Take Joy!

Autumn Goddess

Here's my Autumn Goddess, made for a one-on-one round robin swap (i.e., make a body, send it to your partner, she finishes it and sends it back, theoretically last month. **ahem**) at Goddess Dolls.

Christine sent me the unstuffed body and an assortment of goodies, some of which I used—some of the beads were hers and some were mine. The face is by GraphixOutpost (she's on Etsy; check her store for lovely faces), who is my go-to for faces since I am completely inept with clay, and too lazy to improve. The headdress is a piece of silk ribbon, gathered and squashed and held with beads and a button on the back. Her wings are some of those skeleton-y leaves they used to (and may still; I don't shop much anymore, since I have a considerable stash here at home) for scrapbooking.

Butterfly Relic

As usual, I have made something I can't get a decent photograph of . . . these are the best of the lot, taken out on the porch on a cloudy day. One of these days I suppose I will have to Do Something About Photographing Things.

At any rate—quilter's cotton body, clay head bought from someone on either eBay or Etsy several years ago (it's difficult to see, but her face is vaguely Noh-ish), black seed beads and a few oddments of black coral (probably dyed), and fake butterfly wings from AC Moore last week. She's about hand-sized; I'm thinking I will dig out the fishing line and hang her in a window.

Confusion

Moving right along, here is July's Bead Journal piece . . . I have hopes of catching up now that the weather's cooler and I don't have so much to do outside (or so much laundry).

This one is titled "Confusion: Rufus was positive these weren't the guardian angels he'd been promised . . . " It goes to my brother, who requested that I make hime "one of those beaded things" featuring "a face with a squinty eye." (Yes, we are all somewhat strange; why do you ask?) I happened to have this one, which I bought last year from Sculpted Windows, and I had these picasso seed beads I'd gotten from Gretchen Lima, and those strange little yellow plastic faces that came with something I bought on eBay several years ago . . . I think the tortoise-shell-patterned ovals came from Gretchen, too; and the brass arrows came from John's stash.

I actually had it nearly finished several weeks ago, but I had run out of the brown Delicas that make up the bulk of the background; I didn't have enough to do the edging, and had to wait until bead-store money made its appearance. I'm happy with it, overall; the red beads surrounding the little faces are just a bit too large. Obviously I wasn't unhappy enough to take them out, but I do think they're a bit overpowering. They were what I had, though, and I'm trying to work from the stash for a while.

 

Where two rivers join, there waits Death crowned with roses

Here is my Bead Journal Project piece for June. (Yes, June. It hasn't been a very productive summer. Too hot and sticky.) I had intended something a little different, but I've been reading Sharon Kay Penman's Eleanor of Aquitaine trilogy, and this is what transpired . . . there was an awful lot of death in the Middle Ages. The butterfly represents, I think, the soul; and the bee has something to do with the old custom of telling the bees when someone in the house has died, so they won't swarm and leave the household.  I had originally envisioned two roads meeting (Death at the crossroads?), but the eddying patterns I ended up with looked more like water. The Styx and the Lethe? Who knows? Mostly I deal in myth and allegory, and I don't always know why I make the things I do until they're done.

Specs: the usual ATC size, 2 1/2" x 3 1/2". The face is by Sculpted Windows. The metal roses came from ArtChix; I've had these for several years, but they probably still carry them. They have a center hole so they can be sewn on, but I put a dot of Diamond Glaze underneath just in case, since they stick up. The silver butterfly came from AC Moore or Michaels, in a package of butterflies I bought to do something else, and I think I bought the bee at Chevron Trading Post, but I'm not sure (again, I've had it for a while). The beads, other than the flat black round ones, are all seed beads of some sort: matte black, silvered glass, and the ones that form the rivers are a mix of purple, dark green and gold. Unfortunately, my camera didn't pick up the gold, but I suspect O.E.* is to blame . . . 

* You know, Operator Error. I am a number of things, but a photographer isn't one of them.

Winter Heart

This is my Bead Journal piece for February, entitled "Winter Heart." I actually finished it last week, but with the good weather and being outside most of the time, I didn't get around to photographing and posting it until today.

It's ATC-sized, 2.5"x3.5", worked on Bead Backing from Sova Enterprises and backed with pale blue wool felt. The white beads are Delicas, creamy white with a gold flecking which doesn't show here; the blue background is Mill Hill seed beads from Michael's, I think, several years ago. The heart is a hank of mixed reds that I bought . . . somewhere . . . some while back . . . actually, I think they came from Chevron Trading Post here in Asheville, but I wouldn't swear to it. And the branch is brown matte beads that I'm sure did come from Chevron. Everything is 11's except the branch, and I think those are 10's, or maybe 8's. The original packaging is long gone, as usual. The polymer clay face is a freebie that came with some stuff I bought on eBay a couple of years ago.

I'm not as satisfied with this one as I am with January's—I see (and you do, too, don't you?) places where there ought to be more beads, because the thread is showing; and I'm not sure about the size of the brown beads. I used them because they were what I had (and, being snowed in yet again, I couldn't get anywhere to buy any more) and I wanted to use matte, but I think the branch might have been better if they'd been 11's like everything else. Or maybe not—but I do like the overall effect, and anyway, it's all about experimentation, right?

Moon Circles

This is my January page for the Bead Journal Project. I called it "Moon Circles" in honor of last week's full moon . . . After piddling around trying to design something for nearly the entire month, I finally just sat down this weekend with a bunch of beads and my piece of backing, and did this on Saturday and Sunday, while we were snowed in and I was tired of reading.

Specs:

The size is 2 1/2" by 3 1/2" (ATC size—I was afraid if I made them too large, I'd never finish). It's worked on something called Bead Backing, from Sova Enterprises, which feels like stiff interfacing; and backed, after I finished the beading, with white wool felt. (I'm using what I have, since money for new toys is mostly not in the cards for a while; at least, not until after the dental x-rays and the car insurance. And I'm pretty sure something else will rear its head after that . . . Fortunately, I have a pretty large supply of odds and ends to draw from.)

Anyway, the face is one I bought a couple of years ago on Ebay; I don't remember who it came from. The long clear-and-silver bugles I purchased from a friend's bead shop (long since closed) when I lived in Charlotte, about 2000 or so. I don't usually use bugle beads, because I never know quite what to do with them, and whatever I do usually doesn't look right, but I loved these and I've been hauling them around for ten years or so now, and getting them out to admire them periodically . . . and I still have a couple dozen left, I think. The circles are mica doughnuts I got a few years ago when I was doing collages, centered with irridescent flower beads from Joggles, and edged with silver beads from Chevron Trading Post here in Asheville. And the background beads are vintage, I think . . . some sort of faceted glass. I had a small hank of them, and I have no idea from whence they came. I suspect that maybe Daddy got them in a box lot from some auction and passed them on to me a few years ago, but I'm not sure.

I'm always amazed at just how much stuff I have accumulated over the past twenty or thirty years, and how I can usually remember where it came from—but usually not why I got it or what I planned to do with it!

Two Fairies

Made from quilter's cotton; dyed mohair hair; silk ribbon and net skirt; and various seed beads (and the butterfly bead on her shoulder) from The Stash.

 

Made from cotton with dyed mohair hair; silk ribbon skirt; and a bit of wispy trim and beads (including a tiny amber heart) from The Stash. Her toe 'shoes' are bead caps, and the brass disk at her waist reads "dream."

 

Back view: the metal cap on the back of her head came with a mixed lot of brass findings several years ago; I think it's a bead cap. I added the beads.

Both of these are from my own patterns. They are six inches or so tall, and will have invisible hanging lines just as soon as I get somewhere to buy a reel of fishing line, since John doesn't want to share any of his. . .  (Not really; all of his is little bitty maddening stuff. I want something large enough so I can see what I'm doing when I tie a knot.) I had intended them for pins, but I like the way they look as hanging ornaments. I am considering either reactivating my Etsy shop (which has languished unused for a year or so now), or perhaps switching to Artfire (any suggestions, anyone?)—whichever I do, these and their sisters will go in first, along with some pins I've made and put away. (Also: must get better photos. Outside, perhaps? These were done in a hurry last night.)

Sherry Markovitz

I ran across information about Sherry Markovitz's exhibit in Bellevue, WA, here at Robin Atkins' Beadlust blog. Gorgeous images! I saw Sherry's Green Bear
(yup, I stole this picture) at the Mint Museum of Craft when I lived in Charlotte, and I was intrigued, but never had a chance to see any more of her work. But now there's a retrospective book, Shimmer, with a quarter-century of her work . . . oh, I do love Amazon.com . . . it will be on its way to my house soon. Anyway, go and take a look at Robin's pictures (and the rest of her blog, too; she does amazing beadwork).

Now It Can Be Shown

This is my piece for the Daylight Savings Time Swap hosted (hostessed?) by Kai. The face is polymer clay (I confess, I bought it on Ebay), and the backing is a sheer embroidered rosette backed with wool felt and embellished with seed beads, wood rounds, and those 'stone' beads that used to be popular about twenty years ago.

And, not to blow mine own horn, but toot! toot! it was chosen as Best Interpretation of Theme!

Best of all, though, I really enjoyed working on it. A pleasant change from costumes and things that have to be done . . .

A good swap . . . and if you see this, Kai, send me another Flickr invitation, please, to Kirbanita2007—the first one didn't work, and I can't see what everyone else did!

Just Finished

5" tall, 4" wide, plus the tassel. It's meant to hang, and represents Daphne, the nymph who was pursued by  Apollo and changed into a tree before he could catch her. Sizes 11 and size 8 beads, pressed glass leaves, glass and metal rounds, a few novelty beads, polymer clay face (not made by me; I bought it from someone on eBay last year), and fused glass round; wool felt and cotton on the front, ultrasuede on the back; and a bit of embroidery on the edges. Also, interlined with fusible fleece to give it a bit more body.