Watching the Magazine Racks

I keep stopping by the magazine racks waiting for the new arrivals so I can see my work in print and really feel like I'm getting somewhere.

Step by Step is going to publish the Watermelon & Peaches bracelet from the Colorworks challenge. I don't think I'm breaking any rules to tell you that I was selected by Beadwork magazine to take part in their "The Challenge" so I'm anxiously awaiting that issue of Beadwork.

"The Challenge" for those of you who don't know is like the cooking show "Chopped" where the chefs get the same box of ingredients and have to come up with a dish from them. In Beadwork's version they select three designers and a reader chosen at random and send them all the same bag of beads. We then have to come up with something original. The e-mail to tell me I had been selected arrived after the kit....so, just eight days after sending a picture of my work the mailman handed me a package.....boy, was I surprised. I had thought I was just putting my name in the hat to be a random reader, so it was an incredible honor to be selected as a designer.

The kit was challenging all right. There was a lot of Lucite, and heavy Lucite at that. As a bead weaver this is not an element I usually incorporate into my designs and at first I was a little flummoxed. However....I love a challenge! As I was teaching a class that day my conscious mind was occupied but as I was driving home after the class I realised my sub-conscious had been working and I had a design.

It took me three attempts to put it all together....I couldn't get the balance right. I turned to Miriam Haskell's work for inspiration. It was quite surprising to see that what I was putting together very much fit her style...it felt like I was channelling her....and the double strand she used frequently hit me in the head....the extra strand would give me the balance I was looking for. I added a couple more drops and there it was. I totally fell in love with the piece. I think it's one of the best things I've made and when I got an e-mail with a proof of the article to go along with my piece the other day it seems like Beadwork agrees.

I'm not going to post a picture because I like surprises, especially when I'm the one creating them. But be sure to check the upcoming issues of Beadwork Magazine for my "Twin Roses" in "The Challenge".

Cool things today...... I noticed on Jean Campbell's blog jeancampbellink.blogspot.com/ that she is doing a beading retreat next year. www.beadingbythebay.com/ Beading by the Bay will be in Burlinghame, a fave little town of mine just outside San Francisco, it reminds me of towns in Cornwall, England where I spent many a childhood vacation.
I wish I could afford to do the retreat but it's out of my league right now. To me spending a weekend beading with Jean, Marcia DeCoster and Maggie Meister would be pure heaven and to do it in my fave city....it doesn't get any better than that. Oh well.....

My goal is to be in San Jose next September for the Folsom Fringe event where I plan on having a booth and selling my 'alternative-style' beadwork. 'Alternative' is the easiest thing for me to design.....being a bit 'alternative' myself!