My Use the Muse II Revealed-- Selkie Symphony!

The Use the Muse II winners were announced when I was in Ireland for the funeral of my DH's elderly Aunt -- and much to my own dismay, on the day of Auntie's funeral there were TWO other family funerals on my own side of the family. While it is never easy for those who remain to lose a loved one, there was nevertheless much camaraderie and sharing of memories and a huge gathering of aunts, uncles and cousins. I felt it was propitious that we were in Dublin and able to meet up with so many family members, and share in the gatherings.

Just before our week in Dublin came to an end the Muse winners were announced, and I have to say I gave up a good hour's sleep just taking a quick look through the galleries at all the wonderful entries.

I have to say there was some disappointment for me that my beautiful piece was not worthy of a mention -- I think if you feel you have produced a wonderful piece, then you certainly harbor some HOPE that maybe -- just maybe -- you MIGHt be mentioned somewhere for SOME aspect of the work involved! Alas, it was not meant to be. That being said I must say I LOVED the winning entry and commend Diane Allen for the beautiful necklace she created. It is simply stunning and a more than worthy winner. Congrats to Diane!

My own piece perhaps lacked a certain amount of originality where 'conceptual design' is concerned, when compared to all of the submissions, but nevertheless I love it and feel I have improved tremendously as a designer AND as a craftsman as a result of taking on the challenge. I believe the muse piece and the beads just speak to me and I could only visualize this laser-cut shell pendant used as I used it! I can now see that many others used it in a similar manner. I believe that original use of the Muse piece was most important for this Muse competition.

I'm a glutton for punishment and so have already sent off for the Use the Muse III kit! (big smile) -- Onward and upward!!

I posted a close-up of the clasp in July -- and so am delighted now to be able to share my entry with everyone.

NO photograph can really do this piece justice. It is rich and luxurious and simply elegant, due mainly to the components. I must commend Scarlett for her choice of Muse piece -- this is truly a beautiful etched donut pendant.

While in San Francisco in June, I purchased ONE bead when I managed to briefly fit in a quick visit to General Beads. That was the beautiful Nobilus Shell bead, which was truly the inspiration I needed for this Muse necklace -- although I did not know that when I purchased it. It 'spoke' to me and I loved it and knew I could create something special around that one bead. My brother and his family, and my sister and her better half, all traveled to San Francisco (among other places) for their vacation and we joined them there. During that few days, my sis presented me with a bag of beautiful shells she had bought in the UK as she felt I'd make use of them in my beading pursuits! It was not until I returned to Texas that I placed the pearly shells from my sis WITH the Nobilus glass shell AND the Muse pendant and it was as though 'all of a sudden' my muse piece was there in front of me!

I like the idea of an asymmetrical necklace and so for this piece I used a spiral rope with increasingly larger beads toward the center of the pendant for one side, and a combination of some simple stringing and beaded chain on the other side. I'm proud of the workmanship here as I was meticulous about ending the threads and making sure I had nothing 'peeking out'!

I ended up beading around the outside of the shell pendant although this was not my initial intention. I felt when it was all together that this added some cohesiveness to the piece.



I truly had the most fun and the greatest challenge ensuring that the bottom fringing looked good, and hung exactly as I wanted it to! I can just shake this piece and the shells ALL fall exactly into place. I truly consider this a highly wearable piece and NOT one that needs any fussing with! I enjoyed creating the fringing and liked the fact that the deepest, darkest blue beads sat to the back and center of the fringing adding that much-needed 'depth' to the piece. This is actually the very first time I have used branch fringing!

The choice of seed beads along with the lovely Swarovski pearls and crystals as well as some beautiful natural top-drilled blue pearls really make this piece rich and luxurious. Regardless of the outcome of the 'competition' I truly love this necklace and will treasure it for a long time to come!

First Bead Retreat, First Class, GREAT Fun!

Well I cannot believe it has taken me so long to update my blog, but despite all that is going on I am determined to at least write a little about the wonderful Shreveport Bead Retreat I was lucky enough to attend last weekend! This was my first bead retreat ever, and certainly will NOT be my last. I had the honor and privilege of taking my first class ever from Gayle Goddard who was a total delight. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

I took every class I could fit in over the four days we were there, and on Saturday night beaded into the early hours of the morning in order to finish my challenge piece.

I must have been mad to take it on, as the challenge I chose was basically all that was on the table when I finally figured out what it was all about! I ended up with a three to four inch piece of thick copper wire like you'd find in a coat hanger; a large plastic donut pendant that has a copper tone, but brushed with gold; a one-inch gold-colored bead; various - about 8 - different smaller beads (some VERY pretty) and a plastic silver-colored half-inch daisy-spacer for want of a better description. NOT the nicest group of items and very, very challenging.

Believe it or not, my piece was the second-place winner and I can only say I was totally chuffed to hear my name called to receive the lovely tote that was the prize. I also received a Melanie Doerman CD with her Venus Flytrap bracelet tutorial which I will enjoy at some point in the future! This was truly a surprise and I have to say I got a great kick out of it all. I was honestly just MORE than happy to simply see the project through -- there was simply SO much talent on display at the retreat.

I found Jill Wiseman's Kumihimo class to be the most fun class of all, and perhaps the most satisfying. I have to hand it to Jill as she is truly a great teacher and her kits (yes I made some purchases!!) and instructions are just wonderful. The Kumihimo Class was a full capacity class, but most students finished their first ever Kumihimo bracelet! VERY satisfying and I am looking forward to delving into this even more over the next few weeks.

I was not able to fit in Janie Warnick's bracelet class "It's All in the Loop" but I was thrilled to receive her kit, and to be put through my paces by Janie after her class, and I HAVe to say it is a first-class quality kit for a very reasonable price and just the most versatile of bracelet patterns. I just LOVE it and send many thanks to Janie for the pleasure of working with her kit! Thanks Janie!

I also enjoyed Ann Page's class "Not Just Another Rope" and feel this versatile Russian stitch will turn in very handy in the future.

There was a wonderful bracelet exchange at the retreat and that too was just good fun! I participated and made a bracelet using a Ukrainian stitch.

I met SO many talented ladies it was just like being a kid in a candy store, seeing everyone's projects!

However one of the more unexpected events at the retreat for ME was when my table-mates decided I should teach them how to make the bracelet I had constructed while playing with the combination of ndebele (herringbone) and peyote stitches that I've enjoyed from Diane Fitzgerald's Book on Shaped Beadwork! I love green and this combination of green beads 'worked' for me.

This bracelet is simply a series of 'squares' that are then joined in any variety of ways (I've made three others) embellished, and then finished whatever way an individual might like! This particular bracelet has a Swarovski closure that became the focal point.

Everyone at the table wanted to learn and so in no time
flat there were many beautiful versions of the squares and I just cannot wait to see all the finished bracelets!

Thanks to Carolyn, Michaele, Gina and Mabel.

I could write for hours about the fun, the sharing and the talented beaders I met at this retreat. I feel I made some terrific new friends and I am truly grateful for this. I SO hope to meet these wonderful ladies again in the not too distant future and I hope our relationships can continue to grow.

I cannot close without of course saying a big Thank You to Ida Williams who arranges this every year. The teachers ALL volunteer their time, so all in all the retreat is reasonably priced and just a very friendly and warm gathering of like-minded crazy beaders. Thanks Ida! None of these things happen without a lot of hard work in the background and I know I'm only one of many who are grateful for this wonderful experience.

Click the title of this entry to learn more about the Shreveport Retreat!

Use the Muse II entry -- deadline is today!

Well I have agonized ad nauseum over the photos that needed to be submitted to Scarlett today. It is so difficult when the photos have to 'do the talking' for you and you KNOW these have to show your project to it's best advantage. I finally had to let them go -- send them off -- even though I'd have loved a third or even fourth photo to show this piece on different backgrounds. I am quite pleased with it at the end of the day, and will LOVE wearing it in time!

So now I move on to other projects and wait patiently for a couple of weeks or so until Scarlett and her team of judges arrive at a decision -- no mean feat at all I know. I cannot reveal the "muse" piece but will post a photo of the clasp at the back of the neck. I've used a vermeil hook and some beaded chain with a drop. I'm looking forward to being able to post a photo of the entire piece in the not too distant future!

Beading for a Cure 2010

I have to say I'm delighted my contribution to the Beading for a Cure cause is now complete. I have waited until the last minute to finally wrap it up and mail it in -- friends and family had to see it first!

I was quite excited initially to receive the lovely kit of beads. They evoked a watery scene and it wasn't long before the creative juices were flowing.

I decided to create a cameo especially for this bead set and am pleased with my choice. The illustration shows a flower fairy sailing across the dark waters of the night on her shell-boat. I grew up reading about flower-fairies so the

illustration appealed to me. The resin gives the cameo a solid and durable finish and overall I'm very pleased with the way it turned out.

I glued the cameo to a backing -- bezelled it and then backed it with ultrasuede. Using the 15/o's around the inner edge to hold the cameo itself gives it a delicate appearance -- I quite like these particular beads and will certainly continue to incorporate these in other projects!

The outer edge of the cameo was ultimately embellished with the indicolite Swarovski bicones and I purchased more of these to complete my design.

I placed the beautiful hand-made glass focal bead above the pendant like a 'crown' and attached one of the rose montees on the bail. This lovely bead certainly deserved to be front and center! The bail consists of some of the green erinite Swarovski bicones and I added one of the Rose Montees to the front of the bail. I am NOT a fan of the rose montees -- can you tell? However, I believe I adhered to the rules and incorporated one of every bead!

The pendant is fringed and once again I was pleased with the outcome -- there is a nice line from the outer bicones of the pendant to the outer points of the fringing.
For this project I created a spiral rope -- I've been using these a lot recently as this stitch allows for the use of a number of colors and the formation of pattern. For this particular project, the spiral rope allowed me to use a number of the beads. Once again I'm pleased with the overall appearance.

What I learned from using this color palette is that while it originally appeared to be a diverse palette when the beads were viewed in the tubes, I felt that too many of them were too close in color when actually used. I think I'd have liked a few matte beads in there somewhere!

I HOPE this contribution is well received and that the necklace will fetch a nice price to help the cause of raising funds for Colorectal Cancer Research. I am personally looking forward to seeing what every other participant chose to do with this exact same kit of beads! The Auctions for all the Beading for a Cure projects will take place on eBay, next March, 2010, which is Colorectal Cancer Awareness month.

This project is one that appealed to me personally, as I myself had a right sided hemicolectomy in 2001 when diagnosed with Carcinoid Cancer -- a Neuroendocrine Tumor. I am pleased to say that despite the constant progress of this slow-growing cancer, I am an 8-year survivor and am planning on many more productive and enjoyable BEADY years!

I often wonder if anyone reads these words -- if you read this, please DO leave a comment -- I'd be delighted to hear from you!

Another Project Completed

I was delighted to be able to deliver a commissioned piece this weekend. Some time ago an embellished spiral rope took the eye of a special friend and I'm glad to say that she was pleased with her pendant and spiral rope when I finally presented it.

The rope itself uses mainly size 15 beads as I love to work with these tiny wonders. The core beads are 11/o's and the rope also includes some 4mm glass pearls.

The resin cameo is actually far more delicate in appearance than the photos show! The cameo is bezelled back and front and the surround includes some 3mm glass pearls.