Here there be Dragons!

I am expanding my herd of Dragons. Just trying to get the process down, it is amazing how quickly I forgot how I did head! Now I am trying to get a step by step pictorial and keep it simple.

Dew on Rose Petals

HI! All,
I finally finished the beadwork on the Dew and Rose Petals bead art piece. It is difficult to get the light right to make those dew drops pop off the beadwork. The beadwork is worked flat, no beads are stacked or sewn on top of others. This a bead interpretation of a photo taken by Leslie B Bohm. In taking these few photos I discovered I forgot about those beads in the bottom left corner! So, here is my un-professional photo of the piece. It will need to be displayed with the proper light and a line drawn on the floor where the viewer should stand.

Key Fob

I bought a blank key fob long ago with the intention of peyote stitching around it. I have hauled it around from house to motorhome and back into a house again. It has been hanging on my corkboard waiting for me to put "clothes" on it. I finally did. Not bad for creating as you go. The Miyuki bugles worked great!

Tutorial madness!

HI! Everyone,
I have been working on a Basic Bead Knitting tutorial with short video clips, like a mini-class. I finally have a PowerPoint presentation with videos that works but is HUGE, 280 MB! I have finally successfully made a PDF with videos, but it is still HUGE. Either are too big to email or post online for download.
If anyone out there has any suggestions I would appreciate any insight. Iam using a trial version of Adobe XI Pro and Leeawo file converter. But I am still not able to get it small enough nor reliable enough.
I know I am not the first person to do this so..... How do others get this done?
HELP!
Thanks,
Cindy

Bead Knitted scarf

In an old Beadwork magazine is a project/pattern for a Bead Knitted scarf. You knit two pieces and join them in the middle. I knitted the two Bead Knitted ends lots shorter than the pattern called for then added the silk velvet section in between. I like the way it turned out.
I am experimenting making a pair of finderless mittens to match. Sock yarn is for more than just socks!!

 

 

A few new things

HI! Everyone,
I have been making a few simple Soutache pieces. Soutache work is new to me. I am inspired by the beautiful work of the artists of Germany and Eastern Europe. I am working on my skills and style. So, here are a few pieces I have made.

The big necklace is the most complex piece I have tried so far. I really like working with the Soutache trim. A wonderful addition to my beading repertoire.

JoAnne's Mania!

This week is the Grand Opening week of the new JoAnne's Fabric and Craft store in our small town of Grants Pass, OR. We have a fabric store: Plaza sewing and fabrics. We have a bead shop: The Bead Merchant. And now we have a craft store! Haven't one of those since the late 1990's!
I have my coupons all lined up in my wallet for each day and my list of what I will get. These coupons are 50% off only one item. Yesterday I got a new ironing board cover. On my list are: floral wire and tape, pliers, polymer clay accessories.... things I will use.

This morning I went to my exercise class. Got a great workout. Thank you Mary! Got the tarp at the motorhome to put on the trailer to load all the limbs and trimmings from yesterday to take to the Bio Mass place tomorrow. Sent off a package and stopped at JoAnne's. To my surprise the JoAnne's parking lot was full. I drove around the corner and did not find a place to park until I got over to the JCPenney lot! I thought,"Just a little further to walk. No big deal."
JoAnne's was full of people. I expected that. I wander around looking for the floral wire at the back of the store. I ask someone with a JoAnne's uniform on,"If I were floral wire where would I be?" She says,"Up in far left corner." So, off I go. I cut across the store to go up the far wall to the floral section and am met by a line of people, all waiting for checkout! The line went from the registers down the checkout aisle, around the corner and down the first aisle, hung a left and down that wall nearly to the back of the store!! YIKES!

So, I very quickly made the executive decision to  come back later after my shift at the Crafter's Mkt: Savannah Faire. I wonder if it will be less crowded there at 5:10 this eve. Hmmmmmmm. I will find out!

Adventures in JoAnneland,
Cindy

A few faces

HI! Everyone,
I have been enjoying the Oregon Coast for the month of August. Relaxing. Ahhhhhhhh. i have also worked on a few needlefelted doll heads. I am just trying to get one that I can use for a doll. I am getting better. I have mostly finished 5 heads, working on a 6th and torn the face off of that second one. I will reuse the core for another head. The third one is still pretty bad. The 4th one has promise. The 5th one tells me I have definitely have issues with lips! 

  

 
These last two (5 & 6) I am using eyes that I printed and glued to a clear glass dome.They are too large for the 5th head. I think just right for the 6th. The 6th head is about twice the size of the others. We will see how this one shapes up. Maybe I can keep those lips under Control!! I need to get better at the eyelashes too. They are those stick on individual lashes.

Victorian Filigree Pendant

I used a brass filigree pendant piece for this pendant from Filigreeandme.com. Cathy has great brass stampings and findings. The centerpiece is a Mokume' Gane polymer clay piece I made.
I added a little fabric and seed beads to create this pendant.

   

The Shell and Pearls necklace is done!

HI!
I finished up the Shell and Pearls necklace this morning. I like the Soutache trim strap and the snappers attaching the strap to the centerpiece. It can still be a piece to decorate a purse/bag. I will put it up in my Etsy shop today. I am so glad to have a project finished. It seems I have a table full of unfinished things!
Beadiness,
Cindy

My Tiger 1 finally done!

I finally got the beading/loomwork done on my first large Tiger design! Whew!! I had a few problems, had to take 6 rows off and redo them. Evidently I can't even listen to music when working on this intense of a project! It takes a lot of concentration and keeping track of every count of every color. I worked from the "word/number" chart and refered to the bead program graph when I needed to. I do not have a plan for this piece. I may get another canvas bag and mount it similar to the other one. Or make a bag to put it on. Undecided, but it is ready for whatever I decide.
This one is 140 beads wide including the 5 rows of border on each side. 109 rows long including the 5 rows of border top and bottom. I still need to work on my loom as the piece is wider at the beginning/bottom than at the end/top

Starting over....

I am working on my own graph for a large loomed tiger piece. The working title is: My Tiger 1. I am not very good at those clever, ethereal names for my designs. Anyway..... I got about 30 rows (1/3 of the way up starting at the bottom) and discovered there were 4 colors just not working at all. Wrong color, too dark, in the wrong places. Here it is a few rows short of where I stopped.
 There wasn't enough definition to the right and left of the chin and muzzle. I ripped it out to the border rows. I reworked the graph and started from square one with the bead selection process. I am hoping I have a better grip on it this time. I am glad I started from the bottom otherwise I might have been nearly done before seeing the color problem.

So here I go again! This fine tuning a pattern is why I chose to use someone else's pattern for the first big project. I have been using a bead loom since 1969. I had never tried something so wide before. I have done complicated but, not this wide. I used to make what is called a "split loom" necklace. Like this butterfly:

They are interesting to setup on the loom and it takes patience to get it all working together. But, They are wonderful when finished.

Onward with the new My Tiger 1 adventure.

A good use for....

In a box or standing in a vase, paired and wrapped with tape so they stay together, are countless aluminum knitting needles, in countless second hand stores and yard sales all over the world. You pass them by because you don't knit, don't plan on learning to knit and don't know anyone who does.
I have never bought any, but I have been given many of these bundles of knitting needles. I take them knowing I will find a use for them. I have off snipped the ends to the length I need to use as "boning" in the bodice of my renaissance faire costume when the cheap plastic boning failed.
I use them to make the size holes I need in polymer clay beads before I bake them. I have used them as support in cross-stitch wall hangings and in doll legs for strength. There are endless ways to use knitting needles besides to start a sweater you will never finish because the instructions are boring and confusing and dont' tell me enough so I know what in the world I am supposed to be doing or whether or not I am doing it right, only to find out after weeks of struggling that I misunderstood and worked the first 5 rows all wrong so now I have to rip the whole thing out!!!!
Oh. Sorry. I got a bit of a rant there. Guess you know how I feel about traditional knitting instructions!

To be fair I do knit. I Bead Knit to be clear. I don't knit with beads. I Bead Knit. The beads are slid between stitches and are the beauty of the piece, usually a small amulet bag or large purse.
So, my point of this silliness is to show you another way I use abandoned knitting needles so that they spend the rest of their days being useful instead of just sitting in a jar or a box with nothing to do.
I use them as stakes for my little sprinklers in my flower beds.

Getting there...

Here's the idea to finish the edges of the loomed Tiger. I wet felted some wool in greens and browns. As I cut into it I found I hadn't felted it as tightly as I would have liked. But, it is going to be fine. I cut out grassy lengths and cut the uneven edges to use at the top and bottom. These are just laid out, nothing is stitched down yet. I am going to a little embellishment before I start stitching them down. I don't want this to get too heavy, we'll see if I can keep it under control!

Tiger Loom Project progress

The Tiger Loom piece is now basted to the bag flap. It took 3 tries but, I finally got it the right color of brown. This evening I will wet felt some wool that will become the leaf border.

And here's the first of the Pat Austin Roses. I have only the  one David Austin rose and I just love it! This is the best it has looked and bloomed in the 3 seasons I have had it.

Tiger progress

The Tiger Loom 1 piece progress. Now for my least favorite part: the strings. I have learned a few things doing a project this big.
1. My homemade loom needs some improvements.
2. For this type of project add about 5 bead rows at each end and on each side as the project is worked.

The only way to organize 31 colors of beads. And this becomes .......

THIS!!

And Here He/She is! Now for the hard part: the strings!! Then deciding what this tiger will be mounted on.
There will be more Tigers. The next one is one of my own graphed patterns with the BeadTool program.

The Tiger Loom project

Here is the most current photo of the Tiger Loom project. It is 120 beads wide and 99 rows long. The pattern is a Maddie the Kat pattern. The pattern calls for Delica beads. I am using regular rocaille seed beads, a mix of Czech and Japanese size 11's. It is approx. 8" wide x ??
Hopefully I have the loom strung long enough! This photo is at about Row 67.

The next Tiger will be my own graphed project. I need to make some modifications to the loom before doing another one. I have to beef it up to correct the "toe in" effect. I have always made my own looms with help from my hubby. Since this project was so wide I had to use it in a different way and it is causing some leaning in of the end pieces. There will be more Tigers!! I am not sure why I have waited so long to do a Tiger project but.....everything in it's time.

The main piece done!

The main piece is done. Now on to the strap. Hmmmmmmm. Should I Bead Crochet one? Make a multiple strand strap? I lean towards the multiple strand. I will let it percolate for a few days.

Also considering some dangley stuff at the bottom. Hmmmmmm. Decisions. Decisions.

#2

Here is #2 in the 52 pr of earrings in a year Challenge. I actually made 2 pair and 10 beads from what I call a: Junk Bargello Roll. These earrings were made from a Junk Bargello Roll slab. It starts as a build up of a pile of colors, bits and pieces. It looks like a horrible useless mess of color, but once you roll it up, roll it out, fold it a few times, then run it through the pasta machine down to a setting 5-ish, it still looks suspect. Take than thin sheet and start rolling it into a roll. If you slice the roll lengthwise several times you can piece together a slab. Or you can slice it into bead lengths you like, turn those inside out and you have a Junk Bargello Roll inside-out bead! Voila'!

the Ball is rolling!

I am so,o,o,o,oooo excited!! My Rolling Sphere fountain is finally rolling!! Here is a video. I treid to edit it but can't find a way so you will have to endure the uncut Director's version.

Basic Beadwork done!

The basic Beadwork is done, now on to the part I really don't like: finishing. This is the point where I would love to hand the piece off to someone else and let them figure out the  strap and connections, pick up the next project and start designing the next one. But, since I am a one woman band I must soldier on!

I am figuring out different materials and ways to make the antenae. I have a couple of good possibilities, let's see what happens!

New beading project

HI! Again,
Here are a few pictures of my latest beading project. I have had these shell pieces that look like ears for years, at least 5. My thought when I saw them was to use them for doll ears, but they are a little big for my size dolls. Although, I might make a larger elf doll and these would be great ears for that.

This will be a necklace/collar type piece when finished.

It's coming along.

Wizards

These little Wizards are fun! They are not my own design. A local gal used to sell them. I used to own 2 of her wonderful little Wizards. One I still have, the other involuntarily found another home in someone's pocket, if ya know whut I mean....nudge, nudge, wink,wink.

I have lost contact and information for the original artist, this was almost 20 years ago, but here are my versions of her originals.
My niece and I are going to have a booth at 2 local festival events in June: Gold Dust Days and the Spam Festival. Yes. It is a celebration of that horrible stuff in a can: Spam. Ick! I am going to offer these little Wizards up for adoption.

The new spinner in action

Here's a video of the new spinner. It goes round and round very fast with just a little breeze! It came with the 2 smaller spheres. I added the larger one on top.

From pieces of (s)crap to an organized cane

From Pieces of (S)crap to an oragnized cane. It is OK. Better than the junk it started out as. I am not sure where I am going with it, but I will think of something. I have more (S)crap from the cane than usable cane, normal for me.
I have gotten into a rut of only making canes and creating piles of junk clay. I am trying to use up my old canes but  getting discouraged. Maybe I need to go back to my clay roots: sculpting. I started out sculpting characters from Maureen Carlson's books. I might put some effort into making some face molds to make cabachons for beading around.

 

Overstock items for sale!

I have been going through some of my boxes and found these 16" strands of 2-3mm Goldstone beads in green and blue. I am offering them for sale at $3.00 a strand. In catalogs they go for 5.35 and up. I have about 100 strands. Goldstone is a manmade material of glass with copper or gold flakes mixed in. It sparkles nicely.
I also have one 13" necklace of Heishi beads with 3 Tourquoise beads at the center. Heishi are disks of stone that all fit together in the order they were sliced. I got it thinking I would re-purpose the Heishi in a new piece, have never used it. The price for it: $10.00.
Leave me a comment here with information to contact you or send me a message at:
ccbeadwork@juno.com or leave one on my CCBeadwork or Cindy Hulsey facebook page.

2-3mm Goldstone, green top blue bottom

Heishi necklace

                                                                      

Help save the Big Cats!

HI! Here is the Tiger Set. I will donate the purchase price of this set to the National Geographic campaign to save the Big Cats. I have the set posted at my Etsy shop: ccbeadwork. You can also email me.
I used glass domes and a picture of a beautiful wild tiger for the cabachons. The pendant and barrette also have Tiger-Eye gemstone cabachons.
Join me in helping save the Tigers. I won't accept that it is OK to lose these most amazing and beautiful animals.