Colour and cream teas

I seem to spend a lot of my early mornings driving through the countryside to get to bead groups this autumn. Fileigh Beaders meet in the heart of Devonshire. We were meeting to spend a day playing with colour. It's one of my favourite classes to teach as we get to do colouring in all day! We also bead and dare to try new hues and it is always deeply rewarding to watch. It is also a class where I am sorely tempted to go buy beads as everyone brings yet more colours and combinations which I fall in love with instantly!

Autumn in Devon

Cream tea all for me

Devon has a unique landscape of rolling hills and rich farmland, Clotted cream country! At some points on my journey there is simply the ribbon of road laying across beautiful countryside, with not a house in sight. The Fileigh beaders are a lovely crowd and everyone seems to have been busy baking the night before, afternoon tea is awesome! and I am presented with a special plate of gluten free scones with, of course, clotted cream and the most delicious blackcurrant jam, and yes dear reader... I ate them all! yum!!
I took my camera for a little walk to show you the view, and as we were playing with colour, pictures of these Hydrangeas, planted around the village hall. So many great colour and shape ideas.

Almost the end of Autumn

Reaching for the beads...

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!

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!

Do you also have a habit of arranging temporary still lives on window sills and shelves?
For me, these sometimes kick start new design ideas, always make me wish I had time to stop and draw or paint, often give rise to new colour combinations and definitely make me feel happy when I look at them. They are also a really handy way of making the place look cared for when there's no time for rigorous housework... when is there ever!

lasp gasp bouquet! The Scented
Broom smells amazing.

I was buying flowers from a street stall, because they stopped me in my tracks, because they filled me with desire to gaze at them more, and it made me think about how I really choose colours for my designs. In class I often get asked about colour, and try to explain how I soak it up all day long, and relish in colour with feeling. Yet somehow people see my work and say, 'Oh, those are so your colours!' The florist stall has a brilliant 'last gasp' offer on bunches of flowers that are past their best. So for pennies you can have glorious blooms, usually hugely expensive ones, if only for the briefest while. These are the ones I chose.

paper bag vase

I also picked out a bunch of paler pink ones, and have put them in a glass inside this beautiful paper bag, I love the cheerful mixture of pinks and greenish turquoise. The bag is just so pretty and inspiring it deserves an extended life as a vase. Recognise the little lustre pot next to the paper bag? 
The table cloth is a linen tea towel, I seem to collect these along with my china and they make cute backgrounds for photographs, far to nice to use for the washing up!
Anyway, you can see that I'm definitely getting back into softer colours and pink again!

bead stash for a new project idea

I had a morning off this week, to visit my friend Zoe's bead shop in Frome in Somerset. This is a shop you definitely have to go to and relish, with at least half an hour to spare and any significant other parked in a coffee shop until you are done. 

It is a real treat moment for me, a perfect antidote to pre-spring blues. The walls are covered with beautifully made beady jewellery from around the world, and there are many trays of 'other' beads. In no time you'll have a packet of scrummy goodies! Inspired by the flowers, and with a project in mind that needs to be done, I chose silky matt glass long beads, little flower round beads and some in betweeny beads.
Once home I put these with some gorgeous Lucite flower beads and seed beads from my friend Lynn's store. But somehow, despite thinking I'm picking out new colours for me to play with, there is a definite familiarity about the choices I've made. But for now I'm in love with this soft spring mixture and I'll post a picture of the finished project soon.