I'll be hosting the next Carnival of the Creators November 9. I'm looking for submissions, so if you've got an arts-related blog post that you'd like to share with a wider audience, please send me the permalink as soon as you can. I'm not sure what the official cut-off is for submissions through the website, but my personal cut-off will be two days before. Please don't miss out by procrastinating!
The Embroiderers' Guild has a number of beautiful projects on their website, along with great instructions, many of which include beads and buttons. The lovely piece pictured above is by Jane Iles, and her directions are here.
I haven't had a whole lot of time to work on the piece that I started the other day. Although I've gotten a bit farther with it, rather than bore you with an incremental change, I thought you might enjoy seeing some instructions for doing embroidery stitches with beads. This is a different style than I usually use, but definitely something to think about. Some of these stitches would look absolutely beautiful in a crazy quilt or on patterned fabric that you weren't planning on covering totally with beads.
Here's the reason that I haven't had a lot of time...Dani is coming home to visit for quad-break with her three suite-mates. I've been shopping for all their favorite foods and cooking up a storm :-)
Bead&Button is offering a special issue which will cover all the basic techniques you'll need to start beading. It comes with a DVD as well, and if you order it before November 15, you save a dollar plus receive free shipping
I have been blessed to be hired by b5media, the wonderful blogging network, to write their mixed media blog! Layers Upon Layers just launched last week, so please join me there for daily posts on all aspects of mixed media lunacy!
My jewelry blog at Mazel Tov! Jewelry will still be charting my more-or-less daily adventures in jewelry making. Obviously, there will be some overlap between the two blogs, but I still encourage you to visit me at both of them :-)
I just received email notification this morning that these two pieces have been accepted into my local WCA (Women's Caucus for Art) show. The title of the show is "Stay Tuned" because it's being hosted by the Fitchburg cable company! They have a great new building with a lot of traffic each day. We'll be hanging the show in early November, and it will run from November 15 through January 4. If you're going to be in central Massachusetts during that time, email me and I'll send you directions :-)
Next time you're feeling unattractive or geeky, play this film again. Remind yourself. There are standards out there that only one out of a thousand of us could live up to without airbrushing and photoshop!
This pendant uses my client's beautifully cut iolite as the focal piece. It has a mother-or-pearl backing, and uses the rim of a vintage watch as the base. It features a profusion of vintage lucite flowers and glass leaves, and pretty little freshwater pearls. In this shot, it's lying down, so you can't see exactly how it hangs, but it's quite pretty.
One of my favorite artists who supplies me with goodies that I don't want to make for myself is Jeanne Kent of New Terra Artifacts. Even if I wanted to make them, I doubt I could do as good a job as Jeanne anyway! I'm out of stock at the moment, and Jeanne is making me one of her fabulous rainbows in royal blue!
There may not be anything about this necklace that specifically makes you think of kindness, but it's a very appropriate name nonetheless! The paua shell which forms the center cabachon was given to me by one of my online friends ~ one of those many people whom you know but have never met. Ellen is a very special person, and I wanted to name this piece in her honor.
This also (finally) gets me back on track to create a series of nine pieces that I started a couple of years ago. Each piece is named for one of the fruit of the Spirit in the New Testament. So far I've done love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness. The ones left to go are goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
You can just see the two little loops peeking out of the border at the top. I've got to add a couple of rows of ruffles around the edge (in gold delicas), and then it's time to figure out what to do for a strap!