Southern Bead Retreat

This will be my first year teaching, but the Southern Bead retreat is it's third year. Hosted by Paula, who owns fine Beadcage in Columbus Georgia, the retreat features classes from Cynthia Rutledge, Sherry Serafini, Huib Petersen, Diane Fitzgerald, Kimberly Stathis and myself.

My original Spirit Flight, beaded way back when I was asked over a year ago, was needing some additional colorways and so this week I got busy beading. I am technically on vacation but one of the things that I find relaxing to do, is to bead of course. So in this beautiful Pacific Northwest environment, I managed a new version of Spirit Flight that I am loving. I changed up the felt ball to a painted wooden ball which gives me control over consistent size, important for the math of the netting to work out every time, which of course is important in a classroom setting. It is also a painted in a pearlescent paint with subtle hints of silvery glitter.

It looks different from every vantage point and has a huge sense of whimsy that I like, while still remaining elegant.

From this angle you can see the sparkling vintage crystal which is hidden while wearing, but revealed when you tip it up to enjoy.



The collar slips over the bail and a simple ribbon sets it off beautifully.


And here the top down view.


The collar could be inter changeable as well, a darker one for more drama, or a vibrant one for more fun......but before I go beading more collars I need to bead up Spirit flight in a couple of more colors.

Friends Janice and Tracy will join me today for a long relaxed visit where none of us are running off to a classroom. Not that we don't love that, but almost always when we get to spend time, we're also needing to keep a
schedule. Now that I'm visiting in their neighborhood we get to enjoy a day of leisure.