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.

More from the treasure quest

New Albion Stitch 'Ancient Treasure'

I've made a promise to try and post more about the beading... much of what I do 'right now' is for next year, sometimes even further ahead, but these new pieces are ones I don't have to 'sit on', as they are my own experiments. Probably for workshops, they show just one of the several new developments in Albion Stitch which I'm currently working on. They are also part of my on going project about Treasures and Talismans.

I'm fascinated by the way in which we have objects of adornment which have different meanings. Collectively we wear objects like wedding bands, or religious symbols made in metals, these seem to be almost universal ways of publicly talking about our status or belief. Then there are more subtle symbols, insignia, badges, which show an affiliation to an organisation or a collective idea. next are the commercially generated tribal symbols of  logo's, band names, brand names and branded objects like watches, footwear and so on.

New Albion Stitch 'Pathfinder Talisman'

Next, an maybe more fascinating are the objects that have deep significance to just the individual, or the individual and a very few, often family members. maybe a coming of age locket, earrings, graduation gifts, or a unique piece of jewellery passed from generation to generation. Stop and ask anyone about their treasure and they will probably tell you a great story.
There are also objects which we give meaning to in other ways, prayer boxes, charms to ward off evil, attract luck, or jewellery engraved with secret messages.
From the first stone with a hole through it, threaded onto the first piece of braided elephant grass, we have taken simple objects and given them a new significance. Even now, finding a stone with a hole through it is considered by some to be magical luck, to blow a wish through the hole a guarantee of happiness.
My curiosity is piqued by our collective need for some kind of touch stone, how and why these come about and what, as a designer of jewellery I can usefully add to this story.
It is a rich and esoteric theme to plunder and a source of fascination. These two pieces are part of what I'm telling myself has a loose working title of 'Talismans for a Time Traveller', partly because I can dip in and out of all sorts of cultural references, going back in time, partly because I'm not sure yet where this little adventure is going.

D'you like the little cake tin I used as a prop? It is really dinky and quite old. For baking Madeleine sized cakes when it was shiny and new.

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!

summer is as summer does

Mid May and our plants are in a real muddle, the Ceanothus and Lilac are going great, but my white moss rose which ALWAYS blooms in May is barely in leaf. It's been rain followed by more rain, with a little bit of rain on the side. Between the clouds we have managed to get out for a walk, determined in that oh so british way to enjoy the bracing air soggy kagouls not withstanding!
We went to Kilver Court near Shepton Mallet. Kilver Court has designer outlet stores (no, no really, not part of the plan at all... we are talking Mulberry, Orla Kiely, Cabbages and Roses... seriously expensive even at the discount.. but OK... nice to see), a cafe of the relaxed, you won't be seeing any chips or ketchup in here but you can swim in the coffee cups and browse a newspaper kind of place, but most importantly a beautiful garden, look....

the rockery

colour!

Originally a space for workers to grow vegetables in the 1800's, created by industrialist Ernest Jardine.
Later the Showering family (manufacturers of Babycham, and owners of the adjacent factories) installed a grand version of George Whitelegg's Gold Medal winning rock garden shown at the 1960 Chelsea Flower Show.
In the 1990's Roger Saul of Mulberry fashion and Sharpham Park food brands fame, took over the property and installed a parterre... and a dear little Peter Rabbit vegetable garden for local school children to bring us full circle to Jardine's philanthropy.
The Garden is lovely to walk around, with lakes, waterfall, that amazing viaduct as a backdrop and some beautiful plantings... The factory buildings which overlook the gardens are restored, and can be hired as a conference or wedding venue. Lovely. The kind of place, if you lived near, to sit with a good book on summer afternoons... wedding parties permitting.

Magazine reveal

The Summer issue 

I often comment that I'm busy beading, but don't seem to have a huge amount of beading on my blog... mostly because what I'm working on is for a magazine, book, upcoming workshop or event.
The folk I'm working with understandably need the design kept under wraps until it suits their schedule to reveal it.
This is one I simply adored creating and was itching to share it with you way back in February. It's a brand new Albion Stitch design exclusively for the gorgeous magazine Perlen Poesie.
The magazine will also have an article about my work with lots of pictures. It's a huge honour as this is a quarterly magazine, so only four artists a year get a showcase cover... I is most pleased!!
I'm looking forward to meeting many of the magazine readers at the Beaders Best show the team organise in Hamburg... I'll be teaching there in August, I'm so looking forward to the trip.

Once more with feeling!!!

The creative process for this design was made the best fun by the request, 'Your most expressive and voluptuous design please'. What a delightful freedom to be given. 

So how did I grow the idea? I knew it was for the June issue and so in deepest darkest winter I thought of how lovely it would be to walk along a beach wearing a brightly coloured sarong. I experimented with some bits of card to get a 'buckle' shape that I could knot a sarong through... tried it and it works!
Next I looked at some bouquets of exotic flowers...  bet you're thinking.. in midwinter? in England? really? ... yes indeedy, in the dining room of a rather glitzy London hotel where I was attending a meeting, definitely shudder to think about the carbon footprint, but they were truly inspiring.
For the beading I started with the centre, I'd been experimenting with different kinds of bezels for the SS39 Swarovski Chaton and liked this simple variation. It gave me a base to start each petal from and the shapes kind of grew. There are plenty of crystals nestling in the design for added bling on the beach.
I'll definitely be wearing mine this summer... how about you?