Busy Beading + Finger Weaving

The last week or so has been occupied with travel beading. In between, I celebrated living another year. I made a flying trip up to Phoenix to meet two long-time beading friends, have lunch, visit the Glendale Bead Museum and (of course) tour a local bead shop.

Left to right - Judith, Crystal from Sun City AZ, Bev from New Orleans.




I also made another trip back up to Payson AZ to bead with a group of friends in that area. Some of those people had taken my free form workshop and I was delighted to see where that technique had taken them.



What had started out as a bracelet became a beautiful embellishment for paper craft. Isn't she delightful?






"elements" - I had used free form elements to teach with and one participant took it to heart and made many separate pieces that she then joined and applied to an art doll. Isn't this a great, original way to put free form beading to good use?



This piece will still become a bracelet. The subtle use of color and texture suits the beading personality of it's owner. It will be an outstandingly beautiful wrist adornment.



I seldom get to see what people in my workshops end up finally creating. This was a unique opportunity to see where this technique had led some of the participants. I'm so pleased that they took me seriously when I said that the beads will sometimes tell you just what they want to be.



I just returned from another bead cave in Huachuca City AZ. This is a group of friends that I've enjoyed beading with in the winter over the past 5 years. This winter I didn't get to spend as much time with them as I had in the past so this was both a catch up and a goodbye session. Both of my two travel beading sessions allowed me to work on some fun, original beadwork.... and use up a bunch of left-over larger beads.

Finger Weaving

Over the past few months I've been exploring finger weaving from Robin Adkin's book "Timeless Treasures". The first bracelet that I made caused me to break out as I had included some vintage bronze leaves and they reacted badly with my skin.




I started another bracelet that would not have any metal accent beads.





One of the Bead Cave participants decided she wanted to try this technique also. It just showcases how different individual beading styles can be, even when using the same base technique. Sparse can be just as effective as lush.

I'm quite happy with my new finger woven bracelet with a mix of odd beads.

I have another one on my board and I'm still deciding where it is going to go. The flat beads don't allow for two passes of the cording, so I'll have to get creative if I want to use them. The bronze colored glass triangles offset the green beautifully. At the moment I think I may make a bracelet that simply repeats green squares with bronze triangles.

Color & Ideas are Everywhere

Three Sisters, three different personalities, creative, good friends. My brother once commented that he could count on seeing foot ware on our feet that reflected our different personalities..... Boots, slides and flip-flops! Every year that we can, we get together and celebrate our collective birthdays; two in April and one in June. This year we took a day trip and went to Nogales, Mexico for lunch, looking and shopping. We caught up on news, laughed, acted silly and enjoyed the day.

I found these beautiful, hand embroidered shirts for two of my seven year old friends. The colors and graphics are beautiful and I'm sure the girls will be delighted and enjoy them this summer.

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For myself and two friends in

the East I finally found some oilcloth in bright Mexican colors. The color combinations give a different perspective on color combinations. I would not have thought of using some of these colors together, but looking at these fabrics gives me some different ideas.
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We wondered just what all of this wool felt might be used for. There was a whole wall of it, so many full bolts and in so many colors. This photo is only about a third of the total. There must be some reason for one fabric store to carry so much stock of a single item. What great bright, primary colors.
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Woven fabrics - again in what I think of as typical Mexican color combinations.

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Bead Embroidery

Wouldn't these items translate into different bead embroidery designs? The stone bird was at the base of a beautiful little fountain.

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The lines on the tin seem to be be made for lines of couched beads.

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Last ....... here is a pair of earrings that I made as gifts for my Sisters. I wanted to try out a new design and get some feedback. I always know I'll get answers, sometimes pithy, but honest. They liked them and how they balanced - I got a thumbs up on them. Now I have to make a few pairs and try them out in Twist Gallery in Bisbee.

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I've often been asked where I get my beading ideas from ..... just look around you, ideas and color combinations are everywhere.

Freeform - Lesson learned

A Beader's Meal

Need I say more? I have never attended a beading-related event where we all did not eat very well. A good meal and beads, what more could anyone want?

Facilitating Freeform in Beads

(all samples in the photos are the property of workshop participants)

I just spent a weekend teaching freeform peyote. It taught me one thing ... you do not teach freeform, you facilitate freeform! This technique has no rules and there are no mistakes, just opportunities to grow a piece in a different direction. With those parameters, I have to concede that you cannot teach it, you can only foster the creative spirit in each attendee. Not every beader has the personality to thrive in this atmosphere. It is not the easiest technique to do in a workshop setting.

When I agreed to take on this assignment, I didn't realize that I was fortunate to have a group of relatively new beaders .... they didn't have any pre-conceived notions of what was right and what was wrong. Everyone learned that they could let loose and let the beads tell them where to go next.

We worked on basic techniques and how to handle tension. You don't get pronounced humps 'n bumps if you don't control your tension. One participant got excited when she realized that she was actually "doing peyote!"

I based the workshop around a series of elements which I illustrated and provided samples. This way, when one hit an impasse, they could pick another element and try that next. It seemed to work as everyone used them differently and incorporated them into their own bracelet, with their own colors and variations.

It's always exciting to have someone listen, look and then go off in another direction. Remember I said there were no rules and no mistakes? This regal, long element will ultimately be attached to a dark, matte rectangular base. I like the idea that the flowing piece of beads will be offset onto a structured, angular base. It will most certainly be an "Oh Wow" piece.

Color is such a personal choice and it's hard to work outside of your comfort zone. This sample comes from two participants who sort of said "ug, nasty" to their starter pieces. I've long held that it's not the beads (or colors) but what you do with them. Once the two elements were joined with a bit of added fancy work, everyone admitted that it looked quite different and had merit.

See what you can do when you let loose, let the beads do the talking and creativity take over?

Spring in the Desert

After a couple of days in the 90's the desert is showing signs of spring. In this sparse landscape you have to look close, but they are there. The Aloe look dry and dead, but have put put flower stalks that will soon bloom a glorious red/orange. I can't wait for the Oriels to come through and

hang on the blooms, sipping nectar.

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Spring bulbs have put out their green leaves and the very tips of the Ocatillo are sporting new flower buds.

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The big Nopal Cactus outside of my bead room window is covered with tiny flower buds.

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However, local lore says we'll still have a frost. There are two stories around here ... one says the Mesquite trees will not leaf out until after all chances for a frost are past ... and the other is that the last frost will occur after Easter. The Mesquite trees in Tucson & Phoenix all show signs of green leaves this past weekend, but those in my yard are still bare and dead looking.

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I love the colors that come when things bloom here in the desert and I'll have to keep an eye out for beading opportunities based on Mother Nature's colors.