and lending a few thoughts!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Getting My Rocks Off on Hump Day

A good way to start the New Year!

A special someone requested a rock post...so here 'tis.

It isn't the one I thought it would be~that one will come next week...there was too much to think about with that one~but I am pleased with it, just the same.