Gearing up for a Hop!

I've been doing lots of scheming and plotting about what to do for our upcoming Beading Back in Time Blog Hop which has led to countless hours of reading about the early history of man and quite a few hours digging through my stash of treasures.  I came across this ceramic owl pendant from Karen Totten of Starry Road Studio.  It's one of her owl amulets from a series she called her woodland totems.

Although animals were featured in art very early on, I think it is the hand print on this one that makes me think of our hop challenge theme.  It reminds me of the cave paintings featuring hands.

I also came across another ceramic piece from Starry Road Studio - a round bead that matched the pendant perfectly.  Taking my color cues from those pieces, I knotted turquoise, gold and ecru into a cord/strap for the necklace. I used this technique (that links to the free macrame tutorial) that looks like kumihimo, but is done without a disk.  I love the look of the cord - slap a couple of caps on the ends and it's neat and tidy and can be made in any color combination.

Any bail would work on this cord, but I thought I'd take the design a step further, so I knotted one myself in the same cord.  It has a sort of fun plaid design in micro macrame and is completely integrated into the design (the same cord that ties on the pendant and goes up through the bead is knotted through the bail.

And yes, I should be working on my piece for the hop rather than getting sidetracked, but what a nice sidetrack, huh?  And if you're not inclined to make your own, you can purchase this one in my Etsy shop:  Knot Just Macrame.

The Blue Version

The "eyes" in my new Argus cuff design got me thinking about Egyptian themes.  Then again, since I'm a huge fan of all things ancient Egyptian, everything gets me thinking along that track, but I digress...

I had the thought of playing up that angle, so I used a bright blue cord and gold beads as well as a seed bead mixture called, coincidentally enough, Egyptian Lapis Stripe.  I'm not sure I was able to capture the feel I was after, but I really do like this color!

An online class for this micro macrame bracelet is available at CraftArtEdu.com and at a special introductory price for a couple more days - through Sunday.

I can't wait to see what color combinations you come up with!

Celebrating Autumn - Octoberfest 2014 Blog Hop

My friend Rita of Toltec Jewels is hosting her third annual Octoberfest Blog Hop today and I thought it would be fun to join.  She asks only that participants do something - anything - to celebrate autumn and blog about it.  I've been enjoying autumn for the past several weeks, and what's more autumn than apples?  A friend has over twenty apple trees and sent home a whole bunch of apples for us.  

After conning my daughter and her friend into helping, we peeled and chopped apples until we couldn't stand it anymore.  We ended up with a huge roaster (the giant one I use for Thanksgiving turkeys), a huge dutch over and a large crock pot full of apples.  I added a little sugar and cinnamon and a splash of apple juice and set them all to cook for hours and hours and hours.  The sugar in the apples caramelizes and the apples break down and when all is said and done, you end up with apple butter.  

We ended up with something like 15 pints of apple butter and still had bags and bags of apples left.  I've been slicing them and drying them in my dehydrators every night for a week now.  And honestly?  I am not sure when I'll ever be able to even LOOK at another apple.

In the weekend between apple butter and dried apples, my husband and I took a trip up through the Rocky Mountains.  It's one of our favorite things to do in the fall and we always try to time a trip when the leaves are turning.  

My photography skills are just not good enough to capture the beauty, but I always try.  Notice the gorgeous waterfall in the distance in this one?  We hiked up to get this view and it was so worth it!

My favorite, though, is always the vibrant yellow.

A while back I found a great variegated cord and used it to make a chain of leaves (the class is available here if you want to try it).  I was never quite satisfied with the outcome, so I set it aside.  After being inspired by the mountain trip, I dug it back out and made a few changes.  At a suggestion from a friend (thanks, Lindsay!) I used some lizard leather to make connectors and added some swags of colorful glass seed beads between the leaves.

I also made a clasp to match and sponged on some of the necklace colors.

And I ended up with a colorful autumn necklace with cascading leaves, funky leather connectors and multiple strands of beads.

And that, my friends, is this year's ode to autumn from me.  I hope you'll take some time to visit the other participants below and see what they did.  And be sure to swing by Rita's site and tell her if you like her blog hop!

Toltec Jewels (Hostess)

Dini Bruinsma
Marybeth Rich
Karin Grosset Grange

Andrea Zenith Glick
Nan Smith

  Becky Pancake

Lennis Carrier
Sue Kennedy

Kim Dworak
Jennifer Reno

Veralynne Malone
Lori Schneider
Shaiha Williams

Pam Traub

Kathy Lindemer

Blanca Medina

Debbie Rasmussen
Heather Richter

Sherri Stokey <----You are Here
Michelle McCarthy

Dana Hickey
Claire Fabian
Renetha Stanziano

Jami Shipp

Toni Gifford

Sandra McGriff

Ann Schroeder
Inge von Roos
Robin Reed

Andrea Rivers

Janine Lucas
 Deb Fortin
Cynthia Kent Machata

Laurel Hanson

Jasvanti Patel

Lee Koopman
 Renetha Stanziano

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?

Falling Leaves: A New Micro Macrame Bracelet Class

I've been working on this micro macrame pattern for quite a while now, trying to get it just right and I think I finally nailed it.  This design reminds me of leaves falling from the trees in autumn, so I'm calling it (what else?) Falling Leaves Micro Macrame Bracelet.  

  I can imagine this bracelet done in every combination of earthy browns, olive greens, rusty oranges and reds, and pops of Aspen yellow.  You know me, though - I tried to use green and orange and it just didn't feel right.  So here you have, Autumn ala Sherri Stokey :)

The pattern is a fun one.  I used a different way of adding cords than my "usual" (whatever that is!) and a method of gathering and dropping cords to increase and decrease the width of the knotting and form the leaf shape.  The leaves even cup just a little, which I really like.

For the class, I made the version you see above with two solid colors of leaves alternating with striped leaves.  From there it's easy to back down into just the two solid colors alternating:

Or a single solid color:

I cover how to make both of those variations in the class also, so you'll have loads of options.  I do show how to tie the knots in the class, but some macrame experience would definitely be preferable.  The class has 6 videos and over 60 still photos with written instructions as well as narration.  Once you purchase the class, you have unlimited access to it, so you can watch it as many times as you like, and you can pause and replay anything you like.  You can also print the handout, which is made up of screenshots of the entire class.  

You will find this class, along with my other online classes, at CraftArtEdu.com.  I know I've said it before, but I haven't chanced my mind - the folks at CraftArtEdu.com are the best.  They have a money back guarantee.  If you aren't satisfied, they will give you your money back.  Period.  If you have questions, you will get a response from a real live person.  I'm proud to be associated with them.  

To celebrate my new class, the fine folks over there have an introductory price through Friday (July 18, 2014).  And just to make it extra special festive, they've put all of my other classes on sale, too - up to 33% off!!!  You can see all of the classes and the prices here.

If you take the class, be sure to stop back by and let me know how you liked it!

New Micro Macrame Tutorial: A Retro Owl Pendant

Yay!  Do the happy dance, folks (or maybe the Hustle would be more appropriate!), I finally finished a tutorial for the retro 1970's macrame owl pendant.  I've included a materials list and 64 photos in 23 pages of step by step instructions.

I don't include instructions for the actual knots in the tutorial, but you can find those all here on my blog.  Just to make sure I have them all covered, here's one to get you started.  The Square Knot:

There is a whole post on different ways to make the larks head knot here and the double half hitch is covered in this post.  And those three knots should get you through this tutorial.  

This isn't a hard pattern, but it does have a couple of more "advanced" maneuvers that might not be the best for someone who hadn't ever tried micro macrame.  If you fall into that category, you might want to start with something a little easier like the Micro Macrame Braids Bracelet.  And don't forget, there's a free class at CraftArtEdu.com that covers the basics like tools and materials, as well as a whole selection of classes for you including bracelets, earrings, a watch and a necklace!

But back to the owls.  Aren't they adorable?  That's a whole rainbow of them up there!

Once you finish your pendant, you can add it to any kind of necklace you prefer.  I could see these on a simple chain, or a knotted macrame spiral cord.  Or, you could take some matching cord and a handful of assorted beads and make something like this:

If you haven't tried micro macrame yet, what are you waiting for?

Micro Macrame in Summery Neon

Neon is a fun trend this summer.  I've seen all kinds of new neon beads, and best of all - neon bead cord!  Both C-lon and Superlon have come out with neon cord in four colors and it's available in both the regular size (.5mm) and the heavier Tex 400.  

I chose the Tex400 and started playing around with the Micro Macrame Curves Tutorial.  For the bracelet shown above, I combined the neon yellow and neon green with aqua cord and I really like the result.  The brighter neon colors elevate the aqua to the point where it almost looks like neon also.  Then I combined neon orange with neon pink and ran a dark grey down the center to ground the colors a bit. Both of these bracelets scream summer!

I also experimented with adding just one neon element.  For this next one, I used grey and black and then just a pop of the neon yellow.

Thankfully my knotting ability is better than my photography skill - these really do look better in person.  In my defence, the neon cord is really bright!

For all you "do it yourselfers", if you'd like to try your hand at making your own neon macrame bracelets, you will find the tutorial and DIY kits for all three of these color combinations in my Etsy shop.

Viva la Summer!

Micro Macrame Without Rules

An experiment in free form micro macrame knotting or a pattern gone horribly awry?  You decided.  I think I like it.  I played around with some free form a while back (remember this post?) and then sort of went away from it for a while.  Here lately I haven't been wanting to conform to the rules of normalcy (go ahead - have your fun with that one).  I've just been sitting down with some string and letting the knotting go where it may.  No plan, no sketch, no preconceived notion of where it might end up.

It feels right.  I love the texture on this turquoise piece and how it somehow feels like beachy waves.  I decided to play up that angle when I added the pop of bright orange with the howlite starfish bead.

This purple number reminded me of a butterfly somehow.  A deformed, modern art butterfly, maybe...  Or a bat.  But it seemed like it needed a little "something", too, so I added a Czech glass flower.  Just one.

I really like how just that one little bead seems like the perfect accent.  The perfect shoes to go with the perfect outfit kind of thing.

If you're looking for me, I'll be over there outside of the box.  Coloring outside the lines.

An Easy Micro Macrame Earring Class

If you're looking for an easy little project, these micro macrame earrings might be just the thing for you.  My new class at CraftArtEdu.com covers how to make them, step by step.  I've included videos and scads of photos like this:

I get so up close and personal in the photographs that you can detail every broken fingernail, dry skin cell and hangnail.  What can I say - I suffer for my art.  There are even some really nice close ups featuring my flesh-toned band aid:

Oh, yeah.  Look at that - that picture is a great shot of the bandage (chopped my finger instead of the celery) and the great hangnails.  But the need for a manicure aside, the photos in the tutorial will be very helpful in context, I promise.  You'll be making your own little tiny work-of-art earrings in no time.

Just to sweeten the pot a little, the nice folks over at CraftArtEdu.com are having a little sale on not only this new class, but all of my classes there (20% off through midnight CT, Thursday, March 6, 2014).  If you haven't been there to check them out yet, you really should go.  No really, go.  I'll wait here...  

Are you back?  Did you see I have my own little Micro Macrame section over there?  I'm pretty proud of that section.  I've put a lot of time and effort into making those classes the best that I can.  I really do try to make them as thorough and detailed as possible and my goal is to make you feel like you're taking a class with me in person.  BUT... this is even better.  You can pause me and rewind me and replay me all you want and I won't even yell at you.  That's a deal you can't beat.  Add in the 20% off and even I want to buy my classes.

A New Micro Macrame Tutorial

It's been a long time coming, folks, but I finally finished a tutorial for a version of the Curves micro macrame bracelet!  This one is knotted in Tex 400 cord for a nice beefy bracelet.  

The whole bracelet uses only ONE macrame knot.  Yes, really - only double half hitch knots (which you can learn how to make here).  You make them backwards and forwards and every-other-wards, but it's still only ONE knot.  

I finished off this design with some clamp ribbon ends for a nice, neat look and added a simple toggle clasp.  A lobster clasp also works nicely.  

This is an example of one of the photographs from the tutorial.  I took a million photos... okay, that might be a bit of an exaggeration, but I did include about 70 photographs in 24 pages of step by step instructions.  I'd probably rate this pattern as sort of middle-of-the-road as far as difficulty.  It's not hard (only ONE knot, remember?) but you do have to keep track of the cords that are trying to go off in one direction or another.  If you are comfortable with the double half hitch knot, you're probably ready for this one.

You'll find this new micro macrame bracelet tutorial in my Etsy shop here.  Happy knotting!!