Trip to Seattle and the Opening Reception for Small Expressions

I got to hang out in downtown Seattle and do some shopping.  Of which I mostly bought beads and yarn.  They have a great bead store called World Beads.  It's a tiny shop on the corner, and it's packed with seed beads.  I usually use Japanese seed beads and these are Czech. I bought a few and stitched some leaves up to see how they acted and was pleased, so I stopped in one more time at the end of the week to grab some to add to my stash.

The only yarn shop downtown in called So Much Yarn.  I have  a hard time believing that in a city the size of Seattle there's only one yarn shop, but at least its a nice one!  I had done some damage last time I was in there and was hoping to pick up a few more colors of one of the yarns that I really enjoy using in Theo Mooreman inlay.  They were out of that particular yarn, however they did have some other interesting stuff by the same designer so I went that route (the sparkly ones below).

I flew out of Chicago so that on the way back home I could head over to St.. Charles, IL for the Opening Reception of Handweaver's Guild of America's Small Expressions 2013.  My piece, "Uprooted 1" was accepted into this show along with many other amazing pieces.  Below I'm standing next to "Uprooted 1".  The camera on my phone has been on the fritz, so it was hard to get a decent photo. 

I always want to get more beading done while I travel.  I'm not sure why, but I'm convinced that between sitting in the airport, on the airplane, driving around and having hotel down time, I should get a few pieces done.  I only finished one lariat necklace, but I'm please with that. It's also a note to self to travel with less beads!

Brown and Green Lariat Necklace





Fiber577 Private opening, Today and Tomorrow

 

Last night was the private opening for Fiber577 at the 577 Foundation in Perrysburg, Ohio.  This is the first show where all three of the pieces I entered had been juried in, so I had to try to make it.  Being busy this weekend, I was excited that the had an invite-only event last night.  It was a great start to my weekend.  My fiber-friend Brittany and I met half way in Ann Arbor at Findings bead store (good start to a mini road trip).  Then drove together down to Perrysburg. 

 

The three pieces that were accepted were:

 

Small Leaf Panel in Blue

 

 

Flipped and Tangled

 

Climbing

 

The 577 Foundation has amazing grounds and gardens, along with various workshop spaces (which were closed, but we walked around and peeked in).  Downtown Perrysburg is adorable.  We decided to explore a little bit and ended up at Stella's to relax a bead some before we got back on the road.

 

We got to chatting with a nice couple that was sitting outside next to us on our way out and I consequently left my credit card at Stella's and didn't realize until we were a half hour back into our trek home.  They're going to mail it, but couldn't add a tip without a signature.  I'm hoping that by mailing a check back I can get the tip to our very nice server!  I feel awful about that!

 

The Fiber 577 show is all weekend, Saturday and Sunday.  Then it moves to the Angelwood Gallery in Grand Rapids, OH.  We got to chat with Julie, the owner, and I will be sending her a grouping of beaded jewelry to go in her gallery while the show is up that compliments the three above pieces.

 

The show opens at Angelwood Gallery during the downtown's "ladies night" on June 20, 2013 and goes through July 21, 2013.

 

The work is not for sale this weekend, but is available for purchase at Angelwood Gallery.



Dabbling in Beaded Double-Leaves

Since I took a beadweaving class with Huib Petersen 3 years ago, I have been really focused on perfecting my knowledge of Beaded Leaves and what I call beaded "Pods" (which is where the leaf is closed up the middle).  I'm mixing them up now with color and some new forms, but have not gone into beading multiple leaves and petals all at the same time.  For some reason, I'm adverse to getting out those instructions from the workshop and going over and over them until I have it properly memorized.

Daphne Necklace Variation $160.00

 

I've started playing with two connected leaves/petals at a time.  It's not quite working out in my head yet, but they're fun to play with.  I was going to take a closer look at it while on the flight to Seattle or while Zack was working, but I was having way too much fun exploring the city instead.

Tiny Bangle Variation $45.00

 

So keep your eyes peeled for a few new pieces with petals all connected.  I've got a few ideas rolling around in my head for these!

Teal & Black Striped Chevron Necklace

 

Since stripes and chevrons have been coming out, I've been taking advantage of the trend and playing with the same in my beading. 

 

Lariat Necklace: $200.00

 

Since there's plenty of detail in the St. Petersburg chain of this necklace, I kept the embellishment on the ends simple.  I had initially tried to make the pearls on the ends "cluster" like I do with the leaves on my lariats, but it didn't look right, so I did loops.  I may try a fringe on another one.

 

Chevron Stripe Earrings: $55.00

Simple Stripe Bracelet: $45.00

 

And of course, earrings and a bracelet to match.  It's hard to tell in these photos, but the earrings have a jet black glass pearl toward the bottom where the earring "cups" a little bit.

 

 

New Summer Floral Bangle

2013 Floral Bangle: $180.00

 

I bought a new dress over at Grace in Old Town a few weeks ago.  Adding to my dress collection for the weddings, showers and art openings (yay!) that are coming up this summer.  So, of course, the beautiful water-color leaves and flowers gave me fodder for a new bangle inspiration.

 

I had originally thought of making the bangle really wide (like 2 1/2+ inches), but decided that the design in my head would fight with the busy pattern of the dress.  There's a lot of information that I still wanted to put into this bangle, so I did not do a repeat pattern on it.  Meaning, unlike most of my bangles, it's a different image on every side.



 

I must have been slightly out of my mind though when I was drafting this pattern.  I was torn between things I have to get done and things that I want to make.  I decided to take the want-to-make route and make this bangle.  I somehow managed to count out the circumference of this design 20 beads too big.  I thought that it seemed large when I strung on the first row, ignored the issue, and decided not to look back after I was well into it.  I love the design, and may even pull parts of it for other bangle drafts.  It's easy enough to take out 20 rows somewhere to make it "normal" sized later.  For now, I will wear it slid up on my forearm.

 

 



I'm still thinking about making a larger version of the bangle, with a lot of white space.  It probably won't be wore along with the dress though.  Below is an image of the pattern in the dress (front middle). 

 

Weaving "Layers 1"

Last week I went on an Internet radio show (and on Comcast's public service station) called Time Slot 2x.  I found myself bumbling through explaining how to weave fabric to Melik and Franklin Mint.  Which spurred me to make this video the very next day.

I was telling a weaver-friend about my struggle in explaining how to weave fabric, and she said she keeps it simple "it's over under over under" which is plain weave, which is simple.  I tend to think of weaving in much more complex terms (and I'm not even in a complex weavers group) so I've decided I should put some video up to show people just what us weavers do and can do.

My apologies for the lousy video, it's the first time I've taken video on this camera, I think it had a hard time focusing.

Chevron Fringe Pendant

On Tuesday I was beading at Grove Gallery and mulling over a new pendant design.  I have been wearing a long sterling chain lately, and I wanted something that would have some length, but also a bit of width too.  I've noticed a trend in long necklaces with a chunky pendant on them coming out in storefronts and popping up on Pinterest.

Earrings $55.00, Bracelet $45.00

Since I'm on this chevron kick, I decided to try a pendant to match a pair of mint green and dark gold chevron earrings. The first photo up top and below is what I came up with:

"back side"

I usually hate to put on fringe, it never looks perfect and I bead so tightly I have to tug it out a bit to let it hang.  Using heavier beads toward the bottom would help, but I love the look of the freshwater pearls with the tiny 15/0 seed beads.

This pendant is 2 3/4 inches long by 1 inch wide.  Current price is $75.00