Six Words for February ~ BJP

As you may have seen on my previous post, day 1 of each month, I grab paper/pen and write the first six words (action verbs) that pop into my head. Then I circle the one that seems the most compelling. These words will appear on my monthly Bead Journal Project piece, somehow worked into a collage of beads, fibers and papers...

My six words for February (above) sat fallow, until I read Elizabeth's post about her blank canvas problems with her January BJP. Once again, let's hear it for BJP bloggers!!! Her wonderful post turned me around and made me excited to play with my words! (Thank you, Elizabeth!)

So yesterday, when finally there was a block of free hours, I painted and played with my words in Photoshop, the results of which you see above. Then I printed them on fabric (smaller than what you see here on your monitor). I can't wait to get out my painted papers and beads later today. Where will this month's journey lead? Who knows?

One thing I will say, cry was the word I circled. Right now I don't want to deal with crying at all, so it may be a hidden element in my page... We'll see...

Bead Journal Project for January ~ Fini!

I'm trying some new things this year...

1. Beading on felt
2. Using fibers, paper, multi-media approach
3. Learning collage
4. Using some of the papers I've painted
5. Including words
6. Making a hand-bound book with my 12 pages

It all started on Jan. 1, when I impulsively wrote 6 words that seemed important to me. They are:

Listen
Lighten
Walk
Cherish
Paint
Simplify

Then from those six words, I chose the one which seemed the most compelling to me at that moment. The word was walk. Why not use these words as the underlying theme for my BJP piece for January? In fact, why not write 6 words at the beginning of each month and use them as the basis for that month's piece? Well, OK, that's just what I'll do!

So with the six words for January in the back of my mind, I quickly flipped through my stash of painted papers (acrylic paint on 90 pound drawing paper) and found one that appealed to me. Same process with my felt stash. Purple felt! I basted it to a piece of interleaving paper to stabilize it, got out some beads and started stitching. Obviously, the word walk showed up in my beading. Here's how it looks:


That part was pretty easy.

Since I'm going to make a book, I wanted the page size to be larger than the bead embroidery (which is only 2.5 x 2.5 inches). I have some sheets of deep black paper (heavy-weight, with a deckle edge) which will be luscious for a book. I decided to make the book pages 8.5 x 11 and cut the painted papers to a 7" square. So now, I'm defining my BJP page as a 7 inch square, which will include some beading on felt of any size I wish for that page.

Now we get to the difficult (er, I mean challenging) part for me. What to do with the painted paper and the beading??? How to put them together??? How to add elements of collage??? How to add the words??? Yikes! Suddenly I'm all tense and don't know what I want to do or how to do it.

"Calm down," I remind myself... "It doesn't have to be perfect. Just do it. Think improvisationally." That works for about 5 minutes and I glue some wrapped fibers on the paper to extend the idea of walking from my bugle bead pathway onto the paper. Then I'm stuck again. I worry that the fibers aren't the right color. I worry about what to do next. I write some words on the page and worry that they look amateur... And so on...

Worrying about my art isn't the normal me. I worry about that too...

Finally, Marty's post "Editing and Improvisation," about ripping out beads in parts we don't like, rescued me from all the angst I was feeling about my piece. Somehow reading her words created a turning point in my mind. My self-talk changed to "This is a learning experience. I'm trying something new. I'll get better at it as the year goes by. It's a journey of discovery and everything I make is simply a marker along the path."


So here you have it... The first marker! Fini! Tomorrow I get to write 6 new words and continue the journey into February!

BTW, some of you readers are excellent at collage... all suggestions for the next piece are welcome!

Taking and Editing Quality Photos of Beads and Beadwork

During 3+ years of blogging, several readers have complimented me on my blog pictures and asked what type of camera I use. So today, I’m going to write about how I take and edit pictures for my blog. I’m no professional and still have much to learn. Yet, for the most part, my pictures aren’t too bad…


My camera is an old, Sony Cybershot 717. It’s seven years old and obsolete by today's camera standards. However, it still works great and I've taken many thousands of pictures with it. Although it's only 5 mega pixels, it has a quality lens and the ability to take macro shots as close as an inch away from the subject. When taking pictures for the web or for printing pictures 8x10 size or less, 5 mega pixels is perfectly adequate. My brother bought a re-conditioned, used camera like mine a few years ago on eBay and is pleased with the pictures it takes of his beadwork and quilts.


In my experience, however, the real trick for quality images is more about photo editing than the camera. Learning how to use Photoshop was the best thing I ever did for myself to improve pictures of my beads and beadwork.

Tips for taking pictures of beadwork

1. Beads are shiny objects, which reflect light, especially faceted beads. Therefore, almost all direct lighting yields terrible results. I take most of my pictures outside on days when there are high clouds and the sun is overcast. If I can’t wait for a day like that, I take pictures outside in the full shade and place a large white cardboard behind the item (out of the picture frame) and wear a white bib apron to capture and reflect ambient light. If it’s raining or snowing and I can’t wait for a better day, I take pictures inside near a south-facing window (with all the lights in the room turned off) around noon or when there is the most light in the sky. I own three professional lights and a light tent. However, I rarely use these. Natural light on an overcast day gives better results with truer color.

2. Camera shake is responsible for many out-of-focus pictures of beading. The closer the camera is to your subject, the more you’ll see the effects of camera shake. I always try to brace my elbows on something and hold my camera with both hands. When I really care about the picture, I get out the tripod and take the picture with a remote control cord.

3. Another common reason for pictures being out-of-focus is using automatic focus with an incorrect camera setting. For my camera, if I am less than 3 feet from my subject, I must select the macro setting if I want my subject to be in focus.

4. One more reason for out of focus pictures has to do with depth of field. Flat beaded objects aren’t a problem. But if you are photographing a cuff or a sculptural item, you’ll want as much of the subject as possible to be in focus. The closer the camera lens is to the object, the less depth of field you will have. Therefore, don’t get too close. The more depth of field you need, the father away from the subject you need to be, even if there is a lot of extra space around the subject as seen through your viewfinder. When editing your image, you can crop the background away.

5. Distortion is another problem you will sometimes have when the lens is too close to the object. Again, it helps to move farther from the subject. Later, you can crop the picture to show just your subject.


Tips for Learning Photo Editing

I use Photoshop CS and occasionally Photoshop CS2. I do not have experience with other photo editing programs. I’ve heard that the less-expensive Photoshop Elements offers many good features, but I haven’t seen or used it yet. Whatever photo editing program you use, there are certain things that can greatly improve the quality of your digital photos.

For example, below is the original photo I took of the moth pin (posted here). Not a very pretty picture, is it? Below that is the same photo after I edited it with Photohop CS.



To learn Photoshop, I took a 20-hour class at our local community college. That was a good start, but I needed more. Scott Kelby has written several excellent books that provide everything else I need to know. The Photoshop Book For Digital Photographers is my favorite of his books.

The following are the Photoshop editing features that I find most important and use most often. Although I'm not explaining in detail how to use these features here, the list will give you an idea of what features are important to have and to learn in the photo editing process.

1. Levels. The first thing I do with each image is adjust RGB (red green blue) levels. Most photo editing programs offer an “auto level” adjustment feature, but generally it’s not as accurate as doing the adjustment for each range of the spectrum individually.

2. Shadow/Highlight. My second adjustment is one that brings out the details in the shadows and the highlights. This adjustment will make the picture look a little flat. But you will be able to see detail in all areas of the picture. For example, in the moth pin original picture (above), you can barely see detail in the lower body of the moth. In the adjusted picture, all of the detail is seen.

3. Brightness-contrast. Next I adjust the brightness level. If I have previously adjusted shadow-highlight, then it’s often necessary to increase the contrast a little.

4. If I’ve taken a picture of a square or rectangular object, I check for distortion. This can be corrected using the transform adjustment, which allows me to compress or extend the image at each of the corners.

5. Rotate and crop. I rotate the picture as needed so that the subject is in the desired position. I crop the edges of the picture to showcase my subject with only a small amount of background.

6. Many times, my pictures have a blue cast to them, especially if I’ve shot them in low light conditions. There are several different ways to correct color. The easiest way to correct a cool color cast is to apply a warming photo filter. Red is a color that may look too garish in digital photos, especially if the contrast is high. To correct an over-intense color, I use the Hue/Saturation adjustment, selecting the offending color range and lowering the saturation level.

7. It’s useful to know how to burn (darken) and dodge (lighten) specific areas or tones in your picture. For example, if you need better contrast in a certain area of your picture, you could burn the shadows and dodge the highlights in just that area.

8. On important pictures, like the ones for my books, I often remove the entire background. For this you need to know how to paint the background white or erase it altogether. I’ve never found a quick or easy way to do this. I enlarge the picture to 400% and work in very small areas so that I don’t accidentally erase or paint over details on the edge of my subject.

9. Rubber stamping is a good feature to learn. It allows you to copy any size area and paste it somewhere else. I use it to fix backgrounds and occasionally to place a copied bead over a bare thread, where my bead spacing wasn’t quite right. These areas are more noticeable in a digital picture than they are on the real piece.

10. Save as. After all the above adjustments, but before sizing and sharpening, I save the picture as a tiff (.tif) in a folder called Adjusted Pictures. Later if I want the image a different size or perhaps sized for printing, I work from this version. After saving, I continue to edit the image for my blog or other web application using the steps below.

11. Sizing. It’s very important to learn how to size your images, with appropriate dimensions and resolution for your intended use. If a picture is for my blog and I want it sized for maximum click-to-enlarge, I generally set the resolution to 72 pixels per inch. I set the width to no greater than 12 inches and the height no greater than 9 inches. If a picture is for my blog but not one where the enlarge feature is important, I set the width and height to under 5 inches. I posted specifically about sizing pictures so they will click to enlarge here.

12. The final step, after sizing, is to sharpen my picture. Sharpening will not fix an out-of-focus picture. Nothing will fix that. If your image is out of focus, delete it from your files and shoot a new picture. For an in-focus image, sharpening may bring out the details in an attractive way if not overdone. If you have reduced the size of your adjusted image significantly, it is necessary to sharpen it. I use the unsharp mask filter for this (amount: 90 to 200, radius: 0.2 to 0.5, threshold: 2)

13. When I’m finished with all the above adjustments, I save the image again, this time as a jpeg (.jpg) in a sub-folder within my main Blog Pictures folder.


It's wonderful to feel good about the pictures I post here or on my website or Flickr, to feel that they adequately represent the quality, colors and attractiveness of my beading! Learning to do this has involved a lot of trial and error... it wasn't easy for me. But, it certainly is worthwhile! Hope this post will help some of you!

Bead Embroidery and a Few Short Subjects

Beaded Moth ~ Pin (Brooch)

Thought you might like to see this beaded moth pin I made for one of my special quilting/beading friends this Christmas. It's mostly size 15 or smaller beads. The wingspan is slightly under 1.5 inches.

Beaded Button Earrings


My other best quilting/beading friend got these for Christmas. I made them using Dritz half-ball cover buttons, size 24. The button form is 5/8 inches in diameter, but after beading the fabric and covering the form, they are slightly larger. I removed the button shank from the form before covering and then stitched a circle of Ultrasuede on the back side using the picot edge stitch. You might want to check out my tutorial on making beaded buttons here and here.

World Beads ~ Book Giveaway ~ The Winner Is....


Ta-daaa, drum roll..... Ane Severine!

In my previous post I reviewed Beading with World Beads edited by Ray Hemachandra. Sixty some readers commented! Thank you so much for telling me about your own world beads. I really enjoyed reading about them!!! I wish I had 60 copies of this book to give, as everyone had such good reasons for wanting it.

As Peggy commented, "In a sense, I have thousands - maybe even a million - "world beads" - Czech seed beads! And Tohos - Japanese seed beads." She's right! In that sense, all of us own world beads.

Using a random number generator, the winner is #26, a comment by Ann Severine, who said, "The world beads I love most are 10 small milleflori cylinder beads in blue and red. I never thought about making a necklace from them. But now I'm looking forward to seeing this book for inspiration, whether I win or purchase it. How nice for you to inspire us to look at our old stuff we haven't paid much attention to for a long time." Congratulations, Ann!!!

I'll be reviewing and giving away Marcia DeCoster's new book, Beaded Opulence, in a week or so. Watch for it!!

Bead Journal Project ~ January Progress Report

No pictures yet. And I have to admit, I'm a little behind, a little afraid, a little unsure.... For this, my third year participating in the BJP, I decided to practice collage. I admire my sister-in-law, Julie's, collages and the work of so many other artists. Yet, I've never felt I had a grasp of how to mix it all together.

This is my year to play with it, practice, try it on for size... beads, fabrics, papers, paint, fibers, ephemera, rubber stamping, lettering... bring it on... all of it. Yes, but how? Do I hear some of my former students saying, "Just do it!" Yes, that is the way. And I must remember my mantra, "It does not have to be perfect!"

Well, I've worked on it some, but am far from finished.... It's my first of 12... Hope they'll get better and easier. I'll take and post some pictures soon.

Beading with World Beads ~ Giveaway!

What “world beads” do you have in your stash? You may have more than you think! Here are a few of mine…


We buy beads in a local bead shop or in the comfort of our own home computer. But where were they made? Where have they traveled before we found them?


The origins of beads, particularly those in my stash, has fascinated me since day-one of my beady career 24 years ago. Joining my local Bead Society, where most members had a collector’s perspective about beads, and attending early Bead Conferences, which were more about the history of beads than making things with them, I began to appreciate that beads are truly ubiquitous!


Did you know that beads are one of man’s earliest artifacts? It’s possible that beads predate vessels and primitive tools in many cultures. Did you know that men and women of nearly every society, every culture and every land since the beginning of mankind have made and used beads in one or more ways?


Beads, being small, portable, long-lasting and made from various, naturally-occurring substances, have been a trade commodity for many centuries. Thus they have traveled the world in the hands of traders and merchants, sometimes for centuries. They arrive in our stash, some new and some used, from far-away places around the world.


Just as groups like the Bead Journal Project and other internet-based beading groups unite people of the world, so do the beads themselves. More than anything else about beads, their ubiquitous nature fascinates me!


So too, the world-connection of beads intrigues Ray Hemachandra, editor of a book, recently published by Lark Books - Beading with World Beads, Beautiful Jewelry - Simple Techniques. This book features 30 jewelry projects with an international and multicultural flair created by 15 acclaimed jewelry designers.

Lark asked me to review several of their books and offered a signed copy of each one as a blog giveaway. And so, this is the first of my reviews. Someone who makes a comment on this post will win an autographed copy!


Those of you who know me, are aware that I’m not really a recipe type of gal with my art (or my cooking for that matter). For me, it is simply more fun to “do my own thing” than to replicate a design by somebody else. Consequently, I don’t gravitate toward “project books,” preferring technique or inspirational guides.

Happily, Beading with World Beads, gives so much more than projects! First, there’s the whole idea of beading as “a multicultural bonanza – a melting pot of craft practices that yields innovative combinations of materials and influences,” to quote editor, Hemachandra. I love this concept and how it is realized in the unique creations of the designers chosen for the book. All of the jewelry is appealing and mysterious because of the cultural roots found in the materials and designs.


The second thing I really like about this book is that all the projects are based on sound design principles. They are well-balanced (although not necessarily symmetrical) and the different beads used in each piece have relationship of scale, color, style and origin. So even if I choose not to replicate any of the projects, each is an inspiration to me and offers challenging ideas I can apply to my personal world bead stash in my own way.


Looking at the photos in Beading with World Beads makes me crave making jewelry again, makes me get out my African trade beads and view them as potential designs rather than a collection, makes me remember things in my stash long neglected! And by the way, the photos are outstanding, something I always admire about books published by Lark.

Lastly, I have to bravo the book for its clear, concise step-by-step instructions for each of the projects. For each project, excellent editing results in consistency and clarity that are rare in project books.

In conclusion, I give Beading with World Beads an enthusiastic two-thumbs-up!

Would you like to win an autographed copy on this blog giveaway? Yes? Then make a comment in the next 10 days. Just for fun, tell me about something you love in your world bead stash! To be eligible to win, you must give me a clear way to get in touch with you - phone, email or snail mail address. (BTW, it's safest to give your email this way: name[at]provider[dot]com. Use the [ ] signs and substitute the word at for @ and dot for .)

Bead Embroidery and Treasure Box!

Do you recognize the scene on the scrimshaw piece above? If you're anywhere near my age (67), you may have read The Owl and the Pussycat as a child. It's a charming poem/story written in 1871 by Edward Lear:

The Owl and the Pussy-cat went to sea
In a beautiful pea green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.
The Owl looked up to the stars above,
And sang to a small guitar,
'O lovely Pussy! O Pussy my love,
What a beautiful Pussy you are,
You are,
You are!
What a beautiful Pussy you are!'

Pussy said to the Owl,
'You elegant fowl!
How charmingly sweet you sing!
O let us be married! too long we have tarried:
But what shall we do for a ring?
'They sailed away, for a year and a day,
To the land where the Bong-tree grows
And there in a wood a Piggy-wig stood
With a ring at the end of his nose,
His nose,
His nose,
With a ring at the end of his nose.

'Dear pig, are you willing
to sell for one shilling
Your ring?' Said the Piggy, 'I will.'
So they took it away, and were married next day
By the Turkey who lives on the hill.
They dined on mince, and slices of quince,
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon,
The moon,
The moon,
They danced by the light of the moon.

I've no memory of how or when I acquired this remarkable scrimshaw charm, but it seemed the perfect talisman to symbolize my marriage to Robert. We met April 11, 1997 at a photography workshop at the Coupeville Arts Center. What started as mutual interests and my appreciation for his wacky sense of humor, quickly developed into romance. By that Christmas, we had decided to make a life together and a few years later we married. In our mid and late 50s, it was the first marriage for both of us!

Although I've made several things for him in our years together, it took me until now to do a serious piece of bead embroidery for him. He loves boxes, tins, containers of any sort. So, one day when I found a small, wooden box in the craft department of JoAnn's Fabrics, I got the idea to create a bead embroidery and mount it on the lid of the box. You can see the work in progress and read about some of the symbolic elements here. Below is how it looks finished. (Click image if you'd like to see it enlarged!)


As the work progressed, I began to think it needed a higher quality box. Plus I wondered about the wisdom of putting the beading on top of the box where it would soon be buried in dust. One day it occurred to me that I could look on Etsy and maybe find a wood-worker who might offer something more suitable.

Voila!!! There are several fabulous wooden box makers selling on Etsy, but the one whose work seemed most right is Maurice Sewelson. You can check his treasure boxes here. This is the one that called my name most loudly. So, I wrote to Maurice to ask if he might be willing to custom-make a box that would have a tray sized to fit my beadwork. He agreed!!!! I sent him a picture of my beading and he sent pictures of wood he thought might look good with it. We chose bloodwood for the exterior and mahogany for the interior. Below is the finished box and a detail pictue of Maurice's beautiful carving and inlay work on the front.



Below are pictures of the box with my bead embroidery in the tray. The tray may be lifted out to reveal the full contents of the box. By the way, I didn't glue my beadwork to the tray... (Is anyone surprised?) I stitched the beading to a piece of black Ultrasuede. Then I used acid-free, double-stick tape around the edges to attach the Ultrasuede to the inside of the tray.



Robert now has a fine treasure box in which to keep some of his family heirlooms (his mother's watch and other items he's saved over the years). He says it's the nicest gift he's ever received!

Merry Christmas ~ Joyful Solstice ~ Happy New Year!

May your days
be merry and bright
this holiday season!


May peace and love
surround you
wherever you go!


May the light within
shine with warmth
and good will for all!

Thank you for being
my blogging friends...
you are special to me!

Bead Journal Project ~ Some of My Faves from the Past Year!

These are some of my favorites from the 2008-09 Bead Journal Project.

Anna C ~ Love

Anne Marie ~ January

Anne Marie ~ May

Bobbi K ~ March

Brenda B ~ July ~ Obstacles

Caroll L ~ March ~ Full

Cindy F ~ Egrets

Dee D ~ Sally Rooster

Diane M ~ April

Dianne L ~ Invisible Man

Evelyn W ~ Granny

Freebird ~ February

Grace D ~ Cold In March

Heidi ~ May

Julie C ~ May ~ Tulip Colors

Kandra ~ January Face

Karen Ca ~ Bollywood 5

Karen Co ~ July

Kathy V ~ April ~ Fire

Lise P ~ May ~ Stream

Liz T ~ February

Lynn L ~ June ~ Gemini Birthday

Marty S ~ May ~ Control

Marva PB ~ April

Mary LR ~ April ~ Nude

Mary D ~ September ~ Reflections

Muriel ~ February

Muriel ~ October

Natalie ~ February ~ Hearts Falling Asleep

Pam E ~ Rainforest Dreams

Pam T ~ July

Phyl ~ September

Sabine ~ November

SatuMarja ~ February

Sheba ~ October

Soe ~ December

Susan A2 ~ June ~ Anger

Susan E ~ April ~ Tea Elixer

Susan R ~ May

Sylvie ~ April

Theresa H ~ February

Tracy N ~ May

Aren't they just fabulous? This is why the BJP is so inspirational and so much fun!!! They're arranged alphabetically by the first name of the participant. Sorry, I didn't have time to look up and link to everyone's blog... maybe after Christmas, I'll have time to do that.

Today, as I post these pictures,
is December 14th.
Tomorrow (Dec. 15th)
is the last day
to register for the
2010 BJP.
After seeing these pictures,
how could you resist???

Happy holidays everyone!

PS. If you've gone bonkers over one of the above pieces and want to see more of that person's work, try finding them on the alphabetical BJP Participants List. It's located at the bottom of the right sidebar, here.

Bead Jewelry! Holiday Shopping on San Juan Island!

If I have a reputation in the world of arts and crafts, I'm pretty sure it would be for my bead embroidery, which is my first love and passion. But like many of us, I started with stringing beads - making jewelry. That was in 1985. Before that in the 70's I was a metalsmith, fabricating gold and silver jewelry. Making pendants, earrings and fibula pins with wire and beads followed naturally.


I could never do production work - making jewelry to sell in galleries or shows. For me that would involve too many compromises to keep the cost and time down. Yet, every now and then the urge to pick up my pliers, hammer and files taps me on the shoulder. I get out my stash of lampwork beads, silver elements, sterling and gold-filled wire and get to work.

Lucky for me, an opportunity knocked on my door a couple of days ago. Rhonda Scott of Vital Elements, leased a store-front in Friday Harbor, the totally-decked-out-with-Christmas-lights, little town on San Juan Island and invited a dozen or so local artists to consign their art for the month of December. OMG! It's so cute in there... so many totally wonderful things!

Here's the info:


Here's my little area. I set out 156 items - necklaces, earrings, bracelets and fibula pins!


The necklace below features antique, Chinese, glass, lampwork beads in a gorgeous, soft, translucent blue. I accented them with a Thai silver pendant and beads.


A few years ago I bought a strand of hand-faceted, man-made rubies in graduated sizes. It was a rather extravagant purchase. What can I say... I love them! This picture doesn't do them justice at all. They look so lovely... not quite bling, but definitely people would notice if you were wearing this necklace. I always try to make a couple pairs of earrings that can go with each necklace.


For 20 years, I've been collecting unusual, silver pendants... India, China, Tibet, Nepal... Some are very old. I decided to put some of them on silk "ribbons" and let them go...


The silk "ribbons" also work very well for some of the beautiful contemporary lampwork beads I've been collecting. Below are dichroic beads in the shape of shells. They are so striking and lovely, I decided they needed to be "strung" in a very simple, yet elegant way.


The same goes for these amazing heart-shaped, lampwork beads I found at a conference a few years ago.


The center necklace on the stand below features an antique Chinese pendant that I found at a market in Beijing in 1991. It's a beauty!


In the black and silver necklace below, I used a small collection of vintage, hand-carved, jet beads from the early 1900's. Each is different. I found them in an antique shop in Germany.


I've hoarded these treasures for long enough. It feels really great to make them up and put them out where somebody else can enjoy them for a while! I also use long-hoarded beads and silver elements in my fibula pins and earrings. No two are alike!


Designing and stringing bracelets is lots of fun for me! I try to make them comfortable to wear and easy to clasp, yet durable and attractive. Shopping for bracelet beads is always a joy!


Over the years, I've made and sold many finger-woven, treasure necklaces like the one below. It's a technique I developed inspired by ethnic necklaces from Tibet and Nepal. If you're intrigued, you can learn this technique from my book, Beaded Treasures. This necklace showcases raku ceramic beads by an artist in Hawaii.


If you live in Western Washington, why not visit and shop in Friday Harbor, San Juan Island for a day?!!! Our merchants go all-out with the decorations... it's a sweet place to be during the holidays. Be sure to stop by Vital Elements, just a short walk from the ferry dock.

Shhhhh.... ladies only.... you can show Rhonda what you wish Santa would bring you and give her your sweetheart's name and phone number. She'll call to tell him what's on your wish list! I love that idea.

Well, wish me luck... I hope some of the jewelry I've created will be gifted with love this holiday season.

Thom's Global Warming Quilt - Finished!

Dees, over at Works In Progress, reminded me about my brother's quilt, Global Warming, which Thom started while visiting us last summer. I posted about Thom and his quilt here. Dees reminded me that I promised to show pictures of the finished quilt.



Above are two reminders from the previous post. Thom fell in love with some turquoise disc beads and envisioned them as the centers of anemone-like sea creatures (top picture). From this thought, his idea for an under-water scene, one that suggests changes we may see with global warming, emerged. The puffs, a barnacle-like sea creature (second picture), came into the equasion because a friend had just shown him how to make these puff forms using polyester organza wrapped around pebbles and tossed into boiling water. The puffs and turquoise discs were the two starting points for this quilt.

After returning home (Santa Cruz, CA), Thom made a trip down to the Monterey Bay Aquarium where he photographed fish. He then printed the fish on fabric using one of the commercially-available products that can be run through an ink-jet printer (more on photo transfers below). This picture shows how he cut out the printed fish (pinned to design wall to left and right of quilt) and began sewing them to the quilt.


The finished quilt is 18 inches wide by 52 inches long. This is a size Thom has been exploring for a couple of years. I think he's working on another one as I write this and did others before Global Warming. It's a difficult size to photograph... long and narrow.


When you click on the picture to enlarge it, you'll have to scroll down to see it all, which makes it difficult to appreciate the whole. Therefore, I have divided it into thirds and put all three pictures together here in this post.


One interesting thing about Thom... he's more of a perfectionist than I am (although both of us share this trait to some extent). After he finished the quilt, he decided there were too many beads... that the top of the quilt was too heavy with beads. So he removed quite a lot of the water current beads from the top section. In case you're curious, here's how the top looked before removing the beads.


I haven't seen Global Warming finished yet, but from his pictures, it seems mighty compelling! I love the texture and all the big and little elements in it. I'm willing to bet that when it's in a show, people will stand and look at it for a long time, perhaps pondering the significance of the message in it.

Transfer photos to fabric...

There are many ways to transfer your photos to fabric. I've tried a few of them, most recently in a quilt I'm making for my niece, Margaret. Surely, as I make progress on it, I'll post some pictures...

For Margaret's quilt, I used poplin cotton sheets and printed them with my inkjet printer. The brand I use is PhotoFabric, which I buy at Joann Fabrics in the craft department. I like it better than the kind available in the quilting supplies department. It's very easy to use... only four steps: print - peel away the paper backing - wash - iron. And you'll have permanent, washable pictures on fabric. The same company makes several types, including silk fabric sheets.

I believe the trick to really great photo transfers isn't in the fabric transfer product so much as in the quality of the image. Learning to work with Photoshop is a skill I've never regretted learning. It took time and patience, plus some books, a seminar and a class... but over and over again, I'm grateful for my acquired skills with this amazing photo editing program. Speaking of gratitude...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

Tomorrow is the day we set aside every year to be thankful. Generally we slip out of the thankful mode, except perhaps as we say grace before stuffing our bellies full of good food. This year, Robert and I decided to stay home and fix a very light and simple meal. All week I've been thinking about gratitude and fortune... particularly about how grateful I am for YOU... how special and important our blogging interactions are to me. Thank you! Have a beautiful day tomorrow and every day.

Bead Embroidery + Quilt Show + Bead Festival

Bead Embroidery


Here's a look at my current project. It's for my husband, Robert. Somehow, I'll mount it on (or in) a wooden, treasure box.


It began with these pebbles, which I collected from a beach on our island. I think of them as stepping stones... crossing a river maybe or going to another place (both intrepretations have spiritual implications). I made bezels for them by surrounding them with "tall stacks" and then joining the tops of the stacks. They are not glued in place.


It's about 2/3 finished now and, if you look at the click-to-enlarge version, you'll see

1. a bear and beaver (his totem animals) to help and guide him on his journey
2. a heart (mine, of course)
3. precious, itty-bitty, faceted tourmaline stones (extremely small holes, character building for me to sew them on using the smallest size 16 needle I have) for healing and unifying spirit, body and intellect
4. labradorite chips because it stimulates intuition
5. a beautiful, man-made, faceted ruby (a gift from a student in Phoenix), the stone of passion
6. a cat (we both love cats)
7. three little brass bells (to attract fairies)
8. a piece of shell or barnacle I picked up at the beach
9. branch angel-coral (to attract angels)
10. leaves (we both love many different types of trees) because it's Fall and the leaves are so pretty this year

No clue what I'll do next with this piece, except that I know it will be solid beading. For the past two years of doing the Bead Journal Project, I've been playing around with using several fabrics on each piece and allowing them to show. For Robert's piece, I've returned to an encrusted style, which is really fun!

Teaching

If you're in the Seattle area, or wish to travel to this currently very lush and green part of the country, you may want to come to the Bellevue Bead Festival! Organized by the Bead Factory, the same folks who do the Puget Sound Bead Festival in July, this one promises to have great classes and shopping opportunities!

I will be teaching two classes...

1. Techniques of Bead Embroidery, an all-day class on Friday, Nov. 20. This is a wonderful introductory class for learning the four basic bead embroidery stitches, many fanciful variations (such as the bezels in my piece above), plus edging and fringing techniques. Students will make a sampler of these techniques to take home along with a comprehensive handout.
2. Beaded Buttons, a half-day class on Saturday morning, Nov. 21. This is the best way to see if you like bead embroidery and to experiment with working improvisationally. I teach three basic techniques and several nice variations. Most students leave class with a finished button and a very good start to learning bead embroidery.

On display in my classroom, I will have all of my Bead Journal Project pieces along with many other examples shown in my books. Both classes still had openings as of a week ago. If you're a Beadlust reader and decide to take one of these classes, please come and introduce yourself before the class.

Quilt Show

Oh boy, oh boy!!! My bead/quilt friend, Lunnette, and I took a field trip off-island yesterday!


In addition to shopping the quilt/fabric shops in Anacortes, the primary purpose of the trip was to go to Penn Cove Pottery, a gallery near Coupeville on Whidbey Island. Here's an artist's interpretation of how the place looks. And, yep, that's almost how dismal/cloudy/rainy it was yesterday... outside.... INSIDE it was grand!

Yeah, it's a pottery place representing 9 very gifted and artistic potters. But through Nov. 28th, they also have an exciting exhibit of 18 art quilts and 2 wall hangings. Very worth our time (and expense of the ferry trip) to go see this work! Below are my favorites.


This one is Evolving Sampler by Myrna Giesbrecht. I especially liked the way she mounted the quilt on a stretched canvas, painted black... a very dramatic effect.


I also liked the way she blended her colors in the non-focal area.


This one is Somewhere by Judie Hoyman.


Judie printed (world maps and lettering) and hand-dyed the fabrics. Around the border are phrases which describe some of the positive and some of the negative things going on in the world, especially for girls and women.


"Somewhere... a child is exploring the internet". "Somewhere... a little girl is being denied an education". It touched me and made me think about the importance of global awareness and sharing.


This one is A Clearing in the Woods by Cinda Langjahr.


The quilting details and patterns really appeal to me in this quilt! I've never been very interested in learning machine quilting until I saw all the possibilities Cinda uses.


This weekend is our annual Quilt Retreat at Camp Orkila on Orcas Island. There will be about 40 of us stitching for four days! I'll be working on a graduation quilt for my niece, Margaret. You'll see!

Beading in Minnesota!

Short on blogging time this month... Just returned to the soggy Northwest after 8 days of visiting my Mom, family and Minnesota bead friends. Thought you might like to see a few pictures....

The picture at the top of the post is a group of hand knitted pumpkins and one gourd by Pam Ehlers Stec. Pam is a member of the Bead Journal Project (08-09) and planning on joining again in 2010.


Pam, Julie (my sister-in-law), Brenda B (our BJP web mistress) and I got together at Julie's for an evening of beading and show'n'tell a week ago Thursday.... much ooooohing, talking, laughing and even a little progress beading. Then Sunday we all went to the Bead Bazaar sponsored by the Upper Midwest Bead Society. Whaaaa-hooooo! That was way fun too! More? You bet! Monday afternoon we were joined by Carmen (who we HOPE will join the BJP next year) and had a second bead-a-thon at Pam's house. Way to make it hard for me to go home, girl friends!

Pam's home was filled with beautiful quilts, dolls, beadwork and other handmade art. OMG... I couldn't settle down to bead until I had looked at and fondled every piece. She's so multi-talented! Here are a few things I photographed...


Above are Pam's framed BJP pieces for this year. You can see them individually by scrolling down the posts on her blog, here.


This is a beautiful pieced and quilted, batik wall-hanging. I love the way these thistles look!


This is a wonderful wall-quilt... warm, compelling, exciting!


This is what Pam was working on... a hand-dyed wool, crazy-quilt block. I'm in love with it! She offered to take off the little papers that say "lavender, parsley, holly-hocks and queen Ann's lace." But I think they're sweet and so said she should leave them on for the photo.


Here's a detail that shows her skills in thread and silk-ribbon embroidery! I hope she tells me first if she ever decides to sell this piece!

Brenda B completed both years of the BJP and is signed up for another year! You can see her pieces here and here. Once again, it's clear that pictures never do justice to the work! I am so thrilled to have been able to see and touch each of her 24 pages!



I was also fortunate to see and fondle the piece above, The House that Seuss Built, created by Brenda for The Beaded Book - a juried competition sponsored by Beadwork Magazine!!!! She won second place! Check out this link for professional pictures of the winning pieces, including Brenda's!!! You can also see some good pictures on Brenda's website, here. The beads on this Seussian structure are are stitched, not glued... more than 1,000 hours!!!


And then, there's Carmen, who is just starting to bead, with some guidance from Pam... Here are her first four pieces. These beaded hearts are autobiographical, telling of important transitions in her life.


This is Pure.


This is Broken.


This one is Angry.


And the fourth is Content.

I'm quite impressed with Carmen's work and hope she will join the 2010 BJP!!!

You'd think from the above that all I did was bead, right? Nope, I spent a lot of quality time with my Mom and some with my two brothers and their families. Mom has been in an assisted living place for six years. But recently she's fallen repeatedly. The PT team says she's too weak to live on her own. So we've moved her to a nursing home.

I dreaded seeing her there because of the typical stereotype of such facilities. However, this one totally exceeded my expectations and Mom seems very comfortable there, more happy than she's been for quite a while. She's almost 93! Here she is... Ferne, my sweet, wonderful Mom!!!


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Happy Halloween, everyone!


This is Lucy! She rules the roost at Matt's house (my brother). An exceptional Halloween kitty, wouldn't you say?!

Fun in Phoenix!

October 1-8 in Phoenix... What could be more different than where I live? To leave our peaceful little island, now slipping into the wet season, and fly to Phoenix, where I had to dig out the sunscreen and watch for rattle snakes, was certainly a big change for me!

Friday Harbor, WA <> Phoenix, AZ

coastal island <> inland desert

highs in the 50s <> highs in the 90s

kinda soggy <> parched, dry

mostly cloudy <> clear blue skies

hilly <> flat

surrounded by ocean <> ringed by mountains

peaceful rural roads <> energetic city traffic

abundant evergreens <> sparse Saguaro cactus

talented beaders <> talented beaders

fun people <> fun people

alas, not even one bead shop <> Bead Museum AND shops

The last three are the good news for me! Although I missed Robert and our cat, I got to see friends Claudia, Patricia and Roger. And the big plus was my wonderful students, who really seemed to enjoy making beaded buttons and learning/practicing sewing beads on fabric improvisationally!


Beaded sneaker by Native American artist, Teri Greeves.

Bad news... I left my camera on the bed in my hotel the day I taught at the Bead Museum in Glendale (fun area in Phoenix!!!) so I don't have any pictures to show you from there. So please, just write this in BOLD on your mind's hard drive:

If you are ever in Phoenix, do not pass go or collect $200... instead, go directly to the Bead Museum and plan to spend some time being totally awed by the collection, display, library and shop!!!

OMG! I knew it was going to be good... but wasn't prepared for how extensive it is! Their website does not do it justice at all. And take some extra cash, because the museum shop is awesome as well!


Good news... I did remember to take my camera to the Farm at South Mountain, where I taught a 2-day Improvisational Bead Embroidery workshop. Now, the Farm itself is a worthy Phoenix destination! Picture a large grove of shady pecan trees, gardens, flowers (like the bougainvillea above and the passion flowers below), three world-class restaurants (lunch being my favorite, because it's served in a picnic basket which you then carry outside to a picnic table under a pecan tree to have your meal), and an artist's studio.


The Farm features a different art program every 6 weeks or so. I was there as part of bead artist, Corinne McAuley's residency. During her time as Artist in Residence, she displayed her own work in the Artist's Cottage at the Farm, taught workshops, brought in a couple of distinguished speakers about beading and organized my teaching gig. My hat is off to Corinne, a most talented and well-organized new bead friend!



Above are two examples of her work (before taking my workshop - who knows how learning improv bead embroidery might influence it in the future). They are worked in flat peyote stitch with countless thousands of beads in each piece. You can see more of her tapestries on her website, here. And, hooray, Corinne has already joined us for the 2010 Bead Journal Project!!!


This is Joan, Corinne and Lisa (left to right). I hear Joan's got the bead embroidery bug. And Lisa, OMG, she's finished her class piece AND a second piece in less that two weeks. See below! Aren't these fabulous?! How do you like her use of mirrors in both pieces? I'm so proud of her!


Lisa's first piece, started in class, titled "My Racing Thoughts."


Lisa's second piece, finished two weeks later, titled "Tranquility."


This picture shows the room where we had class. At the first table are Sheila, Ann and Joan! Ann had already done three pieces of improv bead embroidery using my books to learn the stitches and process. You can see her first and second piece below. I'm sure all three of these gals have been stitching with abandon since completing the class!



This picture shows my two tablemates, Marty (a crazy quilter, who seems to be gravitating nicely towards more beads and might join the 2010 BJP) and Glenda (who took both of my workshops and is one of those students who makes the teacher feel good because she catches on quickly and does beautiful work right off the bat).


Michelle and Suzanne (front), Diane, Victoria (a current BJP member) and Linda sat at the third table. Victoria brought her BJP butterfly pieces (see them here, scroll down) to share with us and a doll she created and beaded (below)! Diane brought several samples of Native American beadwork for show'n'tell (including the beaded sneaker, shown above, the belt buckle shown below and a beaded bag, detail shown at the bottom of this post)!


Victoria's doll. I love that it's not totally symmetrical and in the African Ndebele style!


Barrette by Native American artist, Edgar Jackson, brought for show'n'tell.

The workshop ended all too soon. We were having a great time together and much beading progress was being made!

After parting company with my students, I joined my long-time (non-beading) friend, Patricia, and her husband Roger for a couple of days of relaxation in the sun. They have a home in Fountain Hills, a lovely part of Phoenix (NE of down town), and so named because of its hallmark fountain, the tallest in the USA!



This fountain goes off for 15 minutes every hour during daylight and early evening. There's a lovely walk all around the lake. AND, the piece d' resistance of the lake-side promenade is La Scala Creamery, where you can get the most tasty gelato in the world and/or have an ice-cold, refreshing drink of sparkling La Scala tea! This is NOT TO BE MISSED!

One day we took a drive out Hwy 87 to Payson, and then NE on Hwy 260 to SR 300, which is a gravel road that runs along the edge of the Mogollon Rim, a plateau that rises to 7,000 feet (towering 3,000 feet above the valley below)! Below are two pictures I took from the Rim... They hardly do justice to the beauty there.



Among other fun things that day, we stopped in Pine (on Hwy 87) for lunch at HB's Place. We gave them 5 stars! Especially delicious was their Oatmeal Pie. I think it may have been similar to this recipe:

Amish Oatmeal Pie

1 1/2 c. milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
2/3 c. rolled oats
1 1/3 c. dark brown sugar
2/3 c. flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 425. Combine milk, eggs, butter, oats, sugar and coconut in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Pour into flour/nut pie shell and sprinkle with additional coconut. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and continue to bake for 30 minutes more or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

And that about does it for Phoenix... a fun desert place, indeed... great beaders, love the Saguaro cactus, love Mogollon Rim and the fountain in Fountain Hills! I hope you've enjoyed this vicarious visit to the Southwest!

Long Distance Bead Pals Get to Play!!!

Do you like this combination of beading and thread knotting???


It's a pin (brooch) made by Elaine Hartley, who lives in Ohio and loves to visit the Pacific Northwest. We met about 15 years ago when she came to buy beads from me... back when I lived in Seattle and had a little shop called Beads Indeed. After that, Elaine and I connected three more times when she took workshops from me at various places. We share a love for the itty-bitty beads, working from intuition and beading with texture.

Planning a trip to the NW, Elaine contacted me and we arranged to spend a couple of days together on San Juan Island, WA where I live. Here we are on day-one at Lime Kiln Lighthouse.


Day-two, we decided to spend the morning playing in the tide pools at Deadman's Bay on the West side of the island. Later in the day, we would spend a few hours beading together. I'll show you some pictures from both...


At the beach, while Elaine went straight to the tide pools, I started by arranging small pebbles on a piece of driftwood. Temporary art...



Driftwood tied with seaweed... more temporary art... this one by an unknown artist...


Then I moved down the beach toward the tide pools where I found kelp and seaweed.





Finally I reached the pools themselves, where I found these acorn barnacles! They remind me of miniature cabbages... Let's try making some with beads!


All the while, Elaine was photographing a porcelain face in the tide pools. Elaine named the face Isis. Soon I too got hooked on her idea and borrowed Isis for a few shots. From then on both of us, captivated by the possibilities of photographing Isis in different places, spent another hour sharing her. Isn't digital photography just the MOST wonderful thing??? OMG! We probably took over 1,000 pictures between us. No waiting and no cost for developing and printing!!! I don't have any of Elaine's photographs to show you... but here are a few of my Isis pictures...







Between beach and beading, Elaine and I stopped for a brief visit with Mona... one of our island's more unusal residents! Elaine was smitten by Mona's soft muzzle...


And Mona seemed to like Elaine pretty well too...


After that, we got out our beads for a while. Elaine brought a few of her things to show me...


The pin/brooch, pictured above, is her beaded version of a tide pool. Isn't it grand?! Elaine likes to add textural knotting (half-hitches) done with embroidery floss. She likes the contrast of the beads with the thread. Me too!


Elaine often beads on a double layer of wool felt held together with dense zig-zag machine stitching, which is firm enough to bead without using any other stabilizer. This is the start of a piece about her home in Ohio. Two streams converge on her 2-acre property... She's going to bead her love for this place! When she finishes this piece, she'll insert it into the cover of a journal, similar to the one below, which is her current journal.


Elaine plans to sign up for the 2010 Bead Journal Project, so we'll all be seeing more of her lovely work soon! Yay!!!!

Bead pals are just the best!!! I am so blessed to have made a personal connection with Elaine and with other wonderful beaders around the world. Can't get any better than that!

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Heart update...

Thanks to everyone who wished me well and gave me optimistic reports regarding my heart issues. Tomorrow will be the last day that I must wear the EKG monitor.. thank goodness!

After I return from teaching in Phoenix, I'll have an appointment with my cardiologist and we'll decide what to do. I'll keep you posted. I really appreciate your concern and support!

*****
Camera Information...

Jo, in New Zealand, wrote to ask me about the camera I used to take these pictures. I'm a Sony girl... the mechanics and operation of Sony cameras just makes intuitive sense to me, so I stick with it.

The camera I used for these pictures is old and many updated models by Sony have taken its place. However, I bet the newer ones work just as well. Mine is a Sony Cybershot, model DSC-F717. My brother Thom got one like it, reconditioned but in good working order, on eBay about a year ago. He too is satisfied with it.

However, I must add that for me, it's more about Photoshop than the camera. I spend many hours adjusting my pictures to get the color, exposure and contrast right. Most of the pictures in this post are full frame (not cropped). However, I had to adjust color on most of them. I took a class at our community college a long time ago, when Photoshop first hit the streets. That was enough to make me brave about experimenting with it. I've also learned a lot of helpful Photoshop techniques from books by Scott Kelby. Over the years, we've bought the Photoshop updates to CS2, although I most frequently use the older version, Photoshop CS.

I take all of my bead pictures with this camera. Whenever possible, I shoot pictures of my beadwork outside in natural light under overcast skies or high clouds, which provides lots of light but minimal shadows. No doubt about it, beadwork is difficult to photograph, mainly because of the shiny, reflective surface of the beads. With any direct light, the reflection will blow out all of the detail and you'll have white spots. Sadly, no camera or Photoshop program can fix a total blow out.

Hope this answers your question, Jo!


One last beach picture... Fall is definitely here.

Ten Great Colors for Fall!

One of my lesser known passions is making books by hand. The pages in these two books are all hand-painted papers. I painted the papers and constructed the book in a 2-day (whirlwind) class taught by Albie Smith at Art & Soul in Portland, OR a few years ago.

I'm showing the books because of the fall color palette I used.

I'm a great fan of Margie Deeb! I love her books about how to find and use many wonderful color combinations, especially her most recent book, shown below.


Forget the color wheel! Margie gives fun and easy to follow color palettes ~ everything from predictable to waaaay out of the box ~ and examples of beadwork (some of which I contributed to this book) showing how specific palettes might be interpreted with beads .

Margie asked me to review her latest Color Report, which explores the possibilities for the ten Pantone colors predicted (check out this fun Pantone link) to be popular this fall and winter, a forecast formulated long ago and used by clothing and assessory designers for fashions released now and into the late fall. You can explore the beady possibilities for this palette of ten great colors with the help of Margie Deeb's latest color report: Fall/Winter 2009 Color Report for Bead & Jewelry Designers, which is available to purchase on line here.

Below are the ten colors. (Color on the internet is always variable depending on your monitor and computer settings. These are approximations of the exact Pantone colors, which are specified by the numbers shown.)

American Beauty, #19-1759, a feel-good color


Purple Heart, #18-3520, refinement and sensuality


Honey Yellow, #16-1143, classic color of autumn


Iron, #18-1306, a grounding color


Burnt Sienna, #17-1544, earth and sunsets


Nomad, #16-1212, bridge between grey and beige


Rapture Rose, #17-1929, vibrant yet soft


Warm Olive, #15-0646, touch of sophistication


Majolica Blue, #19-4125, exotic flair


Crème Brûlée, #13-1106, timeless neutral color

The names of the colors are by Pantone, but in her report, Margie supplies the numbers for matching Delica beads, gemstone names, etc. She invited seven guest artists to work with her, creating jewelry where the color choices are based on various combinations of these ten colors. There's something here for everyone.

Even me! I'm not much of a fall colors person (except in nature and books). I rarely wear fall colors. However, as I read through the report and looked at all the gorgeous examples, I couldn't help getting really excited about playing with some of these colors. Inspired by Margie's color report, I made my own palette as shown below.


I wouldn't bead this exact design, but will probably stick to the proportions of color. OK! Now I have to go check my beads and fabrics to see what I have in these colors for my next bead embroidery project. Whooohooo, this will be a blast! I'm on my way to my stash right now!

Oh, and YES, I give an A++ to Margie's report. If you want to play with color, it's a grand place to start. Not only for beaders, it will also work well for quilters, painters and anybody using color in their art!