Here is my entry, Nebulous, for the Etsy Beadweavers March challenge, Am I Blue? You can view the actual listing HERE.
For this challenge we were encouraged to use the March birthstone Aquamarine, a/o Turquoise, a/o Tanzanite, individually or together, the more blue the better. Over 16 different shades, finishes, and sizes of blue beads were used; matte, pearl, metallic, silver lined, bugle, triangles, cubes, turquoise, teal, aquamarine, zircon, navy, royal, sky, etc.
Please visit our team BLOG between the 9th and the 15th to see all the entries from the wonderfully talented artists in this team and vote for your favorite entry!
Tonight will be a Blue Moon, rumored to be very auspicious. What perfect timing to list my entry, La Bella Luna, for the Etsy Bead Weavers September challenge, Lunar Obsession. You can view the actual listing HERE.
Often when perusing local bead shops I will purchase beady things that are ugly or weird, just because I like things that are unusual. The focal of my necklace, a grey resin cabochon, is just that. It caught my eye because I have never seen anything like it. I picked it up on a whim, not having any idea of what I would do with it. When I got it home and looked it over a second time, I thought I would never use it, that it was a little too ugly for jewelry use, and would join my overwhelming stash of going nowhere soon beady “stuff” that waits patiently for its birth.
For this challenge we were to be inspired by the moon. I often look to the moon; wondering, awed, captivated. Cloaked in darkness and full of mystery, constantly changing and often lacking symmetry. When viewing the moon even from such a great distance you see craters, shadows, texture, the beauty of light reflecting off of its surface.
The focal is representative of the moon’s surface. Also used in this piece were Picasso and metallic finish peanut beads, textured metal sequins, Hematite beads, matte cube beads, a cat eye cabochon, bugle beads, matte & opaque seed beads, and a gunmetal tube bead, backed with Ultrasuede, and finished with a gunmetal toggle closure.
Please be sure to visit our team blog, between the 9th and the 15th of September to see all the entries from the wonderfully talented artists in this team and vote for your favorite entry!
*Enjoy your holiday weekend and be sure to look up tonight and behold the Blue Moon!*
Read on to find out what inspired me and to view more pictures...
Here is my entry, Cocoon, for the Etsy Bead Weavers February Challenge; Nest.
You can view the actual listing HERE.
The idea was to come up with our own interpretation of nest. One’s first thought of nest would probably be a bird’s nest. Upon Googling nests of birds, animals, and insects I was inspired by some of the wasp nests I came across.
To be honest, I hate wasps. They freak me out. I hate being stung and I run, duck, and emit squeals of terror anytime they come near me. But something about their neatly constructed homes drew me in. I think the repetitive pattern appeals to the part of myself with OCD.
I decided for this challenge I would make a bracelet since I’ve always made necklaces for my challenge entries. I had a vision right away of two very different bracelets. The first was more bird nest like, the second what I have created here. The first I thought wouldn’t be best beadwoven, so I went with my second idea, but wasn’t sure how to create the “tubes”. Even-count tubes are very easy to make when stitched flat then rolled and ends sewn together. But I didn’t think that would look right, I wanted something more organic and flexible versus stiff and perfectly even. After reviewing stitches, I decided to use 3 types; circular, tubular, and odd-count flat.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, other than a bed or receptacle made by a bird or animal for its young, nest can also be defined as a place of rest, retreat, or lodging OR a group of objects made to fit close together. So my vision seemed to fit well and to tie in to both of those definitions, as I choose to do a single line of “tubes” one right after another and to use the colors of my very own place of rest, which also happen to coincide with Pantone’s Spring 2012 Fashion Color Report; Bellflower, Sweet Lilac, Driftwood, and Cockatoo.
Each “tube” contains 258 tiny Delica beads stitched one at a time & passed through multiple times, taking over an hour to create just one tube and anchor securely to the base. The base took a few hours to stitch and then embellish with purple metallic drops. All in all 4,700+ Japanese seed beads were used. It took 19+ hours over 2 ½ weeks to complete. For the clasp I used gunmetal jumprings and an oxidized silver toggle clasp.
I decided to title it Cocoon since that is what the tubes remind me of. A cocoon offers protection, and since I used the colors of my own safe space, I thought it appropriate. I was tempted to stitch a pearl “egg” in each, and even considered a pearl talon so it would look like something clawing its way out, but thought it might look too busy or complicated, so I chose to leave them empty.
This is totally my style; modern, a little weird, probably unexpected, and includes my favorite colors of purple, green, & black.
You can view the actual listing HERE.
The idea was to come up with our own interpretation of nest. One’s first thought of nest would probably be a bird’s nest. Upon Googling nests of birds, animals, and insects I was inspired by some of the wasp nests I came across.
To be honest, I hate wasps. They freak me out. I hate being stung and I run, duck, and emit squeals of terror anytime they come near me. But something about their neatly constructed homes drew me in. I think the repetitive pattern appeals to the part of myself with OCD.
I decided for this challenge I would make a bracelet since I’ve always made necklaces for my challenge entries. I had a vision right away of two very different bracelets. The first was more bird nest like, the second what I have created here. The first I thought wouldn’t be best beadwoven, so I went with my second idea, but wasn’t sure how to create the “tubes”. Even-count tubes are very easy to make when stitched flat then rolled and ends sewn together. But I didn’t think that would look right, I wanted something more organic and flexible versus stiff and perfectly even. After reviewing stitches, I decided to use 3 types; circular, tubular, and odd-count flat.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, other than a bed or receptacle made by a bird or animal for its young, nest can also be defined as a place of rest, retreat, or lodging OR a group of objects made to fit close together. So my vision seemed to fit well and to tie in to both of those definitions, as I choose to do a single line of “tubes” one right after another and to use the colors of my very own place of rest, which also happen to coincide with Pantone’s Spring 2012 Fashion Color Report; Bellflower, Sweet Lilac, Driftwood, and Cockatoo.
Each “tube” contains 258 tiny Delica beads stitched one at a time & passed through multiple times, taking over an hour to create just one tube and stitch it to the base. The base took a few hours to stitch and then embellish with metallic drops. All in all 4,700+ Japanese seed beads were used. It took 19+ hours over 2 ½ weeks to complete. For the clasp I used gunmetal jumprings and an oxidized silver toggle clasp.
I decided to title it Cocoon since that is what the tubes remind me of. A cocoon offers protection, and since I used the colors of my own safe space, I thought it appropriate. I was tempted to stitch a pearl “egg” in each, and even considered a pearl talon so it would look like something clawing its way out, but thought it might look too busy or complicated, so I chose to leave them empty.
This is totally my style; modern, a little weird, probably unexpected, and includes my favorite colors of purple, green, & black.
Please be sure to visit our team blog, between the 9th and the 15th of February to see all the entries from the wonderfully talented artists in this team and vote for your favorite entry!
I decided to finally take on a new spiral technique to create the single twisted ribbon left of center. On the right I used one of my favorite corkscrew spirals doubled. As one may notice, I have a preference for asymmetric designs and rarely like things that are perfect, even, or common. In the center I've bead embroidered 2 cat's eyes glass cabochons. I originally designed this piece to have the bottom yellow teardrop suspended from two tiny twisted spiral ropes with a grey cat's eye glass bead centered between. I stitched it all together and it looked way to "busy" to me so last night I cut them off and re-stitched the two cabochons directly to one another for a cleaner look.
Yellow is one of my least favorite colors & I seem to mostly gravitate towards black, purple, and green, so I thought I would attempt something outside my comfort zone. I fell in love with the soft, buttery Delicas as soon as I saw them and knew they would be the shade of yellow I'd work with. You can see more pictures of this necklace in the actual listing HERE.
This piece took longer to complete than expected, the new spiral was for me very fiddly; awkward to hold and insert a needle into, but I do love the finished look and will do a smaller piece using that spiral soon. I much prefer the basic twisted spiral rope (as seen in my last necklace, Blue); I can almost do it with my eyes closed and find it very meditative to stitch.
Please visit our team blog
between the 9th and the 15th to see all the entries from the wonderfully talented artists in this team and vote for your favorite entry!
