The above set all began with a collection of beads to make a pin. The pin request was for "fall" colors. I created it as a thank you to the artist who handed much of her deceased sister's bead stash down to me. I made sure to use beads from her sister's collection for this pin.
I liked the pin colors so much that I kept making leaves and created a set with a necklace, earrings and leaf bracelet. These will be available this coming Thursday, December 4th at I'll be at the Loewen Gallery in Williamston for Ladies Night Out from 4pm-9pm.
I'm not sure what else to say other than I've been working on a lot of other things that aren't jewelry lately. So this set was a bit of a surprise when it happened. I'm starting to figure out how sequins should be sewn on to the weaving that came off of my loom in the spring. The house and property is buttoned up for the winter, many improvements were made along with our repairs with homeowners insurance. Artwork has been getting a bit too "worky" so I decided to be a beginner at something and have started learning elecric bass guitar. We're hitting a lot of punk, metal, hardcore concerts this month (3 in one week, lol) and I come back inspired, tired and at the same time refreshed from shows. Last night Andrew, the lead singer of Johnny Booth said to the crowd "Take yourself back to your first concert, the first time you felt like you belonged somewhere" and man, that is such a great summary of how I still feel going to shows, especially the smaller ones. Life is really good.
I feel like I'm not making jewelry as much as I used to, but when pop-up sales happen, new jewelry also happens. The above large checker earrings I wasn't going to make, but then I just had to get them out of my head...and they're just as wonderful as I thought they might be. I wore them to work today before cleaning them and putting them for sale tomorrow.
If you haven't noticed my posting until now, the Ann Arbor Holiday show is tomorrow (Saturday November 8th) at Zal Gaz Grotto, 2070 W. Stadium Blvd, Ann Arbor from 10am-4pm. It's nice to see people, even if you're just stopping in to say hi or are curious about the guild and what we're up to.
I created some burgundy, tan and black pieces...I keep seeing that "burgundy is the color of the season" and red tones always seem easy to lean into during fall and as the holidays approach. Then I saw a teaser for an article "Forget about Burgundy - This Fall is All About Violet"...so I popped some of the suggested violet tones into the next color fade bangle and circlet earrings I made. It definitely pops more than the previous set.
I hadn't been beading much (and my weaving is at a standstill). I picked up a new hobby and since it's hard because I'm learning to learn something totally new, my impulse is to go back to beading. It's easy and satisfying where learning electric bass guitar is currently like trying to pat my head and rub my tummy.
So I pulled some colors inspired by the "color of the season" that some of the titles of the emails I immediately delete say is burgundy. I started with a black, burgundy and champagne combination. Going back to just playing with color movement feels good.
As I worked in this color combo, I started thinking about Harley Quinn, my favorite Batman villain. I think about Harley a lot. This set made me think it might be something she'd wear in a formal ball setting. It's a little more elegant than her classic black and red. So I put her harlequin diamonds in one of the circlet earrings.
I don't know how much more or less beading I'll be doing leading up to November 8th, but that's the day of my only Holiday Pop-up sale in Ann Arbor with the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild. This set will be for sale there, and I look forward to seeing everyone at it! I had a wonderful time last year.
The AAFG Holiday show is at Zal Gaz Grotto, 2070 W. Stadium Blvd, Ann Arbor from 10am-4pm.
The top image is what I put together for my proposal for this class. I chose black and white beads in order to easily show the stitching in one neutral image. Leading up to the class I'll be creating sample bracelets to show students various design ideas and different types of seed beads that can be used.
The class kit only includes Dynamites. I like using these seed beads for classes because of size and consistency in shape without being too expensive. I know how falling in love with a new technique can lead to additional spending. ;)
We won't be able to finish a bracelet in the class time we have but I will be providing everyone with enough beads to do so (or to use however you wish). This is a sampler class just like when we do weaving samples. We'll spend enough time to get a feel for each stitch. Some you may fall in love with and others you may dislike. I know I have my favorites!
We won't be able to finish a bracelet in the class time we have but I will be providing everyone with enough beads to do so (or to use however you wish). This is a sampler class just like when we do weaving samples. We'll spend enough time to get a feel for each stitch. Some you may fall in love with and others you may dislike. I know I have my favorites!
I also like to talk about different types of beads, sizes, and can explain how I use beadwork in my jewelry and also as accents in my weaving/fiber work. This class is for all levels of knowledge, I only request that you are able to thread a needle, sometimes this is tricky with beading needles as they are thinner than what most people are used to using so a good base line is helpful (I'm happy to thread needles to keep you moving along though!).
This is the first opportunity I've had to teach beading with HGA so I'm really hoping for a good turnout. Please comment or reach out with any questions about the class!
In the past I suppose I'd considered myself on the outskirts of feminism. I never had a good grasp of it. I was raised being told the common misconceptions, like, feminism was trying to dismantle the "traditional" family structure and it was making it so women "had" to work instead of "finding a man to take care of you." These things never sat right with me first place, I didn't like the idea of trying to find a man to take care of me, nor was I impressed with the married-with-2.5-kids gig. I remember saying out loud for the first time on a family camping trip at 14 or 15 that I never wanted to have children. It's not that I didn't like kids, it only seemed like I had better things to do than raise a human that will likely be as angry and depressed as I was. Also, frankly, dating never felt like a long-term commitment. I struggled with maintaining any relationships, even friendships, I wasn't ever sure marriage was going to go well for me.
Fast forward to 28 years later, I have accidentally found myself on a feminist journey. It started with the book In Defense of Witches; The Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet. I wasn't paying attention to the description in the book suggestions and thought I had stumbled upon another fantasy book and I needed a break from the self help books. What came through my ear buds via audio book was a description of how I have felt and been treated my whole life. When I've said I don't want to have kids (for as long as I can remember) I'm met with the response "you'll change your mind one day" or the assumption from men that I dated that obviously every woman wants [their] babies so I wasn't taken seriously. I too wanted to have the same rights as men and hated being treated like I I should want to be a mother/homemaker.
So here I am, learning about 1970's feminism in my 40s, not the bullshit 1990's "girl power" I grew up with. Now I'm angry that these ideas have been around my whole life and I just didn't know about it or have access to it. This all would have made so much sense to 15-year-old-me and it would have been helpful to hear other women talking and writing about being independent and doing whatever they wanted or needed to do with their lives despite social expectations. I listened to In Defense of Witches a second time. Then Gloria Steinem's book My Life on the Road then the compilation book of 50 Years Of Ms. I subscribed to Ms. magazine and ordered 2 past magazines (Ms. has past prints available) that would have come out when I was in high school to help out teenage-me. I have found that I am definitely a feminist and I'm playing catch up.
Feminism is the blanket I've been wrapping myself in lately, it's mixing in well with my angry-punk mode. I decided the next Statement Bangle once I finished Resistwould be Feminist. I've rejected the color pink off and on throughout my life due to what it represented. Ms. magazine uses a bright pink and lot, I decided it was the best start as far as color choices. I matched it with gunmetal for pop but also to keep the statement bold along with an assertive font.
I didn't know how much I'd be drawn to wearing it, the answer is, all the time. I'm wearing it as often as I wear my Golden Boundary bangle. The vibe is pretty interchangeable these days.
Feminist Bangle with the 1990's Ms. magazines I ordered.
I've felt a bit...overwhelmed and lost lately. I haven't gotten to my next weaving on my big loom because I need to dye for it. I have a weave structure that I want to play with on my little loom but I don't have specific imagery in mind for it...I need a bit more direction to get motivated for that weaving. So. Beading checkers. Talking out the weaving issue with my husband led me to the fact I probably need to just start with checkers on the little loom too. Checkers are my default.
Meanwhile I've been wearing my various colored checker huggie earrings a lot. They're lightweight, easy and out of the way, I've made a few more in different colors. Above is the yellow and champagne checkers, below I was inspired to bead with 24K gold plated seed beads. I did a spray finish to help with the plated finish but these should not be rubbed or exposed to much water, if any.
I thought that the gold with white would be a classy neutral, I made those first (below). One of the clothing additions to my collection is an olive green midi skirt that I'm leaning towards accessorizing with gold, thus olive green and gold checkers was the next obvious stitching (above).
And last, checker circlet earrings. I don't lean towards red much, especially wearing it, but, some of my favorite ska band tees are red and I had the red, white and black beads out already for the Resist Bangle. So these large circlet earrings also came to be.
I took checkers to the next personal level adding them to my slowly growing tattoo collection. I have wanted a checker arm band tattoo since my late teens, early 20's. Back then I thought it'd go on my upper arm, but in my 40s...well, thank goodness I waited because upper arms can get weird (mine included) and they may have not looked as even 20 years later. I decided instead to have them tattooed below the elbow of right arm. I went with my friend (for her first tattoo!) we decided to do a walk-in and I ended up with Mo (@mo.mo.tattoos on Instagram) who did an amazing job lining up a very straight, linear design on a very not-straight part of my body. The idea for my checkers probably started with ska music, but they also satisfy my attraction to even numbers, multiples of 2 and 4, things fitting together in a certain way, and a way in which I am constantly using to express myself in my artwork. Checkers just always feel right.
I think this bangle speaks for itself. My artwork, or me for that matter, haven't had a tendency to be political. I work with words that I need to release, that I'm pondering, journaling, struggling with. Lately my words, emotions, fears and sadness have very much revolved around the current political landscape. (I just moved a lot of ranting to my journal rather than posting it here...).
Sticking to speaking technically, I'm thrilled at how well this font translated into my bangle form. I am even more thrilled at how much the shadow added to the design. I was searching for color ideas relating to "resist" and the drop shadow showed up in a few fists-up resist images so I added it in to my design.
Red seemed like the obvious starting point for this first Resist bangle, I believe there will be more and other colors to come.
I toyed with how much of the red I should fill in the top over the "R" and up to the dot on the "i." Ultimately I just kept beading until I got really bored of stitching red beads and checked with Bryan to see if he thought the little bit of the dot in the i looked OK sticking up. I like it, it's just a little blip up, short enough that it won't catch on things making it much easier to wear.
I've been escaping into color lately, anything that draws me in and sticks with me. Ally's mohawk is half bright dark pink and half bright orange right now and whenever I see her selfie posts I can't stop thinking about the color combo and how much joy it gives me. So I decided to mix it in with checkers since I know her from the Michigan Ska Scene, and well, checkers are part of that.
I got to see Ally yesterday at the Splish Splash Bash and her hair was still these colors, it was nice to see her and her hair in person. Despite the heat it was a really fun show with lots of awesome bands, some we know and have seen before, some totally new to us.
While I recuperate from yesterday's long day outside I'm actually getting everything properly photographed and posted. You can shop the bangle on my website HERE and the earrings on my website HERE.
For those of you who follow along on my personal social media...Bryan's car became no longer repairable and, somehow, his dream car was within our price range in AWD. It's a 2023 Dodge Challenger in a custom pearlescent blue. We're both very color oriented and didn't think the blue was great until we saw it in person. So now whenever we peruse online shopping we compare it to see if it matches the car. I've missed having a fun car to drive, but I personally need something I can fit doors and looms in, so I'm glad we have a fun one now too! I suspect my next color influence will be towards this blue:
(And yes, he was pulled over less than 24 hours after we purchased it for no real reason)
When I don't have an outfit or a specific inspiration it's sometimes difficult for me to come up with what colors I want to play with. Green and purple tend to be my go-tos, but, apparently I keep gravitating towards bright pink/fuchsia combined with green also. I did this a few years ago, which I forgot about until I started beading this combo.
Life has been...a lot lately. So not thinking too hard about my beading, just letting the colors play is both satisfying and relaxing. When I pulled these 4 bead colors I thought I was going to do checkers but I hadn't done stripes in a while and they seemed to suit these colors better.
The brightest pink bead in these is a stunning galvanized pink color that feels very summery. I had a difficult time getting the color with my cell phone but the light box and better camera does it justice.
I actually finished this set just in time to wear out to the show we're going to tonight, we managed to get tickets to another sold out show at the Pyramid Scheme in Grand Rapids which will be fun and hopefully not too hot in there. We're looking forward to seeing IDKHOW (But They Found Me) live. I'll pop it up on my website shop soon too.
Lets face it, in my circles, rainbows are IN. I've always loved using rainbows for things so it's an easy way to play with tons of different bead colors. Putting something in rainbow color order may be one of the most satisfying things in the world to me. Rainbows mean so many things and above all, joy. I think we could use more joy lately.
I created a "vintage rainbow" earring and bangle set that went up north to the Crooked Tree Art Center in Traverse City, MI and I think the set sold in the first month. It was one of those sales that felt bittersweet, I know it will be loved but I already missed having it in my stash. So I started beading another one since the beads were still pulled out. I posted it on my social media and someone asked how much and then if I could make one with purple. We're purple people, purple is no problem for me. The "vintage rainbow" color grouping came from my obsession with the colors in the movie Joker: Folie à Deux. I needed to pull some slightly different colors to incorporate purple and then I couldn't decide between a plum-purple or a royal-purple, so I used both.
Then I had some beads break while I was working on this one. This is somewhat common, particularly with the matte seed beads. The thread from the broken bead didn't want to be stitched in (without possibly breaking more beads) so I decided if I was shipping something off without the customer seeing it in person first I'd feel bad if they noticed this flaw. So I made a second one for them. I, personally, don't mind a few flaws and threads showing on the interior of my work. It happens, and it shows that it's made by hand and not by a machine, but I also pride myself in high quality work so it's bug me if I was shipping off something with that little black thread showing! Consequently, it looks like I'll see them at a ska show coming up, so I have an extra now at least. I am still not bored of beading rainbows so it works out fine.
Back to the beginning of this post...organizing things in rainbow color order...I was recently gifted an entire stash of impeccably organized Delica seed beads from someone who's family member had passed and left lots of supplies behind. They were all organized by number order though. Delicas seem to be assigned a number as they come out in new color batches (I'm not 100% sure on that, so don't quote me). The low numbers like 10 are your basic opaque black which has been around since the beginning of Delicas but the numbers go up into the thousands. The number organization was really cool to see because it showed a clear pattern of say, the 12 galvanized pale colors that came out together that are clearly a group number order. I took photos of each organized box but my art-brain doesn't work that way. I lean into colors when ideas are culminating and I need to see, say, all the blues together at one time to find the right options. So I spent days keeping the numbers in order but grouping them into drawers by color. Looking a the side of the drawer system that these came in is now so very satisfying.
It feels good creating and spreading rainbows, like a low-key Lisa Frank. I'm putting the bangle with the thread showing on the interior up on my shop HERE.
