Memories of Istanbul, the final report

Along with the privilege of being the one week steward of one of Sig's traveling bracelets, is the responsibility to tell the story of it's time with you and perhaps a bit about yourself, and a photo or two to be included in the 'Amazing Adventures of the Traveling Bracelets' blog.  It's a small price to pay for being part of this story, and last night after preparing for this mornings travel, I forwarded my 'report' to Sig.

I think Sig deserves a big round of applause for keeping up with the weeklong travels of ten different bracelets and maintaining the blog so we can all share in the fun.  You can read my story here.  And if you'd like to get involved there is a sign up for the bracelets here.  And if you fall in love with the patterns, you can purchase them here.

My first bracelet will be passed on tomorrow evening after a day of teaching in Ohio.  I say first, since I hope it will be the first of many.

The Traveling Bracelet

Meets the Bead Gals

complete with Emily Rose....Maya was a tad jealous of Emily Rose's pearl necklace and dress!

Agnes is sporting the bracelet, next to Sylvia, then Susan, Ellen, in back Jody, Viola, DeeAnn and Emily Rose.

Girlfriends and Memories

Memories of Istanbul that is....Here are Judy of Judy Patuti and Susan from the Grove (Swellsknits) who came for a visit yesterday.  We played with beads all day, stopping to pose with a shot of the bracelet.  Miss Maya is not one to miss out hopping into the chair for a little pet, so once again she is posed with the 'crown'.

Pop over to Susan's blog to see the next thing I think Miss Malayna needs in her wardrobe.  Isn't that a darn cute little skirt and looks like a pretty easy knit.  I got stalled on Malayna's latest sweater due to some technical challenges and some lack of time.  I'm not sure if I'll pick it back up in time for it to fit her.  I've moved on, and am thinking lace dress might be next up, we'll see.

Susan and Judy weren't originally beaders, Judy being darn good with the fabric and Susan a non stop knitter, but they've fallen under the spell and yesterday we worked on a joint project, something pretty and sparkly. Judy brought me my new favorite bead mat (I did not beg, I promise), from this years collection.  Twice a year Judy picks new fabrics and creates a new collection, and there are several I fall in love with every time....yes I have a few bead mats....and a few thread catchers, butI am a beader after all.

Today I need to be in high gear to get ready for this weekends travel, so I'll leave you until tomorrow, when I'll bring you more adventures of the traveling bracelet!

Traveling Bracelets

The brainstorm of long time beader Sig Wynne Evans, The Amazing Adventures of the Traveling Bracelets is indeed an amazing adventure.

Sig has created ten different bracelets and sent them out in the world to be worn for one week at a time and passed on to the next person.  Her blog tracks the travels of each one and it's great fun to see their journey.  I always marvel at  how inter connected the bead community is and so I watch with interest the number of people I know who are connected to the bracelets. Here you can read how I came to have Memories of Istanbul.

Cynthia who writes her own blog post here, has been a Facebook friend for some years.  When I posted a travel plan that would take me through her hometown earlier this year, she wrote to invite me to stop and we did, and then we did again and now I think we've created a tradition. Cynthia happened to have Memories of Istanbul at the time of our last visit in Morro Bay and as she tells it the sparkle in my eye when I put it on made her decide that I would be next on the list.....really I begged, it's not flattering (Liz knows how I can beg) well I tried to be gracious, it was low-key begging....and this week Memories of Istanbul came to me.   Thanks Cynthia!

And so I will show you pictures of Maya posing and Amy posing and the bracelet will have a fine week here, but before I do, I want to tell you of my quest.  I am so enamored of this idea of the traveling bracelets and the inter-connectedness of the bead world (not mind you that you have to be a beader to participate, but it seems beaders do know one another, worldwide) I got it into my head that I would love to visit with each bracelet during it's travels.  I couldn't decide if that was an appropriate goal, lot's of people would like to have them of course, but they have a lifetime of journeys and so one week stop in San Diego in the scheme of things should be ok.....but I decided it was polite to get Sig's blessing and so I wrote and she's ok with my quest.

It came up when I read A2Susan a long time friend who I first met at the Great Lakes Bead Guild had Caribbean, another of the bracelets.  Susan and I have cruised together and had many a class together.  I restrained myself from begging yet again....but the idea was born.

So....if you have a traveling bracelet and you would like to support my goal of visiting with each one, I promise that I will show it a good time and if you had a special someone you wanted to send it on to, I would be happy to send it on to that person.  I'll think of way to let you know which ones I've had already....perhaps a link on the sidebar, so far I've had only the one, Memories of Istanbul, but I'll keep you posted.

If this is your first introduction to the bracelets, there is a 'sign up' on the comments block of the blog if you would like to participate.

Sig has put a lot of work into tracking the travels and keeping us updated, not to mention making each of the bracelets, and I'd like to thank her for her efforts.

And now, the first photos

Amy Blevins of Glass and Bead Boutique in Ptiman New Jersey came for a visit.  I met Amy when I traveled to Southern New Jersey early this year and again at Bead and Button.  I got to visit her beautifully stocked store and large comfortable class room. Miss Maya always takes the opportunity for a pet when I have visitors.

 Here is Maya, the reluctant model for Memories of Istanbul.

A group of gals I bead with re-arranged their timing and location so that they could have a visit with the traveling bracelet.  I suspect there will be a trip to Balboa park during the week, and then on Thursday I head off to the One Stop Bead Shop in Ohio.  The bracelet will go with me, enjoy the weekend and be passed on to it's next recipient!

Website update

With so many places to keep up with, and the blog and Facebook page being the most dynamic, I had let the website get woefully behind.

Deciding it was time for a major update, I started listing new pieces for workshops.....turns out there were several that had never made it to the website.  We've fixed that...All new since the last update!  

and while we were at it....we added a couple of new kits. Dancing Light and Lilliana are both new. The gold silver Abrege with the stunning center Vintage Capri blue rivoli is down to 5....with no more blue rivolis found yet....so this may be a last chance.

Thanks to Mark who is not only making kits, but maintains the site for me!  He does point out that he needs a little direction, so it was entirely my fault the lack of updates, but it's done for now.  We'll be working on more kits during the year so stay tuned.

Independent Co-Design

When good designs collide.....it happens, probably more then we imagine, two beaders independently coming up with really similar ideas....and sometimes it ends well.  They travel in the same beady spheres, the work of one gets completed, the other happens to see it and laughter and appreciation for one another's design aesthetic can be shared.

You might look at the sketch on the left and consider that I had drawn it in preparation for the piece on the right.  Yes it morphed along the way, but it's rather similar don't you think?  

The sketch on the left belongs to Beki Haley, the design on the right Vienna was beaded by me.  I never saw Beki's sketch, she never saw my Vienna, until it was done and posted and she wrote me, attaching her sketch. Update, Beki posted her own story here.

So what would have happened if we hadn't known each other, if Beki went on to bead her sketch and posted it.  In Beki's words, we might have gotten 'our knickers in a twist' having thought one or the other was 'highly influenced' but we would have been wrong.  I think the properties of certain stitches lend themselves to certain ways of designing and CRAW, cubic right angle weave lends itself to 'drawing with the beads' to creating curves and angles.  It's natural to change bead sizes along the way and the result is often similar.

When I was making Vienna I was really aiming to make the aqua and gold shape you see here,  only larger.....but when I got half way through the first side, I did what I do, I play with my beadwork and I curved it and joined it and the top half was formed.  The center pendant just appeared in my imagination and I beaded it up without much thought.

Look however at the shape I was trying to make, pretty darn similar to these beautiful earrings that Helen Fountain made.....The shape was the same the bottom in larger beads was the same and then I pinched mine in with one more cubic connection.  I never saw Helen's earrings until she sent me a photo because I'd been extolling the virtues of CRAW on a previous blog entry.

There are certainly occasions where someones work is more derivative then we might be comfortable with, feeling that our hard won design session is benefitting someone else, however I think often multiple people arrive at the same place through bead exploration.  It's nice when we can have a laugh over it and move forward to the next bead design in our sketch books.  Thank you Beki and Helen for being so gracious.

Vienna

My Cubic Right Angle Weave exploration brought me a new design last week.  I never quite know when a new design will show up.....I don't always set out with something in mind, or even know that I'm in design mode.  Ocassionally I'm just playing with a stitch and it guides me gently in a direction.  Such was the case with Vienna.

Judging from the Facebook page response, its a design that I think many are going to enjoy.  A long piece can be hard to photograph to show all it's parts.  Usually I would lay a piece flat and curl up the necklace so you could see the closure as well, but with chains, hanging the design for it's photo shoot was really the only way to go.  But I love the closure on this, the way the shape is integrated into the rest of the design, so I put together a little collage so you can see the details.  Since I used antique brass pearls in the cubic raw pendant top I chose a 12 mm antique brass pearl with a dorado loch rosen.  The dorado loch rosen is being discontinued this fall, obviously no one asked me about that decision!  I'm bereft.  Ok, perhaps not bereft, I just love that word, but I will miss that beautiful bronze color.