Relic pendant

Did Anne gaze out from here?

In September we had an outing to Hever Castle. Anne Boleyn lived there as a child, and so it was on the wish list of places to visit. The girls in my family are all caught up in the drama of Philippa Gregory's awesome series of books on the royal women who shaped our history so magnificently.
At Hever, although it was made over by William Waldorf Astor in the 1920's, it remains a 13th century castle at heart, complete with winding stone stairs and casement windows. Who could help but be utterly inspired!

A view of the orchard at Hever

My ongoing project has been the symbols and trinkets designs which I've blogged about before, here. It's still got me fascinated, and the inclusion of secret compartments within the designs is becoming a bit of a habit. The Tudors were great lovers of trinkets and beautiful jewels were sewn on to garments as well as being worn as jewellery.
Lovers would exchange bejewelled message pendants and these too would be sewn onto sleeves. Some romeo's were painted with a sleeve full, to give away when someone caught their fancy? or maybe to show off how popular they were!

Relic Pendant in Pewter

Meanwhile, back at home, on my desk were some Czech glass stud beads in the perfect shades of pewter and bronze, just itching to be used. The new bead shapes and designs are coming thick and fast out of Czechoslovakia,
as a new generation of bead makers explore the glass. It is lovely, exciting and inspiring to get the new beads to play with.
The result is the Relic Pendant. A little container for a message or treasure to be concealed within. Worked in Albion Stitch and clearly way more influenced by my visit to Hever than I realised whilst I was beading.
I've written up the pattern, which is also available as a download, and put together kits in the first two colourways inspired by the beautiful patina of time aged metals.

Relic Pendants in Bronze and Pewter

Treasure creating

Labradorite and Serpentine necklace

I think I'm like a lot of bead lovers, in that, there is a magpie hoard of lovely things to one day use with
my beadwork in the cupboard. Part of the fun is reviewing the pieces, then squirrelling them away again as treat in store. But finding a serious lack of space in my usual treasure chest, for those lovely pieces found in the market, for example; a new approach was needed.
In the spirit of 'Living my bliss' and doing the nice stuff first, out came a Labradorite cabochon to go with the newly acquired silver capped Serpentine wand.
As the bead stash is as plentiful as the 'lovely treasures hoard', there followed a happy hour of choosing a likely pile of seed beads (galvanised pewter, pale green, olive lustre), accent beads (Czech milk glass and adorably lopsided daggers), Swaovski chatons in sand opal, and even a length of silversilk in just the right shade of olive green.
There followed many hours of pure happiness... Bliss followed!
As I bezelled the cabochon and added (then unpicked) different beaded elements, the shoulders relaxing, my mind quietly unravelling irksome life niggles... I had the best time!

The creative thought processes have had a great jump start too, and already I'm imagining a whole series of 'Sticks and Stones' pieces with articulated joins and links.
But for now, I'm going to just love wearing the necklace. Serpentine has the healing qualities of protecting the wearer against sorcery and invisible forces (!), while Labradorite is the perfect stone to help ease aching joints, while balancing and harmonising the wearer.
I'd forgotten what a pleasure it is to just take time out and make something, like going for a walk in the sunshine with no particular destination in mind. While deadlines still have to be met, meetings attended, classes prepared for and journeys organised... I've already had another rummage for the beads and bits for my next bliss session.

Divine iron inspiration

a mystery to be solved

I love a good bit of door furniture, and it doesn't come more divine than this over the top creation discovered in the Bishop's palace at Wells. I'm also rather keen on that nice muddy paint colour too. What I find delicious about this ornate door handle is that it is utterly beautiful, yet surprisingly uncomfortable to actually use... some fiddlesome door funiture for fine fingered clerics... argh! couldn't help the alliteration there!

I'm finding that I keep coming back to this image not because I want a door like this, but because it is tickling away at a couple of ideas.

The first is for the beady alternative to the metallic bronze, silver or gunmetal, my staple metallics so far. I have put in a request with Miyuki for an antiqued copper (so far they have a nearly OK one but only in size 11 seeds and not the same in 15's)...  most of the gold beads are all just too gold, brash and harsh, so I love the pale as straw colour of the metalwork in my picture. The door paint is another colour I keep seeking. I have just a pinch left, they are matt, mushroom grey and add gravitas to all other colours, but obviously out of production, sigh!

I also return to this image because it's so 'homage to' Pugin. Divine symmetry is snapped off and the keyhole aligned to a gap in the tracery, rather than designed for this particular door... so was this a piece of Victorian Gothic envy? Pugin was responsible for influencing a generation, as architect of six cathedrals and forty churches, whereas this ecclesiastical building had already been standing for 700 years. I suspect that someone might just have sneeked in a few twiddly bits to keep up with fashion.

Finally I love this image because it is singing pendants, bracelets and other design ideas which are safe in my sketchbook until I have beady time and some pale gold beads.

Old friend I hardly recognise

BWG 10th Anniversary celebration necklace

Sometimes my beadwork goes off on travels of its own. This necklace was created for the Beadworkers Guild in 2009, part of a supplement to their Journal magazine, showing different ways to use stone, glass and ceramic donuts, and created to celebrate their 10th anniversary year.
Each designer commissioned for the magazine was sent a selection of beads, crystals and a donut in a 'blind' package.
I got the green package... as editor of the magazine at the time you may stroke your chin, wiggle an eyebrow and ponder, oh yes? your favourite colour? randomness I think NOT! But to make things fair someone else packaged up the beads... so serendipity won out in my favour... no really!
The finished necklace remained with the Guild from then until now, doing the tour of shows and events. When it finally came home, I hardly recognised it as my own work.
Clearly a celebration of all things Peyote stitch and size 11 seed beads. The donut is a bloodstone cut with a slightly facetted surface.
I recall that I had huge fun creating it, longed for slightly different coloured beads and took an age to finish the rope which is worked over a squishy neoprene cord... Now I still like it, but it feels kind of dated, a bit too plain and simple compared to the work I like to create now, but it also has the beginnings of an idea I've gone on to use many times, the linking of elements with lovely cushion shape briolette beads. I found that rediscovering this 'old friend I barely recognised' moment really useful as a way to review my work over the past few years in a new way. I got out some pieces and was able to see developments, and home in on some ideas I'd never had time to explore yet too. On the whole I'm glad to have the piece back home, I have a dark velvety green chenille tunic that will help this piece look nicely medieval next winter when I wear them together.
I photographed the piece twisted round my garden gate so you can see the clasp as well as the pendant, also, I opened the gate so you can just see the lush blue of my ceanothus tree.

Czech spike beads

OK so sometimes it is essential to stop stashing beads and start working with them. It is also really cool to support a great idea and I love the story of Perry Bookstein's creation of these Laura McCabe inspired deliciously spiked beads.
So there I was hopping from foot to foot in the bead shop when I went to pick up my Czech Glass spikes last week. But guess what, I was way too restrained and only bought two packets...  definitely need to go back for more as the ideas are jumping about... what was I thinking two packets!!

Time Traveller's compass

You would imagine that I spend most of my time sitting and playing with beads, but actually it's not that often I get to just bead, so as a special treat this weekend himself watched the cricket and didn't mind a bit that I spent two whole days under a tree in the garden with my bead tray...bliss.

OK so this design I'm calling the Time Traveller's compass... it's part of a series of new pieces based on a story and really the next stage in my ongoing fascination with treasure and talismans. I will get around to posting about this properly one day, it's something I love researching, exploring, and working with as a form of creating adornment...

Meanwhile my design is reversible and uses some adorable Czech crystals along with some swarovski ones too. it's a kind of Talisman for a modern age, a beady compass for navigating life, for me it's also part of some new works using Albion Stitch.. whispers quietly... maybe for book three!! Buy the kit, more materials or instructions only here.

The cord is a beady rope I'm calling honeycomb, it is a variation of netting and works up really quickly.
No more time to blog... I need to go order some more spikes!

Hamburg bead fair classes

Double sided Daisies

I love getting new designs ready for workshops, events and publications, but the sitting and waiting until I can show and share is sometimes a really fidgety business... the more I like a design or a new thought in beads, the harder it is to keep it under wraps. The fun part, I guess, is putting it away, then setting off in a different creative direction for the next piece... essential so that no one is miffed that you've duplicated an idea or process, tricky eh?!!
At last I can show and share the pictures of the workshops I'll be teaching at the Hamburg Bead Fair in August, if you're going to the show, come join a class with me or one of the many amazing bead artists who'll be gathering to teach their designs too (feel a bead party coming on!), you can find out more here.

Summer Tassels

Anyhoo, in Hamburg I'll be showing some new Albion Stitch techniques I've been trying out, my favourite of the moment a double sided Daisy pendant. I've been working on some more ideas linked to these designs, lots of lovely new shapes and structures... which will remain top secret for a little while longer, doh! but for now I'm busy wearing a Daisy pendant which is green on one side and pink on the other, perfect for cheering up the sensible winter woolies.

The second design I'll be teaching is a delish Summer Tassel, I'm exploring different ways of layering my beadwork and this design takes Albion stitch in yet another new direction with some cunning construction. The kits for the class contain lovely polka dot dagger beads which I've been hoarding in my stash for just such a project.