subject to change

Last night I started the August Tropicana page - I'm not sure if I like it or not - I think that this time, rather than starting over as I did in July, I will attempt to just plug through.

August

I"m still facilating on a theme for my August page - my initial thought was a hot hot hot tropical theme - bright oranges, pinks, yellows and blues - then I started thinking about a conversation Charles and I had a way back about me viewing life in black and white - there's very little grey in my world so I thought of doing a page of black and white beads with just a bit of grey - i have a multitude of black and white beads and a multitude of black/white fabrics. It's a thought. I can always do black and white another month.

I received a magnificent lampwork bead in the mail today that I think might be the focus of the tropicana page. The creator of this beauty is Silverfish Designs on Etsy. I love using beads that are made individually by artisans. I know that I don't have the eyesight nor the patience to learn lampworking, but I am happy to be able to support artists even if it's only one bead at a time.

Bead Journal Project July Page 2 is done!

What I've learned from this is to do the embroidery FIRST if I'm going to have straight embroidery on a piece - embroidering around beads isn't easy.

Happy Birthday Frida - day 5

happy birthday frida day 4

not too much new today - i sliced the pad of my left index finger yesterday and am surprised at how much i really need the use of my left hand - frida continues slowly - i'm eager to finish the base work and start on some embellishing -

Happy Birthday Frida - day 3

Happy Birthday Frida - day two

I used turquoise for her necklace, turquoise and cornelian for her bracelet and there is a wee peridot for her ring. Her headpiece is coral.

2nd July Page

So many people in the Bead Journal Project were beading pictorial fabric and it was so beautiful, I wanted to try my hand at it. It is more difficult than just free beading for me (I wasn't much good at coloring in the lines either) but it really is fun and a good learning experience. I think I need to take a break for a bit though - between this horrid weather, my arthritis and all this beading my hands are more painful than ever this morning.

July Page

done

Mosaics Class

The library class was great - I love working with those kids - they are so creative and bright. I really wish there was a way that I could take a couple of them home and mentor them for a few years. Many more class pictures on my flickr page.

no beads

i feel like it's been forever since i worked on my bead journal page. i'm teaching a mosaic icon class for 20 people on wednesday and have spent most all weekend preparing for it. today i made 7 pounds of polymer clay tiles which was actually sorta fun but i'm done with clay for a while now. i was fiddling with the scrap clay while the tiles were baking and made these flowers. i hadn't even planned on baking them but charles suggested they might be good for shrines - in any event they look nice on the stove and since i don't cook, it needed a decoration. if my other class proposal is accepted, next weekend will be spent the same way which sucks but the money will pay for artfiberfest and artfest and that is a very good thing.

July Bead Journal Project Page

after 3 days of work

July Bead Journal Project Page

The solution to the last page problem was to work on it for about six more hours, hate it even more with every bead and starting again. What I learned from the experience is that doing something very detailed and pictorial and trying to do it while being spontaneous just isn't something I'm skilled enough to do yet. And so, I started a new page that I'm much happier with. I'd be happier if I could get accurate colors to show up on the web page, but that really is insignificant at this point.

Also, I don't know how to respond to questions I've received on the blog. If someone could point me in the right direction, I'd be most appreciative.

When something isn't working

do you plug ahead, put it aside, start over? That's where I am right now with the July page. I think I'll take a nap.

thinking about beads

I finally got posting access to the BJP blog and am so gratified by the encouraging comments of others. I still have so much to learn but am happy to know that I'm at least on the right track. I've spent a good part of the morning reading blog entries from other participants of the project and one person wrote about using her 'best' beads on this project and the freedom that comes from that. What an amazing idea - I remember 'saving' good fabric for a time when I was thinner/had someplace exciting to go/whatever and then loosing all that cashmere/wool/silk in a flood - why save these things? more realistically - why hoard them? that's what i do - I have my 'beads' and then i have one special set of drawers for my 'BEADS' - the dichroic glass, the semi-precious stones, the antique buttons - I'm going to use them all on these projects for after all, this project is for me - not to sell, not to send off to an exchange, but for me - to experiment and grow and learn - and with that thought, the beginnings of what I want to do for July fell into place. It is so hot here - unseasonably hot for this area, though certainly not hot by other standards - but I want to do something cool and watery and almost ethereal - so I think I will save Tropicana for August and do July at the Shore for this month. July 'under' the shore more specificly. But first I need to get some 'deadline' project out of the way - uck.

I finished one 'deadline' project last night - just 3 more to go this weekend - no wait - 4 - and I can bead again. I know myself better than to begin the beading because it won't stop until I am done and I'll never get the other projects done. But here is the deadline project - what a silly thing it is but I enjoyed making something light-hearted.

Glass Book

i'm thinking that i'd like to make another one of these, perhaps a larger one this time - i wonder where the instructions for the metal binding are?

bead journal project - day 5

done and done - well except for the finishing bits - i think that i'm going to wait to do that till the very end when i bind the whole shooting match together as a big, fat, heart shaped book
this scan is not so great but i didn't want to dig out the soft box to do a 'real' photo.