Philly Bead Fest, Here We Come!

Well, okay. I'm not going to the Philly Bead Fest (much as I'd love to be able to attend), but the five pieces I created using Kristie Roeder's wonderful beads and cabs are winging their way to her so they can be at Bead Fest.

There was just a bit of a panic this morning after I finished photographing the last of the pieces (just completed yesterday) and then couldn't find the first four! Waaaaaaah! I scurried around the house for a few minutes, looking in places I thought I might have placed them; and they were nowhere to be found. Finally I settled in a chair and gave it some thought... and figured out where they were. Whew. Our mail carrier can appear at the mailbox anytime between noon and 5:00pm, and it was approaching noon when I went into the initial panic. Thankfully, I was able to wrap everything and get it out to the mailbox before the carrier's arrival.

So here's the last of the pieces I created: a funky, earthy, unusual necklace that I named Terra. I used three of Kristie's smoke-fired clay beads in this one - one for the focal (it's about 2" long), a smaller tube-shaped one, and another smaller flattened oval one. They're all so beautiful and earthy. The other larger beads I used for this piece are a mixture of glass (root beer colored), wood, and bone. Everything's connected with little bits of peyote or ndebele rope; and there's a section of ndebele rope almost as long as the section of larger beads.


When I pictured this in my mind, I always thought of it as being worn with the focal inserted through the loop in the ndebele rope and hanging in front almost like a pendant; but after it was finished I realized that it looked pretty cool with the ndebele rope at the back of the neck and the focal hanging on the side.


It's great fun being able to collaborate with bead artists. I've always loved beads anyway, even though my addiction to them just began a few years ago; but over the past couple of years I've gained a whole new appreciation for the art form.

I still have some collaborating to do, too... I have a wonderful lampwork bead that was made by Lori Engle. She gave it to me at the Bead and Button Show, and we talked about my making something to complement it; but I haven't had a chance yet to use it. It's been on my beading board, just sitting there and talking to me about what it wants to become...

I also have some wonderful polymer clay beads from Jeannie Dukic. They're called Goddess Beads, and because each of the beads has a meaning of its own I have to make sure to incorporate that meaning into whatever I create.

As much as I'd like to dig through my own stash of beads and start to work on these collaborative pieces, I need to focus right now on the task at hand... packing boxes. Lots and lots of boxes, so we're ready for our move to North Carolina. I'm glad I'm able to take some time to sort through all the stuff we've collected while we've lived in this house - but I'm also a little alarmed at just how much of it there is! The Cancer Federation and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore are going to get some mighty big donations this week.

I'm finished packing for the day (enough is enough, after all), so I'll get to do a little beadweaving tonight. But first things first... I need a latte!
:-)