Sateam carnival blog "Why did I start making jewelry?"

I have fond memories of picking through beads as a teenager and then stringer them into short choker length necklaces... I have no clue where I bought the beads.... or where any of these necklaces now reside... Next stop on the jewellery train would be sometime in the 90's I took a glass fusing workshop from Warren Langley at Pilchuk in WA state, the class had absolutely nothing to do with beads, or jewellery.... BUT there was also a flameworking class going on at the same time... mainly sculptural stuff....

Pilchuk always has an auction towards the end of the 3 weeks and one of the auction items was a silver wire and glass bead necklace.. which I had to own & do. Looking at the beads now they are very wonky... but that necklace started me on my journey with flame and silver.

But there were a few more stops on the train before I got there.... First was a handformed metal class at Series in Red Deer taught by Karen Cantine.



BOWL !!!! Scale on this is 12 inches square and the sheet metal was 14 guage.....

After a week of hammering that bowl ... my thoughts turned towards smaller items How about a silver class with tiny hammers..... my First 'jewellery' instructor at series was Dee Fontans, she's actually almost more of a performance artist than jeweller. (She actually does phenomenal enameled pieces... but that wasn't the class!) This is the only piece that I know that I made in that class.... (I brought the dichro cab with me)





Enter my hot head torch (1994)..... NOW I have beads I must use them... so although I'm actually a competent silver smith most of my jewellery making is confined to wire wrapping, chainmaille and stringing. I think it's a price point thing more than anything else Under $40 earrings and pendants sell.... over $40 I have to dust them and clean them GACK!

However I still like to do more intricate work ... problem is it's all mine... How much jewellery can I wear!

This was a bracelet I made in a workshop in GA... I did the 'chainmaille' at home after the class ... took it back the next fall to show the instructor and spent spare time during that class making the box link closure! (B'let 2006 & 2007)

Yes I do make silver pieces with smaller hammers ... everyone needs a silver spoon don't they?



But one silver spoon is enough.... However although one can only wear so much jewellery at one time... it;s something that you can never have enough of!

To view other blogs from this talented team - check out:

Bead Sohpisticate

Island Girl ....your here

The Familee Jewels

Galadryl Designs

Musings of a Northern Girl

Beadsire

Book Report... 'The Art of Beaded Beads' Starving Artist Blog

I haven't done a book report since I was in High School.... and I won't tell you how long ago that was, but if my graduating class every had any reunions; I've missed 10, 20, 25, 30 and 35..... Actually, that's not entirely true I seem to remember rewriting a few book reports 6 years ago for my son....

THE BOOK 'The Art of Beaded Beads' Exploring Design Color & Technique
edited by Jean Campbell
Publisher LARK



I got this book last summer to help focus my new found passion for seed beads... And since I'm a bead maker, what could be better than a different way to make components or BEADS!

I run a gallery all summer and on nice days between customers I sit outside, so this summer I tried to turn a lap-full of tiny beads into a single larger bead. (slightly more successfully than spinning straw into gold...) .

The first bead I attempted was the tropical Bouquet Bead... First you make the leaves then you add flowers, the design calls for 3 flowers... I couldn't see the point of the 3rd flower as it would be on the bottom so mine has 2 flowers.


Then I moved onto the tetrahedron bead.... ("A shape with 4 triangular sides") I fell in love with these beads and made little triangles for a couple of weeks, they make great earrings.


Then I tried to make a Dodecahedron... There isn't actually a mistake in the instructions on this bead but the layout of the text instructions could have used a bit more thought... This bead took me 4 days and I will never make another one... It's lovely but....


I also tried the Sea Anemone Bead... I can't get this one to work properly even though it's suppose to be easy.... The shaping on this bead is done by changing bead size ... (Bead size trivia: Seed bead size is the number of beads that can be strung on an inch of thread, So if you have beads and don't know what size they are just string them and measure an inch! The Japanese ones will be exact, the rest you may have to sort out the wonky beads....) Yes this project called for Japanese Seed Beads, I only have Japanese beads in size 15, my 8's and 11's are just 'cheap' seed beads... which could explain why this bead is not working....



DO I like this book yes, although I'm not sure what criteria was used to organize it, as shape & style & difficulty of bead projects seems to be totally random. The book starts off with instructions on how to do all the basic 'weaves'...however, I found the instructions for individual beads to be more than adequate... knowing exactly what stitch I was doing seems overated! I can see myself attempting lots more of these beads this winter, the book features instructions for 40 beads. That leaves me 36 more to try!

I think one of the nicest things about making stand alone beads is being able to use them in an original project once they are finished... the great coloured images throughout this book are all of 'beads'. There are few examples of finished jewellery so if you do turn the finished projects into jewellery you have something that is uniquely yours!

Other member book reviews!
Galadryl Design

http://danagonia-enc...uriosities.html

http://famileejewels...ed-Jewelry.html

http://thisnortherng...1/28/gemstones/

http://beadsophistic...al-book-review/

http://islandgirlsin...aded-beads.html

How it came to be... Starving Artist Blog

Or why I NOW work with glass... I started life as a Geologist....


There's lots of directions that I could head off in with that statement... very little that I do with glass was premeditated... I took my first flat glass class because a friend of a friend canceled and didn't want to loose her money... so I stepped in.... My first big panel was a bathroom window for my sister, the second one was the panel that Noreen... the friend that talked me into taking my first flat glass class started in that class... she bit off way more than she could chew! But that panel was finished 6 or 7 years later and installed in her parents front hall.... IN between about all I did was attempt a 6 panel faux tiffany lamp... I finished one panel in the class... cut out all the rest and had the pieces unlabeled on top of the drier in the basement... My 2 year old went down stairs and transferred all the neat piles of unlabeled glass into a bucket.... they stayed there unsorted for about 8 years.... The lamp then spent 11 years in my dining room in SK and has been hanging in 'Rapunzels' tower in NB for the last 3 years!



My foray into glass beads was because I saw and bought a hot head because it was in a wholesale catalogue and in those days there weren't a lot of new toys available so when there was something ... I got it!

Bounce forward another 6 years to my move to NewBrunswick in Sept of 2001... gone is my 1200 sq ft commercial studio... I have an unheated, uninsulated garage to make beads in or a dungeon with water up to my knees whenever it rains to do stained glass in.... What a choice!


Dungeon still has almost no heat but the river is gone.....

Now I have a heated bead studio and a sump pump in the dungeon.... I'll take the bead studio with the windows facing the government wharf... who wouldn't prefer to cuddle over a warm flame and watch fishing boats come and go, then work on a muddy concrete floor ....

View through the screen and my messy workbench!

For the last 11 years I have also run a seasonal gallery featuring work done by Canadian Women... but that's a whole nother story!


Other artists participating in this month blog

Sylvia from Galadryl


Bonnie from The FamiLee Jewels


Julie from Northern Girl Jewelry

Remember the ABS Carnival blog I did on Passion?

Well the Moderator "boss/owner"....? has compiled all of the Passion blogs and here is a link to what she came up with.... "Happy Saint Patrick's Carnival Bloggers Day

Here's the link to my blog post.