A little bit of seaside

Dreamy Dagger beads

Bead love alert!
dreamy dagger beads!
When these arrived in the post, I decided that deadlines could
go hang, time to follow my bliss for a few evenings and bead me a necklace!

The hanks of beads were silky and tactile and I soooo wanted to have them with me as fringy pendants to swish my fingers through.

The colours reminded me of a piece of Abalone shell, picked up during a last long walk on a beach at the end of a holiday. I kept it to remind me of the pure luxury of sand between the toes, salt in my hair and the warmth of the sun.

The necklace grew simply, from the colours and with no particular plan in mind. More importantly, no stopping. No stopping to get caught up with re-works, rip outs, or planning, no stopping to think too hard about bead choices... Instead I kind of worked with the same frame of mind as that walk on the beach. Oh, and no stopping to tidy up the bead board, random messy, definitely a new approach and the random juxtaposition of beads gave me ideas and choices I might not usually have made.

Random act of beadiness!

The cord is a length of crochet, worked in fine cotton around a length of narrow jewellery tube, which gave a simple base to add a bail and beaded beads around.

The finished necklace

The pendant is simple bead embroidery, it's been an age since I did any, but it seemed the easiest way to bezel the irregular shell piece, and add the swishy fringing. Accent beads include semi precious stone beads, of South African Jade and pink Phosphosiderite.
I'm really happy with the outcome, it's not ground breaking, all the techniques are old favourites, but it's a fun piece to wear, and while I might not have time to go dig my toes into warm sand just now, instead I can run my fingers through those swishy fringes and take a moment to dream.

Lots of swishy fringes

Random embellishments

Student inspired

Grace's loom woven loveliness

I don't often get the bead loom out these days, but have been tempted into doing so after a chance meeting with a student. Grace is a hugely talented spinner, patchworker,stitcher, beader and all round creative, who took a loom class with me a few years ago. It's always lovely to meet up with her, she is full of energy and always dressed in something exquisite about which she usually says, 'oh, just some odds and ends I threw into a dye bath or two', envy envy!!
I was touched and delighted when she showed me these bracelets. She's taken the original idea we worked on in class a step beyond. You can see the post here and try the techniques for yourself.
Having woven fine yarns and beadwork together on the loom, she has then gone back in to the piece, to work off the surface with more beadwork. The result is a lovely raised surface and as always, her colours are divine. Simple snap fasteners stitched to a woven selvedge are all that is needed to make the pieces instant wearables.
Meeting up with Grace has re-energised and inspired me to get the loom out and dusted down for some new ideas I've been mulling over.
Expect a mixed media loom class on next terms schedule!

Button Love

simple bezel on a mother of pearl button

There are buttons and then there are little round works of art that simply should not hide in a button box. You can fairly confidently take it as a given that I have a stash of buttons. I will wax lyrical over them another day. Today I'm showing you just one really beautifully smoothed and carved mother of pearl coat button. I found it at a flea market, lurking among some frighteningly garish plastic buttons, with a broken shank. I rescued it for the princely sum of 50p and the promise of a new life. Because the back of the button was a bit uneven I attached it to a backing with a beaded bezel.This also gave me something to attach a brooch pin to without having to break out the ...whispers... g.l.u.e..., or as my chums in the Guild refer to it... 'the G word'.

In the spirit of recycling and the absence of a really good commercial equivalent, I use plastic from the side of a milk carton... it is just the right thickness to support a bit of bead embroidery, but thin enough to be fairly easy to stitch through... it also survives if your brooch accidentally ends up in the washing machine... which is why I don't use cereal box card any more.

Sew the brooch pin to one side of the plastic, the base rows of bead embroidery to the other, lining things up so the pin is a wee bit above centre so the brooch will lie nicely. Then apply a piece of Ultra Suede to cover up the stitching (I cut two weeny slots for the ends of the brooch pin to fit through, and yes a dab of the G word works a treat at this stage. trim it all flush to the embroidery and finish off the edges with a row or two of beading.

Button love in a different place

The bezel is a simple peyote ring, the edge of the backing has a row of stitching to hold it all together, which is hidden with a row of double Delica beads embroidered in place, then lots and lots of little beaded leaves which start and finish just under the Delica beads. I kept the colours really simple, and the bead types quite plain too, originally made for a quite sombre event, I find I wear it often because somehow the colours have a chameleon quality.
The first photo shows my Button love brooch nestling in a new Hebe I've just potted up, it's called 'Heartbreaker' and is a lovely vivid magenta with cream and soft sage green varegation. The second picture shows the pin hanging from a nail on a stone wall. I love the way that this paler setting brings out all the sand and creamy coloured beads I used, whereas the other one really brings out the dark maroon beads.

Bead show finds

Giant safety pins and felt ball beads

I was busy at the Creativa show, so didn't have too long to shop (gasp!), just time to browse and jot down the inkling of an idea here and there. I did like a lot some giant safety pins 14cm long, made from an inexpensive silvery coloured metal, perfect for displaying several beaded beads or other oversize goodies.
I was inspired by the work of Christa Saalfrank (She's just relocating so without a website I can share for you... but you can see her here in Carol Cypher's blog). Christa has taken the simple felted bead to amazing places with surface embellishment, embroidery and occasional seed bead.
I loved her approach, selling lovely hand made felted beads for you to embellish yourself, along side her stunning finished ensembles. I fell in love with about three, finding it hard to choose between sea greens and a heady mix of russets and purples.
What really caught my attention is how well her work illustrates the point that sometimes a single thing is frail and the message lost, but mass them together and they become something absolutely gorgeous, oozing character, designer style and definite desirability.

Not Christa's but a fun game to play

The jacket that wouldn't 'do up'.

It is also that lesson in perseverance, the tenacity and commitment to keep producing without knowing, until you have amassed the pieces, whether your original choices will work together.
I'm loving this whole idea, it is a very liberating way to play with colour, pattern and detail. So, on my giant safety pin I have a selection of 'Christa' inspired beaded felt beads in my fave shades of murky greens to match a lovely knitted jacket I'd been unable to wear because of that whole 'no fastening' thing that is really fashionable but not so practical.
Already I am itching to throw in some light coral, maybe a hint of turquoise, resisting the urge to rummage in the thread box... but am almost inevitably going to create a colourful tassel for the end of my pin and beaded beads to go between the felted ones.

I guess I do

I was thinking about missing sitting and doing the embroidery I talked about in my last post...
then the latest issue of Make Jewellery Magazine arrived and reminded me that I still do a lot, just with beads on the thread.
Find my latest project in the current issue.

I'm loving the beautiful model and the fact that the necklace fits her so well. I used one of those pre-made brass collars from Robins Beads, and now I've seen the end results I'll be going back for more and some of those gorgeous brass cuffs too.
I used semi precious stones, Turquoise and Jasper along with the seed beads, the cabs are quite small, but have lovely markings in them and are really well cut. I got them from Silvermoon Crystals, don't be put off by the eclectic mix on the homepage, their cabochons and semi precious stone beads are lush! another place I will be visiting again when I need to stock up.

matching earrings

collar detail

I also have quite a few brooches which I've bezelled onto a backing fabric so that I can add a bit more embroidery, I've been following the 'polo neck or not?' fashionista discussions and confess, mostly not, except when it's deeply cold, but I do admit to having a natty line in little knitted scarves which look fab with a beaded brooch on.

Simple cabochon embroidery

I have been known to treat myself to a really great cabochon from the team at Designer Cabochons whenever I see them at a bead show. Each stone is hand cut in their studio, and they travel the world to source truly beautiful slices of magical rock.

A quick check in the 'stones I have fallen in love with and will bead around one day when I have the time to play' box, reveals that I have no less than five beautiful stones languishing in the dark.
Bad lady!!!!
Anyhoo... this is a pic of one I did do and wear a lot. I used some home made copper leaves and my fave mix of turquoise and olive bead colours.
It jingles in a tinkly way when I move too.