Harlequin Romance-February BJP

The idea for this month’s Bead Journal Project came to me on a visit to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta to catch the Modern Art: Picasso to Warhol exhibition. I turned a corner in an exhibit space and was stopped short by a Picasso painting, rather dreary at first glance, until my eye caught a tall figure on the right edge wearing diamond patterned multi-colored tights, and my February idea was born: a focal heart (this one by Susan Barnes of Fire Goddess Beads) against a harlequin background.

We’re in the middle of a kitchen remodel and have been evicted from our house for a couple of days while our floors are being refinished. So my piece was finished today in a hotel room, photographed on the window sill with the air conditioner going full blast to minimize the fumes from the drying E-6000. The things we beaders will do to keep from missing a deadline!

Choosing Hope

Watching a child suffer through the challenges of an illness is so difficult! Thanks go out to Erin Flickert-Rowland and Christine Altmiller who are hosting this blog hop and spreading the word about 7000 Bracelets for Hope. An opportunity from the Global Genes Project, jewelry designers are asked to donate a denim-themed bracelet to inspire hope and offer support to the families and caregivers of children affected by rare diseases.

I am sending this macramé bangle that sports 12mm druzy stones in denim shades from classic indigo to light stonewashed and a larger wooden focal bead inset with abalone. The slide closure makes it adjustable to any size wrist. I hope it will bring comfort to a family to know there are so many of us praying and pulling for them.

Please take a moment to click on the links below to see the designs that other jewelry artists are donating to show their support for these children and their families.

Once you choose hope, anything's possible. -Christopher Reeve

Elysian Studios  and  One Kiss Creations

  

The Studio Sublime

Crafty Hope

The Gossiping Goddess

SilverRose Designs

Firefly Visions

Pink Chapeau Vintage Jewelry

Michelle Mach

Pine Ridge Treasures

Backstory Beads

Adventures in Creativity with Lorillijean

Carefree Jewelry by Lisa

Sue Beads

MiShel Designs

Created Treasures

Taralinda Muses

My Life Under The Bus

Elizabeth Creates

SilverNikNats

Erin Siegel Jewelry

Carolyn’s Creations

My Life…one bead at a time

Fresh Baked Designs

Songbeads

Sunshine Bliss

Lori Anderson

Rainy Days Designs

Pat Barden Jewelry

Tell Your Girlfriends

Therese's Treasures

Windrock Studio

Bead Lola Bead

Spice Box Designs

Antiquity Travelers

Vitamin C...A Daily Dose of Creativity

Beads and Bread

Sharyl's Jewelry and Reflections

Ahtee's Blog

Thoughtful-Notions

Beads for Brains:365

Wild Sally Road

All The Pretty Things

Skye's Creative Chaos

My Addictions...Handcrafted Jewelry by Patti

Lindy's Designs

Falling Into The Sky

Star Hitched Wagon

Mama's Got to Doodle

10KDgroup

February Art Bead Challenge – Conference of the Birds

My favorite thing about Art Bead Scene’s current challenge was not the lush painting, a page of magical elegance from the manuscript of poet Farid al-Din Attar. My favorite thing is that it led me to discover Peter Sis’ adaptation of the 12^th century Persian poem, in which all the birds of the world get together for a conference and set off in search of the world’s true king. A great read, it’s a book written for adults, but one I can’t wait to share with my grandchildren.

With the poem’s many life lessons in mind, I wanted to design a piece that would capture Attar's idyllic riverbed at the moment the birds are beginning their adventure.

I immediately thought of a string of triangle-shaped druzies I’d been saving, in shades of warm khaki and freckled with the metallic golds and deep browns of the illustration. They reminded me of the painting’s many rocks that emerge from the water’s surface, providing landing places and a moment of respite. They would also give my piece the repetition of geometric shapes common to Islamic art at the time Attar was writing his parable. I paired them with SueBeads’ Southwest Raku lampwork beads that echo the freckles in the druzies while adding the blues, purples, creams and oranges of the landscape around the riverbed.

The elements are linked with herringbone chains of seed beads, capped with large fresh water pearls. This challenge piece will serve as a reminder that each stage on the road to self-discovery can find us at times battered and beleaguered – the beauty of the journey is to enjoy the sanctuaries along the way.

Ups, Downs, and Beautiful Spaces

A new year. The chance to start fresh. Start over. Keep up. A burst of hope, and then we find ourselves in the thick of things, living a life and here come those ups and downs!

For my first Bead Journal project (first ever!), I chose a small section of Georgia O’Keefe’s Evening Star IV because I saw it as a colorful representation of the peaks and valleys that await all of us in the 366 days of 2012. Quiet stretches of calm purpose, surges of renewed energy, periods when new ideas are born and puzzling times when our creative process seems fallow.

Georgia O'Keefe's Evening Star IV

Georgia O’Keefe had not painted in several years when her sister persuaded her to visit an old friend and teacher, Alon Bement. Georgia considered him a very poor painter, but a brilliant teacher, and was much influenced with an idea he gave her: “The idea of filling a space in a beautiful way - where you have the windows and door in a house, how you address a letter and put on the stamp, what shoes you choose and how you comb your hair.” Her examples are very much of her generation, but still a valuable idea for us today. It sparked Georgia to say things with colors and shapes that she couldn’t say in any other way.

My first pendant, based on her painting, will remain on my bead table - a reminder to stay in balance with the rhythms of life – and to create beauty in the spaces.

Reader's Challenge - Jonquil

My challenge with Andrew Thornton’s November Reader’s kit wasn’t the fact that nearly every component in the set was yellow, a color I have little design experience with. My biggest challenge stemmed from the luxury seed bead mix dominated by sparkling yellows, pale greens, peaches and a punch of gold and bronze. They begged to be spilled out on my mat and stitched into something lovely, organic and freeform. But I promised myself I would complete this project sans needle.

My favorite pieces in the Jonquil kit were the knowledge tree pendant (the month’s mystery component), and the long wooden bead, both of which cried out to be used in a focal. With kit in hand, I was off to my favorite bead store, where I found a carved, black onyx leaf, which brought out the color and detail in both. To heighten the challenge, I threw pink into the mix, another color that rarely makes an appearance on my bead table.

Once my focal was secured to the brass chain supplied in the kit, I dusted off my wireworking skills, creating sections of dangles leading to some gold Venetian glass coins from my stash. I used the soft peach tones from the kit to transition to the larger dangles that echo the focal. To give more length to the necklace, I added a doubled length of Vintaj ornate chain.

Much praise and many thanks go to Andrew Thornton for offering his readers these monthly opportunities to forge down new creative paths and work with artisan pieces that excite our imaginations. Take a moment to click on the following links to all the participants who will be revealing their Jonquil Challenge results:

Kate Richbourg

Christina Porter

Kim Dworak

Tara Linda

Jessie Nelson

Dawn from Morning Glory Beading

Michelle Burnett

Pine Ridge Treasures

Rebecca Anderson

Cynthia Riggs

Therese Frank

Alice Bavaud will have pieces on Andrew Thornton's blog

Earring A Day - Banishing the Blues

In a solid week of gray, foggy mornings and rainy afternoons, I found sparkle and shine at my bead table, stitching up some colorful baubles to beat away the blues. Continuing with my earring-a-day project, this week I’ve added 5 more, all fit for a party.

Bright with greens, purples and golden orange, these would be perfect for Mardi Gras. The pattern, which uses two sizes of drops along with peanut, 11 and 15 seed beads, is Cindy Holsclaw’s Pagoda Charm.

Blue is a big accessory color this year, and I love to contrast it with yellow-orange. This is another component from Maggie Roschyk’s Artistic Seed Bead Jewelry. I don’t know when I’ve been so inspired by a beading book! I can see these done up in so many different colorways and accent beads.

Classic black and silver never goes out of style. Deborah Roberti’s Diamond Tila pattern gave me a chance to use up more of these tile-shaped beads from my stash. 

Double the sparkle, these dangles with red magma cosmic rings and padparadscha rivolis pick up and reflect light from all directions.

Gwen Fisher’s three-dimensional designs are always fun and challenging. Her Deco Lotus earrings gain enough wow-factor from a second layer to make them just right for special occasions.

EAD Dress-Up-a-Casual-Tee Edition

Continuing the January earring-a-day challenge, I managed to create 5 this week, all just a bit dressy to spice up a casual tee.

I bought a tube of Tila beads six months ago, but never found the perfect use for them, until I came across this Carole Ohl design:

As my Tila earrings lay on my bead table, I noticed that a scrap piece nearby, the point of a star that ended up being too large, was approximately the same size and shape as my finished earring. Instead of cutting up the scrap, could I repurpose it into an earring?

 After reorienting the point, adding some tiny crystals and a slender dagger, it was ready for an earwire!

That silver and black earring with its jet dagger led to this aqua green and black version:

I recently began receiving catalogues from Arhaus Jewels, and as I thumbed through each edition, I always seemed to linger over these silver and turquoise crescents.

I set out to duplicate them with seed beads. Although I took up this earring-a-day-challenge to build up my show inventory, I like this pair so much, they just might have to stay with me!

My final pair for this week is designed around a component from Maggie Roschyk’s new book, Artistic Seed Bead Jewelry. I love how the red-orange and aqua blue work together in this pair, as classy from the backview as from the front!