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!
:-)
If you're anything at all like me, you spend a lot of your online time drooling over the wonderful creations of others. I spend an inordinate amount of time browsing Etsy, flickr, 1000 Markets, Facebook, and all sorts of other places and am constantly amazed at the creativity and artisanship I see.
It wasn't too long ago that I was looking at pictures on flickr and came across some new smoke-fired clay pieces posted by Kristie Roeder. They were amazing! I could tell from the pictures that the textures of the pieces were lovely and smooth, and the muted color tones created by the smoke-firing process had such an earthy feel that I immediately fell in love with them. I left a comment on one or two of the pictures and mentioned something about doing a collaboration - I so wanted to do some beadweaving with one or two of Kristie's pieces (the only problem was that they were being purchased just about as fast as she was listing them in her Etsy shop).
Imagine how happy I was when Kristie contacted me and said she'd like to do a collaboration. We worked out the details, and she sent me a package with several of her smoke-fired pieces as well as some of her stoneware and recycled crackled glass pieces. I've had them sitting next to me for awhile, waiting for each of them to talk to me and tell me what it wants to become. A couple of them spoke up (screamed, actually), so they were the first to be turned into jewelry.
The first one is called Suspended Heart. The smoke-fired heart is, just as I imagined, very smooth and soft feeling; and it has wonderful patterns left on it from the firing process. I used a piece of heavy gauge copper wire I had found on the beach at Lake Michigan to suspend it from a very different type of bail I created with matte metallic bronze delicas. The necklace portion is made from two strands of ndebele rope and a single strand of delicas, loosely braided to mimic the lines in the face of the heart.
The second piece is called Atalanta, a Greek name that means "equal in weight." This one features one of Kristie's smoke-fired donuts as the focal. Once again I used salvaged material, this time some pieces of driftwood, to suspend the focal. Rather than try to match the color of the donut or the driftwood, I decided to go in a completely different direction and choose a color that would complement the browns. These dark red matte beads were the perfect color and texture. All the beadweaving is single peyote in varying widths.
I still have more pieces waiting for me, and I have a few ideas brewing. I do have a tendency to work right up to a deadline, and since I have until August 20 to get these in Kristie's hands (she's going to display them at the Philadelphia Bead Fest!!!), I'll have time to do at least one or two more pieces.
Want to be inspired? Check out Kristie's Etsy shop. You'll be amazed at all the gorgeous pieces she has in there! Here's just a sampling:
