beetle brooch update

beetle beads and a rivoli treat

So here, I showed you my latest beetle, and I was getting excited to teach it for the first time... but before I did, there was just enough time to try it out a couple more times with different beads. first, in what seems to be a seasonal ritual at this time of year, I went for really bright and cheerful colours.
Those pink pearls are the new Swarovski Neon... exactly the same shade as a little over jacket we were given at small school to help us show up on gloomy winter walks to school. In those days it was called fluorescent, and was very exciting. In my teens it re-appeared as 'Day glow' inks and dyes splashed across graffiti fashion prints. Now it's back again as Neon. I'm not a fan, usually, but am converted by using them in this minimalist way!

Colourful beetle

The beady stash was my shopping to go with the Neon pearls (plus, ahem, some delicious Rivoi's... for another project). I added a splash of turquoise, plus pearl 'knees' to help illustrate a beady moment in class.
The beetle I'm wearing the most, sits on my 'neck hug' scarf and is more like the colouring we find on beetles hiding in the English shrubbery. Sparkly pewter with rusty dark coral pearls.

So how did the class go?

Garden beetle on a neck hug

Well, the group I designed the beetle for has a wide range of beady experience, from artists already beading up gorgeousness, to beginners just getting to grips with thread tension, but best of all for me, a collective good mood and willingness to play! they all did a brilliant job of creating colourful beetles.
For myself, I'm de-constructing and re-arranging the order in which the components are put together, which I think will help future students who are at the start of the beady learning curve, as it will sort out some thread tension issues.
For me, teaching practice and instructions for class, are constantly under review. I'm listening out for sticking points, watching how many different ways the instructions get used in class, refining, adding, re-writing, making notes to answer questions that come up... it's an exciting organic process, one which has to adapt quickly to every new room full of students.
Can't wait for the next one!

bauble zeitgeist?

Estelle variation

The Estelle workshop is proving very popular, it's fun and easy,  and works up into prettiness in all sorts of variations. it is also a proving to be a fun class to explore colour and sparkly mixtures.
I'll carry on teaching it over the next year as requests keep coming in. In one class, we had a long discussion about math and beads, so I decided to tweek the basic bezel and work up some examples of how it can be used to make three dimensional forms.
In the next class, I shared the discussion and showed the baubles which were the result of my experiments. I had several requests to offer it as a follow up class.
This is always a lovely thing about teaching, to have students wanting to explore an idea some more, and to have more on tap to offer their enthusiasm.

I was just about to show and share on my facebook page... finger hovering on the upload button, when I noticed a very similar bauble being shown off proudly as a latest creation. The math determines there can be only so many ways to make a ball shape with bezelled stones; indeedy, a quick pootle round the facebook beading community revealed at least four more... so no show and share for me then!  I'll keep mine within the boundaries of my class as an interesting discussion point.

Estelle baubles

This got me thinking about how design ideas so often emerge en masse. There are the obvious ones, like everyone playing with a new bead shape (spikes or Rizo's anyone?). There are also more subtle ones and they can be profoundly frustrating!
I've more than once worked long and hard on a really exciting new idea, only to consign it to the 'Doh! can't use that now' folder.
And, yes in the pursuit of honesty, I do sometimes see designs that make me wince at their similarity to work I've already published.

That we get excited by the same processes with similar results is, I guess, inevitable. That we all fall in love with the latest colours, finishes or shapes of beads, likewise. We're also all working under the same powerful but subtle influences of media, trends, fashions and styling, even more so now, with a whole worlds worth available at the touch of a button, and arriving daily in the in-box.

For me, it's about searching out ways to have a genuinely authentic voice, and coincidences like these, I take as a gentle reminder to try again and find something new and fresh to say.

Some sparkly circles

I've just been reading back though a few of my blog posts trying to find and check a detail... and I notice I are mostly using some words a whole lot more than is interesting. So definitely no more lovely, a bit less of the delicious and divine and more moderation on the sparkly or sparkling. My English teacher would continue, no doubt, to be horrified, her default state when dealing with my written work... bless! In my defence, I long for more time to devote to social media and especially my blog... which I love... but the truth is I usually get the odd half hour here and there, which is not enough time to lovingly craft the lingo, but just enough to show and share the things that are inspiring me.

Simply simple circles

Which promise to work harder and do better, leaves me with the dictionary and thesaurus pestering task of talking to you about a very simple, pendant, which glitters gorgeously.
These are two Swarovski donuts, which have subtle chequerboard facets and a slim profile, similar to the stone cut ones. The bezel is worked in delicas and size 15 seed beads and peyote stitch, all a bit seriously simple. The colours were chosen to match those of the donuts (red Magma) and the silk wrapped cord (Lime green).
I added simple peyote rings to help balance the pendant with the cord. My decision to keep things simple was partly economy; those donuts were hair-raisingly expensive, so I wanted as much of them on show as possible. Partly, because simple is sometimes all you need. I have worn this one occasionally, but the silk wrapped cord is wrapped around some very unforgiving plastic, so this needs to go and be replaced with something more pliable... when I have time... because I know I would wear it a whole lot more.

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.