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?!