Creating with Cabochons Reveal

We are in for a real treat today - the reveal of Sally Russick's Creating with Cabochons Challenge. I, for one, can't wait to hop around to see what everyone was inspired to create!

I love the tribal trend, and when I pulled out a rounded Ammonite and triangular Dinosaur Bone jasper from my stash of cabs, they immediately suggested a pendant in the shape of a shield. A few hours browsing the internet for ancient weaponry and I had my design!

I let the reds and gray-browns of the jasper dictate the quiet, earthy color palette. These are not colors I normally design with, so I was happy to see a flash of iridescent blue-green in the Ammonite - my design now had some depth and an accent color that can always be found on my bead table.

I captured the large jasper with a Bead-Across bezel, a technique I discovered in Jamie Cloud Eakin's Dimensional Bead Embroidery. Larger beads are added at points around the base row, and then smaller beads are strung through them to secure the component. An intriguing touch of engineering and an interesting alternative for irregular shapes, it was the perfect decorative element for my shield-themed pendant.

The neckstrap combines firepolish beads from the pendant with lustrous labradorite rounds and rectangles. The deep ruby rondelles are faceted dyed jade.

Many thanks to our hostess, Sally Russick, for inspiring us with this challenge. I had forgotten how much fun bead embroidery can be and I learned some new bezeling, edging, and construction techniques. And I'm sure I am going to learn much, much, more as I visit the blogs of all today's participants. I hope you can join me!

Your Host: Sally Russick

D Lynne Bowland

Alicia Marinache

Lynn Jobber

Jenny Davies-Reazor

Jo-Ann Woolverton

Marde Lowe

Dawn Doucette

Mary K McGraw

Gloria Allen

Cheri Reed

Sonya Stille

Elizabeth Owens Dwy

Veralynne Malone

Tania Hagen

Lynsey Brooks

Christina Miles 

 

Holly Westfall

Kathy Lindemer

Patti Vanderbloemen

Therese Frank

Adrienne Berry

Liz E

Tanty Sri Hartanti

Ginger Bishop

Renetha Stanziano

Marlene Cupo

Sandi Volpe

Sharyl McMillian-Nelson

Niky Sayers

 

Mischelle Fanucchi

Tracy Stillman

Skylar Bre'z

Ann Schroeder

Paula Kramer

Jess Green

Susan Kennedy

Stacie Florer

Cathie Carroll

Susan F.

Michelle Caballero

Sabine Dittrich

Kristina Johansson

Kimberly Sturrup-Roberts

Melissa Meman

Cheryl McCloud            

 

Michelle Timms

Cindy Pack

          

Lynda Carson 

 

Cynthia Machata

Julia Harris

Karin Slaton

Ingrid Anderson

Karin Grosset Grange

Jasvanti Patel

Inge von Roos

Molly Alexander

Toltec Jewels

Memories and Thanks Blog Hop

Is there someone who greatly influenced your direction as a beader? For me, that person would be Alice Walker of Beadazzles, the wonderfully eclectic Atlanta bead store that closed its doors in 2012. The display cases in Alice’s store were always brimming with enticing beads and components, and its walls were covered with original and unusual pieces sure to inspire. If a project was just not coming together, Alice and Beadazzles’ talented staff were there to offer design advice and usually that perfect bead to delight the most elusive muse.

I remember Alice encouraging me to sign up for a Laura McCabe class, a two-day workshop that found me, still very much a novice, in way over my head. The woman across the table noticed that I was lagging behind and quietly demonstrated each step again. She was a life-saving tutor over those two days and became a good friend. I wouldn’t be surprised if our seating hadn’t been pre-arranged! That was Beadazzles. I took many more classes at Beadazzles, from both local and national teachers, and eventually, at Alice’s urging, taught some of my own designs at the store.

Alice immediately came to mind when I read Lori Anderson’s idea to dedicate a post on January 12^th to honor someone who touched your life and made it better.

Since this is the last bead strand I purchased at Beadazzles, it was my first choice for this project. I remember when I was paying for that final purchase, the staff asked me if I was planning to use these as a whole strand, or individually. I definitely saw them used in pairs ... for earrings, or as accent pieces. Time to readjust my thinking! The tetradic colorway the beads suggest is challenging, and not for the fainthearted, but perfect for this necklace, since Alice’s favored pieces were always large in scale with lots of color.

 

I had some fantastic tourmaline cabochons in the beads’ blue-greens and red-violets, so they became my dominant colors.

 

 

I don't have a photo of Alice, so I borrowed this one (Alice is on the right), from Marcia DeCoster's blog, taken when Marcia was teaching a class at Beadazzles (before I took up beading, or I definitely would have reserved a seat for that!)  This link will take you to Marcia's post on Alice and the store.

Alice closed Beadazzles late last year, retiring, with plans to move to California to be closer to her family. Much thanks go out to her today for her care and encouragement and for many great beading memories!

Click over to Lori Anderson's blog and follow the links to the other participants in today's  Memories and Thanks Blog Hop. I'm sure we'll be treated to some fine designs and inspiring memories!

March BJP - Mad Men Edition

A kitchen remodel begun in February has expanded to a complete first-floor renovation, leaving precious little time for anything else. I did safeguard two things on my calendar - watching the Season 5 premiere of Mad Men and making my March Bead Journal deadline. Happily, I was able to combine the two!

This month's project takes its colors from a wonderful image of Mad Men's Betty Draper in her "sad clown" party dress, which she wore for days after a particularly dreadful row with husband, Don. (The image is from illustrator, Dyna Moe. You can see her set of Mad Men illustrations here.) I turned the colors into a fun, just-a-hint-of-psychedelia, mid-sixties swatch. I could see Betty wearing this pattern as a fitted blouse with some city shorts and a mod clutch, martini in hand, this season.

And finally, last Sunday, the Season 5 premiere! Was it worth the year-and-a-half wait to ogle the enthralling costumes of the men and women of Mad Men? Absolutely!

One Fine Afternoon

This turned out to be a great afternoon. I just finished edging my first beaded cuff, wandered down to the mailbox to stretch a bit, and reached in to find the new issue of Bead and Button magazine. Perfect timing!



This was my second bead embroidered piece, and my first attempt at a cuff. I loved working with the blues, greens and all manner of golden taupe beads to give the bracelet a very textured look.




I'm counting on it to give fresh pizzazz to my plain white shirts and denim this fall.

Stepping Off the Path

Another thing that I loved to do when I was ten was embroider. I learned the essentials as a Girl Scout, under the careful eye of my Mom and my aunt, who were our troop leaders, and Diane Sawyer (yes, that Diane Sawyer), who served for a time as our junior leader. After whiling away many, many hours back-stitching a half-dozen pillow cases, I set my needle and thread aside, neglecting the art of hand stitching until this spring, when I took a class in bead embroidery.

While I was away, the artform has changed. What an exciting array of materials! Beads, of course, have entered the mix, along with silk, leather, lace, metals, mesh and more! Up until now, my beading projects have begun by finding a pattern and rounding up beads. With this cuff, I stepped off that path and started with a cabachon and let the beads tell me where they wanted to go!



It's a beginning...check back in a bit to see how it turns out!