week 28 -Pattern

Focus on life -  Week 28- "Pretty" Patterns

Pattern....  The first thing that comes to my mind when you mention that word is sewing pattern... I haven't sewn anything from a pattern for years... but  I still have some...  The ones I used as a background  for my chainmaille were my mothers ... You can tell by the prices on them how old they are, and they probably aren't particularly pretty.. but the product could be!  The retro one is actually  mine, I've never made it as it takes miles of material!

The necklace covering the top two patterns was bought in Eastern Europe in the 70's, it was a gift from my mother... I was in total awe about how it was made... I took a chainmaille class in 2003 at Series in Red Deer and learned how to do the Byzantine Pattern/weave and discovered that it isn't actually as mind boggling as it looks.

I like Byzantine also know as Idiot's Delight because each unit is a stand alone piece that doesn't flop you can add big links into the middle ... the end... put links between a unit... it's entirely versatile

The bracelets were all made by me and show what a difference gage makes in the final product.  ( I made the glass rings in the middle bracelet)  The necklace with the Carnelian was made for the first bead soup ... It has triangular byzantine elements...

To see how other people interpreted 'pretty pattern'

Almost wordless Wednesday

Self Portrait!  Lead pencil on enamel.

OK stupid post did not followed scheduling instructions!
Note that the date on this is Wednesday April 11... even though today is the 9th!

ABS March challenge.. Finches and Bamboo

Finches and Bamboo, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)

Emperor Huizong (1082–1135, r. 1101–1125) Chinese

Handscroll; ink and color on silk; 11 x 18 in. (27.9 x 45.7 cm)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

John M. Crawford, Jr. Collection, Purchase, Douglas Dillon Gift, 1981

My original though when I saw this piece was that it looked like it was painted onto Dichroic glass so that's what I used!   I made one large focal and a number of smaller beads in assorted shades of topaz and dichro with 'bamboo' leaves painted onto the bead with a stringer...  With the exception of a couple of copper plated clay Mykanos beads everything in the necklace was made by me!

To see other entries in this challenge check out the Art Bead Scene April Challenge post


Happy Easter

Was trying to find a bead that looked like Easter.... Easter Colours is as close as I come ....



Guess it's sort of egg shaped...

Almost Wordless Wednesday

"Almond Blossom" is inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's painting of the same name... The painting was this months ABS challenge...

Then I got talked into putting a piece into the ISGB's Rites of Spring Auction on Ebay... will put up a link to the actual auction and an image of the full piece once the auction starts!

Oops I just realized that it's Thursday today... so I guess my title should read Somewhat Wordy and Almost Wednesday!

Almost wordless wednesday

Well I'm away... I meant to set this up before I left.... Did I NO.....! So I'm going to help myself to a bead off of my etsy site! This one is called
"Dreaming of Spring"...

Actually NB looks a lot like Spring.. Edmonton still has way too much snow to be seriously thinking spring.. and Montreal were I changed planes... it was snowing hard enough I was worried that my plane to Edmonton would be canceled!

But I can still Dream!

More about Bead Soup

This is what I sent my partner in 'Bead Soup Blog Party' Today was the mailing deadline... My Beads are going to England and I'm getting my stash from England... Deadline to have things made is Feb 10 (which is also my father's birthday and my/our anniversary) The question is will the international postal systems even deliver our beads by then!

Here's Joanne's blog (my partner!) While your checking out her blog scroll back to January 10 and look at the lego ball winder for wool!

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

This is yesterdays tree bead.. Yes they are getting better... I used Lauscha olive green on the bottom... I have a green enamel that is exactly the same colour so I was able to cover up my mucky tree trunk! At the moment the bead is a plant poke... we are hoping that that will not be a permanent affliction!

Almost Wordless Wednesday... a day late

Well I'm back.... the workshop in Ottawa was wonderful.... I actually did sell a few beads in the Starving Artists SSSH sale ... if you missed the sale too bad the beads are all back up to full price...

Here's a bead that I made Monday after I got home from Ana's class... the tree is marginal but I love the background, & the shape needs some work!

Never got the picture uploaded so here it is a day late .... the dramatic 'windblown' one on the left is from the workshop the one on the right I did on Monday...

Rainy Friday....

Before we moved to NB I used to do a lot of architectural glass.... this piece is called on the fault line and has been living in a box in our garage for at least 9 years.... G is acting as VANA in the picture... Our driveway is at a steep angle and there is always a 'breeze' here so I wouldn't let G let go!... To quote the natives when we have near hurricane force winds... it's "Breezin' up a Bit"

One of the local galleries was looking for some bigger pieces so I thought this might as well spend the summer in St Andrews... but I wanted to check to see if it was OK first....

The fish are fused first then leaded in place... G & I did the woodwork....

One World One Heart Giveaway

I am joining the One world one Heart 'contest' (click the blue logo if you want more info) To win you must leave a comment on this post of my blog (with enough info that I can send you an email if you win! Anyone can enter but you must comment on this post...

The draw will be made on Feb 12 from everyone who has commented on this blog... I will send you an email telling you that you have won my Thousand Veils Heart.. It's about an inch high. At that time please send me your address and I will mail you the heart. (I am willing to ship it anywhere)

If you want to enter at other sites there is a list of participants on the One World One Heart blog as of right now there are 286... mine isn't there yet!

This is the description on the organizers blog....

The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way...This is more than wanting to win something.......that is only the means.......in the end it's about finding kindred spirits. Someone who may be fairly new to blogging, not sure how to navigate, find others and have others find them....Some are long time bloggers and in some cases well known in the art community. Whatever the case it brings all of them together...We are not solving the worlds problems nor are we curing anything nor are we changing the world. We are merely generating a closer community between humans through blogging."

Rants vs Insights

I'm coming up on the 4th anniversary of my website fireballbeeds ... My web site has a daily (it used to be close to daily) BLOG or in my case a RANT... For some reason it is no longer politically correct to Rant/Blog on a 'personal' website so Islandgirl's Insights is being born! Some of my Insights that I feel fit into my "rant' format will be copied over there.

Why Fireballbeeds? , because I'm a glass bead artists and some of the early photographs that we took for promo material looked like little balls of fire... Why Islandgirl? 8 years ago we packed our bags and moved from a small prairie village in Saskatchewan to an Island (Deer Island) in the middle of the Bay of Fundy in NB (NB stands for New Brunswick, Not Nebraska).

For anyone who hasn't followed my 'rant' I'm a full time glass artist, that also runs a small seasonal gallery featuring Canadian Women.... Over the next weeks I will feature my artists, picked randomly!