Deco Things

Looking back over previous posts I realised I had never posted the Deco pieces I promised... so here they are. These are class projects and beginner level....yep, I teach beginners this and they do very well.

We'll be making the pendant on Thursday, we made the ring last week.

I was busy yesterday finishing my Ruffled Dots bracelet. I wasn't sure at first if I liked it...I think after doing things with lots of Swarovski crystals this one looks, well, I want to say plain but I'm finding it's one of those pieces that grows on you. It's different, original and perfect for fall. I'll post pics as soon as I take them.

I started a new piece with the stash from the bead show. So far it's a double strand necklace and will have beaded beads and a bezeled tiger's eye cabochon. I'm very happy with it so far and can already see two different but matching earrings for it.

I also got a gorgeous brown jasper cab and some matching chips which I'm dying to put together. I need to get a lot of work together so I can approach the galleries. I've met quite a few women lately who have their work in galleries and I feel my work is definitely comparable....I just need to believe in myself and get out and show my work. Like a lot of artists I have a hard time selling my creations,
jeez....it took me forever to even feel comfortable calling myself an artist. I think that all goes back to my childhood when I was told to keep my light under a bushel, not to let people know what I do and just wait to be discovered. Self promotion does not come easy to me....even though people who see me do it think it does (Kenneth Brannagh told me I was a natural actress and this is where it comes in) it's all an act guys!

However....they do say "act it till you become it"....and I'm trying.

Labor Day weekend means you labor...right?

I really don't call beading 'labor' but I guess technically it is. That's what I will be doing today & tomorrow... nowhere to be, nothing to do, so I get to indulge in the art.

I'm working on finishing the Ruffled Dots bracelet, I made a clasp last night as I forgot to pick one up when I was in Vegas. My wire techniques have improved so much I really need to start working in silver...if only to make my own clasps. The one I made for this bracelet is a two hook and eye clasp for four strands made in copper and embellished with bronze seed beads, it's a new design and it came out really well. What is that saying "Necessity is the mother of invention"? I'm also dying to take a hammer to some metal....lol!

There are so many techniques to jewelry making and it's now my life goal to learn them all...that should keep Alzheimer's at bay! Once I finish Ruffled Dots I've got a couple of designs I want to make up...one I see as a watchband. I have this desire to get people away from those huge (and often ugly) watchbands that are the rage right now. They remind me of platform shoes in that I can see people looking back in a few years and saying to themselves "what was I thinking?" But I've always been one for a classy stiletto myself....Tim Gunn would be proud.

I have the cube beads I got at the bead show in mind for the watchband, I'm thinking silvers and blues. The other design is one for my 'Trapped Pearls' line and I'm thinking black, silver and red....something vampirish. I actually have a wild idea for this one (inspired by Rachel Nelson-Smith to think outside the box)....but it would mean my doing some polymer sculpting or finding a clever lampworker. The wild version may have to go on hold.

One step at a time.

Stormy Weather

We had a torrential storm last night and I slept through it!

In fact I slept through my alarm this morning...something that has happened maybe four times in my life! It's a good job I wasn't needed for the start of the bead show today because I would have been late...and I HATE being late for anything. If I get somewhere five minutes early that's late in my book.
I admit tardiness bugs me. To me it shows lack of respect for another person's time. I do try to deal with friends who are constantly late by always having something to do when I am meeting them. I'll have my sketchbook with me at a coffee shop so I can work on designs until the tardy individual decides they have time for me. And if you're one of them reading this....now you know! Lol!

Anyhoo....the bead show was great yesterday, for anyone taking notes the classes I was supposed to teach in Cedar City were cancelled due to lack of sign-ups...Labor Day weekend, to be expected. I worked six hours and could not believe what a good turn out there was from my mailing list. I think pretty much everyone who has taken a class from me showed up. I also met some very cool people, a couple who I think will become bead buddies in the sparkle of a Swarovski.

It's a small show by ABC Direct out of AZ but they have some nice beads and some very cool vintage Swarovski that you get to see if you know to ask. I walked away with a very generous bead stash for my work. Thanks, Tomas.

It was a very cool day all way round, I met a local lampworker who is opening a bead store a couple of towns over (about a 30min drive). I think she was as excited to meet me as I was to meet her. I've wanted to work with a lampworker for quite a while now and I can't wait to see all her stuff. We also talked about my teaching classes there...and she is interested in stocking my bead kits...so, WOO HOO!!!

Now we will have a place to actually buy some cylinder beads and she's stocking Tohos so as I plan on carrying Delicas in my studio we shouldn't encroach on each other and I'm sure we'll be sending each other business as neither of us will be able to carry all the colors. She likes to barter too so we'll be able to trade off and keep our overheads low.

On a different creative side I voted today in Apartment Therapy's Design Showcase for Cat Merrick's gorgeous winter scene plate...an easy vote. I was led to the contest by Andrew Thornton's blog (http://andrew-thornton.blogspot.com/)
he's raffling off one of his necklaces to people who vote for his friend Cat and then post on his blog. It's a pretty necklace but I'm much more interested in supporting a fellow artisan.

We'll see if the bead show needs me today....it seems everyone came out yesterday. We handed out flyers for the Bead Society, our first meeting is Wednesday so the timing couldn't be better, and people who didn't know about it got very excited and I was thanked many times for starting the society. Nice to know it's appreciated and that we may well have a good turn out on Wednesday.

Busy, busy, busy

I feel like I'm at the starting gate this morning as the next three days are going to be a bit on the crazy side.

I have a bunch of work to do this morning, this afternoon I'm supposed to meet up with the bead show guy and help him set up, and tonight I have a class. Tomorrow will see me stopping by the bead show in the morning and heading out in the afternoon for my two classes in Cedar City. Saturday will see me working the bead show. I definitely see me being pooped on Sunday.

I had a couple of interesting e-mails yesterday. One was a mini-interview for the Dixie college webzine and the other was...well...something that pushed a couple of my buttons.

**Soapbox Alert**

It was from a person I don't know who had read a post of mine on a beading forum where I had thanked the author of a thread for reminding me about netting stitch as I realised that it would be a great stitch for one of my classes. The e-mailer suggested to me some patterns I might like to teach that she had found on the web, stating that that's how she teaches her classes.
I was gobsmacked! Can I scream copyright enfringement?

The thing is we designers work hard to design new things, we put in many hours writing instructions, taking photos and illustrating our patterns...it's how we make our living. This person doesn't do that....she just takes the easy (and actually illegal) road. She could approach the designers and ask for permission...she may get it, one designer I know who publishes her patterns on a beading website is willing to give permission. I myself gave some of my students permission to sell my designs at one event (just for that event).

I have come across this before unfortunately. I even advised one person that she could not enter a competition with a piece designed by someone else and was told I didn't know what I was talking about and that if a pattern is published anyone can do what they like with it. This is not true. Patterns are published for personal use only and not for monetary gain....most magazines and patterns state this. You need permission from the designer to sell or teach their designs.

I do wish people would put themselves in the other person's shoes.....because I just know that if the shoe was on the other foot these design thieves would be screaming unfair at the top of their lungs. As one beader said "they're taking money out of my pocket, and my pocket feeds my family". Some starving artists are starving because people keep ripping off their work!

OK....I'll get off my soapbox now because I have instructions to write and illustrate!

OMG!!

I cannot believe it! I just got a note from Rachel Nelson-Smith to tell me my 'Doodles' bracelet "rocks".
For anyone who doesn't know, Rachel is one of THE hottest bead artists out there. Her new book is called "Seed Bead Fusion" and you can take a look at it here http://www.interweavestore.com/Beading-Jewelry/Books/Seed-Bead-Fusion.html
Rachel won an Editor's Choice award in the Pattern Play Challenge where my 'Doodles' took an Off the Wall award. I felt honored enough to be be in the same competition let alone a winner and now to get kudos from Rachel....
This is definitely a good day!

Will Work for Beads

At my class yesterday one of my students brought in an ad for a bead show in town this weekend so I just had to look into it. Apparently it's just one guy with 2000lbs of beads coming in from Arizona.
I've got the bead society a 10% discount and he's asked if I can help with staffing the show as his wife who usually travels with him isn't. He's paying in beads, of course, which is fun for a beader and you always make out better than if you're paid in cash. So, now I've got questions out to one of my beady friends in Az to get the lowdown on the guy....lol! The beading world is really quite small and it seems everyone knows everyone.

I worked on two projects last night, my Ruffled Dots bracelet which....well, I'm not sure about. The only shiny thing in it are the pearls...and I'm wondering if that will be enough. So, I put it down and started working on the Haute Couture piece. On that one I'm not sure if I need to work around a wood bead or if it will hold up on it's own. Dilemmas, dilemmas.

Afterglow?

Not quite, I woke up hoarse this morning....from all the talking and the lethal smog in Vegas, I have never seen it so bad!

I managed to get back just after 6pm, tired, happy with what I bought and then kicking myself when I realized I for got a clasp for something....I'm hoping they'll ship it because I can't even find that particular clasp anywhere online. Bead Haven have THE best selection out there...thanks Gail!

I found antiqued copper magnetized slide lock clasps! Perfect for my fall bracelets. As you can see I already attached one to my Double Daisy Tile II bracelet. This one's hard to photograph...there are almost 200 Swarovski crystals in this bracelet but capturing the sparkle is proving difficult. It was great to get "ooooo"s and "wow"s on this one as it's a revamped version of one of my kits, I'd always dreamed of it this way but I'd always hear grumbles about kits being more than $15 and that price tag does not allow for Swarovskis. This one is headed for acceptance at BeadFest Philly.

I'm finally going to have to part with my Challenge piece today....it was ready to go at least a week ago but I really like it and it's hard to say goodbye! I do hope we get them back. It's called "Twin Roses" and I'm proposing it as a class for Philly too.

I think I have two more samples to make and then I can send in the proposals. I started one last night, the bracelet version of the choker I designed from Project Runway's Christoper's winning 'Red Carpet' dress. I picked up the fall colors for it yesterday, of course I was thinking I had enough chocolate brown Delicas for the base.....turns out enough for only half the base....thank the Lord for Artbeads.com. I had to order the Swarovski deep purple teardrop pearls from them anyway....seems none of the stores carry them (though they don't carry the clasp I forgot!)

I also bought the beads for the Haute Couture competition piece (www.goodquillhunting.com/Haute_Couture_Beading_Contest.html) ...again thanks to Gail at Bead Haven for carrying THE best selection of matte 15s. I feel like the incredible shrinking woman because I have such a passion for the tiny 15s....not sure why, but I tend to work smaller and smaller, and I've always been that way. I did micro-macrame before the term was invented (I'm going back over 30 years now...God, I'm old!) If you haven't seen the micro-macrame out there today check out www.jewelsinfiber.com to see some awesome designs.

I'm trying not to have too busy a morning so I can recover fully from yesterday and be fresh for my class this afternoon. Gee...maybe I'll bead.