The Heart of the Adventurer

This is my latest creation!  The Heart of the Explorer combines a handmade raku pottery heart cabochon (created by MAKUstudio or her Etsy store), a vintage button with a compass rose on it, Tim Holtz game spinner hands embellishments,  hand dyed Lucite flowers from Vintage Meadow Artworks, screw-in metal spike embellishments and California Gold Rush (color) seed beads in sizes 11, 15, and teardrops from Bead & Glass Boutique, vintage Swarovski crystals (reclaimed from a necklace purchased at an antique show), and a variety of Czech glass beads (pyramids, peanuts, half Tila, O beads, matte fire polish, and other seed beads) from Julie's Xpressions in Hastings, Nebraska.  Talk about exploration!  Look at all the styles of beads from all over the United States!  Too bad I haven't actually traveled to all the places I buy beads from!

My "philosphy" for bead embroidery:  Start with the focal and go for it!  I rarely start a piece with a design in mind!  This piece actually is one of the few that I have made that has NO Swarovski crystal cupchain!  (Gasp, how did I let that happen!)  Mostly, that happened because I had nothing that worked with the other colors of the piece.  Note to self, buy more cupchain to match everything!  Instead, I used some beautiful smoked topaz AB finish vintage Swarovski crystals reclaimed from an antique necklace I purchased and cut apart.  I know, that seems like sacrilege.  But, rather than that necklace lying unworn, it now has a new life!  Plus I reclaimed almost three vials of crystals to be used in many pieces! 

Other embellishments, the vintage button, Chris & Mina found for me on a visit to an antique store in Lincoln, while I was in a beading class.  The Tim Holtz game spinner hands can be used in SO many different ways!  I love when one craft medium can be merged with another!  You just never know what will add interest to a design.  The screw-in spikes were an item I had never used, but were very intriguing!  They come in different antique finishes, I used two antique brass and one antique copper on the upper left hand edge of the heart.  These were actually added to balance the design with the bead pyramids on the other side of the heart.

When I added the spikes, I wondered how to edge them.  I used size 15 seed beads to encircle them.  When I had completed those three, I liked the lacy look the rounded bead work added to the piece, so I continued it by adding the vintage crystals and the Lucite flowers.  At this point, I figured I had better stop before I added too much and complicated but didn't enhance the piece.  So the finishing edge was done with size 8 seeds topped with size 15 seeds and the tear drop beads.  It is brick stitch with the 15s and drops added as embellishment. 

The next challenge came when Chris tried to help me figure out how the piece should hang.  My first idea was to leave the shank on the button and attach the necklace with a lobster to each side of the piece.  This idea didn't work because of the weight of the piece.  So I did a square stitch bail and attached it when I was edging the piece.  The necklace design is of my own creating.  I used half Tila, O beads, and peanut bead and used the double needle weaving technique to put it together.  I used the ENTIRE tube of O beads, right down to the very last bead in the very last stitch!  Even though I am not a snake fan, the weave pattern and matte finish on the beads, gives the chain a snake skin look.  Hope you love it as much as I do!

Bead Mecca Here We Come...Much to the Cat's Disappointment.

Our cat Luna, looks a bit sad here.  I have just informed her she can not fly with me to Tucson.  Poor, pitiful kitty cat.  Yeah Me!

"But PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE Mom, I promise to be a good kitty while I hide in your suitcase"!
"No, Luna you can't go!  Julie said no cats are allowed on this bead buying trip!  There has to be more room for BEADS, so NO CATS."

"Oh, bother!  I will just not leave your suitcase!  It is going to be cold and snowy here and though I love to snuggle with Dad and Mina, I want to go with you on your adventure".  Poor sad, Kitty.  I love you, but you must stay home.

Ok, if you are a pet owner, especially a cat owner, I am sure you pack the suitcase, unpack the cat, pack the suitcase, unpack the cat, etc. etc. repeat, repeat, repeat.  My suitcase has been out for about a week, slowly accumulating my possessions to fly off to Tucson on a bead buying extravaganza with my boss; Julie, her daughter; Jacie, Mary Powell, and Deb Brooks!  In that time, Luna and I have repeated this ritual on a daily basis.  She is so adorable, she was purring the whole time we were doing our photo shoot this morning!  But, I am leaving and she is not!  We head off to Omaha tomorrow afternoon and fly out before the cats even get out of bed on Wednesday!  We have to be at the airport around 5 am and we will be in Tucson shopping for beads around lunchtime!  Whoot!  Whoot! On, Friday night we will play with polymer clay at the Friday night party with Christi Friesen and Deb and I are going to take a class on Saturday with Christi Friesen, learning to use Art Concrete and polymer clay!  In between we will be Julie's little worker bead bees, hunting for all sorts of goodies to bring back for the store in Hastings and to add to our own bead hordes!  Watch here for updates from my Guest Blogger, Chris (also my very favoritist guy in the whole world)!

Adventures with Precious Metal Clay

Last weekend, I learned a new skill.  I was thrilled to get to take a class with Deb Brooks, who's company is From the Heart Creations.  Deb is certified PMC teacher, and Julie hosted classes for beginners at the store!  We had a great time and learned a wonderful new technique.  Here are the designs from the first class:

My piece is the Steampunk design in the upper right corner.  I can't believe I was able to create that the first time out!  Shows how talented our teacher is!  The other pieces are beautiful too, and I really love the piece beside mine, which was made on a printing stamp of a map of Nebraska counties.  The one just below that moving clockwise was made with a rubber stamp, but then Julie carved the clay to match the edge cut on the design.

 

This was another class group, and Chris was in this class!  His is the flaming piece on the right hand side.  He even worked with Deb ahead of time to design the stamp image and carved it from polymer clay to make the impression for his pendant.  All of the pieces are beautiful and while waiting for the kiln to fire, Julie and I taught the group about Crystal Clay (well Julie taught and I assisted).  Have you had a chance to use Crystal Clay (it is a 2 part Epoxy clay which air dries in 24 hours)?  Too fun and the possibilities are limitless!

Final pieces made.  The top tree piece is for a multi strand bracelet and the matching bead is a double sided lentil bead wit a different tree on the other side.  Very cool! 
Chris and I are looking forward to playing with the PMC more in the future! 

Grand Island Bead Bazaar

We are spending our days getting ready for the Grand Island Bead Bazaar!
Here are the details:

Bazaar website

When: Saturday and Sunday, March 31 and April 1
Where: Exhibition Building, Fonner Park, Grand Island, NE

Time: Saturday, 10-5 and Sunday, 10-4
Cost: $4 per person, children 12 and under free

New this year!  Classes (we are teaching chainmaille) here is the class page link:
class schedule
Vendor List

Julie's Xpressions won't be teaching a class, but they are having Make It and Take It projects going on all day both days and for a small fee you can do a quick class and learn a new skill!  More info to follow!