Doing it justice

I'm torn because I want to sit down and tell you about all of the pieces I respond to in 500 Beaded Jewelry....and time is not on my side.  I've written the post in my head, but  it's not quite that easy of course.  I want to walk through it again slowly savoring the pieces, examining each one, what it is that draws me in and I want to tell you about it....and time is not on my side.  At the moment I can't do justice to that blog entry and I want to.

I'm working a lot of different things simultaneously it seems, beading beaded beads for a necklace challenge I joined, finishing up reviewing tech edits for Beads in Motion, thinking through designs for the Bead Within, working on the website for the project reveal of Beading by the Bay, ordering supplies for the Southern Bead Retreats Spirit Flight and illustrating my Master Class component selection.

It's all wonderful of course, it's the life I chose, and I did choose it, forgoing my corporate career, always working someone else's agenda for the security of a weekly paycheck.  I chose to work for myself, to get up in the morning, wander down the hall with coffee in hand and spend the day doing things that directly effect my well being.  It's a good way to live and I have no regrets.

2013 Master Class Bead and Button

The news I promised last week, I will be teaching the 2013 Bead and Button Master Class.  I've known for quite some time, having been invited to teach in 2014, but about a month ago I was asked if I might be able to adapt my schedule to teach in 13 instead.  

Since I was first asked I had been developing my concept so I felt quite comfortable saying yes.  

The title Playing with Possibilities is what I always do during any design session.  Even when working up samples of already designed pieces, I am toying with the components, re-arranging them, folding them, twisting them and exploring what might occur if I were to change things a bit.

This will be the essence of the three days, where a design playground of components will be available for folks to arrange into their own design visions.  Tutorials for all of the components will be provided and once a design direction is established, photos will be taken and the beading will begin. 

Just to give you an idea.....none of these pieces have actually been connected into their final format, they have all been arranged with components to show off the 'possibilities'

 

Miss Maya, for Jose

When a blog reader advises me of their desires, I like to try to oblige, so when Jose, owner of his own chihuahua dressed in crystal, let me know he hadn't see Maya on the blog in awhile. I found some Maya photos








Is she not the cutest girl?....long haired chihuahua daschund, rescued at one and a half years, now nine, the most loving sweet people companion. we can't imagine life without her. She reminds daily to live in the present, feel the joy, and love those closest to us unconditionally.

Pasadena Bead and Design Show

I had the chance to visit yesterday, running into many friends, finding a few new treasures including this ring




From Robert Lopez

I have a couple of new clothing pieces as well...ahem....they are after all a business expense....

And a few new beads, some pieces of Raku and a bit of chain.

I wasn't around to see the beautiful Katherine, but here she is visiting th Judi Patuti booth




Last night dinner at La Luna Negra on Green street, recommended by friend Susan Blessinger, was very fun. There was an excellent choice of very inventive Tapas, live music and Flamenco dancing. If you are in the mood for a quiet intimate dinner this is not your spot, but the food was full of eclectic flavors and a good time was had by all.

I met my goal of finishing the first half of tech edit reviews for the book on Friday afternoon at 3:57 so I took the weekend off. Next week should complete the rest of book two for now and it's on to book three.

Collage!

Janet over at Honey from the Bee, introduced me to Pic Monkey for making photo collages.  I used to do this with Picnik and I can do it with Illustrator, but with multiple formats and an easy upload capability Pic Monkey does the trick beautifully.  It's currently free and I ponder how long this will remain so, but in the meantime I took the opportunity to put together a collage of my photos from the Chihuly exhibit in Seattle.

I've shown you the pictures, at least some of them, but a collage really tells a story.  The lighting and the glass and the installation were all so  compelling it was almost impossible to take a bad photo.

Thanks for the information Janet, I see a few collages in my future....

Details....

As I continue to design I always try to find better ways to finesse the details.  I have a new piece, reveal to be done soon, and I'm in the process of working out a clasp that integrates beautifully and is secure.

I'm loving the pearls and how they compliment the design...A teardrop Swarovski glass pearl in antique brass with a volcano loch rosen

and I've made it secure with a little lasso

But it's still a bit awkward.  I have another idea in my head and possibly some time today to explore it.

In the meantime I am responding to technical edits for Beads in Motion, reviewing all text and illustrations.  I might have been a little off my game as I am finding some crazy errors, six repeats instead of five, a peyote tube illustrated when the piece is actually done in right angle weave, that sort of thing.  All pretty easy fixes so far.

We're headed for the Pasadena show this weekend.  I've never been and besides beads they have some of my favorite wearable art designers, and by the weekend I suspect I will feel in need of a treat.

Oh and sometime this week I'll have news to share, reasonably exciting news, so stay tuned.

The Beady Life

I must sit down and schedule out the next few weeks, it's the only thing that keeps me on track.  Otherwise I can tend to float through the days not accomplishing what needs to be accomplished.  First up is reviewing all of the technical edits for Beads in Motion.  There will undoubtedly be some illustration changes so we'll so how much of my learning curve I retained!

On the beady front I finished a third color way for Spirit Flight my Southern Bead Retreat piece.

Originally Spirit flight was designed with a felted ball, but since exact sizing was imperative and I had created the ball myself in a non standard size, the impracticality of kitting over 50 of these became pretty apparent to me.  The calipers revealed a need for a 1 1/4  inch ball which happens to be a standard wooden ball size.  It sounds heavy but it's not at all, wooden balls are surprising light.  So although I don't need to roll over 50 evenly sized felt balls I do need to gesso and paint over 50 wooden balls. This one is done with a new line of metallic paints from Christi Friesen named Swellegant.http://store.cforiginals.net/swmecoco.html  It has a beautiful richness to it.  This is the brass metal coating.  There is also a line of colored dyes and patinas that can be applied, but for this one I like it as is.

I am also working out some clasp decisions on my Beading by the Bay piece.  For those of you waiting, the goal is August 1st so share with you next  years projects by Sabine Lippert, Huib Petersen and myself!

and....each day I wait for the UPS lady to see if she's brought my copy of 500 Beaded Jewelry.  The reviews are starting to come in and they are all glowing.  How could it not be a gorgeous book, 500 examples of contemporary Beaded Jewelry? And as I looked for a review to link I noticed that Jean Yates called out my Party Girl necklace, how exciting is that?   I think how far the art has advanced over the 20 years I've been doing it and I can't wait to see so many different pieces created with beads.  I'll be sure to share the minute I get it, well when I get done drinking in the pages.