Rose Vine Necklace

Focal Bead by Toastie Beads

When I was at the craft show I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I found this lovely gem of a lampworked bead. I've never really felt much fondness for lampwork before then - yes, I've admired the pretty colours and such, but I've always found them terribly expensive. I can't say how much the glass canes, and fuel for the torch and all the other bits and bobs cost - I've never seen the raw materials for sale anywhere. This one, however, grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. I had to have it. Talk about impulse buy.

Thankfully, my imagination, a quick trip to the somewhat-local bead shop, and a healthy dose of courage, I dove into some freeform netting. I was hoping to get an open, organic-feeling necklace that would still support the weight of the bead. I picoted a few leaves into the mess, and actually found 3mm firepolish beads that nicely echoed the colours on the focal, so I dotted them around as well. Check out the overall shot, and a close-up of of the sides below.

PS - Thank you, Anna, for the impromptu photo shoot today after school!

Craft Fair Etiquette

I went to one of the many craft fairs that are going on during this season. I'm trying to get into the craft circuit in my local area, and this one was a good one to check out. There were two other jewellery artists there - strung, and one lady who had a large variety of things, which included some beadwoven work.

I recognised each and every last piece she had on sale. Sandra D. Halpenny, Maria Rypan, and other designs that I knew came from recent issues of Bead and Button and Beadwork. While I know that Ms. Halpenny routinely gives permission for purchasers of her designs to sell their creations at local craft shows, I know that copyright issues have been of an interest in the above magazines of late. Even though permission was given, shouldn't the beader of a piece give acknowledgement to the designer of a piece, regardless?

Bead Artists I admire: Sandra D. Halpenny

I realized that it has been a long time since I updated by blog. Things got crazy-busy at my school this past month, and I let this slip. My apologies.

Although this is a blog about my own beadweaving adventures, I thought I'd do a few entries on Bead Artists who have had a genuine influence over my work, whether they know it or not.

The first person who comes to mind would be Sandra D. Halpenny. Living in Ontario, Canada, her online web presence has reached beaders worldwide. Her for-sale patterns consist primarily of net-weave variants (and oh, what variants they are!), and peyote, but don't be fooled. She has entered many a contest as a beadweaving professional, and it's not just net-weave! She was one of the first Bead Artists I discovered, first through her free patterns. As a beginning beadweaver, I found her instructions extremely clear, both written and in her diagrams. The diagrams were so complete, I hardly looked at the text after a while. It was her designs that really let me enjoy beading and start to treat it as a meditative exercise.

I highly recommend Sandra's patterns for any skill level - I truly believe that whether beginner or advanced, you will find some quiet joy in completing one of her patterns. To let you know I put my money where my mouth is, I have purchased almost all of her e-books available on her site, and they have given me endless hours of beading enjoyment. I have not completed all of the patterns I have purchased, else I wouldn't be experimenting with anything else!

Sandra, thank you for sharing your talent with the rest of us!

Calla Lillies

For some reason, I have been obsessed with Calla Lilies. I really like the flower, and I've been wondering for a long time how I could possibly interpret them in beads. In searching the internet, I haven't really found anyone who has tried to use bead weaving stitches to create one. Ever since I picked up Diane Fitgerald's "Shaped Beadwork", I've been really been crunching the brainpower on it.

On Thursday, I had picked up the latest copy of Beadwork, and on the final page, there was a contest advertised: Beadwork VII: The Beaded Earth. I was suddenly inspired to try and bead the orchid from one of my previous posts (ambitious, much?). While sketching out a few ideas, I finally came to some realization how to actually bead a Calla Lilly.

So, this is prototype one. It's rather pretty, but somewhere in the back of my mind says that its a snowdrop and not a calla lilly. A friend who was over shortly after it was finished said that it was missing the bend-y back sides and wider flower petal. Back to the drawing board.

The picture really doesn't do it justice. You don't really seed the curl of the sides or the tip, but this weas just a quick picture to get it out there. I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet. My thinking is not done yet, I'm still not completely satisfied with how it turned out, so I will keep experimenting.

Wish me luck!

Toronto Bead Oasis Show

I think if I went every year (let alone to the Spring AND Fall shows), I'd be in serious trouble.

Anna (the newest convert to the evil empire of bead addiction!) and I went to the Toronto Bead Oasis show at the Metro Convention Centre on Saturday (18th). We decided to go for the opening (10:00 a.m.) so that we had time, and hopefully beat the crowds. Well, beat the crowds we did, but we also had to get up early on a Saturday (we teachers covet our little sleep-in time) to catch the 8:40 train.

It was almost ridiculous how much time we spent there, but it was so much fun. Because we had gotten there so early, many of the vendors were willing to chat. I was especially tickled to find Maria Rypan at her booth. She is the author of some of my very first beading books (and I highly recommend them) and the one who really started to open up the beading world to me. I loved seeing all of her newer designs, and I finally picked up the hast book of hers that I was missing, so I can truly say I own all of her books. I'm hoping she's planning a new book with her new designs soon.

I spent most of my time (and my money!) at the NLM Glass Arts booth. They have all the lovely seed beads a body could want. I like the Toho seed beads - all the regularity of a cylinder bead with the fun texture of the more rounded seed bead. I managed to find a number of matte colours in the Southwestern palette I was interested in. I'll be able to try a couple of those Southwestern-inspired projects I took pictures of on my trip home.

There was so much there. A few of us joked that there should be an 'Overwhelmed at the Bead Show' corner. We spent over an hour just touring all of the booths the first time. Going back, over two hours passed before we even glanced at our watches. All the shiny beads, crystals and gemstones had us completely captivated. If you're a beader in the Toronto area, I highly recommend you going to check out this show. It's a real treat.

Guilty Pleasures

Hubby and I returned from our trip back east (New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, respectively) and have finally cleaned up the mess that living out of our car/tent for three weeks made of us and our gear. (ok...hubby did all the cleaning. Loves to hubby.)

I've been reviewing all the photos I took. I'm not a big photographer, but I took a lot of photos on this vacation...of flowers. We went to this wonderful garden on two occasions, and I was snapping photos like mad. I'm not a flower person, I don't even have any plants in my apartment. So why all the flower photos?


Colourways. I was looking at all the natural colour harmony for ideas for colour schemes for future beading projects.

I also photographed a few ornaments and cross-stitches I found in Doug and Pam's house...I saw all the neat and pretty patterns and wondered how I could replicate them in beads.


Obsessed just a little?

(I'll keep how many hours I spent with graph paper sketching things out to myself. Let's just say I've got this really cute cholker-necklace idea brewing that's going to need fresh colours - and a trip to the bead store!)

"My" Design?

I'm sure this is a question that every 'hobbyist' or 'amateur' beader asks themselves at one point - what constitutes an original design, and what is simply a small modification of the original? What is original vs. 'inspired by' and is there really a difference? What is a stitch technique, and what is someone's hard-won original work?

Some answers are easier - if you make a piece stitch for stitch, colour for colour from a magazine or book, you're copying! It's certainly not original. Change the colours, but keep everything else? Still copying in my book. Different colours does not an original design make. Change the stitch a little...probably still copying!

So, my discussion piece is above. Stitch - circular flat peyote. No one's got the right to claim that one as exclusive! It's the colour placement - in a recent issue of Beadwork, in my favourite "Seed Bead Style" section, there was this circular flat peyote piece that placed colours in such a way to make them look like they were swirling. Neat! I thought. It's diagonal peyote designs for round things!

In the artist's example, she created a bracelet with her circular flat peyote pieces stitched side by side. I had just completed the main body of "Geometry Experiment #1" (see earlier posts) and was into let's-see-what-happens-if-I-interlink-things stage. The result was above - "Green Gordian" (after the knot). I played with the bead count and made smaller circular peyote pieces to add some dimensional interest. I did a peyote toggle clasp, as in the magazine design.

Is this bracelet "my" design?