Another Day In the Wet Lab

I had so much fun "painting" my February vessel yesterday that I spent today in the wet lab as well.  March's vessel will once again be different.  This Bead Journal Project has been really good for me - I get to experiment with new techniques in both fiber and beading.  Before I talk about my inspiration for March, I'm going to show you the teeny tiny vessel that February has turned out to be.  No beading yet - it just finished drying.  And wow, does it look different in felted form than it did on the table!

As usual, once it's beaded I'll get some much better pix of this piece.  I'll probably be working on it tonight in front of the TV.  That is, after I felt and full my March vessel.  Nice segue, eh?

So March... I'm looking at the calendar thinking that the Bead & Button Show is going to be here in a flash, and I have almost NO bead inventory.  My leaf stash is WAY down, and my friend Nanette has asked me for enough leaves to make about 35 of our jewelry kits.  That's 105 leaves, just for kits!  That doesn't include any beads for MY booth at the show, and I know that some folks will be looking for leaves.  Suddenly I'm feeling overwhelmed again - the attack of the leaves!  I was looking at some shops out on Etsy, and I found the perfect focal piece for my March BJP vessel.  Kristie-Lou from sculptedwindows had this fabulous cabochon and now it is mine. It sure does reflect how I feel!

And here is the March vessel at the wet and soapy fiber stage. First picture is the top, second picture is the bottom.

Right now, I'm very happy with it.  But who knows what it will look like after I full it?  Since this one is completely abstract, I don't think I'll have the same issues with it as I had with my February "page".  I'll have more pix and progress to report later in the week, but now it's time for a caffeine break - cappuccino is calling me!  And it's time for you to go have a happy and creative day!

Journal Progress and Friday Favorites

Ah yes, it's Friday again - already!!  I did manage to make a bit of progress on my January journal page for the Bead Journal Project.  These are the colors I've chosen for the vessel.  I mean, hey, it's January.  And rumor has it that we're going to get smacked with 4 major storms over the next several days .  These colors look pretty stormy to me.

And here's the first layer of fiber.

As I build the layers, I'll blend the lines between the colors a bit so that they aren't quite as distinct.  It will be a bit challenging because I'm using different types of fibers.  Some colors are Merino wool, another is Harrisville fleece, and another is Columbia/Lincoln.  I can't wait to see how this one turns out!

And since it's Friday, I consulted Google's little "Random Color Scheme" that appears at the bottom of my posts and found some Etsy items that I just love!  Today's color scheme is called "spruce blue", and under that is a group of items I found that fit into that scheme.  The shop names correspond to the pictures from left to right.  Enjoy your shopping trip!

1.  Sand Fibers
2.  Do-Rah! Designs



3.  Artisan Clay
4.  Lucky Lather Soaps



5.  Joolz by Lisa
6.  The Millinery Shop



7.  JMN Pottery
8.  lisa peters ART



9.  frank IDEAS
10. house of beci





Here are some pieces that I've done that have some hints of that color scheme.  Perhaps the next color scheme that comes up on the little color inspiration gadget will send me off in a direction I haven't pursued yet.

Now it's time for me to get a start on my other Friday activities.  And it's time for you to go have a happy and creative day!

More Inspiration And a WIP

Well Monday has come and gone, and rather than look for new inspiration I started to panic a bit. I'm leaving for Miami in a week and I still have so many things I have to make before I go. Then I realized that Miami will probably provide lots of inspiration for future projects.

I haven't been to Miami since 1973 - yikes! But when I think of Miami, I think of turquoise water and white sandy beaches, art deco, neon colors, palm trees, and humid heat. So I started looking around at pix of Miami to add some fuel to my thoughts just in case I'm so busy at the ISGB Gathering that I don't get out to take any of my own pix.

Here's some deco goodness - and these colors just scream Miami to me. That pink-capped cylinder on the right might make a great focal bead, yes? I'm not sure if I have any glass in my stash that comes close to that Pepto Bismol pink, I'll have to take a look.

And this building on the right is a nice study for some dot techniques and twisted cane. There's that pink again... It looks as if this town is just loaded with turquoise and pink objects. Maybe I should make some turquoise and pink beads for the bead bazaar there - they could be a hit with the locals.

Now here's quite a sight. It took me a while to figure out what was going on in this picture. Talk about neon colors - if I were to go bowl a few strings in this place I'd have to keep my shades on! Yep, this is a place called Strike Miami - and when I checked out their site on the web, I found out that there's a Strike Cupertino. That's about 20 miles from my house here in California - who knew?! Look at those bowling balls - like huge bubble gum! And I saw some pictures of the pins - same colors as the balls, yowza!

Oh, I could have lots of fun playing with these caliente colors in the glass lab. And it would fit right in with the weather we're having right now. In fact, I was supposed to be teaching a bead making class tonight but we canceled it. It went up to 97 degrees F today and there's no air conditioning in the hot shop where I teach. There were also going to be 2 benches going in the glass blowing area, which would add lots of heat to the building. That was it, I just checked out. But back to Miami... Here's the last image I'll put out here - even the Port of Miami Bridge at night looks flashy.

Despite the fact that I've been gathering up all this inspiration for my creative endeavors, my execution is still back at the kelp and coral pix. But the vessel has been felted and now I'm in the process of embellishing it. The coral side is finished! Here's my latest WIP picture - obviously not a professional one. I'm going to have to get some other background material for my impromptu pictures - this stuff is too close to the color of the vessel. But you get the idea.

The kelp side of the vessel will also have fish beads on it. I'm in the process of doing bead embroidery on the kelp, then I'll add the fish and some 3D kelp, then I'll weave a beaded coral reef for the rim of the vessel. And if I can find them, I'll add a few more teeny fish that have been in my stash for years. I just hope that will all this "stuff" hanging off the sides of the vessel it will still stand up.

I'm off to do some beading now - have yourselves a happy and creative week!

Monday Inspiration

With so many projects in progress, I won't be able to get to all my inspiration pix for awhile. But this morning I took my camera with me while I was out walking before breakfast. I've walked by these trees many many times, and last week I took a closer look. So today I took some pictures for my inspiration file. Now I can't decide if this should be inspiration for a vessel - I think it fits that sort of object quite well - or if I should create another scarf with these sorts of patterns. That might be interesting - a rough looking pattern executed in some soft silk and wool to wrap around the neck.

Tree bark has such wonderful texture, and the roots of these trees get pretty gnarly. I've had first-hand experience with those roots. Several years ago, I was out doing a power walk with my hubby, and we were on the last leg - just about home. My legs were worn out, but I was determined to get home without slowing down. Unfortunately, I wasn't paying strict attention to where I was putting my feet. Some of these tree roots had come up out of the ground underneath the sidewalk and pushed up one slab of the sidewalk a little higher than its neighbor. My toe caught the edge of the slab and I became airborne. Not being trained in the art of gymnastic recovery, I found myself headed face first with not enough wits about me to roll when I hit the ground. I did a face plant on the sidewalk and put one of my teeth almost all the way through my bottom lip. That was on a Sunday - I had to go to work on Monday, and most of my work friends avoided me like the plague. I'm sure they didn't want to have to come up with something clever to say about my "spousal abuse". Sure enough, after I spoke with all of them they told me that they were pretty much convinced that that's what had happened to me. Yikes! That's just so foreign to me - my guy is one of the kindest people I know!

Anyhow, I've since befriended these nasty old tree roots and perhaps they will guide me in an upcoming project. But for now, it's going to be the ocean. I'm determined to get that one finished before I have another birthday. Since I'm a Capricorn, I guess I have a little bit of time left.

Now go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Jumping Into the Ocean

I'm just about ready to head out the door to go teach my bead making class - but I wanted to post a preview of the stash I'm gathering to work on my ocean project. These are some of the fibers I've selected. I have some other goodies up my sleeve, but those will have to wait for a later post - I don't want to ruin the surprise! :-)

There's such a variation here from dark to light that the colors of these fibers didn't register properly. That ball in the middle that looks almost white is actually a lovely minty green. The in-your-face green in the front is actually more of a yellow-green up-close-and-personal.

I have some things that arrived in the mail today that I'm going to try to incorporate into my mini-ocean. These will require some glass beads to be added to them - I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this all works. It's going to be pretty wild, I think.

And now I'm off to teach. Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Late Monday Inspiration

I'm sure I've mentioned before that I have a love/hate relationship with the internet. Actually, I think it's my ISP that causes me all the grief. For several days now, it's been hit or miss whether or not I'll be able to access the WWW. I'm hoping that I can at least get this post out before it's Tuesday here!

We've had some wicked hot weather here lately, and on days like this I can't bring myself to fire up the torch. Last night as I was sitting in front of the fan putting the final touches on the "B" side of my "Dale" vessel I realized I was having trouble holding onto my needle. My hands just wouldn't dry off! Working with wool was almost as difficult as sitting in front of my kiln. But my vessel is complete! Pictures will be here soon.

Due to these conditions, last week's inspiration for the glass lab still stands. However, I have new inspiration pictures for this week's work in the wet lab. Perhaps this hot weather is stoking my desire for all things ocean.

This project is going to take longer than a week, I'm sure. I already have lots of ideas percolating in my brain. It's also going to require some torch work, so please keep your fingers crossed that the heat backs off!

That's all for now - I'm off to make a few templates for more work in the wet lab. Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

How Did Saturday Get Here So Quickly?!

It seems that it was just "Inspiration Monday" - and now it's Saturday. Some weeks are like that, where time seems to be running on turbo power.

I did have an opportunity to let Mr. Chihuly guide my work with fiber this week, and I'm very pleased with the outcome so far. I still have to embellish this vessel and I'm going to do that with some glass pieces that I haven't made yet. I haven't decided yet what those pieces will be. I might completely depart from the Chihuly influence and put my own "stamp" on the vessel. In any case, I'm so in love with this piece as it now stands that I'm afraid I won't be able to part with it. Then again, that happens with several of the objects that I create - like that raku vessel that I created to go with the tube beads from MAKUstudio. I should know better than to get attached to my creations.

Here are some WIP pictures. I love how different the vessel looks after I finish fulling it!

Laying out the vessel - first layer

After the final layer is in place

Fulled and dried - side 1

Fulled and dried - side 2

Well, since the time I first started writing this post and now, I had a bite of lunch and went through my stash of beads. Looks like I won't be spending any time on the torch to match up this one. There are 2 beads in my collection that I think are just perfect for this vessel. Now I'm off to find all the other embellishing materials so that I can get to work on fancying her up. The next pictures you'll see will be taken in the photo studio with perfect lighting - yeah!

Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Inspiration Monday

It occurred to me once again that I tend to get caught up in my "have to do's" and "should do's" (hmmm, should there be an apostrophe in there or not?), and my opportunities to just let go and have some creative play time are rather limited. Right now I have 3 fiber art commissions to work on as well as 3 in-progress projects. I'm thinking that if I pick a few things as inspiration for the week, it just might get me out of my comfort zone and nudge me to explore something new.

I keep lots of pictures on my computer as well as file folders full of printed material. Today I'm going to choose a few things that I hope will guide me this week in my creative endeavors.

For my fiber inspiration, I've chosen a few photos that I took last summer when my good friend Amy West and I went to San Francisco to see the Chihuly exhibit. I didn't realize that flash photos were prohibited, so I managed to snag a few before I was chastized by the exhibit police. I was really taken by his Basket series - maybe because I had just started making fiber vessels - and here are two of them that really inspire me.

Maybe I will combine elements from both of them into a single piece. I have some "stuff" that I've been wanting to use, but up to this point I hadn't had a vision for it - now I do! I'm not sure if I'll create a vessel or something different - I'll let the mood of the moment dictate what comes of it.

For my glass inspiration, I had already decided what I wanted to "play" with. These are some royalty-free stock photos that I found, which I will use to guide me. Since the next show I'll be doing will be in Miami, I thought that an ocean theme would be appropriate. And today is rather hot, so these pictures make me feel good in MANY ways!

Wow, I want to jump right in! But the area of the Pacific that's closest to where I live is just too dang cold to do that. A nice trip to Hawaii would be lovely right about now...

So that's my inspiration for the week. It might take me more than one week to get to it, considering my commissions, in-progress projects, and the fact that I'm teaching classes on two evenings. You folks will just have to keep me on my toes!

And finally, a wonderful jewelry artist - Cassandra Graham of Wilde Jewels - posted a picture on her Facebook page. She purchased a set of my leaves at the Bead & Button Show, and she has been very busy since she got home. Here is the set of leaves that Cassandra purchased at the show.

And here is the necklace that Cassandra made using my leaves to accent a wonderful focal bead by Wayne Robbins.

Thank you, Cassandra - you rock! If you've never seen their work before, you absolutely must visit Wilde Jewels and Mountain And Robbins.

And now I'm off to the kitchen to play with some food. I have no inspiration for that task, so I'll just have to rummage around and see what I can come up with. (Yes, I ended my sentence with a preposition - bad Shirley!)

Now go have yourselves a happy and creative day!

When Inspiration Arrives in the Mail...

... I just change my plans and go with what feels right. And today, I will NOT be going out to find myself a new pair of shoes.

This morning, my little package arrived from MAKUstudio. I purchased these wonderful raku tube beads, and when I opened the package I immediately ran out into my wet lab. I recalled one of the purchases that I made when I was a vendor at Stitches West in February, and I just knew that I'd have to use it with my new beads. This is a single skein of hand-painted Merino wool yarn - whatcha think?

Now I'm going to go select the rest of the fiber that I'll work with on this project. It's been way too long since I've played out in the wet lab, and this will be a fine activity before I go teach my bead making class this evening. Stay tuned for a WIP update on this one. I have a feeling this will be a keeper for me - I mean, a girl's got to have some treasures of her own, yes?

Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Home Again, Home Again...

I returned from the Bead & Button Show Monday at about 10:40 p.m. after an uneventful flight. I was rather grateful because shortly after I arrived at the airport in Milwaukee to begin my trek home there was a tornado warning and the sky was very dark. The "officials" said that the warning would be in effect until 4:30 p.m. Sure enough, at 4:30 the clouds broke and the sun came through. Wow! I sure wish the weather prognosticators were that accurate all the time.

Here are some pix of my booth. I think I convinced myself that I must reconfigure my show setup. It took almost 2 hours to pack up all my stuff and break down the booth after the show closed. Perhaps I need to rethink my "stuff" rather than my configuration. But I enjoy offering a wide variety of products. I had lots of leaf beads, focal beads, pendants, earrings, a few necklaces, several bracelets, felted vessels, and my new felted vessel kits.

The next evening I taught the first night of a new Beadmaking 1 class and Wednesday night I taught the first night of a new Beadmaking 2 class. Tomorrow I'm teaching a Beadmaking - Working With Metals class. Busy busy! At this rate, I'm not going to have much time to replenish my bead stock for the upcoming bead bazaar that I'll be doing in Miami. But I do love being busy. One of the things that I don't like about doing long bead shows is that I don't get a chance to "make stuff" while I'm gone. So after I finish this post, I'm heading out to the torch for awhile. I sold all of my oak leaves and I only have 1 raindrop leaf in stock, which I've put into my Etsy shop. Tonight I'll be embellishing a felted vessel.

Speaking of felted vessel, my new vessel kits were a hit at the Bead & Button Show, and I'll be putting them out in my Etsy shop as well. I can't wait to see what my customers do with them - each kit was a different mix of colors! Here's my sample vessel for the kit - and this is the one I'll be embellishing tonight.

I splurged on myself at the show. In years past I've stocked up on seed beads, Czech glass beads, lampworking glass rods, and any unique beads that caught my fancy. This year I didn't have a booth helper so I didn't get out on the floor to see anything. But I DID make it a point to find Lisa Peters of Lisa Peters Art. After seeing the fabulous pieces that my cyber friends Carol Dean Sharpe (sandfibers on Etsy) and MaryLou Holvenstot (time2cre8 on Etsy) created with Lisa's ceramic buttons, beads, and cabs, I just had to visit her booth - and she was right next to my collaboration partner Nanette, just 4 booths down from me! Here are the treasures that I brought home with me that Lisa created. I have no specific plans for them, but there was no way I could leave them for someone else to purchase!

Aren't they fabulous? I can't wait to start working with them. Perhaps they will adorn some of my felted objects. They might even inspire something new in my journey with felt.

Awhile ago I saw a blog post by Kate McKinnon regarding the new work she was doing. I was completely taken by her bird-related rings, and when I looked at them "up close and personal" at the show, I just couldn't resist. I've worn it every day since I got it, and it's amazing how many comments I get. The ring with the 2 birds on it is mine all mine! :-)

And now I'm off for a short visit with my torch. The day has really gotten away from me, and I definitely must create a few new beads before evening (and pizza, yay!) arrive. Mom will be ready to head over to Starbucks any minute, so I have to scoot. Have yourselves a happy and creative day!

Another Week of Color Inspiration

In my never-ending pursuit of color inspiration, I bring you my second Etsy sampler based on the Pantone Fashion Color Report for Spring 2009.  This sampler contains the second group of 5 colors that I randomly picked from Pantone's selection of 10.  If you missed my first sampler, you can see my picks for the first 5 colors HERE.  This is the group of 10 colors that Pantone has chosen for Spring 2009.

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We'll start with Dark Citron, one of my favorite colors!

First up is a bar of soap by The Pig And The Peacock - delight in the scent of brown sugar and figs!

Next we have a carved porcelain bowl by Shoshona Snow - have your breakfast cereal in style!

On the end is ceramic pendant by Slavko - very elegant with a rim of gold!

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Our next color is Lavender, fresh as the fields in Provence.

First we start with this luscious faceted glass bead necklace by Shy Siren - what a statement!

In the middle is a ruffled scarf by Janice Rosema - keep your neck warm with plenty of style!

Lastly, we have the Maya Angelou peace crane by Local Colorist - I have this one in my collection!

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The third color we have is Vibrant Green, full of the vitality of nature.

On the left is striking pair of earrings by Pink Owl Jewelry - get lots of attention when you wear these!  Yes, I know... but they CONTRAST beautifully with vibrant green!  :-)

In the center we have a skein of hand-dyed sock yarn by Yarnspider - knit up a pair and stand out in the crowd!

On the right is a lovely little ACEO by Art By LMR - a beautifully vibrant reproduction of the original pencil painting, with some Palace Blue from my the first 5 color samples.

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Slate Gray comes next, to soothe your soul.

First we have a stoneware mug by Page Pottery - share a cup with a friend.

Next is a great little wallet and key fob set by Mushy Bug - Amy Butler rocks!

We end with a gorgeous bracelet by Bella Tu Jewelry - for that "beautiful you"!

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We'll end with Rose Dust, a neutral with some warm colorful undertones. 

First is a delicate mohair tweed scarflette by Phydeaux designs - perfect for those chilly spring mornings.

In the center is a lovely pair of rose bead earrings by MayIdeas - very romantic!

Finishing up the colection is a beautiful beadwoven bracelet by time2cr8 - jazz up that new spring outfit!

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This wraps up my Etsy picks using the color inspiration provided by Pantone for Spring 2009.  With the deep freeze that's been going on in many parts of the country, those of us who create can take pleasure in the promise of spring that these colors bring to us.  

I started working with the spring color palette in my "wet lab" last week, Lucite Green being my starting point.  This is my latest felted vessel, which still hast to be embellished.  I mean, hey - what's a vessel without the appropriate beadwork, right?  I've already picked out the beads, I just have to get to work.  Perhaps tonight's project?

OK folks, now that you have more examples of work representing the colors for the upcoming season, go to your studio and Make Stuff! - as Fred Babb would say.