this is your last chance.....

....to take my Nature's Muse - Beaded Art Doll class, before the new year! It's one of my most popular classes...I supply the face cabochon and the pre-stuffed doll body....all you need to do is stitch with joyful abandon!  My doll family has grown, so you'll have your pick of unique doll forms, to choose from. As it's running on Halloween day, I'll even bring along some treats!!

Where - BeadFX - October 31st, from 10 am until 5 pm

See you there!

the doll with no name

I finished this doll a few months ago, but am lacking inspiration for a name. All I can think of is "Sea Hag", and I'm not sure the doll will like me to call her that!!! LOL! Anyway, my hag has been intuitively bead embroidered on a hand stuffed, wool felt form, designed by moi! I received a small ribbon freebie, from one of my online suppliers, so ruched it to give the doll a little more texture. I rather like the effect! Now do I need to call her a beaded art mixed media hag? Her rather plain face cabochon, was made out of paper clay, painted with acrylics, and sealed. I've since moved on to Apoxie Sculpt and Polymer Clay for the face cabochons, but this one seemed to fit best. Tell me what you think!

Of course, she needed her own fish bowl!!

bjp 0614 - flying in circles

Why is it, that time flies so fast, that it seems you're spinning in circles? One day, warps into the rest, and very little gets accomplished.....sigh! This bead journal is all about the passing of time and the use of unconventional objects. Found objects, gifts from friends, watch parts, glass nuggets and vintage components, are mixed in with new beads and the odd houshold treasure. Nothing is left out, and all will be used to mark the passage of time. These are my memories, and although I may not remember the individual stories, I will remember my treasured items, as the years progress. It's good enough for me! How do you plan to leave your mark, for future generations? A clean house, is not enough! Promise me, that you'll take some time for yourself....

I won't need to buy vintage jewelery components for a while, as I won a bid for a nice bag of them, from a seller on EBay. Of course, lessons learned are a)the exchange rate, and b) that shipping is expensive. I have promised myself to only bid on exceptional and/or very light items, in the future. LOL! Nothing unusual in my stitches, just the regular posse of peyote, back, stacked and boucle/bocce/moss. I love the warm colours, the watch parts and the bezels in this leaf! It was actually finished early in July, but bad blogger that I am, I just didn't get around to writing about it until now. For those of you that are still doing this, how do you manage to keep up? I do have good intentions, and still love the process, but time evaporates, and all of a sudden, my blog post is two months late. Boo, hoo to me!! Yikes!!! The bad news is, that I haven't even started on my July bead journal....soon, I promise, soon......but then there are class samples to make.....don't worry, I'll find the time to squeeze it all in, somehow........

bjp 0514 - green and blush

Ohh......I've been a very bad blogger!!! My May Bead Journal, was finished in May, but I just didn't get around to blogging about it.....Enough already, it's time to end procrastination, so tada, introducing my May BJP! I wish that I could say that I buried some deep thoughts or symbolisim in this leaf, but the reality is, that it's a simple celebration of spring! After a long hard winter, our landscape was painted with fresh green and pink, so it's really only fitting, that my leaf be painted with them as well. With the heat of the summer upon us, May seems so very far away. So much so, that this will be a very short post, with the photos doing most of the talking.

Somewhere on the internet, I spotted a small collection of stones, that had been covered with beaded netting. I liked them so much, that I decided to add one to my leaf. The ceramic cabochon, came from Tucon, via Stephanie, The Dixon Chick. A teeny little embellishment from Kaite in Australia, three vintage pearls from Sue in AZ (who sent me a generous, goodie package), a family button box find, a plastic toothpick (in honour of my paper bead class) and a metal flower from a vintage bracelet. Other than that, there's nothing weird or unusual in this piece. Stitches involved are back, peyote, netting, stacked, flower, fringe and boucle/bocce/moss. My June piece is also finished, but I haven't taken the photographs yet. With a little luck, I'll post again in a couple of days.

bjp 0812 - a measure of citrus

The summer of 2012 has been fabulous!  I mean weatherwise of course, as my work life has been busy and limited my leisure activities.  But that's beside the point!!  My August bead journal is a celebration of the sun.......the warmth, the colour, the sweet tartness of lemonade and orange juice, the flowers that peak in August and the sunny dispositions of those enjoying the last full month of summer!

I rushed out to shop for beads at a couple of local haunts, but arrived home to discover that my citrus stash was already quite healthy. Sigh!  Don't you just hate when you do that?  This section contains a silver spiral from when I first learned the technique, vintage flower sequins, a couple of small washers painted with orange Vintag Patina (thanks Deb for being an excellent consumer) and then distressed with Baroque Arts, Guilder's Paste in copper.  The golden square is a small tile that was part of a mosaic kit I purchased 10 - 15 years ago (originally for a small tray, I think).  Don't you just love finding stuff you spent your hard earned money on, but never used??  Now I'd like to say that doesn't happen all that often, but I suspect I would be lying.  How about you?

I thought the washers, stacked one on top of the other, made a perfect "8"!  Did you spot my intent?  The oval, dark reddish bead (close to the black "8") is a stone of some sort.  Purchased and utilized for colour and definitely not for pedigree!!

The perfect match of old and older, mixed in with a dash of new (beads, beads and more beads) and a bit of distressed!  While making a small attempt at cleaning a sewing drawer, I discovered a well used measuring tape tucked way at the back.  It probably dates back to my sewing days in Vancouver, but has not been used for it's original garment making purpose in years.  It had yellowed with age and I distressed it even further with a dusting of gold Perfect Pearls.  I thought that I was actually tarting it up with a little sparkle, but it doesn't really show in the photos, so what do I know?  The vintage crystal button is one of my favourites (I know, I know, I keep on saying that) and I paired it up with a couple more of the family button box refugees.  The distressed red bit next to the yellow button is another of Kaite's finds from her wanderings in Bathurst, NSW, Australia.  I believe that it's a zipper pull! There's a little gold ring behind the crystal button.  I have no idea what it is or where I found it, but I suspect that one day, I'll be needing it for something!

Back to the measuring tape......I used to make many of my own clothes.......I wonder if I ever will again?  I did love the challenge of a Vogue pattern, but confess that I don't really know squat about tailoring, so wasted an awful lot of material.  I don't even know how many outfits ended up rolled in a ball and thrown against the wall!!!  At least with beading, mixed media and fibre art, I'm not tempted to do that.......Oh I know, now they're called U.F.O.'s!  Heh, heh, heh......

The finished piece, but it seems I cut off the peak of the roof!  I'll fix that later...when I figure out how!  The colours are not necessarily in my comfort zone, but I have to admit that they make a definite statement.  Now the question is, what are they trying to say?

Stitches used: - back, stacked and boucle/bocce. 

Other fasteners: - E6000 glue for the tile and washers and Aleene's tacky glue for the measuring tape and corrugated cardboard.


I wonder what September will bring?

bjp 0712 - raspberry and lime

July is late and was a bit of a challenge for me.  I sprained my wrist and although not my dominant hand, I found that I still couldn't bead.  Perhaps if I had a "third hand".....you know, one of those clip things....but I didn't, so decided to put my playthings away until the pain was gone.  Surprisingly, healing took longer than I thought it should, but it's good now, so life progresses!!

During my vacation from beads, I dreamed up the raspberry/lime colour scheme.  Not a new one to me, but one that I find particularly refreshing, even though I'm not really a "pink" person.  I even visited a couple of bead stores to beef up the stash.  Did I really need to do that?  Definitely not, but it seems to be a ritual I follow with these journals, so who am I to stifle the muse?  The distressed, metal "7" is actually a new charm that my sister found in Michaels (she sent me more than a few packages of charms, so you'll be seeing more of these lovely mixed media treasures in future projects).  The silver owl is from my stash and this section also showcases a paper clip, a little bit of sequin waste (thanks, Mary Anne!), a millifiori bead, from a string I picked up years ago, a new lantern bead and an abalone shell button (one that's apparently way too shiny for a good photograph).

The squished and naturally distressed metal button was gifted to me from my friend Kaite in Australia ( she picked it up at the side of some road).  The white one (enhanced with a bit of Guilder's Paste) is from the family button box.

Another wee giftie from Kaite -- the top of an old knitting needle.  If you check out her blog, you'll realize that knitting needles are something very precious to her!  Clever Kaite!  I would never have come up with this idea in a million years!!!  Of course, in my defense, I'm not a knitter.......

My vintage button pick for July!!  Also a little "Love" charm that was part of a swap package from someone a while ago.  I confess that I have no idea who sent this particular package, but it contains some lovely things that are certainly fated to appear in future bead journals.  If it was "you", my apologies, but if you let me know, I'll credit you on the blog.

The finished piece!!!  I started out not liking it very much, but it grew on me during the process and I find that I'm really quite fond of it now!  It seems that every time I'm away from beading (or anything else artsy) for a while, it's a huge chore to persuade myself to get back into it.  Does anyone else experience that same effect?  I think it's a sulky muse!!!! What do you think?

My normal rogue, range of stiches including back, stacked, flower and bocce/boucle stitch.

The background for August is already painted, so I expect to start on it soon....................stay tuned!!

wee gifties from afar and a kitchen technique

More results from my July gift exchange with Kaite in Australia.  I wasn't allowed to open the first one until July 23rd and as I was late sending mine, I decided not to open anything else until Kaite  received her parcel from me (at the end of July).  Hee, hee......waiting is so much fun!!  If you check out Kaite's link, you'll see my gifts to her.

Lovely free form peyote earrings and a handmade box.  The earrings are light as a feather and very easy to wear.  The box is clever and I'll need to persuade Kaite to send me the instructions.

Part of our gift exchange is always a handmade postcard.  This is the one Kaite sent me this year.  Interestingly enough, many of the blue fabrics on the background are ones I sent to Kaite to include in a blue quilt that she wanted to make for herself.  I wonder what happened to that quilt?

There was a lot of serendipity happening in our gift exchange this year.  We both made earrings and used circular layered flowers.  She sent me a house, so of course, I had to send one back to her.  It was really quite funny!!

Another lovely postcard, but this time from my friend Beth in South Africa (soon to be moving back to the US).  I admired a series of postcards she made for a PC exchange and she sent me one!!!!!  Aren't I lucky?  The colours just glow as they're made out of some type of waste silk product.  Throwsters Waste, perhaps?

Thanks to both Kaite and Beth for my lovely presents!

What else have I been up to??  We'll I found that I just couldn't resist the kitchen anymore, so started playing with flour.  I mixed up flour and water (wisk together one cup of flour and one cup of cold water), spread a thin to medium layer on the fabric and then leave it to dry for 24 hours.  I used a credit card to slather on the goop as my pieces were fairly small.  You could also use a squeegee for larger pieces.  I pin one end of the fabric to a layer of plastic, over a layer of towelling, felt or cardboard.  When you've finished spreading the flour/water mixture, pin around the sides as the fabric will curl up as it dries.

When it's dry, crumple it up in your hands until you are satisfied with the crackle effect.  Lay the fabric back down on fabric and paint on thinned down fabric paint/acrylics or ink.  Make sure you get well down into the cracks.  If using a dark paint on light fabric, you should be able to see some of the results on the back of the fabric.

I used mostly Setacolour transparent fabric paint in Ultramarine Blue.  One blob of paint at a time and 3-5 short sprays of water, mixed on a pallette of some type (I use well washed meat trays).  I used a lot of paint!

Plain white cotton fabric/dark blue paint!  It's nice, but perhaps a little boring.

 Reclaimed cotton fabric that had previously been dyed with black, Procion MX dye.  I thought the piece was a failure, because it turned out a rather blah grey.  It certainly looks a little more lively with a combination of white pearl acrylic and white acrylic ink (the lighter colour that almost looks like a light grey).  It's better, but certainly not perfect.

Now we're talking!!!!  Green/white wipe up cloth with the dark blue Setacolour.  This one didn't have enough blue for my liking, so after it dried, I cracked the fabric again and added more paint.  I think this one is raw silk, based entirely on the rough texture of the fabric.

I love this one as well!!  Procion MX, parfait dyed cotton with the dark blue Setacolour.  I used turquoise Setacolour first, but it really didn't show up all that well, so the Ultramarine was added after the first layer of paint dried.

It's quite a messy process and not for the faint of heart, but the results are quite satisfying.  I expect these small pieces will decorate my stash for a while as I have no immediate plans for using them.   Don't you think that stash is much better after it ages a while?   I still have a one yard piece of black/white silk that I purchased in the 70's and couldn't bear to use (or I hadn't bought enough to really make anything interesting).  Do you have anything similar?

BTW, to get the flour/paint mixture off the fabric I soaked it in a bowl and then scraped the mixture off the fabric with a credit card (messy, messy, messy...).  I then hand washed and hung to dry.  After that, I heat set the piece with an iron and then threw it in the wash to get rid of any residual flour.  I'm very happy with the overall results and will be playing more in the future.  Perhaps next time with thickened MX dyes!

My next kitchen experiments may require the use of either oatmeal or mashed potato flakes.  Not sure when I'll do it, but do it I will!!!  What do you do in your kitchen?

bjp 2012 - 1st 6 months

Not much to say, but I thought you might like to see the first six months of my numbered row houses.  Now all I need to do is figure out how to make them larger.  I think that they look pretty nice together, don't you?

I've been sun printing and painting fabric with textile paints this weekend.  No photos yet, but I'll try to take some to post later in the week.  I even painted one of my eye glass cleaner papers (wipes).  You know, those ones in the tidy little package that contain a large amount of acohol.  I purchased mine from Walmart!  BTW I rarely shop at Walmart, but my sister introduced me to these wipes and they're just the perfect thing for greasy glasses.  BTW, the paper took the paint very well and the paper is really very strong.  I may need to do more of this.  What I'm going to use it for, I have no idea, but it's nice to know that they have a second, useful purpose.

turn back the calendar to 2011

I'm late, I'm late.......for Kaite's 2011 birthday!!!!  Okay, I was over-the-top busy last year, so as a reward for her patience, I wanted to give her a little something special.  A side result from my renewed beading interest this year, are these little brooches (there's another in my previous post).  I expect that I will be making more of them as the year progresses.  Hey!!  Perhaps I'll even make one for myself!!  I wonder what colour that will be?  This one is lemony and quite delicious! 

Buttons from the family button box, a few sequins and miscellaneous beads.  Stacked, back and boucle/bocce stitches.  The stick in the background is an honest to goodness, chewed by a beaver, stick!!!  Picked up at Skookum Lake in Northern Ontario (close to Sault Ste Marie) a couple of years ago.

You might not know this, but I have a weird and wonderful facination with handmade books.  No, I've never taken a lesson, but I've purchased books to teach myself a few techniques.  Some, of course, are far beyond my fledgling capabilities, but this one was fairly easy and fun to do.  I found the instructions for it in Making Handmade Books by Alisa Golden.  I've played with a few of the one-sheet-of-paper folded type books and am happy with the results.  I hope to do more of this in the future!

Back to this book!  It's heavy watercolour paper (I forget the weight).  I cut and folded the book first and then proceeded to paint and embellish.  I made it a while ago, so actually forget exactly what I did.  However, I will tell you that it included acrylic ink & paint, watercolour pencils & crayons, regular pencil crayons, distress ink, pearls, gesso, acrylic matte medium.  I also pasted in some of my citra solve paper and a folded origami envelope, made out of that same paper.  I distressed the edges and then finished it off with some of my machine wrapped braid, a leaf and a few beads.  A little obsessive, but all-in-all a satisfying exercise.

The final result in all it's fresh green colour!!!





the piece with no name

Should beads and fibre mingle?  I don't really know, but they're making a valiant attempt in this off-the-cuff landscape!! It was originally intended as a 100% fibre class sample, but cried out for a beaded focal point, so I had the bright idea to add the sun!  Do you think I'm still under the hypnotic powers of the bead journal project?

Torn &/or distressed fabric strips, stitched onto water soluble stabilizer, dissolved and then stitched onto artist canvas. Free motion machine embroidery, hand embroidery and machine couched threads.

Hand ruched silks and sheers + a little more hand embroidery.  Did you spot the little strip of paper?  It's gold and lacy and nice, so I thought that it needed to be included.  A little fragile, but okay for a small wall piece.

All fabrics in this piece, with the exception of the canvas base, were either gifted or re-cycled. 

A closer look at the beading.  Acrylic painted Peltex base, stitched with an eclectic mix of beads that includes three paper beads from a thrift shop necklace.  Add three buttons from the family button box and a spiral of silver wire and the sun is done!!  Back, stacked and bocce/boucle stitches.  Isn't all that red luscious?

The piece has no name and is temporarily residing in a $9.99 black, Ikea shadowbox  I haven't quite decided on it's permanent home.  Any suggestions?

 



This is a good example of making something out of all the little nothings in your stash! I think that I should explore more fibre and beads in the future!  Do you agree?

bjp 0312 - march in april

March is a celebration of the early signs of spring. There's nothing deep or angst ridden in this BJP, just a love of the colour green. Of course, I mixed in a little purple and a touch of silver, but that was just an easy way to show off the greens. I think the acid green is my absolute favourite!

Hi-lights in this section are the vintage metal button, a green button from the family button box, one of my mother's old screw back earrings and a little bird charm. The teeny little number "3" is from one of my sister's old cell phones.

After the gruelling task of dismantling another cell phone (one of the screws was frozen in place), I discovered this little metal plate. I couldn't let it go to waste!  After all, it had just the right size holes for size 8 seed beads. I think the scratches give it character!

Peyote, back, stacked and boucle/bocce stitches.

Did you notice the hat pin in the lower right hand corner? Another fortunate discovery from my mother's old jewelry box!

Don't you think the earring is the perfect place for that little bird to perch?

Do you remember how uncomfortable those screw back earrings really were?

Now on to April? Do you think I'll get it finished by the end of the month?

Do you think I ask too many questions?  LOL!

bjp 0212 february in april

February is all about one of my favourite colours, red! I wear it, I decorate with it, I make art with it and if I bothered to wear lipstick, I'd still be applying it to my lips. I love red shoes and bags and red climbing roses....they're all absolutely yummy!!! I've even coloured my hair red. I'm fair of complexion and still blush at the drop of a pin, so is it any wonder that I'm so enamoured with the ruddy colour? Well, I should probably despise it for that reason, but I don't!! To me it's energetic and not angry, although there is that emotion tied up in it as well. Red is not a wimpy colour!

February is doing dual duty for the BJP and the Toronto Bead Society's annual "Bag of Bead" challenge. I was too late to actually enter the challenge, but I just couldn't ignore all of the sparkly bits! The bag included red, orange, pink, gold, amethyst and black beads and some rose netting. I used at least one of everything in the bag. In the case of the netting and the black beads, not a lot, but they were still present. The black beads were so small that I couldn't fit any of my needles through them. Yes, I know that I could have purchased smaller needles, but I didn't get aroundtuit!!! So, I rolled up a strip of the netting, wrapped it with nymo thread, dipped it in Aleene's Tacky Glue and then rolled it in the black beads. When it was dry, I thought that it looked hideous, so I partially hid it behind one of the large glass flower beads. I did use more of the netting in a small stack, anchored by a few beads. It's closer to the top of the BJP, but it's intentionally hard to see.



A gold button from the family button box, vintage jewelry parts, tightly rolled chocolate wrappers and a fabulous number "2". One of my sister & brother-in-law's old TV remotes had to give it's life for this new purpose. May it R.I.P.! Thanks to Suzie for mailing a bunch of different numbers down to me from Sault Ste Marie. Don't you love family!! Your friends think you're crazy and ignore you......your family thinks you're crazy as well, but still agree to donate to the cause. Perhaps it's just to shut you up!!



A better look at the rolled 'Quality Street' candy wrappers. Did you spot the tightly rolled/netting bundle? It's tucked behind the two large flowers and further disguised when I stitched it on with purple beads. Bwahaahaaa......



The large silver button is actually made of glass! It's one of the vintage ones I purchased in the 80's or 90's. Isn't it spectacular? I do so wish that I had kept the sales slips!

Couching, peyote, back, stacked, fringe and bocce/boucle stitches.




The piece in all it's rosie glory! It's a bit brazen, but I like it just the same....

Now, do you suppose the remote will channel the ghosts of Mork from Ork or Alf on my TV? They were amusing at the time, but I'm soooo past that now!! What do you think?

rock on!

My contribution to the Embellished Rock Swap over at the wildly creative Cloth Paper Studio, Yahoo Group. The swap requirements were simple. Take a 7" square of fabric, use some type of dimensional embellishment and design the piece in such a way that it could eventually be wrapped a rock. I went a little overboard, so the recipient might need to find a small boulder to wrap it around!!!! LOL!

I ruched some yo-yo's (suffolk puffs to our friends across the pond) and added both traditional and slightly distorted embroidery stitches. Included in the mix are feather, french knots, straight, whipped running stitch, detached chain, cretan and whipped wheels (at least that's what I think they're called). A few beads were couched and stitched on, some freeform pin tucks, free motion machine embroidery, a few splashes of paint and I call the piece done. Well not quite finished, because that won't happen until someone finds just the right rock!!!

As usual, this was all done totally intuitively. I started with the silk dupioni background fabric, added the large ruched yo-yo and then just played around with fabric, floss, thread and beads until I was satisfied.









The full piece! I'm hoping the pin tucks will make it easier to wrap around a rock.



Doesn't this tempt you to make one for yourself? The piece isn't actually due until April 30th, but for a change, I've finished something early. It feels good, but doesn't help me with the other piece I need completed by the beginning of April. The muse goes, where the muse wants to go!!!