Joy: Sorting Buttons

Doodle over the past couple days between customers at work....

I get a deep sense of gratification (which definitely provides joy) when I reorganize and sort bits of my studio stash.  I did a significant amount of cleaning and moving around shelves and the warp winder in my studio a few weeks back and managed to find more jars and tins of buttons than I realized I have. 

A stack of tins on the ground (I believe these were my Grandma Helen's, possibly also Grandma Marge's), jars from working retail (ending up with buttons in my pockets when I got home), boxes and things from who the heck knows. 

Since cleaning, these disorganized buttons have been on my mind as something I can get into "when I have time."  Not that I have excess time, but I hit a point in my weaving where I need to dye some more weft so I wound some skeins and started the soaking process.  I still needed to be in the studio so the button sorting took over the sewing table.

Dye Bucket

Collecting things is a bit of a problem for me, I don't need or want more stuff, but....there's always that but... what if it's perfect for a future project or to match another button on something I'm mending? Really it's no matter, I enjoy the sorting process. Touching each button reminds me sometimes of where I was when I got that button (either in life or travels) or, more importantly, what I do have in my stash. I get to oooh and aaah over things I already have and had forgotten about. It's like when I swap or organize anything in the house "I forgot I had one of those" or "That would be really pretty for project [fill in the blank]" and, my favorite, "That's where that went!"

These old tins. They make me wonder how many decades old they are. The above particularly old rusted tin has dirt on and in it from the ages.  I'm finding some cool old logo buttons ("Lee" "Finck Detroit" "Van Wert Excelcior"), a Chicago Police one that's dented, crumbling ones that I have to pitch, a tiny doll leg, metal pieces, snaps, bullet casings. This sort of box is a treasure trove for my practice of mindfulness and consideration of each piece picked through. Save or keep? Sort elsewhere? How old is this? I wonder what that went to?

I've enjoyed the week of thinking about this blog post and it seeping into my doodling. I always want to draw more, but I'm never sure what to draw.  Posting about the joy of day to day things seems to be giving me drawing direction too. Weekly art practices have really lifted me up so far this year, I highly suggest it.

The Classic Cuff (Bangle)

The Classic Cuff

My day-job is being an ops manager at Talbots.  I've found my way back to retail which I really love, because I enjoy being around clothes and fabric.  We get asked a lot "What goes with this [skirt, pants, sweater...etc]?" and something that nearly always works is a white button-up shirt.  So this idea of beading a bangle in the style of the cuff of a shirt popped into my head.  

This idea has been simmering for months, maybe even a year.  One of my hang-ups for this piece was getting beads tiny enough to look like shirt-fabric.  Lo and behold, Fire Mountain Gems now carries size 15 delicas!  I was going to settle on size 15 rocailles but they weren't going to have the look I desired.  The delicas lay smooth and flat as with my other bangles, I just needed smaller.  

It was nice working with a new product.  These take much longer to finish something with how small and delicate they are.  The glass breaks easily and cannot take much stress so I have to be a bit more gentle when beading. This particular piece was also hard to keep going back to because beading one color gets boring.  I also wanted the buttons to be able to move through the button holes, which it is created with full button hole slits, but the beads are too delicate and stiff for the buttons to move through.  It still has the look that I wanted, so that's a win. 

I'm not sure what will come next of these tiny seed beads, but it will be an intricate pattern to be sure.

Happy Valentine's Day, a New Pendant Design

In between working on my larger projects I needed a little break from leaves and St. Petersburg Chain.  Liisa, my boss over at Speaker Law Firm had purchased a bracelet over the holidays and wanted a pendant to match. 

The pendant is a two-drop peyote stitch with tiny brown beaded edging.  It's the same width and pattern as the bracelet.

I did end up making a pair of earrings out of the faceted pink multi color delicas from this set.  Keeping with a brown accent I placed larger lavender seed beads as the middle accents.  These are still available for sale.

Pink and Lavender Pod Earring $55.00

Anemone?

As much as love peyote stitch I have been pushing myself in new directions lately.  Part of that is because of the Huib Petersen workshop that I took in February.  This is the first of my own pieces that I have finished with what I learned from those 2 days.
The stitch base is from his waterlilly pad, but I wanted to make a surface with it.  My friend Shelly help pick out the button on it (which is from a collection on antique buttons my mother in law gave me for christmas). 

Once I got the button on, I wanted to do more, which normally isn't my style but I looked through my bead stash and kept going.  I inserted fancy beads in the middles, but wanted to integrate a little more of the brown/coppery color.  This led to another idea that I learned from Huib, stitching along edges to pull a piece together and make it tighter.  I stitched in the coppery beads along the outside edge which not only led to making the piece tighter, but making it ruffle out too.  I think in the end it looks like a deep sea anemone.  It has really grown on me the past few days and I can't wait to make one in another color.  This was really meant to be a sample, but I don't really do well with making just a sample, I love having a finished piece that I can wear.  So here's my productivity on St. Paddy's Day! 

Knitting Neck Scarves!

So as I said before with my fingerless gloves pattern, I love to knit to keep my hands busy.  It keeps my mind from wandering away from what I am supposed to be payng attention to.  I even knit when I walk places, which people seem to find very entertaining. 

I have just finished another neck scarf that I've put in the Grove Gallery Co-op.  I was hoping to have it done for the Holiday Open House, but alas, I was amidst ornaments and beads for the front window!  These are great for when you're freezing in your office or end up sitting next to the door in a resteraunt while there's a blizzard going on outside.  Or if you get sit next to the heat vent it's small enough to fit in your purse and save the hassle of what to do with that chunky super-long scarf.   I just made two for a friend and I am thinking I may need one in every color. 

In the meantime this little cutie will be on a shelf in the Gallery waiting for some love.  They're only $25 and are great for that cold person in your life (my husand says my blood must have been replaced with freon at some point).  Also shoot me an e-mail at jennifer@jennybehler.com if you want to special order one before Christmas!