Feels Like An Old Friend

Cynthia's post with the stacked bracelet sent me out into the workshop to give it a go. I was trying it with some small trade-looking beads she gave me once.  I thought it would look cool.  And it would if someone more competent was making it. For me, it was a colossal fail.
I wanted to keep beading but was at a loss as to what to do next.  Then I had a moment : all I could think about was some leather Cynthia gave me that was left over from a chair she upholstered.  She has been working with leathers a lot and I guess it seeped into my brain.  So I pulled out her leather, cut a swatch, and instantly pulled out these matte cream beads and red beads Liz gave me and started brick stitching.  I doubled my thread and used the thickest needle I had ~ a size 12 ~ that barely got the job done.  I wanted to use a rock for a closure but in the end opted for this mother-of-pearl button from my Gram's stash.  It was the first time I tried beading on leather.  I know it is only edging but I am proud of it anyway.

A few visits ago, Cynthia pulled out a book she wanted me to look through ~ Beading in the Native American Tradition by David Dean.  When I finally looked through it, my jaw hit the floor.  Most of the book is about the beadwork collection owned by Charles Eagle Plume, whose store/museum I had gone to a few times in my Colorado days.  It is located on Route 7 in Allenspark, Colorado.  Charles Eagle Plum was there to greet us and give us ghost beads and show us each item we laid our eyes on.  The beadwork, inlay jewelry, dresses, blankets, pipes were all there for us to gently hold, and a fair amount of it was for sale.  My friend got me a gorgeous turquoise bolo tie there.  It was a magical place, mostly due to Charles Eagle Plume himself.  Cynthia had no idea about my connection to Charles Eagle Plume...she just thought I would enjoy the Native American beadwork and maybe play with some of the stitches.  I ordered the book for myself and have gone cover to cover several times.  It is intimidating to start some of those stitches...even  more so to try them on leather.  So I started small for a change.  I love the results!

If I sew onto leather more, I need thicker needles (if they will go through the beads) and a thimble.  The eye side of the needle went through my finger a few times, mixing my DNA with the cow's, I suppose.
Moo.
And I will need to figure out what my problem is with the camera/computer sudden incompatibility, because these cell phone photos are not good.  The table cloth doesn't help either.  But I wanted to get this up before I have to bake and shovel snow.  We are all friends here ~ I know you will forgive my crappy photos.


 The more I look at this on my wrist as I type, the more it looks like chair leather.  The creases and give and softness...it is the corner chair I would surely claim as my own if it were in my house.  It is the one I would kick people out of if they were sitting in "my chair" and I was ready to rest my weary bones.  It is a warm embrace and a comfort.
It is Cynthia and Liz, Colorado and Charles Eagle Plume, Gram and Beads.

Tweaking It

The Bird Man has given me some very pretty jewelry in the past.  As the years go by and we spend on the children and the house and cars, the pretties get few and far between.  I am not complaining one bit.  It is the natural ebb and flow of life, togetherness, giving, style.  I stopped wearing  some very pretty pendants he gave me when we were much younger and my body was much smaller because they
seemed to get lost on this current body of mine.  Over the summer, I decided to put a little "me" in them and make them a little bigger and a bit beady.

 I apologize for the photos (taken off my phone), but you will get the idea of what I have done to the pendants, despite some fuzziness.  I am having technical difficulties with photo editing on my computer.  I am not sure if the problem lies with my computer itself or the camera card.  The photos I crop are fine when I crop them but when I go to post them, they only show up as the top third of the photo, and are completely erased from my camera card.  I had a lot of really cool ".....was....." photos that are :poof: gone.  And a few jewelry ones too, but I can retake those.  Just when I get comfortable with the technology I have, it screws me.  C'est la vie!  There are more important things in life then photos.

Opal Pendant...the first post-marriage pendant The Bird Man gave me, back when we lived in a little carriage house and the living was simple.
I added super duos (after taking it apart a few times because the seed beads I added were just too much) and every single time I wear this strangers ask to get a closer look and ask to touch it.  Love this one!  Love it!
I did post this on FB this summer, so it might look familiar to a few of you.  It deserved a (fuzzy) blog post. 

Sapphire and White Sapphire pendant the Bird Man bought at the jewelry store probably a decade ago.  I added seed beads, super unos, and twisted bugles.
This took on may forms over the months.  It had tilas, superduos, teardrops, 3 sizes of seed beads.  I finally did this one last week and am thrilled.  Looks like a streetlamp to me :-)

.....was.....

Sussex County
New Jersey

Rocks Off On Hump Day

It has been a while since I got my rocks off.

Photo issues are still not resolved, but I will carry on and offer my apologies for any crappy photos.

These are two Lake Michigan Rock pendants.  In person, they both have a really nice sparkle to them.  In photos, you cannot see that.  I haven't decided on a chain yet.
The beads are the same colors for both...a pewter/aqua-ish twin bead and a garnet luster size 15 seed bead.  

this rock is beige and has crevices and some good sparkle in its nooks and crannies

this rock has a nice pink/red color to it and lots of sparkle

Drilled rocks coming soon (hopefully!)! 

Happy Hump Day!  

.....was.....

Wayne County
Pennsylvania

Little Gifts

My Mother always says, "Good things come in little packages."

Us beaders know the tremendous value and excitement found in those little baggies that hold beads, findings, scraps, someone else's treasures they no longer need.  All good things, indeed!

Cynthia and I got together to bead a couple weeks ago.  It was supposed to be a day on the High Line in NYC, beading and chatting away.  The weather had other plans for us.  While the High Line would have had a nicer view, in the end we did just fine at a cafe table at a Barnes and Noble off the Interstate somewhere in NYState.  That is all we ever really need ~ a table to work on an a place to sit.
Cynthia gave me a pair of awesome ear wires made by her Fabulous Bead Girl!  I love the shape and the size of them!  Cynthia also gave me a baggie of jasper rounds.

Here is what I did with the ear wires and jaspers...I hope the Fabulous Bead Girl approves :-)

(I apologize for the photos...my computer won't let me crop, rotate, or anything else for that matter.  I am not sure what is up and I have been working on these pictures for a few dreary days.  I didn't want to wait any longer because I ran out of hope that the problem would correct itself)

The earrings are brown glass pearls, peyote around them and the jaspers radiation out from the peyote weaving.  Very Fall!  Very warm!  Very Happy Girl here!!!

Thank You Bead Girl!  I love the wires :-D  And thank you Bead Girl's Mom ~ you Know I love jasper...no matter what the size.

.....was.....

This week's .....was..... is not a big mystery.  It is what remains of Fort Hancock on Sandy Hook in New Jersey.   I was there a month ago, visiting an old, dear friend, collecting rocks, shells, glass, and driftwood...and a few abandoned photos.