Barrette Bedlam

I had a sudden burst of creativity over the last fortnight, which manifested itself as a plethora of barrettes (or hairslides if you prefer). It has got so bad that a fellow member of the OTTBS group has nicknamed me the 'Baroness of Barrettes' which makes me feel rather refined! I think the scale of the pieces is rather appealing, and as happened last year, it has whetted my appetite for a larger endeavour (whispers..maybe a purse). Anyway, I was really encouraged by the sale of one of them within a week from my Etsy, although it was one of my favourites so I would have taken pity on it and worn it myself if it had stayed there...

Another aspect of barrettes which makes them fun to do is that they are good for using up 'odd' or singleton focals, and a few accent beads (not enough on their own to make a full project). And then, the back of one's head is a great place to display one's work too (I do have fairly long hair)

Anyway here are the completed ones:

All but the green one have button focals. I think the next one will use one of the luna cabochons I bought at the last bead fair I visited: I got there a bit late, and had a limited choice and only odd ones. Perfect for this kind of thing!

Freeform Peyote Beading: Captured Treasures Blog Hop

For years I've been saying I want to unleash my inner freeformer, and I have made a few pieces with which I am reasonably happy. I do feel, however, that I am holding back from true exploration, so a bit of a push is sometimes welcome. I decided to take part in a blog hop organised by Mandi Ainsworth via the Freeform Peyote Beading group on Facebook. The brief was to use a 'found' object and capture it in Peyote. I thought this would be a big inspiration, but in fact I ended up 'dithering' for the longest time as to which of my 'found objects I could use: a rock, a shell, an acorn and a twig were all attempted with messy and unaesthetic results. Then a few days ago I was passing the 'free to a good home' table at work, and saw some discarded glass vials, still in the original box and unused.

They are of a type of precision glassware for laboratories known as Quickfit, which has joints which can be connected to different apparatus according to the codes. These have the numbers 10/19 on them which indicates which other pieces may be joined to make up a full apparatus... I decided to turn a vial into a pendant. The stopper may well be embellished as well. Because I took so long to decide, I'm only at the beginning stage, and have decided to call my piece 'Fool's Gold' as it has Alchemical and frivolous aspects, and my colour scheme is gold. Here is my work so far:

As you can see I can keep my working soup in the vial until needed, I expect I will leave some inside to add interest. I can see a few more of these in my future, I love combining the scientific with beading!

Please take time to visit the other blogs listed below (names should be clickable). I can't wait to see what other people began with, and the results of their inspiration:

Mandi Ainsworth - host

Karen Williams - host

Anna Belous

SaraBeth Cullinan

Nancy Dale

Regina Roper

Lisa Jones

Romana Tschunko

Catherine Chinoy -You are Here!

Therese Frank

Naan Pocen

Annita Wilson

Lies Koster

Halinka Trolle

Sally Russick

Judy Pennington

Bead MAD

After a series of connectivity issues (holidays in remote locations, laptop malfunction and repair, wi-fi hub replacement) blogging has lapsed in a shameful manner, however I have still been able to bead!

I've had tremendous fun in the last week, including two classes in Dorset at Stitchncraft with one of my beading idols Marcia DeCoster. Marcia is also one of my blogging idols as she manages to post regularly and interestingly (see her blog here). I travelled down and stayed in a cottage local to the venue, with two of my best beady friends (and others were in neighbouring cottages). It was a dream weekend in many ways although the weather was not the greatest. We beaded and ate and drank and were generally merry...tomorrow we may diet, as the saying goes!
The classes were 'Vienna' with it's Art Deco feel, and Aelia. of the two, Vienna was the most challenging, as I hadn't even attempted shaping CRAW before. Aelia was a lovely instant gratification project in that the bezeled button was complete by the end of the day for most people, although there was still the bail, connections and rope to make. The pendant is reversible and I have made mine using mostly astral pink and copper crystal Swarovski. Here are my projects in the beginning stages, I'm determined to finish them both:

And here we are with Marcia in the bead shop:

It was one of the most enjoyable classes I've done. Marcia is an excellent and patient teacher, the venue was very nice with daylight lamps and bead-on-it boards provided, staff in the shop were lovely and helpful, and being away with beady friends was so much fun. The only thing to suffer was my bank balance, although I had been collecting £2 coins in a jar for extra bead spending money... perhaps I should have turned it into notes at the bank before I went though!

OTTBS Bead, book & bounce: Beaded Colorways by Beverley Ash Gilbert

The July/August 2013 book for the OTTBS challenge was Beaded Colorways by Beverley Ash Gilbert. This book has been on my shelf for a while, and was something I referred to for my first experiments in freeform beadweaving and using bead 'soups'. If you are contemplating this style of beading the book is an excellent introduction.

Colour theory forms the basis of the introductory chapters and, as actual beads are used for illustration, it is much easier to understand than some 'paint based' works. Colour wheels are supplied in a handy wallet at the back of the book, for ease of reference.

The projects in the book are based on netting and peyote stitches, both of which are clearly explained. There is also a little metal/wirework covered, so something for everyone.

Despite my best intentions, I left myself only a few days to play with the book for this challenge. I began with a soup of seedbeads left over from another project, in lavenders and salmon pinks, which was, perhaps, a little bland, and added an accent bead soup of a similar palette with darker  beads also included. I used the Pastel colour wheel to identify the beads in the soup as below

I added the lime to give the expanded split complementary scheme some zing and swiftly started the Wanderlust earrings. I was a little sceptical as to the wisdom of freeform earrings as I didn't have much confidence in my ability to make them match but as time was running out I carried on . To keep the weight similar I used all 11s for the first row, then an 8 per loop for the second, and an 8/larger bead on every other loop, for the last row. 3 rows curved as required so I stopped there to keep the weight down.

The folding and stitching of accents (lampwork spacers from Shirley Giles, a local lampwork artist, and a few pressed glass shapes) was also limited for weight considerations. I decided the hanging loop would be in the lime 15s to pick up the lime in the freeform. Although the earrings are non identical they are similar in weight and comfortable to wear (provided your earwires are of good quality, these are goldfilled)

I have plenty of soup left, and plan to make a cuff/wrap bracelet with some of it, or maybe you have some suggestions?

Overall I'd recommend the book as suitable for adventurous beginners and intermediate beaders, or for the more experienced who lack colour confidence.

Beverley also has a website and has limited edition soups available to buy at times, though they tend to be snapped up quickly!

Please visit the OTTBS blog and follow the links to other members' posts on this book

BOTB '13 round 2

Well I was amazed to make it through the first round against Patrick's gorgeous necklace, but people seemed to like the Oceanides purse for its swirling patterns and restful blue colours. My second round battle is against Anneta Valious who recently published a book on her speciality 'Soutache'. Her piece is titled 'Skyfall' and is a great example of this style of beading. I haven't tried it myself, but as a 'round 2 treat', bought myself the book to have a go, and it does seem very comprehensive.

The theme of sky also chimes sympathetically with my 'ocean' based piece, so this time I think the votes will be based more on preference of the overall style
I was allowed to add more pictures to my album, and chose the base of my bag to show how I kept it level so that it would stand stably:

The corners have mother-of-pearl leaf beads representing some kind of planktonic form, and were carefully chosen from a strand to be of similar thickness. In addition each is surrounded by a row of size 8 beads so that the 'feet'  are a slightly larger area. The accent beads on this side of the work were restricted to 4mm or smaller to keep the work smooth.

Bead, Book & Bounce: Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski, by Laura McCabe

The Operation: Tackle that Bead Stash occasional series of book reviews chose as its Spring book,  Laura McCabe's 'Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovski'.

This has been on my bookshelf for a couple of years now, I bought it after attending my first class with Laura, which was the first time I'd attempted bezelling crystal stones. Once your appetite has been whetted, those sparkly little rivolis and dentelles are a BAD addiction!

Laura has wonderfully useful tables of peyote bead counts for different sizes of stone, even the odder shapes like triangles are covered, although as time has moved on, more variants are now available. The book remains a great reference book for this reason alone.

There are also many lovely projects in the book ranging from single embellished rivolis to multiple stone, geometric constructions which can be quite taxing for even experienced beaders. I came to this book from a background of mostly flat beadweaving so the dimensional stuff was really interesting to me. A head for maths (or at least division and multiplication) helps with some of the more advanced projects, but if you choose to make the project as described, then all the counts work out just fine.

If there is a drawback  to this book it is that Laura frequently uses vintage stones and the photographs show these so beautifully, you will spend HOURS of your life trying to track them down!

These are some pieces I've made using the book, with additional embellishments depending on what I had in my stash (the one made specifically for the challenge is the green Crown Jewel):

Crystal burst:
Olivia

Ring with a flower

Crown Jewel:
Falling Leaf Pendant.

Thanks to Clair for organising this Bead Book Bounce, and please head across to OTTBS for more links

Battle Reveals

The Battle of the Beadsmith  pairs are finally going up and I am so GLAD I was placed in group C as those have been the first to be revealed. My partnered beader was Patrick Duggan from the other side of the world. Patrick's piece is named Katerina referencing Catherine the Great of Russia, and is a very stylish necklace with medallions with military vibe:

I love the colour of the central red stones in particular, and it does seem as if it would be lovely to wear!

Another outstanding piece within group C is the Phoenix Collar of Helena Tang-Lim, based on Peranakan wedding costume:

I adore the way that the design elements have been used in a modern, fresh way. I'd like to include more ethnographic aspects in my own beadwork some day.

So you can see the incredibly high standard of beadwork in this contest! I shook in my shoes! For more examples pop over to the Facebook group page and go straight to 'Photos'

Anyway, without further ado I'd like to present my own piece. 'Oceanides Purse'

Photo: Andrew Davis, Model: Melissa Dokarry

The Blurb I wrote for the entry was as follows:

I am a 48 yr old beader from the UK, originally from London but now residing in Norwich. I have a full time job in plant science research, and my piece is loosely inspired by microscopic life forms of the sea (diatoms, phyto- and zooplankton, their geometry and diversity).  I like to combine the scientific with the artistic in my beading. I love organic, freeform and beadsoup. Beading is my therapy and relaxation.

1) Name of your piece: Oceanides Purse

2) Name of stitch, stitches used: Bead embroidery, Peyote, Right Angle Weave, Herringbone, Appliqué, Couching

3) Name of products used, size and material: Seed beads, Swarovski rivolis, dentelles, chatons, fancy stones and bicones, Swarovski and Preciosa cupchain, freshwater pearls, glass pearls, moonstone and labradorite, pressed glass and firepolished beads, Ultrasuede. vintage flatback glass cabochons and nailheads, heavyweight interfacing, upcycled satin purse.

4) overall size of piece: Worked area is 31.5cm x 19.5 cm. Finished purse dimensions: 20cm x 11cm x 5cm approx

5) time to complete 90+ hours

Here is a close up of one of the motifs, I bezelled a 27mm Swarovski stone using RAW and peyote and then applied it to the embroidery foundation, then embellished with the matte gold firepolished, and then couched down the 'rays' while making the first round of embroidery

Photo Andrew Davis

I think Helena and I had the same colour muse working with us, and possibly the Geometry muse was with both Patrick and myself.

Public may vote on the Group C battles within a limited time frame, and using a spreadsheet format downloadable under files on the BOTB '13 group page (click the logo at top right of this blog)