Not To Brag Or Anything, But…

The Bead Society of Orange County hosted a bead challenge this fall. They gave us a packet of purple seed beads and lavender flower beads, with the instructions that we had to use at least 75% of those beads, plus any other beads we wanted, in whatever colors we chose. There were six categories, including bead weaving and novice~I chose Wire Work. And, woo hoo, I won!

I had a lot of fun with the challenge. The flower beads are really made more for bead weaving and flat projects, I think, so they truly were a challenge. I didn't want to just string them (although after seeing some of the projects, people got truly creative with their stringing!), so I used a funny technique I saw earlier this year. I put a fire polished glass bead on the end of a head pin, followed by one of the flower beads and a metal spacer for some stability. Then I "curled" the head pin and bent it up so the flower would face outward, not just dangle down.

I'd been think about how to use the seed beads and I didn't have a lot of choices since I was using a lot of chain. Again, head pins to the rescue! I threaded a bunch of the seed beads onto a long head pin, made loops at both ends and then bent the head pin into zig zags. Connected them with more curled wire. Pretty different and I think that got me some extra points! And my BFF has already asked me for a zig zag necklace!

 

I worked on the necklace a little bit every night for a few weeks, making components with crystals and headpins and eventually connecting it all with jump rings. I knew I’d need components to attach the three strands and when I saw the round silver connectors that looked like flowers, I knew I’d found the perfect ones.

For the focal piece, I took a length of chain and kept adding flowers and seed beads and crystals until it was full and lush.

Here I am with three other category winners, including Cindy Carpenter (left), who won the big prize~a jar filled with beads, tools and other crafty necessities. I’m jealous!

But I was very happy with my $50 gift card to Brea Bead Works. And all but $1.55 is already spent! On tools for my next class and seed beads to make some more zig zag things. And a wire jewelry magazine. And some other cools beads… Well, I had a 20% off coupon and, really, you didn’t expect me to just let it burn a hole in my pocket, did you?!

Do What You Love!

http://www.bearchick.etsy.com/

http://www.bearchicksundries.etsy.com/

Girls' Day Out

Today, I met my friend, Anneliese, in Old Town Orange, a quaint little area filled with antique shops and art galleries. Here’s the Plaza (more commonly known as The Circle, because it has an honest-to-God traffic circle):

I recently discovered Cherry on Top frozen yogurt, where you mix your own yogurty concoctions. Nom! So that’s where we met for a cool lunch on a very warm SoCal day:

We took our time poking through antique shops and new boutiques that have been popping up, where I snagged some really cool old jewelry to upcycle:

Then we went to a reception for our friend, Marilu Morency, at the Schroeder Gallery, where she was showcasing her beautiful beadwork:

Her little inspiration bags hold a positive word to brighten your day. She works in seed beads, which are teeny tiny and totally beyond my patience (and eyesight!):


Here’s the Bead Society Girls: Me, Marilu and Anneliese:


It was really good to get out with friends today. It’s been one of those weeks where nothing went right and other things just went wrong… It truly lifted my spirits to get out and see girlfriends and be carefree for a few hours!

Do What You Love!


www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchicksundries.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

What I Learned from My First Teaching Experience

I taught my first jewelry class this summer, choosing to tackle a pretty chainmaille pattern. Here’s the pattern, called Celeste:

The class was given through the Bead Society of Orange County, upstairs at the Bowers Museum. It almost made me nervous that I wasn’t really nervous! I felt comfortable with the pattern, since I’d won second place at the OC Fair this year with a necklace that included 4 sets of it. And these were women who wanted to learn it and I knew they’d be supporting me as much as I was going to support them.

Sorry, I was too busy to take pictures!

Here’s what I learned/enjoyed:

1. Don’t give out the instruction sheets until everyone is there. I gave them out as people paid and then I had folks half finished by the time the last arrivals were ready to start.

2. Instruction sheets are good. I’d done a really detailed instruction sheet with photos taken by The Husband as I made one of the sets. The photos really helped to show people one of the trickier steps of the pattern.

3. It’s fun to see the designs that people come up with.

4. It’s really satisfying to see people walk out of class wearing their creations.

5. One of our members brought her college freshman niece to the class. I didn’t realize until she’d finished her bracelet that she’d never made a piece of jewelry before. I hope that we got her started on a creative path that will bring her satisfaction and joy, just like the first jewelry class I took did.

6. Some people had no problem with the pattern and other people took a few sets to really get it. But seeing those folks “get it” was really cool. It’s delightful to give people knowledge they didn’t have before.

So now, I’m hooked on teaching. Currently, we’re having some transportation issues but when we’re a two car family again, I’m going to actively pursue more teaching. I’ve already got my next Bead Society class lined up for May 2011, teaching the Byzantine pattern! I’d better start planning my instruction sheet now!!


Do What You Love!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchicksundries.etsy.com

Piece by Piece Mosaics--Kay K Robinson

My friend, Kay K, had a gallery reception yesterday for her show, Piece by Piece Mosaics, at the Old Town Gallery on Main St. in Tustin. I met a couple of friends there and spent a lovely afternoon perusing her colorful work, listening to sweet harp music and catching up with Anneliese and Terry.

This gallery space is so cool~exposed brick, high ceilings, generous office/studio space in the back. And pretty soon, it will be vacant :-( The owners are moving their business closer to home...

Julio Montero entertaining the crowd. Harp music is so soothing and classy!

Glass Slippers.
Kay K started her glassmaking journey creating big, ruffly beads, which you can see as the embellishment on these shoes (more later...)

Another example of mosaics and beads (yup, I met Kay K at the Bead Society!). The leaf and stem are embellished with seed beads.

These are so intricate and beautiful. And there's so much work involved! Let's look closer...

What you may not realize and what I certainly didn't think about, is that each glass piece is hand cut, ground and fired--you don't pick up this stuff off the rack in Michaels! The examples here are the round green pieces and the dark leaves.

And closer still... Can you see the big ruffly beads and a bunch of smaller, round beads? They gave this piece amazing dimension and texture.

This humongous piece is a work in progress that's going to be auctioned for the local charity, All the Arts for All the Kids, in Fullerton. Friends of Kay K, including Terry, are working on the glass pieces, following Kay K's design, while she's doing other glass work and affixing the pieces to the base. The glass pieces for the round designs and longer leaves are glued on netting and affixed as one piece to the base. The other glass is all done separately, piece by piece, and as the design is filled in, the pieces will have to be custom cut to fit in the remaining spaces. You can see especially at the top where glass still needs to be added. Many hands and hearts are participating in this challenge and I'm hoping to see it when it's finished.

Kay K, the woman herself! One of the really cool things she does, which has taken her around the world, is costume building and repair on cruise ships. Doesn't that sound like a blast?! If only I could sew...

And I've saved the best work for last. Ta da!

This is called Breathless. My pictures do not do it justice. Another artist friend of hers did the base, which is exquisite, and naturally, she did the skull.

Again, she's using beads and jewelry to their full advantage! There's only one tooth that's real and I didn't get a photo of that. It's on the far side and it's gold!

The funny thing is, I didn't get one picture of her fish, which was the logo of her show. There were two walls of fish and when I got home, I realized I didn't have any record of those. Duh!!

If you're in the area and want to see Piece by Piece Mosaics (including the fish), here's the website for directions: http://www.otgallery.com/index.html , although Kay K's exhibit isn't on the site yet... And here's the link for the charity event: http://www.alltheartsforallthekids.org/events/index.html

And here's Kay K's own website (yes, you can see the fish here...): http://kaykrobinson.com/Mosaics_by_Kay_K_Robinson/Home.html

Do What You Love!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchicksundries.etsy.com

Days of Skulls and Roses

At the Bead Society meeting last Saturday, a new bead challenge was announced. Sponsored by Jesse James (the bead company, not the shmuck, as Kat said), we each get a strand of beads. The strands are in different color groupings and contain a few fire polished, a few faux pearls and some other types of glass beads. We have to use the entire strand plus any other beads and embellishments we want to.

It didn’t take me long to grab a strand of pinks. Ever since my flirtation with a neon fuchsia Christmas tree last year, I’m likin’ pink a lot. At home, I went through my charms to come up with a theme and I found the coolest silver skulls with rose designs. And in a completely different bag, I found a skull and roses pendant. Oh boy! I’m on my way.

Of course, there’s always the possibility I’ll decide on a different theme, but I doubt it. I really like the name, Days of Skulls and Roses!

I’ll post updates as I work. Since the Orange County Fair necklace is done, I can start on the Bead Society challenge this weekend. I think it’s actually called the Go Make Something Great challenge and it’s not due till late August, so I have plenty of time.

Do What You Love!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

Bear Chick Friday

Getting ready for a long day tomorrow. It's the Bead Society's Bead Bazaar, on the grounds of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, the biggest show I do all year. The Husband and I will be out of the house by 7AM, so I have to know what I'm wearing tonight. Something easily accessorized!

Most of my set up is already in the van. All I have to add is a few small things and the jewelry. It's not a bad load out at the museum, since we'll be in the covered arcade and won't need our EZ Up and the Society provides tables, so there isn't as much slogging as usual.

Don't talk to me while I'm setting up! I'm very focused while placing props, draping covers and hanging jewelry. Once I've got everything out and lined up, I'm ready to visit.

It looks like it's going to be beautiful weather tomorrow and the Bead Bazaar is my target market-people looking for jewelry-so I have high hopes for good foot traffic. This show has the advantage of being jewelry only, which makes it better than a general handmade show, since people are coming with jewelry in mind, not quilts or pottery or greeting cards. The people that come to this show are looking for what I have and that's a Good Thing.

I don't get a lot of time to look at my friend's booths, but I do try to get out and see what everyone has. That's part of the reason I ask The Husband to come to this show, so I can have a break. It's a long show (9am is the unofficial opening for the Bowers employees to 5pm) and it's good to have a second pair of eyes watching the tables while I'm talking to customers. Or off shopping ;-)

Tear down is pretty simple and especially fast without the EZ Up or tables. Then I have to take The Husband to dinner--it's only fair. Maybe Panda Express. Yum. And then we'll go home, take the jewelry in the house and collapse with the kitties. Banking can wait till I have a good night's sleep.

Hope to see you there if you’re in the OC!

Do What You Love!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

All the Names I Answer To Necklace

The Bead Society of Orange County announced a Name Tag contest for our Christmas meeting way back in the summer. I brainstormed a bunch of ideas and even played with a few but in the end, I decided to pull out my dusty soldering iron and try out the techniques I’d learned in August with Katie Casey. What I learned is that I may have learned this technique but practice, practice, practice is what it’s going to take to really master it (or at least not be embarrassed by the results…). So don’t look too closely at these pictures!

So, these are the names I answer to: Mary, my nickname Mare and Bear Chick, which my husband used to call me.

Once I finished the pendants (I wasn’t happy with the first attempt at placing the soldered rings, so I put them aside for a week and tried again…), I linked them with aluminum jump rings and hung a few fire polished glass beads, since it was for the BEAD society.

I was happy just to get it completed. You know how you want to do something but you just can’t find the time or inspiration? Well, I really wanted to participate and I just made it a priority and got it done (last night, tee hee!).

Everyone who created a name tag got to pick out a string or group of beads from a basket-I picked out pretty green cathedral beads that will combine really well with some shamrock beads I already have, among other things.

Purple, green and gold are the Bear Chick colors and though I wouldn’t wear this necklace out and about, I might wear it when I do shows. It certainly got attention this morning at the meeting. No one else had three names, for sure!

Hope your holidays are relaxing and fun. If you’re still looking for stocking stuffers or other gifts, my Stocking Stuffer sale ($5 earrings, $9 bracelets and $20 necklaces) is still running. And I’m planning on raising my shipping prices just a bit in 2010, so now is the perfect time to get that piece you may have had your eye on!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

Artist’s in Action

My title is more about my awkward cell phone photos than our little workshop, but that’s ok.

I took a workshop yesterday with my friend and fellow Bead Society member, Barbara Bastrup. She’s a terrific artist and journal maker and offered us a few hours of learning new techniques in a class called the Beaded Page. We had a blast painting, gluing and playing with beads and glass.

Here we are “in action”.

Here’s my project, called Laugh. You can’t read the silver heart but I took the opportunity to practice with my new metal stamping kit and had a field day, using all the new graphic stamps (a cat face, a curly heart and a star) and the letters L A U G H. I wanted to have a reminder for The Husband and I that, through all the goofy things happening to us lately, we just have to LAUGH!


Hope you get to take a class like this, where you can just bust loose and try new things. I used some new glues I hadn’t seen before and got to use some glass tiles and shiny pieces of broken glass to add some sparkle to my canvas. I used too much glue for the HA in the upper right corner but, as my counterpart in Blogland says,

C’est la vie!

It’s all good!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.bearchickart.etsy.com
www.bearchick.artfire.com

The Beaded Sphere is now Available!

Judy Walker, a talented woman I met through the Bead Society of Orange County, has finally published a book of her amazing beading designs. These designs aren't your run of the mill necklace stringing or weaving. The Beaded Sphere shows her beautiful dimensional designs plus instructions for creating your own. I haven’t seen the book itself yet but I have had the pleasure of seeing her work first hand and it’s so COOL! She’s the winner of the Treasures of Toho beading contest twice over and you can clearly see the quality of her work when you visit the gallery on her website. My new computer and I still need to get acquainted, so I don't have any photos to show :-(

UPDATE! Here's the cover of the book!

http://www.walkerpublications.com/

If you ever get to take a class from Judy, who teaches at San Gabriel Bead among other places, grab the opportunity. Her instructional handouts are neat and clean, right off the press, and her verbal instructions are just as clear. She's a very patient teacher and you'll learn so much since she's very generous with her knowledge.

Congratulations, Judy!

www.bearchick.etsy.com

www.flickr.com/photos/bearchick

Save the Date!!

September 27 Member Sale Bead Society of Orange County!

Every September, The Bead Society has an informal sale on the veranda of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. Come see what our members have created this year. I’ll have my jewelry and sneak in a couple of ATC’s, too. We usually start around 10AM and go till early afternoon. Hope to see you there!

And while you’re there, plan to see the Terra Cotta Warriors. The exhibit really is amazing. Anything that’s survived over 2000 years ya gotta love! These figures feature details like strands of hair and the lacings on boots. What’s really interesting is that no clothing survives from this era and so these Warriors have provided great insight into the uses and symbolism of the uniforms and weapons of their times. And that's just one factoid among many. You won’t be disappointed!

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.flickr.com/photos/bearchick

Meet My Friend, Barbara Bastrup

I met Barbara at the Bead Society of Orange County a couple of years ago. She’s so talented! Her paintings, assemblages and collaged art journals reflect her love of cowgirls, the old west and travel, among other things. I keep nagging her to send some things in to Somerset Studios because I’m sure they’d publish whatever she sent them. Here’s a perfect example.

© Barbara Bastrup 2008 All rights reserved

She’s such a fun person, her enthusiasm is contagious. Spend any time at all with Barbara and you know you’ll be laughing the whole time.

And here’s where you can see more of her work. Soon she’ll also be merchandising her cool jewelry, as well. http://barbarabastrupfineart.com/

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.flickr.com/photos/bearchick

The World on a String

Whether you are a bead artist, a bead and jewelry admirer, or even if you’re a world history buff, you’ll be fascinated with The World on a String series of DVD’s, produced by Diana Friedberg.

Through the Bead Society of Orange County, I’d seen several of the movies. My impression was that they were professionally produced, exhaustively researched and very well edited. Little did I know that Diana Friedberg shot every second of footage on a Sony camcorder by herself! No crew, no assistants, sometimes not even a solid destination while on location. She edits at home and her husband, he of the smooth English accent, narrates.

Yesterday, the BSOC hosted Diana, who spoke about shooting the project. I won’t tell her funny and amazing stories here since she’s planning to compile them into a companion book for the series, but suffice it to say that the making of these movies has lead Diana to the ends of the earth and everywhere in between. She calls it a “blessed project” and I could see why. For me, a Motel 6 is roughing it… Diana traveled to areas that would make most of us shake in our beaded sandals, sleeping on dirt floors and eating whatever the indigenous people ate.

Diana is currently on deadline to finish the fifth and last installment of the series, which will be premiered at the Washington D.C. Bead Museum in the fall. Once that milestone is met, she will be trying to get PBS to air the movies nationally.

Here’s the link to her website:

http://www.worldonastringmovie.com I don’t want to sound poopy, but she makes much better movies than she does websites. The website isn’t too impressive but that’s obviously not where her talent lies! You can order the DVD’s through her website or if you’re in the Orange County area, you can pick them up at the Gallery Store at the Bowers Museum on Main St. in Santa Ana.

www.bearchick.etsy.com
www.flickr.com/photos/bearchick