Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Meet Danielle

I have discovered that not only is it nice to have a kitty companion around the house to talk to while I create, but I take for granted how wonderful she is about tip-toeing around my piles of creativity.  She never, spills, eats, poops, or moves my beads.  Yarn and shoes may be moved around at night but really she's just into laying next to me while I bead and being cute.  It's hard to stay angry around this very tall, snuggly, vocal kitty.  Especially when you hear her loping to the back door when you're turning the key to come and greet you.  Yes, my cat greets people.  Please give Danielle scrubs.

These beads? I'm keeping them warm.




I'm not so sure about your color choice.

I should put up her past Halloween costumes at some point, any ideas for her 2010 costume??  Meow.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Findings in Ann Arbor

I love to hit up bead and yarn stores.  Normally I do this when we travel so I have an assortment of fun supplies at hand.  I also try not to stress myself out about running out of a certain bead or yarn.  There's always more beads and yarn to replace that hole in my stash once it's gone.

Recently we had some down time in Ann Arbor and my friend Linda had suggested to me that I go to Findings and check out their seed bead selection.  If you love working with seed beads, then you have got to check out this store!  I thought I was in heaven, tubes and tubes of neatly organized beads by color, size, type of bead and a huge delica selection.  I'm so happy to have found a place that I can find the proper delica color in a pinch. 


Findings has been around for a while actually.  I remember it being over in the area where the Trader Joe's is now.  They had a smallish shop, and being a student I rarely made the drive out there, and there was the Bead Gallery right downtown near where I worked. Findings is now over off of Jackson Road, parking is abundant and the shop is not only huge, but well organized.

These two bead stores in Ann Arbor will give you a fantastic range of what you may be searching for to start or finish your next bead project.  I highly recommend Findings for you seed bead selection and threads.  They also teach classes in the back room so make sure to check out their website.  The Bead Gallery is great for it's location, right in downtown Ann Arbor and also has tons of fun beads.  I personally go there for their array of gemstones.  As always happy beading and happy bead shopping!



I keep seeing all of this wonderful yellow/tan/white mixes!  We'll see what comes of those colors!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Fresh Earrings

2010 has been a major shift for me in the style of my beadwork.  Somewhere between my workshop with Huib Petersen and our Europe trip I got the itch to really make a change.  I have fallen in love with dyed freshwater pearls and am jut having a great time playing with them in these little earring samples. 



This design though is definitely inspired from a very talented artist who I was close with in college.  Ellen has just gotten her first Etsy Shop up and I encourage you to check her work out: http://www.etsy.com/shop/ephadesign


Thursday, June 3, 2010

University of Michigan Art School Alumni Show Piece


The theme is "INTERSTICES: The Space Between" 

I took this theme as an opportunity to develop an idea I had sketched out a while back.  I have become known for my certain style of beaded bangle, the shape of which holds its own through delica beads peyote stitched together very tightly.  I wanted to take that known-shape and give it less of a graphed-out look.

I have been playing a lot with the Russian Leaf design and angular peyote after my workshop with Huib Petersen who encouraged me to get into some sculptural beadwork and had been wanting to intergrate these into my bangles.  My first one I finished after our Europe Trip, I thought I would show off my new pride-and-joy at the Ann Arbor Fiberarts Guild "Fashion Feast."  Anne Flora bought it. (flattering!)  So then I created a second, similair one to have at the "Taste of Art and Life" with the Greater Lansing Arts Council, then it was at the grove Gallery Co-op for the East Lansing Art Fair and Co-op member Deb Cholewicki purchased that one. (Also flattering!)

This new one has a totally different color scheme since I fell in love with these blue delica seed beads and large smooth stones that I picked up in Rome (see bottom photo).  It looks like a jungle to me with greens and vibrant colors blues with some neutral tones. This one will go up for sale at the Alumni Show, so I just get to wear this little lovely for the next two weeks before it gets dropped off.  Enjoy!


As the University of Michigan School of Art and Design Website states: "The exhibition — encompassing both Slusser Gallery in the Art and Architecture building and Work • Ann Arbor on State Street in downtown Ann Arbor — runs from July 16 - August 9, with an opening reception on July 23 during the Ann Arbor Art Fair."

The Beginings of it. Finished on June 2, 2010!

Vintage Rainbow Circlet Earrings and Bangle

This color combination started with just the earrings, but I couldn't help make a bangle to match. A few new seed bead colors always mak...