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.

bjp0414 - greyed down but still delicious

April was a strange month! Grey and dreary, as it took it's sweet time deciding, if it wanted to be part of winter or spring. A few bright days, made it easier to bear, and I kept busy enough, to chase those doldrums away! I'm sharpening my skill set, and filling my artistic toolbox with even more techniques to share. Like I really needed to do this? Well, yes I do, if I want to keep up with trends, and improve my jewellery making skills. I'll continue to focus on fibre, mixed media and intuitive bead embroidery, but I suspect that jewellery making, will eventually be called upon, to help pay the bills. LOL! Now back to my bead journal. Evening and weekend workshops at BeadFX, with both Stephanie Dixon and Gio Paz, allowed me to ignore the weather outside! Beaded wire crochet, Basic Wirework skills (I needed remedial help, as I've forgotten so much) and a wire bead pendant are some of the new/old learned projects and techniques. I promise details. and more than a few photos, in future posts. The focal, on my BJP, is a resin piece I made, early in my explorations with that medium. Also included is a small wire bead, and a very teeny bit of beaded wire crochet. I started exploring the world of EBay in April, and have included a few vintage jewellery bits, from my first purchase (lots more in future BJP's). Ohhh.....I'm thinking that I'd better watch myself, because EBay could be very addicting! Not to mention the exchange and shipping rates!!

Peyote, back, stacked, bocce/boucle and flower stitches, all shine in this little leaf. I was also, happy to use my new Czech O and Triangle beads, purchased earlier in the month. They make an interesting addition to my stash and you'll definitely be seeing more of them in the future! The triangle beads are shown, standing to attention, on the outside of my bezel. They were originally lying down, but they 'clicked their heels' and stood up straight, when I decided to bead underneath them. Not quite what I had originally intended, but an interesting texture, just the same. Isn't serendipity wonderful? Also, do you notice the droplet of water at the bottom of the leaf? That was a last minute addition, and I must confess to loving it to bits!

wrists and fingers and twining around

Dear bloggers, it's not that I don't love you, but I get so involved, that I forget to write! I'm probably, at least three posts behind, but hope to chat with you again, later in the week. April was a busy, learning and refresher month for me. I took a few evening and weekend classes at BeadFX, but I'm only going to discuss one of them, with you today. I seem to be getting deeper into jewelery mode,so I'll show you two fibre cuffs, I made before starting to play with something entirely different. The first is a felted cuff, made in a class with Dawn Liu-Smythe, who's easy humour and casual teaching style, made for a very pleasant day. The second, a sari silk cuff, hand stitched on water-soluble stabilizer, and then embellished with hand embroidery, and freeform beaded netting. I dreamed it up, after last weekend's spending spree at The Creativ Festival, as I just had to justify those $$'s with a possible class sample! Nothing's firm yet, but I'll keep you informed.

My next foray into fibre, was a result of a blog post about Scrap Fabric Twine, that I found somewhere on the internet. A great little stash buster, very easy, and also quite addicting. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I do seem to be twining fairly regularly. Dare I say that I'll make it a daily task? Probably not, but weekly is a definite possiblility! Of course, my next challenge will be finding something to wind it on, while waiting for inspiration. I know that my friend Kaite in Australia is planning to coil baskets out of hers, and Sue in Arizona, may wrap a chubby doll (LOL!). My ideas = a total mystery!

If you're interested in "twining", please play along, and share your results in the comments. As usual, more later.......

world of threads - time to get the thread out

The call for submissions is open for the World of Threads festival. It's a world class, juried exhibition that's open to applicants from all countries, and to a wide variety of needlework. I've participated in a couple of the past festivals, but as part of a group show. This year, I'm planning on entering pieces into the juried show. Are you up for the challenge? If so, click on the link and wander about. The site has fabulous photos of previous years work! Yes, some of it is huge, but there's room for all sizes! Mine certainly won't be that large. The deadline for submission is April 22nd. http://www.worldofthreadsfestival.com/submissions.html

Exerpt from the WOT blog: "The festival is an international showcase of contemporary fibre art. We are a not-for-profit initiative with charitable status. We exhibit innovative fibre based art from around the world and highlight the strength of our local talent. The Festival is run by dedicated volunteers Dawne Rudman (Chair & Festival Curator) and Gareth Bate (Festival Curator). Exhibitions are carefully planned by various curators. Beginning in 1994 as a single Oakville exhibition, the festival continues to grow in size and ambition. The exhibitions feature work submitted by hundreds of artists from around the world. For the 2012 festival we expanded into Toronto. We will continue to be based in Oakville, Ontario. The town of Oakville, Ontario, Canada is located on Lake Ontario 45 minutes west of Toronto and is part of the Greater Toronto Area. . Oakville has a vibrant cultural scene for which the World of Threads Festival is a prominent player. Toronto is the largest city in Canada and has a large and important art world. The festival draws visitors from across the region and internationally." See you there!

bjp 0314 - thirsting for spring

When depressed by the weather, my thoughts often turn to watery daydreams, and my colour schemes to blues and greens. Heavily influenced, by memories of growing up in Vancouver, I keep returning to these colours!.........Now back to this month's BJP! A study in blue/green, with more than just a hint of delicious temptation!

For me, this has been quite the winter for exploration, and you can see some of the results in this section. Handmade cabochon (mine), topped with a dash of free-form peyote and a vintage button.

Shells, hand embroidery (Spider's Wheel stitch), a family button jar find and one of my old favourites, the ruffle stitch. The stone was picked up on the beach, the day before another big dump of snow!!!

Barnacle stitch and more of the ruffle!

Don't ask me which type, but this shape was actually traced from a leaf that I collected outside in the fall. There were large, small and medium leaves, but all shared the same elegant heart shape. Stitches involved are peyote, free-form peyote, back, bocce/boucle, fringe, stacked, barnacle, ruffle and flower stitches. This piece makes me happy, as do the warmer temperatures! There's hope that spring is finally on it's way!.........It was actually completed a couple of weeks ago, but I just didn't get around to writing about it until now. I intended to post to the blog, but with all the excitement about finishing another piece (not BJP related), it completely slipped my mind. More blue/green goodies in future posts! Oh, I almost forgot.....I had a blast, teaching my first "Beading Without A Net - Intuitive Bead Embroidery" class at BeadFX in March. Next class on May 30th/June 1st!

not just your mama's paper beads?

Who says that paper beads are boring? Why can't we combine junk paper with modern elements? What if we just use recycled materials and then embellish the living daylights out of them? Why not make them into teeny, little art projects? Why do we even need to make jewellery out of them? Why can't we use them as decorative elements in our homes? If we make paper beads out of book text, does that make them part of an altered book? How about using them for toggle closures? What if we mixed our paper beads with other beads? How about combining a text bead with fabric? Does that make it a fabric book? Does painting a paper bead, make it a painting? Why not make them fun, funky, colourful, sophisticated and most of all, fabulous? Come join me at BeadFX on Sunday, April 6th, for my "From Junk to Beads-Making Paper Beads" class. Time: 12 PM to 3 PM. I promise that you won't regret it!

Hmm......looking at the top photo, I realize that I need to add a jolt of colour? Perhaps red, lime, or maybe even yellow? What do you think? My bowl has the start of two necklaces in it, but tell me, what would you make out of paper beads?

Intuitive Bead Embroidery Class

A few random shots of last weekend's class at BeadFX. The names have been excluded, to protect the innocent. LOL!

Thanks so much to all of you, for being so wonderful! I can hardly wait to see your finished pieces!!!

time to venture inside and outside

A couple of my latest excursions in and around Toronto (Allan Gardens and one of our Lake Ontario beaches). It was 11C yesterday and today it's snowing. Go figure! All the colour was inside, last Friday and the outside was yesterday! No futher words of explanation, just the photos (but I refuse to show photos of today's snow!).

bjp 0214 - cinnamon and mustard

I had a dream, and when I woke up, all I could remember was the colour scheme of cinnamon and mustard. I'm not sure why my subconscious continued to dwell on those colours, but I just had to use them for my February Bead Journal. To be frank, it's not my favourite, but I think that it's important to stretch yourself, by sometimes working outside of your personal comfort zone.

This section contains a mustard coloured, embroidered disc (straight stitch, over plastic drapery ring), in honour of the closed, "serious embroidery" facebook group that I joined earlier this year. Also showing, is a bronze coloured screw eye from the stash (but it's almost buried.

I taught my first Altered Domino class at BeadFX , at the beginning of February, and wasn't it lucky that I just happened to have a tiny domino bead that my sister had given me? The cinnamon colour on the domino and the mustard on the button, are both courtesy of Adirondack, Alcohol Inks. One of my favourite playthings!!!

February marks my first purchase of Tila beads (the three, square white/yellow beads. I've used a small screen (sent from my friend Kaite in Australia), which is now almost entirely hidden under the domino. Also included is a small slice of dyed silk cocoon. gifted to me, by my sister, last Christmas. The leaf was traced from a brilliant red leaf, that I dried last fall. The elongated shape was enough of a departure from the others, that it almost doesn't fit in with the rest. Oh well, let's call it the misfit leaf!!!! LOL! February is actually my least favourite month of the year. It a constant reminder (thanks to growing up on the West Coast) that spring is showing up in other areas of the country, but not here in Ontario. We're still in the deep freeze! Sigh!

what if i experiment with hand stitch?

What if I'm just cruising along on a friend's blog and find a new book to purchase from Amazon? What if it's called Stitch and Structure, Design and Technique in two-and three-dimensional textiles, by Jean Draper? What if I actually skim the book cover-to-cover and stop on a section that talks about using hand stitch on water-soluble stabilizer (WS)? What if I had never thought of this? What if I find it very exciting? What if I made two small experimental pieces, over two days, and then decided that I needed to stop for a while, because my hand was hurting. What if I'll get back to it later?

What if I sandwiched thread waste and used teabags between the WS and then stitched with a running stitch? What if I knotted the thread intersections? What if I sandwiched strips of felted, thrift store wool between WS and then stitched with running and cretan stitches? What if I say there's an awful lot more to explore in this book? What if I say that I've actually finished my February bead journal, but am having trouble photographing it? What if I say that I'll return in the next couple of days>