October butterflies

Autumn inspiration for the
October butterfly

After a gloriously sunny summer, we are being treated to a beautiful autumn of crisp bright days.
Perfect gardening weather, and somehow, it doesn't seem so bad to be reaching for the jumpers and socks, as long as it isn't raining...yet. It is the time of year for clearing up and cutting back, for bonfires and the crackle of drying leaves and seed pods, for long walks through the woodlands in search of hazelnuts and blackberries. Everything still in abundance a little later than usual this autumn.
On the beading mat this week has been the October Butterfly, I had lots of requests for the raggedy butterfly that accompanied the Scorpion. Like usual, it took me a while to re-trace my steps and find both the thread paths and the story for this little design.

Original butterfly left, October butterfly right

October butterfly celebrates the turn of the season, misty mornings when cobwebs are turned into filigree lace, sparkling with droplets of dew. When the first hint of frost bites the air. Days that shorten into dusk too soon into evenings scented with woodsmoke.

October butterfly
sparkling on a party dress

While beading my thoughts create a history. This butterfly seemed to get steadily more vintage looking, a perfect candidate for the 'found in a trunk in the attic' idea that seems to run through my imagination... a little treasure that holds clues to a magical story...

One upon a time...




October Butterfly is now available as a downloadable pattern, as a kit or as a printed pattern.

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.

Ambrosina

Unlike the serendipity of the perfect crystals materialising at just the right time, Ambrosina has turned a seat of the pants roller coaster ride! Ambrosina means 'immortal' in Greek and is the name of both a bulbous fleshy plant and some divine Christian Louboutin shoes.
I'll be teaching this class at Beader's Best in Hamburg and in the Uk in Dorset too.... but before that, I'm teaching it at the beginning of May for the Beadworker's Guild. Sourcing just the right supplies can be a tense and nerve wracking business! Mostly in this case, because the first Ambrosina necklace samples were made in the depth of winter. This lovely journal,  covered in vintage silks was my colour inspiration. But, and this will be oooh so familiar to some folk out there, I used some dark bronze colour findings from my stash that I felt sure were widely available, without checking to see if they were.
The design uses my favourite technique of netting with a few tweeks and lavish ribs of embellishments with crystals, so far so good, but it also uses over size end caps and a weeny bit of wire work.
I have spent many hours and visits to suppliers in search of a lovely alternative, and was about to despair! Until I finally found a source of gorgeously patterned, silver end caps... the order is due to arrive tomorrow...

Inspired by antique silks,
Winter coloured Ambrosina necklaces

So I have been consoling myself with creating some truly summery colour mixes to work as the final samples... which of course, meant ordering yet more beads to get it 'just right'... these will hopefully also arrive tomorrow, leaving me a weekend to bead up a frenzy and finally be satisfied with my samples for these particular classes.
It's such fun choosing colours, I'll be offering...
'Lime in-da coconut' ivory, silver and the zingiest lime.
'Earth Angel' soft cream, bronze, silver and sand opal crystals.
'Indigo Dream', navy blue, pewter and violet Ab crystals.
'Mint Julep', Turquoise and silver with mint alabaster crystals, this is going to be interesting as the opaque crystals are a new adventure for me, but not everyone wants to glitter and sparkle!
so like the sand opal crystals this is a softer option.
I'll post the pictures when I'm done beading!
If you feel tempted already... click on the links to find the booking pages for the classes.