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! 

Studio Cleaning....

There is nothing like getting back into the studio after it's had a good cleaning.  I just pulled a new tapestry weaving off of the loom and there my loom sits.  Thrums hanging on for dear life, part of the leftover warp still tied on.  The debate as to wether I can get another 10-12inches of weaving off of it, or is it healthier to start over?  (Yes, we're heading into a full year of being married and I'm still weaving on the warp for the bridesmaids wraps that I made!)

But my process for tapestry weaving can make a mess, and the last piece I wove left my studio looking like the usual war zone.  As I have tried to describe to people, I use my whole yarn stash.  I actually do this consistiently enough that sometimes I run out of a range in a certain color (normally green).  So I will have cones of yarn strewn across the floor, balls of yarn in color ranges in my "organizer" and general odds and ends arond the studio.  There's something meditative about restocking my yarn, getting everything out of the way and having that blank, clean studio to work in again.  It's also amazing what you find...how does a pin get this messed up???

I even cleaned off my small desk surface space to reveal some document organizers that I bought!  Up they go and the contstant battle with staying organized continues.  I don't like to look too organized though, a nice wall of color, design, inspiration, is great for my creative soul.

Ah, that's better, now my loom is ready for me when I come back from Europe (I really can't start another project right now!)

There's just too many projects with too little time!

"Looking Back" Tapestry

So I did finally finish my barn-themed tapestry.  I'm still getting used to it, sometimes it takes me a while to decide how much I like a piece after I have pulled it off-loom.  I had been looking at the back of it for so long!  It is inspiring me to take some of the design elements into my next tapestry weaving, mainly the circular areas.  Any feedback would be great!  You can see it in person at the Technology Innovation Center in downtown East Lansing, MI right now, through May 21st, 2010.   The opening reception for the show will be this Sunday, 12-4pm.

Beadweaving with Huib Petersen

My first bead workshop ever!  I owe a huge thanks the the Great Lake Beadworkers Guild for allowing me to join and get into the classes without ever having gone to a meeting.  I know, I need to make it out there for the meetings.  I was kind of nervous going into this class.  I have been beading for 20 years, but I have had no formal training so I did not know at what level I would be beading in compared to the rest of the class.  Would I be way behind? Would I be taking up a bunch of the instructors time in trying to understand how to do something?  It was quite the opposite.  I feel that I can truly say that I have a firm grasp on how to put beads together and even in following other's directions.  I am also a very fast beader.

I haven't officially finished a total piece from the 2 day class but instead learned new techniques and how to utilize them.  I have done angled peyote stitch with the Russian Leaf stitch before and Huib has taken this to a new level.  The above image shows the flower petals before being pulled together.  Below is after you stitch the centers and edges. 

The pattern for the workshop was a water lilly, mine still needs the next 2 layers of petals and to be put together through the center.  I did make a finished lilly pad which is really pretty.  It also made me utilize bugle beads in a manner that I have never really thought about. 

I have started in on a dragonfly wing to learn how to graph out the angular peyote and do increase and decreases.  My brain is whirring with ideas for these new techniques.  But when I got home I had to finish my tapestery weaving!  So here this project sits, waiting to either be finished or set aside so that I can make new fun pieces from my own designs.  I cannot wait to get my own piece finished so that I can share pictures and my appreciation with Huib.

Happy Birthday Beading!

Today is my birthday, and also the anniversary of reciving my first bead loom...20 years ago.  I started to work on a project on the loom, but as a 4th or 5th grader had a hard time understanding just how to take the piece off and make it into a finished bracelet.  So there it sat, and next to it sat a pie-crust-tin-full of seed beads.  That tin of seed beads inspired me to start stringing beads, which I must admit, has never been my favorite thing.  My mother bought me the best bead book ever: "Native American Beadweaving" and in it had the pattern for a little beaded indian doll.  These tiny dolls were where I began teaching myself the peyote stitch.  Weaving each bead together one at a time seemed to grab me much quicker than lining them up on a string.  Those little Indian dolls are 11 beads around.  My bangle bracelets that I now make are about 160 beads around, with nicer beads.  :)
I still dabble on the bead loom, and only in the past year have I began to take an interest in stitches other than the peyote stitch.  I love the Russian Leaf stitch, and I have grown quite passionate about the St. Petersburg Russian Chain stitch with tiny little 15/0 beads.
Tomorrow I am taking my first bead workshop ever.  I have always been persistent on training myself with my beads, but I'm taking a leap and hope that I can learn from another long time beader and fashion artist, Huib Petersen.  I have to admit, I haven't been that inspired by Herringbone Stitch since I have taught myself this month, but I figure this will open new doors. 
2010, look out for great new bead designs to come! (Including beaded blob accents that are in the works!)

Delicious Seed Beads!

These are the seed beads that I can't seem to live without for my Spring 2010 jwewlry designs!   I found them on our trip up to the U.P. (see http://jennyschu.blogspot.com/2010/01/beads-and-yarn-in-upper-peninsula.html).  I have plenty of seed beads but I always seem to collect more.  My current fetish is for size 15/0 beads (2 sizes smaller than your average seed bead, the 11/0).  This necklace is only 3/8 of an inch wide and it look very delicate.

 I've gone through the first 10g bag and am on the second with this Russian Chain necklace that I'm working on.  I bought the only 2 that were left in the store and it looks like I am going to need more.  They're this delicious fuschia/red color that has a fiery finish to them.  This piece will be sure to make any outfit pop!  Be on the lookout as I will put it up on my Etsy site before it hits the Grove Gallery Co-op. (This necklace will be similiar to my "Midsummer's Fairy Dream Lariat" that sold in January. 

Also, on the same trip to the U.P. I had found this fabulous yarn that I couldn't help but buy (even though I never spend $22 for a ball of yarn).  I had mentioned it in that blog and here's a photo of it.  It's actually making me think about learning to spin.  My mother can spin but I never had any interest in it.  Now, knowing that I can spin anything together is making me chomp at the bit.

Yummy!

Back on the Loom!

Do not leave yarn to run rampant on your loom, as it may jump into your nearby wine!

The next Technology Innovation Center showing has the theme of "Where the Heart is" and I got inspired.  I'm taking a look at my shift from being raised on the farm and being a home body to loving living in a city (or multiple cities) and being close to everything.  It has to start with the barn I grew up playing in.  It stands alone as the place to escape to when you wanted to get away and feel the warmth of old wood and dry alfalfa flakes.  I guess it represents the me that never wanted to go anywhere or do anything, I remember saying that I had no need to travel or want to go anywhere because it was expensive and if I never saw it, then I never knew what I was missing.  I guess I've grown since then and am so excited to go to Europe for the first time in March.  Yay!  Below is my cartoon sketch that I pin to my tapestry as I weave.  I love to make my work become it's own thing, so the colors are not necessarily going to be what it ends up looking like.  I do the same with beadwork.  It's the lines that are most important to me in my sketches.

The shifting colored spirals have been with me and within my artwork for as long as I can remember.  I think they're the one this that will always exist in my work.  They not only represent my love of natural forms, but of movement and lack of control.  Spirals and vines fly out of my drawing utensils while I'm not even looking, it's my constant daydream.

I have also been enjoying tapestry weaving because it is so easy to use up my stash. I love picking up yarns and remembering the trip I was on when I found a particular one.  This piece will have hints of Mendocino and Oakland California, living in Madison Wisconsin, the stockings I knitted this Christmas, and the warp on the loom is the leftover from the wraps I wove my bridesmaids in March of 2009.  And yes, this is my first weaving since!

I know it doesn't look like a lot right now, and we won't know exactly what it looks like until I pull it completely off the loom.  It's much quicker to work from the back of a tapestry than the front.  Plus it helps push me along to finish  because I really want to know what the end-product will look like.  Each of my pieces have a bit of a mind of their own.

Hopefully I'll be able to get this tapestry off loom and ready to hang by its due date for TIC!