Rocky Mountain Bead Bazaar: My Loot

The Rocky Mountain Bead Bazaar held this past weekend in Denver was fantastic!  Rack after rack of every size, color and shape of seed bead imaginable, followed by table after table of gemstones and glass, on top of booth after booth of artist pieces.  What's not to love?  Here are some of my favorite buys:

The brass pieces of Judie Mountain and her partner Wayne Robbins' glass make Mountain Robbins a must see.  I couldn't resist these pieces with a primitive cave art vibe.

 Sue Laupp of Star Spirit Studio has long been a favorite of mine.  She had some new pieces - little hand carved birds and a house that I could not pass up.  And the new teal-ish color she's working with (like the leaf at the top) had me at "teal" :)

I found a few seed beads I thought would go with the raku I favor and some metal end pieces (for earrings, I think?) that I want to use for bracelet ends.  Oh, and some snapping jump rings I want to try in place of jump rings in my micro macrame:

I found some other great raku pieces including these from Urban Raku I think will be perfect - the bars on the sides should be just right for anchoring macrame cords.

These larger necklace focal pieces are from Beady Eyed Women.  She had some great beading kits, too, but these jumped into my "cart":

Last but certainly not least, I picked up a couple of finished bracelets from The Bead Parlor because even if I thought I had the patience to do something like this, I don't think that I would ever get around to it.  So much better to let a professional do it for me!

They also had some classes I thought looked like fun.  Next year, I'm going to have to sign up for one!  Who's going to meet me there?

The New Artisan Component Marketplace

I'm going to let you in on a little secret.  You know all those wonderful heads and pendants (like this oak leaf from Marla's Mud) I'm always showing you?  (Yes, I may have a slight bead buying problem, but that's a discussion for another time.)  There's a new online marketplace just for artisan made pieces - Artisan Component Marketplace.  You won't find any factory produced knock offs there because each shop is juried before being allowed to sell on the site.  That means each and every one of the pieces you find listed there will be hand made by the artist.  

You will find ceramic and porcelain, handpainted wood and lampwork as well as mixed media and metal.  There are seed bead components made of tiny glass beads woven together in intricate patterns, pendants made from polymer clay and clasps made from wood.  There are all sorts of little treasures from some of my favorite artists, so when I had an offer to do a guest blog post for them, I jumped at the chance.  

You're going to have to go there to see what I wrote, but I will give you a hint:  it involves Marla's ceramic leaf pendant and a little free macrame tutorial.  Have fun!  Oh, and I made up a fancy new, handy-dandy bar for the bottom of my guest post - what do you think?

Talk Like a Pirate Day

Ahoy, me Hearties!  Tomorrow be International Talk Like a Pirate Day and what with knottin' bein' all tied t' sailin' (didja see what I done thar?) what better way t' pay me respects but t' create a piece o' micro macrame!  Boy, writin' like tha' is harder than ye'd think!  

I asked Anastasija o' Dreams and Elements t' make some pieces t' use in me micro macrame bracelets and shiver me timbers!  Beauty!  Me packages arrived from some other artists that day, too. Check t' motherload:

And out of all that booty, which treasure did I choose first?

They're just so ever-lovin' adorable!!  And what with the pirate day thing coming up and all, it seemed like fate.  I did make a very similar bracelet with one of her owl focals instead,  if ye ain't be likin' the skulls.  

Wanna try your hand at knottin' one yeself?  These bands are variations of me Micro Macrame Bracelet Watch class at CraftArtEdu.com.  Fair winds, mateys!

Matubo Beads and Micro Macrame

Have you tried out the new Matubo seed beads yet?  They are 7/0 beads, falling in between the 6/0 and 8/0 seed bead sizes.  In the photo, the first beads (on the left) are 6/0 beads from Miyuki (146FR if you love the color).  The beads in the middle are Matubo beads in Blue Picasso and on the right are 8/0 beads in metallic bronze.  Even though the overall size (outer dimensions) falls squarely between the others, the hole size is closer to that in the larger 6/0 beads.

The secret to these little wonders is the manufacturing method.  Matubo beads are made by pressing rather than then traditional method of cutting glass tubes into pieces.  The pressing method has several advantages:  it produces much more uniformly sized and shaped beads, the holes can be larger in comparison to the bead (thinner walls) and the holes have smoother edges.  Those things may not seem like a big deal, but they're really great for micro macrame.  The larger hole size is really nice, especially if you are knotting with the thicker Tex 400 cord.  I've found I can get two cords through the Matubos.

I started out putting them in a pattern I've made quite a lot.  I really love the finish on these beads.

Then I thought I'd experiment a little.

In this pattern, I used them in the center of each little shape as well as in between the rows and along both edges.  The shiny little beads in the lacy loops are 11/0, just to give you another size comparison.

All in all, I like these new beads.  I always like choices, and having a new size and new colors and finishes is great! 

It's PARTY Time! Bead Soup Blog Party 8 Reveal

It's finally here - the big reveal for Lori Anderson's 8th Bead Soup Blog Party!!  This is an event jewelry makers like myself anxiously await all year.  It's like the Thanksgiving of handcrafted jewelry where you can gorge on images of beautiful pieces until you can't stand it anymore.  It's like mardi gras and New Year's rolled into one.  Can you tell I'm excited?  If you're not familiar with the concept (Bead Soup Blog Party, not parties in general), it's pretty simple:  our hostess-with-the-mostess, Lori Anderson, assigns partners from the massive list of participants; the pairs exchange "bead soup" consisting of a focal, clasp and a few coordinating beads; each designer makes something using at least the focal and clasp (they don't have to be used in the same piece); and then we have a party!  This is where you get to see all the amazing things everyone has made.  

This year I was paired with Marianna Boylan of Star Girl Jewelry & Lampwork Glass Designs.  I did this blog post all about her, in case you missed it.  She sent this gorgeous "soup" for me:

Marianna made the lampwork bead and that photo doesn't really do it justice.  I'll give you a closer look:

Isn't it beautiful!?!  I really wanted to use it in my piece this year and I think I just tried too hard.  I had an idea in my head and I just couldn't get it to translate into reality.  I spent hours on it and it just didn't do justice to that focal.  Lori did a blog post about the time I was struggling with it called Don't Be Afraid of the Do-Over, do I decided to take her advice.  I thought I would try my luck with the other focal Marianna sent, the ceramic mermaid pendant by Gaea, so I pulled out some cord and beads and came up with a palette.  

And this happened.

My mermaid goddess.  I'm really excited about this piece.  I messed with a few different design elements and I think the piece has flow and movement.

All the flow and all the movement brings the eye back to the star of the show, the mermaid pendant.

Want to see more?  You can check out my reveals for the 6th Bead Soup Blog Party and the 7th Bead Soup Blog Party or you can hop over to Lori's Bead Soup Blog Party page where she has the entire list (almost 500 participants!) of blogs to visit.  I don't know about you, but I plan on visiting every one of them.  It might take me a few days, but I'll get there!  Happy Hopping!

Beads of Clay Artisan Beads

The members of the Beads of Clay group did a giveaway a few weeks ago and gave away an incredible array of handmade artisan clay beads.  Take a look:

You might recognize the work of some of these talented folks:  Vladislav Ivanov from Golem Studio, Beada Hendrix of Sasijuhls Things, Diana Ptaszynski of Suburban Girl Studio, and Tracee Dock of Classic Elements.  

The "catch" that went along with winning these beads was that I had to agree to make a piece of jewelry using one of the beads within a month of receipt.  Don't tell anybody, but with this kind of inspiration, that wasn't really much of a catch!  What was harder was trying to decide which piece to work with first.  

I ended up choosing the largest focal piece by Tracee and I set it in the center of a micro macrame bracelet with cord and beads in shades of blue and mauve.

It's a real pleasure for me to work with artisan beads, handmade by people who take pride in their work and produce unique and beautiful beads.  I may or may not have a shopping problem, but that aside, I can tell you that I recognize the work of these folks by their own individual signature styles.  And to me, that's a mark of a true artist.  It's obvious they are each doing what they feel passionate about and creating pieces that mean something to them.  I admire that greatly.  I hope you will take a couple of minutes to visit the pages and shops of these folks and support them.

Red!?! Oh, Horror of Horrors!

When I was asked to work up a couple of micro macrame demo pieces using natural stone beads, I said sure!  And when asked what stone, I said, "Anything as long as it isn't red or orange."  As you can probably guess from the post title and the photo above, the beads I received were Mexican Red Snowflake jasper.  RED is even in the name of the stone, for crying out loud.  And if that's not bad enough, it's paired with brown.  *sigh*  Well, I'm not one to back down from a challenge or break my word, so I figured I'd better find some inspiration.  And believe me, I hunted.  I even ended up in the fabric department looking for interesting color combinations and finally found a paisley that added some unexpected coral tones in with the red and brown.  Okay, I'm thinking, I can work with that.  So I dug through my stash and came up with this:

Now we're talking.  My next challenge was to fit my cord through the beads.  One cord would pass easily through all of them, but for the design I had in mind, I needed to get two cords through the hole.  Uh, huh.  I resorted to dipping my cord ends in Fray Check, which I don't usually have to do any more, and I had to use the bead reamer on a couple of the beads, but I did get them to work.

Well, now.  That's kind of interesting, if I do say so myself!  The central stones are 8mm and the ones around that are 4mm.  I used dark red, brown and a peachy shade of cord and accented with glass seed beads in dark red, peach and coral-lined crystal.  Then I had a thought (shush - it happens!).

What if I brought a little turquoise color to the party?  

I heard a choir of angels singing in the background, I swear I did.  Now that's my style - even with the natural stones and the warm colors.  I won.  I worked through it and conquered my fear.  I am triumphant!  Okay, so maybe it's not as good as curing cancer or making it to the top of Everest, but I'm feeling pretty good and I take that wherever I can get it.

And now, I think I'll reward myself by snuggling up in a blanket on the couch in front of the fireplace and watching a cheesy movie.  Hopefully I can find something with dinosaurs.  Or ancient Egyptians.  Or ghosts...  

A New Color Palette for Inspiration

Nothing inspires me quite like a fun, fresh color palette.  My mom loaned me one of the quilts she made (she's amassing quite an impressive collection) to change up my bedroom for a few months.  I chose this one in shades of purple, teal and olive green, and then was inspired to create a palette of cord and beads based on the quilt.

I found lots of seed beads in the purple and lavender colors, as well as the teal tones from the lower right corner of the quilt.  The upper left has greens that move from olive into a deep avocado color, and I found lots to mimic those tones, too.  If you look a little closer, you'll notice bits of a mustard/gold color sprinkled in there, too.  LOADS of inspiration for me!

I've been messing with this sinuous curvy pattern lately and I think it works really well in these colors.  I added some sparkle with a row of beads down the center and a shiny picot edging.  

The jewel tones in this piece are reminiscent of peacocks.  Today I thought I'd play with a design with a few more beads.

These colors are definitely helping take my mind off the January weather!

Year of Jewelry Project, Week 31 - At The Beach

The theme for this week in the Year of Jewelry Project was right up my alley - At The Beach!  That has Sherri written all over it.  And as if that weren't motivation enough, a customer sent me this sea star palette (by Design Seeds) and asked if I could make her a bracelet in those colors.  Boy howdy!  I started by pulling cord and beads from my stash.  I had a pretty good matching selection of cord, a ton of seed beads and several fun things.  Those pale green beads are vintage (pre-WWII) Japanese.  The glass flower headpin is by Amy Sutton, the owl and the round pendant next to it is by my friend Shelley Graham of Tori Sophia, and the fabulous seahorse and fish ceramics are by Sheri Mallery of Slingin' Mud.  I told you this palette played right into my hand.

I started out using the colors in a pattern of deep waves.  I do love the way the orange color makes everything else pop.  But the waves got me thinking... and I decided to try something different.  I used a wave pattern, but in cord colors graduating from the deepest teal up through the soft greenish color and then into the sandy tan.  When I added beads, I kept them random, again mimicking the colors of deeper water with highlights up through the foamy green and into the sand.  

And for the finishing touch, I added a little orange howlite sea star bead on the chain.

I had such fun with this palette.  I'm keeping this bead and cord out and I hope to make more pieces in these colors and hopefully incorporate one of the artist's beads.  I'll keep you posted.  But for now, I'm putting a done stamp on Year of Jewelry Week 31 - nailed it!