Hiding… beading…

Still hiding in my bedroom from the world…. and of course beading… I hide to bead… and my bedroom had become my favourite place to bead… so yesterday I came to the realization that I’m really comfortable and happy in there and rather than have boxes and boxed of beads all over my bedroom floor I should find a solution… and I did… I got one of those metal trolleys (I used to keep my TV and video tapes on it), and I proceeded to fill all 3 shelves with all my beads and equipment that was spread all over my floors… this way I don’t have to feel guilty if I like beading in my bedroom, because now the beads have found their own place in there without driving me nuts! :-)

So another week locked up in my bedroom… and the result is lots and lots of new pieces… I got so into the beading that I couldn’t even tear myself away for a few minutes to take photos nor to list and blog about the 2 pieces I did mange to photograph…. but I finally had to take a breather so decided to start posting some of the pieces, and here are 2:

Bronze Vines on Turquoise – OOAK Pendant

Flower Power – OOAK Cuff


Both were created around Lisa Peters Art gorgeous ceramic cabochons… I just absolutely love using these… each one is different, unique and beautiful and I love combining them with the leather. Stay tuned, I have one more piece I created with Lisa’s cab as well as another leather cuff using turquoise stone and in a very bright leather… will post hopefully in the next few days… wishing everyone happy beading! :-)

Over the weekend….

I’ve been busy, busy bee… beading… I lost myself in a beading marathon…. I made 3 leather cuffs a beadembroidered pendant and I’m almost finished with a 4th cuff….

What happened?… I took out a huge box of Lisa Peters Art’s gorgeous OOAK cabochons and some leather and I simply could not stop!!!!

Here are the first 2 cuffs that I managed to photograph before the weather turned grey again…

The first one was designed around one of Lisa Peters Art’s cabs:

Chocolate and Mint Swirls – OOAK

 

The second one (below) was inspired by the colours of the first one:

Chocolate Mint

and after this one I had to use some more of Lisa’s cabs… come back soon to see the other ones…. weather permitting I should be taking photos in the next couple of days…

Look what the postman brought me!

Amongst all the running around from doctor to doctor… I managed to sneak into the post office  for a few minutes yesterday to pick up a package that had arrived… whilst I was running from doctor to doctor :-)… Incidentally my son is feeling much better, although he still has a bit of a fever and a bit of a tummy ache, but obviously and thankfully  the worse is over!!! and nothing could have cheered me up more than his recovery and opening up my package!!! :-) and this is what I found inside!!!

 
Lots of gorgeous ceramic cabochons from Lisa Peters Art!!!! and trust me when I say the picture does not do any of the pieces justice! they are all so gorgeous!!! I revelled in unpacking each and everyone and then spent a good hour just sitting on my bed admiring each and everyone!!!! Can’t wait to start using them… don’t know when… don’t know what I’m going to do with them… but I can’t wait!!!!!

Check out her gorgeous ceramic and raku pieces by visiting her website or blog, you won’t be disappointed!!!!

First there were three….

In my previous post, I mentioned that I was working on 3 of LisaPetersArt’s beautiful ceramic cabochons… well I was… and I did… and then madness took over me and I cut them up!!!

So after spending two whole days embellishing the piece, I decided that I really LOVED the colours, and the cabochons, but the three together was just too much… I’d already started making the necklace strap for it, when it hit me how much nicer one flower would look on the necklace…. so off with the head! I chopped it! took the lining off, re-lined it, and beaded it again!!!

And here is what came out of my momentary fit! much nicer, I think… let me know what your opinion is, should I or shouldn’t I have cut it up… :-)

Water Lilly

I’m really pleased with how this piece turned out… now I have these 2 left (below)… what to do with them??? hmmmm…. :-)

Turquoise Shield

I spent the last week working on some cornelian cabochons…. four to be exact…. thinking that the more I would make, the more chances I would be able to come up with a design for them…. but after four… and a few attempts at creating something with them… I got bored…. and very frustrated….I decided to pack up all the bits into plastic zip bags, and come back to them at a future time… and move on!!! So move on I did! :-)

A few weeks ago, I started getting together a tray with some turquoise, brown and gold beads, as well as some complimentary cabochons that I’ve been meaning to work on for a long time… so I grabbed my tray… and lo and behold… inspiration came to me… turquoise seems to do that to me, often! :-)

So I chose one of Lisa Peters Art’s gorgeous ceramic cabochon and started to bead! Her cabochons are so beautiful, that I dare not bead too much around them in fear of losing her beautiful design… Once the cabochon was finished it screamed for these yummy organic-shaped turquoise beads that I’ve been hoarding for years!!!! and here is my newest piece:

Turquoise Shield

I named this piece Turquoise Shield because Turquoise, throughout the ages, has been considered to be a stone of many attributes; spiritual, cleansing, protective, bringer of prosperity and a symbol of the earth and sky, good fortune and success.

I have always had this innate passionate attraction towards the colour turquoise but specifically towards the semi-precious stone. I just adore it!!!! So much so that I would really love to keep this piece to myself… but the honest truth is, I don’t go out as much as I used to anymore and if I do, it’s usually with my 5 year old (pool, park, school, etc.), therefore, I probably would not get to wear it, even though I love it… + I just made something for myself, which you will see in a later post… I can’t really justify keeping 2 pieces in the space of a week! :-) so I’ve decided to list it in my shop… with a sigh… but with the belief that it will be better off with someone who would take it out of the house once in a while ;-)

Golden Pool

One of my favourite things about having joined Etsy is the discovery of so many talented and wonderful artists. One of those talented artists is Lisa Peters from LisaPetersArt. She makes the most beautiful OOAK beads, buttons and cabochons using different types of clays, glazes and firing methods. In the last year or so I have bought quite a few of her cabochons and some buttons. They are all so beautiful that I sometimes find it difficult to part with them and use them in my beadwork. I just love looking at them and fondling them! :-) However that is why I buy them… to use in my beadwork… so last week I did just that! I picked one of her cabochons and decided to make something out of it…. and this is what I made:

Golden Pool

I love her pieces so much that I didn’t want to detract too much from the beauty of the cabochon so I decided to keep it simple, at the same time I wanted to somehow depict and incorporate into the beading the movement of the golden swirls, so I bead-embroidered round the cabochon and tried to mimic the movement by adding a twisted edge to the bead-embroidery. This was the first time I had tried using this technique and I have to say I’m really pleased with how it turned out…. I’m sure I will be using this twisted edge again! :-) I wanted to make the necklace along the same idea, so I simply strung two strands of beads and twisted them together, and I think it works well.

If you’ve been following my blog recently, you may have noticed my current obsession with using turquoise/green together with gold. Well this obsession has not even come close to running its course! :-) I’m currently working on a green and gold St. Petersburg stitched necklace. I decided yesterday to overcome my (unfounded) fears and try and see if I could manage to do it… and manage I did, it's actually relatively easy and am finding it extremely relaxing to work with… I have no idea what I’m going to do with it… but will be working on it later today and hopefully something wearable will have emerged from it in the next few days… come back and see! :-) In the meantime this is what I’ve managed to do so far:

For more of Lisa’s beautiful work, please visit her links below:

Shop: http://www.LisaPetersArt.etsy.com
Blog: http://www.lisa-petersart.blogspot.com
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisapetersart

Stepping Stones - Bead-embroidered collar

Well, here it is the piece I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.... After a few false starts I finally settled down and stuck to one idea and carried it through to the end. I was so petrified of not getting this piece right because I was using one of Lisa Peters' Art's beautiful ceramic cabochons and I really didn't want to mess it up!!! hence all the starting, unpicking, cutting up... but I am pleased with the result and doubly pleased that Lisa liked it!!! :-)

Stepping Stones

Lisa is a fellow member of the Bead Art Originals and she makes the most beautiful ceramic beads, buttons and cabochons. If you are not familiar with her work, you must check her out!!! http://lisa-petersart.blogspot.com/

I am the proud owner of quite a few of her pieces (and have some on the way).... Between wanting to do her pieces justice and selfishly wanting to keep them all to myself so I can look and touch them (they are sooo gorgeous) I've been reluctant to use them.... hopefully I've gotten over that little mind obstacle and you should be seeing quite a few of my future pieces incorporating these gorgeous ceramic treasures! :-)

If you are interested in finding out more about the materials used for this piece and the measurements, please click on the picture or here.

For now, I'm off to play with my new keyboard.... at the age of almost 42 I decided to take up piano lessons and I'm loving it!!!! and I'm one of those people that when they start something new they need to get all the equipment! :-) of course a piano was out of the questions (too expensive) but a keyboard, that I'm sure my son will end up using as much as me, didn't break the bank, so 2 days ago I went and got one! :-) and I'm so glad I did, and by practicing a couple of hours every day I have already seen an amazing improvement... my piano teacher will be so impressed and surprised! :-)

Wishing everyone a great day and happy beading! :-)

when things go pear-shaped....

A few days ago I showed a sneak preview of a piece I've been working on.... well... that one was scrapped... and this one is the next version:

but wasn't happy with this one either, so I cut it up and decided to keep Lisa Peters' gorgeous cabochon as a pendant... so cut the sides off.... and started enlarging the centrepiece... finished it... and decided that I didn't like it on its own... so started making some side panels for it!!! Ok, so I'm a bit lost... I think it's because I feel so pressurized to do this piece justice and just can't seem to find my way :-)

so here is the latest development:

I'm relatively happy with the centrepiece! I think the side bits are going ok :-) but still, am not sure where they are going... am not sure if I'm going to fringe, embellish, etc. ... I just hope that I don't cut it up again!!! so much wasted beading time!!! :-)

They say three times' a charm!!! lets hope so!! :-)

Got to take my little monkey to the doctor, he's developed a rash all over his body and face, I'm guessing it's one of those kiddie diseases... so am going to stop beading for the day... but come back in a few days time to see where this piece takes me... and hopefully it will be somewhere :-) blood and sweat I say :-)

New Piece (sneak preview) + BAO Items of the Week

Yesterday I started working on a new bead-embroidered piece using one of Lisa Peters' gorgeous cabochons.  I've had this beautiful piece for a while, but was a bit intimidated using it, for fear of not doing it justice....  it's soooo gorgeous!!! :-)

I figured, if I don't like the piece I can always cut it up and try again... so I brave it and started it, and here is how far I  got.  The cabochon is rather large and was thinking of using it on its own... but why do things simply, so I challenged myself to make a collar with it... obviously inspired by the swirls in the cabochon I started beading swirls around some tiny Swarovski flat-back crystals... so far I'm really happy with the result and can't wait to get back to beading it!!!! let's see how it develops, as right now I have almost no idea! :-)

 

And here are this week's BAO's gorgeous Items of the Week:

Silly me, forgot that I had already featured this item a few weeks ago... but never mind, in case you missed it then, here is your chance to purchase my Turquoise Delight Cuff  between now and the 15th February with 5% off + free shipping to anywhere in the world!!! :-)

 

 

Please visit the BAO and check out all the amazing bead artists that belong to this group and be sure to check out the Items of the Week and see what specials are being offered this week:
http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/

Come back soon and see how my new bead-embroidered piece develops!!! for now, I'm off to my very first piano lesson!!! should be fun! :-)

Kumihimo Braids + BAO Items of the Week

Yes, I'm still here :-) it's been a very quiet week... I've had, what I suppose I would call, the blues...  The situation here and around the world has been worrying me, so I've literally been glued to the news in an almost obsessive manner, and have not felt like doing very much and at the same time doing loads of little things....

I have been beading, but at an almost un-natural snail pace.... I started making a flower that I had an idea for, and no joke, but I only managed to make 1 petal per day!!! and that is ridiculous seeing that each petal takes about 30-40 minutes to make!!!  the flower is still not ready... I'm on the last petal and did 1/2 yesterday, but cannot for the life of me sit down and finish it!!!

I also just bought a kumihimo disk (and book) and I am learning how to use it... I've so far managed to do the basic braid.... I will be attempting more elaborate braiding soon...  all I can say is that I love it!!! once I got into the rhythm, I found myself being able to do it in my bed whilst watching, what else, the news! :-)  see the samples on the left.  All 3 were braided using the same technique, I just changed the colours and yarns.  The middle one is the one I'm using for the Flower button below.

 

 

A few months ago I bought one of Lisa Peters Art's gorgeous Handmade Raku Fired Ceramic - Brown Lustre - Flower Shank Button (see left photo - you can see a similar one here) and I started making a necklace for it using one of the kumihimo braids I made.  The necklace is completely different to anything I've ever made and I love it!!!! however, I am struggling a bit with how to end the braid and whether to create a clasp or not... I've left it for a couple of days... but come back and check out  what (eventually) I decide to do with it! :-)  I became familiar with Lisa Peters' gorgeous work through the Bead Art Originals to which we both belong. ... which brings me to this week's items from the BAO

 

 

My item this week is:
Turquoise Delight Cuff

Purchase and pay for this item between now and 25th January and receive 10% off + FREE shipping.

 

 

Please visit the BAO and check out all the amazing bead artists that belong to this group and be sure to check out the Items of the Week and see what specials are being offered this week:
http://beadartoriginals.blogspot.com/