Fun with Super Duos

Just a quick post to share some fun things I've been making with the new Super Duo beads.   I created these earrings for a fun earring exchange this Christmas.  These are the earrings I sent.  I'm still waiting to receive mine from an unknown Santa.

 

I also made a necklace for my Mom for Christmas.  She's told me at least 35 times how much she likes it which makes me very happy.  Mom will be 100 years old Jan 11 2013 so I called this necklace Centennial.

 

I love the Super Duos.  They have two holes (one in each end) and are very uniform in shape so they are easy to use in many different ways.  There are lots of new colors to play with too.

 

Happy Beading!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

This is the lovely Christmas card my neighbor Lenore brought to me with a plate of homemade cookies - so I thought I'd share it with you (the card, not the cookies - they have all disappeared!)

 

 

"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:  Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."  Isaiah 7:14

 

Immanuel means God with us.  May you experience the joy, love and peace of God this Christmas Season and into the New Year.

New Beginnings - Part I

Has it really been 3 months since I last posted?  Arggghhhh!   I'm so glad there are no blogging police that monitor such things.  I am sorry and promise to do better from now on.

Much has happened in the past three months, both personally and business wise.  I moved from Jacumba to Santee, CA in October.  I bought my own place - a double wide mobile home in a 55+ park.  It's an older home, but has lots of upgrades and most importantly, I believe it is the home God has provided for  me.  I feel safe and am content here.

 

 

There is a wonderful deck that goes along the side and back of the house with sliding glass doors in both bedrooms giving easy access.  This is the picture before I moved in.  I have since added pebble gravel in between all the pavers and hung hummingbird feeders along the edge of the deck top.  The previous owner left all the plants you see in this picture - so nice of her!

 



I moved in with high expectations of having everything organized within a few weeks.  I'm still living with piles of stuff, especially in my spare bedroom which is in the process of being transformed into my business/art/jewelry studio.   You can see a glimpse of the sliding glass doors midway down the deck.  I sit each morning looking out those patio doors while I'm visiting with friends on facebook and reading e-mail.  Every once in a while, hummingbirds will stop by for a drink.  I've yet to capture them in a picture, but I'm sure I will when Spring arrives.

The blue home behind mine is where Lenore lives.  She has become a wonderful friend who welcomed me into the neighborhood and invited me to go with her to attend the clubhouse breakfasts, soup lunches, potlucks, and clubhouse events.  Here's a picture of the clubhouse and pool area.  I haven't tested out the waters yet - perhaps when it becomes a bit warmer.

Enough for this morning.  I'll share more in Part II.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing time with me.

New Peyote Bracelet Pattern Available

I finished another peyote bracelet pattern that I call Navajo Rug.  I designed the pattern and Alicia M. Hartley did the beading.  I created the red design.  Alicia created the blue one.

It's available in my ArtFire and Etsy shops.

 

Alicia created both bracelets in a style she likes.  Instead of adding a clasp, she zipped the two ends together and created peyote bangles!  Quite clever.

Crochet Ribbons Bracelet Tutorial

Seems like forever since I've been able to design and create a new bracelet tutorial.  I just listed this new bracelet pattern in my Etsy shop.  It's a very easy pattern using 3-drop peyote stitch.

Cycle of Seasons Etsy Treasury

Thanks to NikaGalleryArt for including my Going Green Bracelet in her beautiful Cycle of Seasons Treasury on Etsy.

BOTB Etsy Treasury

Some of the Battle of the Beadsmith entries have been listed for sale on Etsy.  Sharayah Sheldon (see her Etsy shop here) created the treasury.

To find out more about the Battle of the Beadsmith, you can go to their group page on facebook and see all the entries that made it to Round 3.

2012 BOTB Round 1 Winners Announced

The first round of the Battle of the Beadsmith is finished.  Congratulations to the 40 winners.  Four "battles" were decided by 1 vote.  Twelve battles were decided by 10-15 votes.  You can view the entries HERE.  This is the list of those who are going on to Round 2.  In Round 2 they will be paired by random drawing and the voting will commence again.  Only 20 will go on to round 3.
 
Battle 1 Irina Chikineva

Battle 2 Annie Hatvani

Battle 3 Alla Maslennikova

Battle 4 Christine Boyer Maj

Battle 5 Hannah Rosner

Battle 6 Melissa Ingram

Battle 7 Ulyana R. Seryankina

Battle 8 Nancy Dale

Battle 9 Linda Roberts

Battle 10 Ibolya Ingesne Barkoczi

Battle 11 Heather K. Heath

Battle 12 Sandra Dokter van Esveld

Battle 13 Olga Shumilova

Battle 14 Ella Des

Battle 15 Christian Rodriguez

Battle 16 Ann Braginsky

Battle 17 Callie Mitchell

Battle 18 Maryanne Villialba

Battle 19 Kinga Nichols

Battle 20 Olga Petterson

Battle 21 Guzialia Reed

Battle 22 Marsha Wiest Hines

Battle 23 Cynthia N. Daniel

Battle 24 Betty Stephan

Battle 25 Mikki Ferrugiaro

Battle 26 Ekaterina Kalinina

Battle 27 Miriam C. Shimon

Battle 28 Sue Horine

Battle 29 Anneta Valious

Battle 30 Katalin B. Nagy

Battle 31 Helena Tang

Battle 32 Laurence Dethier

Battle 33 Eliana Maniero

Battle 34 Amy Katz

Battle 35 Kathy King

Battle 36 Julia Turova

Battle 37 Lauren Macregor

Battle 38 Terri Richards

Battle 39 Sigifredo Contreras

Battle 40 Noel Wyres

 

Those who did not get voted through to Round 2 should be given a huge round of applause.  There were so many amazing pieces that did not make it through simply because of who they were paired against.  Everyone who competed is a winner!

At Long Last!

Finally, the day has arrived!  Almost all of the gorgeous 2012 Battle of the Beadsmith entries have been posted and I must say - they are breathtaking!

You can see all of the entries in the group page on facebook.  Click on this url:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/edit/a.2468982920008.2109259.1115392815/#!/groups/274053372682035/photos/

My entry was held up being posted until almost the end because my competitor's entry was not received and they are unsure if the e-mail was lost or not.  I have no misgivings about being a finalist, but I did have a lot of fun making my piece.  It features cabochons created by Vladislov Ivanov and Kremena Ivanova, married owners of Golem Design Studio.

I had so much fun creating this necklace.  I love the zentangle nature of the cabs and knew I needed to keep the beadwork simple because of all the design and motion going on in the cabs.  I'm also excited that the artists who create these amazing cabs are making smaller sized cabs - providing jewelry designers with even more creative possibilities.

Golem Design Studio also has an Etsy shop.

The Battle is Getting Fierce!

The Beadsmith is beginning to post the "Battle" pieces on their group page on facebook.  I cannot share the beautiful pieces, but you can see all of them here:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/274053372682035/photos/#!/groups/274053372682035/photos/

There will be 40 groups of photos.  Each group will show the amazing and creative beadwork of two of the 80 talented beadweaving artists from around the world.  After they are all posted and we have time to pick our jaws up off the floor, then the judging will begin.

Out of the 80 entries, only 40 will remain after the first round.  These 40 will again be paired up with another "battle warrior" and the 2nd round of judging will begin.

Who will be the winner of the battle?  Stay tuned!!

Battle Update

Another quick update on the Battle of the Beadsmith.  Here's who's competing with who in Round 1.

1) Jacquie Champion-Canada vs Irina Chikineva-Russia

2) Anastasia O'sarantseva-Ireland vs Annie Hatvani-Hungary

3) Lea Palickova-Czech Republic vs Alla Maslennikova -Russia

4) Christina Neit-USA vs Christine Boyer Maj-USA

5) Hannah Rosner-USA vs Kassie Inman-USA

6) Olga Haserodt-Germany vs Melissa Ingram-Australia

7) Ulyana Rakcheyeva Seryankina-USA vs Joanne Browne-Australia

8) Mouna Marini-France vs Nancy Dale-USA

9) Nella Moskvichjova-Russia vs Linda Roberts-USA

10) Denise Kangas-Czech Republic vs Ibolya Ingesne Barkoczi-Hungary

11) Heather Kingsley Heath-United Kingdom vs Katherine Gezey-Ukraine

12) Alla Vizir-Ukraine vs Sandra Dokter van Esveld-Netherlands

13) Olga Shumilova-Russia vs Patrick Duggan-Australia

14) Ella Des-Belgrade Serbia vs Neva Brown-Australia

15) Christian Rodriguez-USA vs Marta Koudelova-Czech republic

16) Ann Braginsky-Israel vs Edgar Lopez Disenos-Dominican Republic

17) Susan Brackett-USA vs Callie Mitchell-USA

18) Jill Thomas-United Kingdom vs Maryanne Villalba-Australia

19) Tammuna Lezhava-Georgia vs Kinga Nichols-USA

20) Iva Jar-Czech Republic vs Olga Petterson-Sweden

21) Guzialia Reed-Japan vs Katka Vaclavikova-Czech Republic

22) Marsha Wiest Hines-USA vs Eva Dobos-Hungary

23) Orsolya Fuzesi-Hungary vs Cynthia Newcomer Daniel-USA

24) Betty Stephan-USA vs Elka Leonhardt Rath-Germany

25) Eva Csizmadiz Lajosne-Hungary vs Mikki Ferrugiaro-USA

26) Jennifer Chasalow Van Benschoten-USA vs Ekaterina Kalinina-Russia

27 Sharayah Sheldon-USA vs Miriam Cielo Shimon-Israel

28) Sue Horine-USA vs Misan Tejre-Sweden

29) Anneta Valious-France vs Lynn Day-United Kingdom

30) Alexandra Sydorenko -USA vs Katalin Budaine Nagy-Hungary

31) Rosita Pisarchick-USA vs Helena Tang-Singapore

I am doomed to losing the first round, but being a trooper, I am putting on my battle gear and will fight to the death. lol

Battle of the Beadsmith Update

Since returning from Bead & Button in Milwaukee and from visiting my family in South Dakota, I've been working on my Battle of the Beadsmith (BOTB) piece.  I thought I'd share some sneak preview pictures to show my progress.

Here's a close up of some of my focal beads:

Oh, gee, is it blurry?  Sorry about that. 

Ha Ha!  You do know that I can't show you anything before the big reveal of all the entries, right?!   Stay tuned for future progress pictures.  ;D

Pieces from 80 bead artists from around the world will be sent to The Beadsmith (sponsor of this big event) on or before July 10.  Many have finished their pieces, but I'm still working on mine.

If you would like to meet the artists and see some extraordinary examples of their beadwork, click here.  The actual contest entries will not be shown until after July 10.

How a Customer Used one of my Dichroic Glass Cabs

Just a quick post to show off how a customer used one of my dichroic glass cabs to create a custom ordered necklace.  The creator is Joan Fine of JFine Design on Etsy.

I love how she picks up the flashes of color in the dichroic glass cab with the Swarovski crystals around the chain.

Special thanks to Joan for allowing me to use her picture.

2012 Battle of the Beadsmith

And so it begins - The 2012 Battle of the Beadsmith!   You say, "What in the world is a Beadsmith Battle?!"

This is the first (and hopefully annual) beadweaving battle for beaders from around the world.  The battle was the brainstorm of mastermind Steven Weiss of the Beadsmith/ Helby company.  They distribute beads and beading supplies to bead stores all over the globe.  What better way to inspire the love of beads than getting 80 beaders from around the world to create some beading masterpieces? 

If you are on facebook, you can read more about this contest and get to know the participants as well as see some fabulous beadwork HERE.

While the name implies a fierce fight to the finish, it is really a celebration of beads and beaders everywhere.  The 80 participants from twenty-two different countries have been paired up with another beader (names were drawn out of a hat by the Weiss kids).  All participants will secretly create a beading masterpiece (gulp!!) and send pictures to the Beadsmith in early July.  The judges (all participants, plus an extra panel of judges) will choose between the two matched participants.  So in the first round, 40 beaders will be eliminated.  The remaining 40 beaders will then be matched in pairs and voting will eliminate 20 of these.  And so on until only the champion remains standing.  What a proud moment that will be for the last beader standing!! 

The participants who will battle it out are (by country)

Australia:

 Patrick Duggan

 Melissa Ingram

 Joanne Browne

 Neva Brown

 Lauren Macgregor

 Maryanne Villalba
 Karyn Healey-White
 Noel Wyres

Belgium:

 Laurence Dethier

Belgrade/Serbia:

 Ella Des

Canada:

 Jacquie Champion

Czech Republic:

 Lea Palickova

 Katka Vaclavikova

 Marta Koudelova

 Denisa Kangas

 Iva Jar

Dominican Republic:

 Edgar Lopez Disenos

France:

 Anneta Valious

 Mouna Marini

Georgia:

 Tamuna Lezhava

Germany:

 Elke Leonhardt Rath

 Olga Haserodt

Hungary:

 Annie Hatvani
 Eva Dobos

 Orsolya Füzesi

 Ibolya Ingesné Barkóczi

 Éva Csizmadia Lajosné

 Katalin Budainé Nagy

Ireland:

 Anastasia O'sarantseva

Israel:

 Ann Braginsky

 Miriam Cielo Shimon

Italy:

 Eliana Maniero

Japan:

 Guzialia Reed

Mexico:

 Sigifredo Contreras

Netherlands:

 Sandra Dokter van Esveld

Russia:

 Irina Chikineva

 Nella Moskvichjova

 Julia Turova

 Alla Maslennikova

 Olga Shumilova

 Ekaterina Kalinina

 Marina Nosova

Sweden:

 Olga Petterson

 Misan Tejre

 Nausikaa Dahllof

 Anna Lindell

Singapore:

 Helena Tang

Ukraine:

 Alla Vizir

 Katherine Gezey

 Anna Bystryk

United Kingdom:

 Heather Kingsley Heath

 Jill Thomas
 Lynn Davy

USA:

 Linda Roberts (me) :)

 Sharayah Sheldon

 Nancy Dale

 Cynthia Newcomer Daniel

 Marsha Wiest Hines

 Carol Dean Sharpe

 Christina Neit

 Sue Horine
 Alexandra Sydorenko

 Betty Stephan

 Callie Mitchell

 Christian Rodriguez

 Kinga Nichols

 Mikki Ferrugiaro

 Amy Katz

 Kassie Inman

 Dini Alves

 Jennifer Chasalow VanBenschoten
 Rosita Pisarchick

 Roxan O'brien

 Christine Boyer Maj
 Kathy King

 Susan Brackett

 Hannah Rosner

 Terri Richards

 ARachel Nelson Smith

 Ulyana Rakcheyeva Seryankina

I am fully prepared to do my best and also to be eliminated in the first round. lol 

Stay tuned for future posts about the judges and the piece I will be making.

Long Magatamas - Love 'Em or Leave 'Em

Recently a group of brave beaders were challenged by The Beadsmith company to design jewelry pieces with Long Magatama beads (LMAs for short).  These beads are intriguing because of their unique shape and the fact that the hole goes through the bead at a slant.  Isn't the color glorious?  I love the AB finish on these beads!

But intriguing and unique can cause minor hair pulling and a few expletives (only nice mild ones. of course)!  The beads don't always like to play together nicely.  They love to wiggle around and poke their neighbor beads causing all kinds of havoc.  So for some projects they simply won't work.  The challenge was to try to come up with designs in which they would cooperate and not drive me crazy in the process.

In addition to being given the fabulous new colors of LMAs, Lisa Peters Art matched the LMAs up to some of gorgeous stoneware cabs and buttons.   I received a beautiful rose cabochon with gold highlights that Lisa had matched perfectly with the new LMA 301 color. 

I knew I wanted to do bead embroidery with the cab.  I wasn't sure how the LMAs would work but I dove in headfirst anyway. I used tiny size 15 Miyuki gold plated rocailles and size 11 seed beads around the rose.  After adding the ultrasuede backing and sewing the cab to the backing, I added the LMAs to the border beads and it worked!   I wanted to use the rose cab on a cuff, so to complete the piece, I created a netting that I sewed to black leather and glued that to a brass cuff.  Finally I glued a piece of black ultrasuede to the inside of the cuff and sewed the edges of the leather and ultrasuede together.  And here's the result which I call Victorian Rose Cuff.

I had lots of LMA's left over and knew from previous experience that they love Kumihimo so I decided to dust off the marudai and tamas and do some braiding.  I used my trusty beadspinner to string 8 strands of C-Lon cording with beads - 4 strands with size 8 seed beads and 4 strands with long magatamas.  What a timesaver the beadspinner is! 

I wanted to make a 6" length of Kumihimo braid with the seed beads and LMAs and then attach some leafy petal end caps and complete it with some herringbone beadweaving.  The Kumihimo braiding was finished in a couple hours.  The herringbone rope took a bit longer, but I was happy with the results which I call Rainbow Garden.  You can see why the long magatamas love Kumihimo.  They can dance in whatever way they want!

To my delight, I had enough LMA's to make a pair of spiral earrings and used an easy trick to help the long magatamas stay in place.  I'm hoping to complete a tutorial for the earrings soon.  I call them Dragon Wings.

I have another color of LMAs (a pale tangerine) and more of Lisa Peters Art cabs to use, but I'm still working on them so I'll save that for a future post.  In spite of their being so feisty, I love the look of the long magatamas.  Maybe that's why I have almost every color there is in my stash. :)

Metal Bead Blessings

Yesterday I received the exciting news that The Beadsmith will be placing a full page ad in the award winning German beading magazine Perlen Poesie.  The advertisement (shown below) will be promoting their heavy metal seed beads and they are using my Metal Bead Sampler Bracelet as the picture.

I absolutely love my bracelet.  I wear it all the time.  It seems to go with almost every outfit I have.  I also enjoy making this bracelet.  It works up very quickly and I can easily complete one in a day.  The beads are very uniform in size and shape.  It's almost like they were made for the Right Angle Weave stitch.

Metal seed beads come in size 15 (tiniest), size 11, size 8 and size 6 (largest) and are more expensive than glass seed beads, but the size 6 metal beads are the least expensive of all the available sizes. 

The beads are solid metal.  They start out with a brass base, and then are heavily plated in the various finishes. They all have a seam.  On the smaller beads the seam is barely noticeable.  On the larger beads the seam can be seen and on a very few beads (1 out of approx. 50) the seam may not be closed properly.  These beads should be discarded, but as will all glass beads, this culling process is normal and to be expected.

Almost all metals will tarnish and most plated metals will wear with time.  Oil on our skin, humidity and exposure to the elements, or excessive rubbing will speed up this process.  To slow down or prevent the plated finish from changing color or rubbing off, some suggest using a sealant such as Permalac Sealer, Renaissance Wax, Future Floor Was or another protectant/sealer.  I have not tried any of these sealants yet, so I cannot speak to their effectiveness.

I sell a pattern for this bracelet in both my ArtFire and my Etsy shops.  For the pattern only you need to purchase the size 6 metal beads and Elegant Elements clasp from your local bead store.  Both the metal beads and the clasps are distributed by The Beadsmith.

I also sell a kit in both my Artfire and Etsy shops which includes the pattern and all supplies needed to make the bracelet.

Life is good, and metal beads make it even better.  Have fun with beading and be adventurous with your beads.  You never know what blessings await you.

 

Metal Bead Sampler Kit and Pattern

I have had this as one of my goals for over a year.  It feels good to finally accomplish making my first beading pattern and kit.  I could not have accomplished this without the help of several friends. 

I thought at first I would learn Adobe Illustrator and Marcia DeCoster invited me to her place and spent a couple hours going over the basics of how to shape and color the beads, place, rotate and group them, and create the thread path going through them.  I went home to practice and after several days, my frustration resulted in a few tears.  I feel I let Marcia down a bit (although she swears that is not the case). I have not given up on AI - just put it on the back burner for a little while.

I shared my struggle on facebook, and received suggestions from several beaders who make patterns, but I didn't have the programs they suggested.  Eva Dobos of deEva Designs (who is from Hungary) explained how she uses Word to do all of her beautiful patterns.  Isn't it amazing that someone I've never met in person from half way around the world would come to my aid and be such a support?  I caught on to using Word pretty easily and within a week or two I had created my very first pattern (with diagrams) for my Metal Bead Sampler Bracelet.

Two other facebook friends, Carol Dean Sharpe of SandFibers and Cynthia Newcomer Daniels of  Jewelry Tales (both of whom have created and sold many beautiful beading patterns) proofread the pattern and offered excellent suggestions for improvements.  I am forever grateful to all the wonderful beading friends who so generously gave their time and expertise to help me.

If you buy the tutorial only, you will need to purchase the metal beads and a clasp from your local bead store.  If they do not currently stock those, you can ask them to order them from the Beadsmith (formerly Helby) Company.  The tutorial lists all the required supplies.

For anyone who cannot locate the metal beads and clasp, I have also created a kit that includes all the metal and glass beads, Elegant Elements clasp, Fireline thread and two needles, along with the 10 page tutorial.  Both the tutorial and kit are available in both my Etsy and ArtFire shops.

It is such a wonderful feeling to accomplish a goal but I can't quite cross it off of the list yet because now there are more patterns and kits to be made.  My todo list has actually gotten longer (sigh) - but that's a story for another day.   Happy Beading!

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