10/31/13

October Art Bead Scene Challenge

 
Ohara Koson's woodblock print chosen by Art Bead Scene for this month's challenge was the perfect October inspiration. I love the way the warm grays give the whole scene a gorgeous glow!

And I had the perfect etched gemstone focal in the print's blacks, whites and grays. I think it suggests a full moon in a star-filled October sky.


Handmade glass disc beads by Susan Kennedy and Kimberly Branch, along with lampwork beads by Juls Beads and April Larson provide the accent beads for the Russian Spiral-stitched rope. The brick-stitched bail, embellished with branch and leaf from Nina Designs, gave me the opportunity to include just a touch of the painting's muted peach and golden yellow.


Now, click over to the Art Bead Scene blog to see some really fantastic designs by this month's challenge participants!
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10/25/13

Hoops!

I'm so glad to see that hoop earrings are showing up on everyone's 2014 style lists, because I've been making lots of them in Deryn Mentock's Boho Bliss eCourse. Here are a few of my favorites.


Blue London topaz, firepolish and pearls
 
The palest green amethyst faceted rounds with blue and green kyanite rondelles
 
Three-sided ovals with crystals
 
Peridot rondelles and 6/0 three-cut seed beads

Deryn's course has me tackling lots of new techniques! Torch work no longer terrifies me, and a Dremel can be found center stage on my bead table these days. So much fun and much still to learn! But the combustibles and the power tools are going to be tucked away for the next few weeks while I return to needle and Fireline. I have a few challenge pieces to prepare.

If you'd like to join in the fun, Boho Bliss is open for registration until November 3rd.
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10/21/13

Do you have a favorite?

I wonder if my sister, Janet, knew that October is Visit Your Local Bead Store month when she surprised me with a gift certificate to my favorite bead store for my birthday. Although my birthday is the first of the month, I exercised great discipline and waited until the middle of the month to head to Augusta and YaYa Beads. I had already contacted YaYa's owner, Lesley, to see if she was up for a challenge. Instead of redeeming my certificate in the usual way, I wondered if Lesley, whose style I adore, covet and (when my skill level allows) strive to emulate, would use Janet's gift to choose some items in the shop for me. When I arrived, a basket awaited , filled to the brim with goodies, in fabulous colors and shapes I would not have chosen myself. I'll be sure to post back here when these make it into my designs. Ideas are already forming!

The Blacks:

The Warms:


The Cools:


The Singles:



A visit to YaYa Beads is always a treat! Whether I'm indulging my inner traditionalist, or looking to push the envelope, I always find design inspiration from Lesley's made-in-store creations and her latest product finds. And how cool is it that she took the time to hand-select these unique and fabulous beads for me?

When I began beading four years ago, there were two bead stores in my suburb of Atlanta. Both have since closed their doors. Now, I have to travel an hour north or 90 minutes south, (or in the case of YaYa Beads, 3 hours east) when I need to coordinate colors and textures, learn a new skill, or solicit help dreaming up my next bead project. The camaraderie of fun and creative people eager to share their love of beads is always worth the trip. So, whether your favorite bead store is around the block or across the state, there's still time to plan a visit to show your support this month!
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10/6/13

Summer-to-Fall Classics

This pretty scarf arrived in my mailbox last week, a birthday present from daughter Dani. The perfect Fall accessory, in all my favorite colors (just look at that muted teal!), I decided to think of it as a bold necklace, and design some simple earrings to go with it. Which cued me to open and fire up my birthday present to myself, a Lenk LPT-500 butane torch!

I recently won a spot in Deryn Mentock's Boho Bliss eCourse, which requires the use of a torch, and I discovered last week that overcoming my fears and watching the wire magically bead up in the flame into that shiny silver ball can be a lot of fun!


For my first pair, I focused on that lovely teal and worked through Deryn's lessons on drawing a bead on wire and hammering the earwire's surface for shine and strength. These are pretty and simple - fantastic with Dani's scarf, but classic enough to go with my entire summer-to-fall wardrobe.


My second pair is all soft browns and creams with a touch of black gold to pick up on the metallic threads infused throughout the scarf. I worked up copper samples of Deryn's handformed ellipse earwire at least a half-dozen times before attempting them in silver. Another autumn-inspired color palette, and again, those magical tiny balls. I'm really having fun with Deryn's class…next week - hoops!

Boho Bliss is chockful of techniques and still open for registration - come and join in the fun!
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9/18/13

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
 


 
Cheryl McCloud            
 
          
 
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9/15/13

Pearls! Pearls!! Pearls!!! Blog Hop

I'm so happy that Michelle Buettner of MiShelDesigns decided to give pearls the spotlight in today's blog hop. Michelle's invitation was the nudge I needed to tackle a project I've been trying to bring to the top of my to-do stack for almost two years. That's how long ago I purchased the pattern for Shelley Nybakke's Satisfaction cuff. Substantial and statement-making (you won't find anything prim or stuffy at Shelley's Sturdy Girl Designs), the cuff uses Swarovski crystals and pearls to create texture and sparkle in built-up layers of right angle weave.

Once I completed the gunmetal base and had the outer channels filled with crystals, I began to question my original plan to use black pearls in this design. Side-by-side, the black brings drama to the piece, but the gray pearls add their own light and glamor. For my own Satisfaction, I intended to stray a bit from Shelley's design of alternating pearls and crystals in the center channel. So I compromised by using Light Gray in the pop-up sections of pearls/crystals, and Mystic Black in the recessed sections of sterling spacers and pearls. Drama and glamor - now that's a double dose of satisfaction!



I purchased the pearls for this design at The Beadcage in Columbus, Georgia. The Beadcage is a Swarovski distributor and always has a well-stocked and totally tantalizing wall of pearls to choose from, a great choice if you live in the Atlanta area.

Soft and classic, or saturated and edgy, pearls are everywhere this Fall - click the links below to see how today's participants are mixing them up in their designs.
 
























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9/10/13

Crystal Play

I'm longing for Fall, aren't you? Our afternoons are still peaking in the hot and humid nineties, so while lightweight and airy dictate the fabrics of the day, I CAN start the transition to fall with my jewelry.

This Snake-Belly Bangle combines autumnal earth tones with a summery hit of turquoise - the perfect transitional piece. It's from Anna Elizabeth Draeger's, Crystal Play, a book that makes me wonder why I don't reach for crystals more often when planning my designs!

 

A combination of two of my favorite stitches, peyote and RAW, this one can easily be finished in an afternoon. It sparkles with over 200 crystal bicones and gave me a chance to finally use my SuperDuo's. These two-hole seed beads give the bangle great structure, but I have one caveat - check the holes in these beads carefully before using - nearly a third of my tube had undrilled holes, requiring drilling the second hole mid-stitch.

My sister was visiting last month, and one afternoon I handed her a stack of my beading books to look through while I got dinner in the oven. Crystal Play was the one book she set aside, commenting that she would love one of every design! (Anna includes more than a dozen bracelet/bangle designs in her book, ranging from fun to fabulous to killer exquisite!)

 

So after I finished my bangle, I stitched up a Snake-Belly for Janet in season-spanning black and silver. She has two sons in high school and often finds herself drafted to chaperone at their school dances. She'll be one cool Mom rocking this on her arm!
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