Goodies in the Mail

Don't you love getting packages? Even when it's something you've purchased online, it's fun to open the box and to get to hold your new goodies in your hand. Even if it's just a stack of books (I have LOTS of books!), it's nice to hold them in your hands and anticipate the joy of reading them later. (BTW, I thought of books because I just recently received a package of eight books by some of my favorite authors -- Stephen King, John Sandford, Karin Slaughter...)

Well, I'm practically stalking the mailman now that I know I'm going to be getting a couple of packages from some of my favorite bead artists. I entered Lisa Peters' Black Friday Blog giveaway, and I won $100 worth of her goodies!!! I don't know what they are, but I'm VERY familiar with Lisa's work and know I'm going to love everything. Since I don't know what's going to be in the package, I can't show you exactly what I won; but you can check out Lisa's Etsy shop to see some of her goodies. Be forewarned... Lisa has stalkers, and whenever she starts listing new things in her Etsy shop, they seem to disappear just about as quickly as they're added.



I'm also stalking the mailman in anticipation of receiving this INCREDIBLE set of polymer clay beads from Dee Wilder (aka Malodora). I also have a good-sized collection of Dee's creations, but that doesn't stop me from wanting more. I love everything about Dee's beads. They're varied in style and color, but there's always something unmistakeably Dee about them. The last batch I received were lathe-turned beads, and even my husband was amazed at the look of them - even more so when I told him they were turned on a lathe. When I saw these sitting in her Etsy shop, I knew they had to be mine.


One of my favorite things about these is their size. They're HUGE. In addition to these lavender and orange beauties (aren't those colors great together?!), Dee's been making and saving beads in my favorite color combination: black and white. Some Natasha beads and some more lathe-turned beads. I can hardly wait. (Where's that mailman?!!?)

I've been pondering whether to treat myself to some beads by another of my favorite artists on Etsy -- Kristie Roeder (aka ArtisanClay). I'm especially tempted now that she's selling $25 gift certificates for only $20!!! If you look back through some of my recent posts, you'll see that I had quite a lot of fun using Kristie's beads and cabs for several projects; but since I received my last batch, she's created even more goodies like this sagger fired square bead. Yep, I might just have to grab that one before it's gone. Kristie's also doing a giveaway on her blog, for one of her $25 gift certificates. I could spend that in a heartbeat.


Okay, enough drooling over all these beautiful beads... I have to get a couple of bracelets made for the giveaways I've done this week (one on this blog and one to my Facebook Fans). Speaking of which, are you a fan of my Facebook page? If you're not, I'd love to have you become a fan. I'm going to do more giveaways just for fans, so you could even win something.

Time to do some beadweaving now!
:-)

Inspired by Bead Artists

I don't make beads or cabochons myself, so I am completely in awe of the people who do. I have ideas for beads, but as is always the case there's just not enough time to execute all the ideas I have. So I satisfy myself by finding extraordinary beads created by bead artists, and then I try to do them justice in my beadwoven creations.

Two artists whose work I really admire are Dee Wilder (Malodora) and Lisa Peters (LisaPetersArt). I drool over their new pieces every time I see them on flickr or on Etsy, and despite the fact that I DO NOT NEED another bead, I can't resist adding to my collection. Not that they're the only artists whose beads I love, but theirs are the beads and cabs I've used most recently.

I finished and listed Kalliope a little more than a week ago using one of Dee's Natasha beads as the focal. The bead has shades of dark teal, pale mint green, a tiny bit of purple, and black; so I made four ndebele ropes using those colors and braided them (thanks to my grandfather for teaching me to four-braid) to create this asymmetrical necklace.


Just last night I finished a necklace, very different than anything I've created before, using one of Lisa Peters' gorgeous raku cabochons. Lisa's going to be exhibiting at the Bead and Button Show in Milwaukee at the end of this month (booth 1213), and she sent me two cabs so I could make something for her to use at the show to demonstrate how her pieces can be used. This is the first one I've completed, so now I'm under the gun to make something with the second cab. (At least I have an idea for what I'm going to do, even though I haven't picked up a bead yet!)

This piece (which is called Cybele, the name of the Phrygian goddess of fertility and nature, later worshipped by the Greeks and Romans) was great fun for me. I started out with a very different idea, but then I kept looking at the cab and seeing the earthy colors in it, so I decided to use some of the many pieces of driftwood I've collected from my walks on the Lake Michigan shores. (And my husband's happy that I'm finally using some of it.) I added a few coats of clear acrylic to seal the driftwood and make it shiny, and the addition of the acrylic brought out more of the wood's colors so it wound up matching the cab even more. I had the perfect bunch of beads to use -- metallic lined delicas in shades of olive and gold. Then it was just figuring out how to put it all together. I didn't want any one aspect to overpower, so I used varying widths of peyote strips to hold it all together. The back of the cab is covered with a piece of really soft brown leather.

I actually get to go to the B&B show this year, so I'll get to see how Lisa exhibits this. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be walking away from her booth with a melted credit card and a really heavy box...


You can see more pictures of this piece in my flickr photostream. And you can see more of Lisa's work in her photostream.

Freeform

I recently saw someone else's blog post about Wordle, and it looked so cool that I had to go check it out. This thing is addictive! You can create these word clouds by typing in a URL and letting Wordle grab the words, or you can type in the words yourself. After you're finished, click the "Randomize" button and watch all these little word clouds form. Neat, huh?

You can choose fonts, colors, and backgrounds to customize your Wordle. There's also a gallery, so you can go check out other word clouds.


I guess it's only fitting that I came across this freeform word cloud thing on the day I was busy making some new freeform bracelets. A lovely Etsy customer requested that I make her a freeform cuff using blues and browns/tans, and since freeform can be so different from piece to piece, I decided I'd make two of them and let her choose.

The first one is called Woods and Sky, both because of the colors and because I incorporated some little wooden discs into the design and used a faux wooden vintage button for the closure.

The second one, which is much more irregular in texture and shape than the first one, is called Along the Edge. It incorporates many of the same beads, but it has a very different look to it. For one thing, it started to "move" as I added beads. With the first one, I controlled the movement and kept the bracelet somewhat symmetrical as I wove; but with this one I just let it get away from me a couple of times. The result is that one edge has some "steps" in it and some cool looking faux metallic blue pearls and one elongated translucent matte bead that stick out from the edge.

Even with the irregularity, I like the way this one fits. It's got a definite curve to it, but the curve helps it slide down onto my hand when I try it on.

The customer has already made her choice (she liked the lighter tones of the first one better), so that second one is going into my Etsy shop shortly.

Before I leave, I have to show off something... remember my post about the beads I was getting from Dee (Malodora.etsy.com)? Well, they arrived on Saturday; and it was all I could do to wait until our company departed so I could open the package. And then... once I had opened the box, I almost didn't want to continue to unwrap! Just look at how wonderfully Dee packaged the Natasha beads. Each one was like a tiny little gift, each one is glorious, and I've now spent quite a long time picking each one up and examining it. They're all like little works of art, and I'm absolutely thrilled with them!!!

Now I'm off to bead. :-)

A New Lariat and More Fun in the Mail

Whenever I receive new focal pieces, whether they're beads or cabochons or anything else, I have to let them sit for awhile until they tell me what they'd like to become. Sometimes it takes awhile for them to talk to me, and sometimes they're so chatty that I can hardly contain myself until I create something with them.

Last year I received these beautiful Midnight Blue Carnival Beads from a very talented polymer clay artist, Dee Wilder (aka Malodora). They've been whispering to me for awhile, but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that some of them spoke up and told me what they'd like to become. Unless you've seen or touched some of these beads yourself, you just can't believe how wonderful they are. The colors are gorgeous, they have a heft to them that's so different from any other material that size, and Dee somehow manages to create depth and dimension through the careful layering she does. They're buffed to a high polish and are incredibly smooth.

So my big challenge is to create something worthy of this beauty. I listened and listened to the beads' voices, and they told me they'd like to become part of a uniquely designed necklace/lariat. I thought about making a spiral rope, but I didn't want the rope's spirals to conflict in any way with the somewhat spiral design in some of the beads. And although I have all the materials I'd need to create just a simple string of beads, I'm not really "into" stringing. That left me with one of my favorite techniques - an ndebele rope. Well, three of them actually...

I chose three distinct beads -- one that's mostly blue, one that's mostly purple, and a third that's mostly gold -- and created a single strand of ndebele rope for each of them. I puzzled over how to attach the beads the ropes for awhile until I came up with the idea of something that resembles tiny flower petals. I first thought of just making a set of lariats, but then I decided to join the ends of the three ropes, loop them back on themselves, resulting in a big loop.

The beads talked to me today as I finished this piece, telling me how happy they are to be part of this necklace, which is named Carnival in Trinidad (Carnival because that's what Dee calls her beads; and Trinidad because it means "three"). It's great fun to wear, and I even got the seal of approval from the beads' artist! :-)

Carnival in Trinidad, worn asymmetrically

Carnival in Trinidad, with the ndebele ropes braided (for a different look)

These aren't the only pieces I've received from Dee... I have one of her nudibranch bracelets, which doubles as sculpture when I'm not wearing it. And pretty soon I'll have a whole new batch of her Natasha Beads. They've already started talking to me, even though I haven't met them in person yet. I can hardly wait for them to arrive in my mailbox!!!


She doesn't typically list these in her Etsy shop, but I'm sure Dee would make you some if they're saying anything to you. You can't have any of these, though. They're all mine. :-)

Bead Art Originals Proudest Creations

I'm away from home right now, so I don't have many new photos of my most recent creations. I'm sadly behind in taking photos as it is... there are at least seven or eight finished pieces sitting at home waiting for me to take their pictures. If only I had a professional photographer who could pop in once a week or so and take pictures for me. I've even been considering making or buying a light box because I find that I'm too dependent on natural light. Time will tell where that idea takes me.


In the meantime, I have just this one photo of a beadwoven cuff I finished last week. It was specifically designed - size, color, and design - to coordinate with and complement the gorgeous polymer clay cabochon made by Dee (aka Malodora). The picture here does no justice to the beauty of this cab. Dee's photo of it is beautiful, so you can see it in its full glory here.

If you'd like to see photos of some beautiful work by some of the members of the Etsy Bead Art Originals team, check out the recent blog posts. Several of the members are showing off their proudest creations. There's a new post every day until each of the contributors has been featured. It's quite interesting to see just why each member chose a particular piece as her favorite, too.

If you haven't ever visited the Bead Art Originals blog, you're really missing a treat. Every Monday morning there's a post showing off the Items of the Week, specials being offered by participating members. There are almost always 10-12 items being featured, and there's some sort of special deal on each and every one... a free gift with purchase, free shipping, discount coupons. Check out the mosaic for this week's offerings (good only through tomorrow, and then there will be a whole new batch!).