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Showing posts from July, 2005

One of *those* kids...

Were you one of those kids? One of the ones who always had pockets stuffed full of stuff that was too good to leave lying on the ground where you found it? One who regularly got your mother steamed by getting paint or dirt or fill-in-the-blank all over a "good" piece of clothing? One who really couldn't quite get the hang of which were the "good" clothes and which were the "play" clothes, since they all mixed and matched so well? Or at least, you thought they did... If so, then you probably have the messy collector's gene, one of the first pre-requisites to being a mixed media artist. Congratulations! Personally, I have been doing mixed media work for as long as I can remember. There was no craft material that I didn't want to try as a kid, and the most fun was seeing how they could be combined into new forms. At some point in my "adult" life, I settled on mixed-media jewelry , at least for a time, since there were so many direc...

Starry Night

Starry Night Although I started this piece in June, I had to set it aside for awhile and have just gotten back to it. It's the first neckpiece that I've tried with a fabric transfer as the entire background. I used a shot taken by the Hubble, and arted it up a bit in Photoshop (gotta love that Photoshop!) It is much easier to read the words "Starry Night" in real life than in this photo ~ I just couldn't get either the color of the charoite center cabochon right, nor the glass accents that are scattered on the surface. They're very cool, changing from green to fushia as the light shifts. Still not done, but it's getting there! Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace

Complete Pearl Spiral

Pearl Spiral I finally got around to clipping those threads and finishing off the spiral I started last week. I had some beautiful vermeil beads and other findings that came from the last bead show, and they seemed to go really well with the colors of seed beads. I felt like this one could go either way ~ silver or gold ~ since the beads are a mixture of warm and cool tones, but I really wanted to emphasize the bronze seed beads. I don't think you can really see them as they are in the scan ~ they are matte finished, but with an iridescent glow. Very cool. Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace

Ammonite neckpiece

This is the centerpiece for a new bead-embroidered neckpiece that I'm starting. Instead of the entire thing being embroidered this time, I'm going to use free-form peyote and other off-loom stitches to weave together several of these embroidered sections. The focal pieces are real ammonite slabs, and I'll also be using freshwater pearls, coin pearls, and tons of seed beads (as usual!), including some of the fabulous new cut steel beads I just got. Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace

Spiral

Here's a new spiral necklace that I'm working on...complete with unclipped threads and everything! The pearls are soft gray freshwaters that I picked up the last time I went to a bead show. They fit the curve of this spiral beautifully. Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace

Bummer!

I am so unhappy ~ I've got some new pictures to post, and my computer won't talk to my camera!! I've tried reinstalling the camera software, but so far I'm getting nowhere. And my computer genius/geek son is still in Guatemala. In fact, that's an interesting story in itself. He emailed last night and said that he wanted to stay longer. The original plan was for 6 weeks, but now he wants to extend it to 9 weeks so that he'll basically make it back just in time to start his sophomore year of college in the fall. Here's the irony: this is the boy who hated school, couldn't be bothered to do his homework, and (tells us) he doesn't like little kids. So what's he doing? He's the schoolmaster in an orphanage. God is not without a finely developed sense of irony! Here's a picture of Nate at the airport.

At long last

All my beads have arrived. The ones I told you about ~ the French cut steels ~ and also some charlottes, hex-cuts, and tri-cuts. I usually don't work with cut seed beads, plus these are mostly tiny little vintage and antique beads, so this should be fun. I hope. I hope my eyes hold out. They range from 15/0 to 20/0. Here's a sample: The second and third hanks down are the cut steel beads. The scan didn't manage to pick up the sparkle of any of these. Technorati Tags: beads

Cave Paintings

Cave Paintings So this is what I ended up doing with those ceramic beads! The brass tag charms feature different animals from the French cave paintings in Lascaux and other sites. With the knotted cord spacing out the large beads, the necklace didn't turn out as heavy as I had feared. Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace

Ceramic beads

Since my cut steel beads haven't arrived yet, I'm going to fill in the time with these ~ they are absolutely gorgeous, but heavy! I haven't decided exactly how to handle them yet because of the weight. I really like seeing them all together, but I'm not sure anyone's neck is strong enough to handle them! Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace

Buttons on Monday

Ametrine I went antiquing/junking with a friend yesterday afternoon. I wasn't after anything in particular, and that's pretty much what I found! Anyway, I noticed several button necklaces in a couple of the shops that carry a mixture of old and new. They were just buttons and seedbeads, so of course I didn't think they were quite as nice as mine...LOL!! Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace

French cut steel beads

Beads I promise I'll post my own picture as soon as I receive all the beautiful vintage and antique beads I've been snarfing up lately! In the meantime, as long as the link above lasts, here's a picture of some French cut steel seedbeads that I bought. Technorati Tags: beads

"Crystal Cascade" necklace

Crystal Cascade Pink, purple, and teal for spring. This is a heavier necklace, but still has the nice light colors (hmmm...the photo looks a little dark). I used Czech crystals and some beautiful pearls and silver that I picked up at a recent trade show. Technorati Tags: wearable art , beads , jewelry , necklace