Show and Tell night @ Toronto Bead Society

Last night was the first Toronto Bead Society meeting of 2011. We had a show and tell night. I took in my collection of boxes inspired by various things. Here is my display of boxes and inspiration sources.

My sources of inspirations included to following -

Margie Deeb's book The Beader's color palette for the Sea Anenome Boxes.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and Eargon by Christopher Paolini for two of my dragon boxes.

Lampwork beads from glass artist Elly Peters.

Lampwork beads from glass artist Amy Waldman Smith. Watch for a complete post about this series soon.

 

Of course the starting inspiration for all of my boxes is Julia Pretl's book Little bead boxes.

Thanks to fellow members who also shared their beadwork. Also for all those who admired the work on display I hope that you were as inspired and amazed as I was.

Flashback Friday - Twig Chip Cascade

The next step in the evolution of Maria Rypan Twig series came when she saw some great stone chips. Using the chips at the end of branch of the coral fringe change the look of the design. Here is my personal necklace using moonstone chips.

You will also notice that instead of simple bugle beads she included press glass rectanglar beads. They add to the presence of the piece. It is a much fuller and bigger piece.

I have since made a number of sample pieces, with different stone chips, for Maria to have on display in her booth and to photograph for kit covers. This piece has been on loan to Maria for a number of show and I just got it back this fall.

2010 in review

It is the end of another year and here is my review of my beading this year. The year started out with the resizing of String Quartet and ended with colourful snowflakes.

Here are a few favourites -

The dotted bead collection

 Dragon's Blood Necklace

Little Black Dress Necklace

Lizzie's Trio of bracelets

In July I took classes with the very talented Marcia DeCoster @ beadfx. Here are my beaded beads.

Bellismo Beaded Beads

From her book Beaded Opulence my two favourites.

 

 Dark Indigo Quetzal Ring

Urchin Bead

From Laura McCabe's  Creating Crystal Jewelry with Swarovksi I finally did the Crown Jewel.

Bermuda Crown Jewel

My third box in my dragon series is my Smaug box.

 

 Smaug Box

Of the many Rypan Design projects and samples here are my favourites this year. The first two were contemporary Ukrainian necklaces designed for a young Ukraninian-American graduate.

Contemporary Ukrainian Necklaces

Twig Willow Twist

Red, Gold and Orange Snow??

No, it is not snowing colourful snow it Toronto. But over the last week my friend Anna and I have made snow ornaments in red, gold and orange.

Anna wanted to make these colourful snowflakes for her daughter in-law and a friend. I was recruited to help get them done asap.

We used the pre-made snowflake forms and added various beads to each arm to create one-of-a-kind snowflakes. As in nature no two snowflakes are alike.

My first was this all red flake.

Anna made these four orange and gold snowflakes.

I made these six red and gold flakes.

 

We tried to use only bead that either of us had in our stash of beads. I was surprised at how many different orange beads I had. Many of the red beads were extras from the 2007 Toronto Bead Society bag of bead challenge.

This are quick and easy to make, but as with all stringing projects it is the layout of the beads that takes the longest. It is also a challenge to finish the ends. You can glue a bead on the end, but we decided to fold over the end. It is not easy to do but it give you a small loop to use for hang the snowflakes.

Flashback Friday - Cascading Twigs

After last week's simply strung pieces I decided to look back at this netted collar with coral fringing. I made this necklace as part of a three week series of beadwork class that Maria Rypan offered a number of years ago. Each week we selected one of her projects and our own colours and learned the basic technique. I made this collar in silver lined red to wear with a mock turtleneck sweater. I no longer have the sweater but still have this great necklace.

This is a variation of Maria's current Cascading Twigs. I have the twigs worked closer together.  The earrings are made by doing just a small section of the necklace and working in the finding.

Next Flashback Friday will be the next step in cascading twig variations.

Flashback Friday - Strung designs

For many stringing is the first form of beading they do. Now I likely strung my share of pasta and Cheerios as a child, but as an adult my first beadwork was beadweaving, netting to be more specific.

My first attempt at stringing involved some beautiful red and white lampwork beads, fire-polished crystals and beading thread. It ended with the thread breaking as I stood waiting in the rain for a bus. I was able to rescue the lampwork beads. I then learned about beading wire and crimps. I was not able to find that first piece, but here are some early strung pieces.

 

Although the technique of bead stringing is easy, the design process for some projects is not. Here is one that proved a challenge. The heart shaped stone beads are an unusual shade of green. I tried many different green beads but was not happy with any of the combinations. I then remember some basic colour theory and choose a purple swarovski crystal. As a complementary colour to the green, the crystals worked wonderfully!

The completed set looked great and is perfect to show to fellow beads when talking about colour and beads!

Box 3

I have not been making as many beaded boxes lately. But during recently attempt to tidy up my beading area I came across the started third box in my series inspired by the lampwork beads of Amy Waldman Smith. I figured that it would be a good idea to try and finish the series before the end of the year.

So here is box 3. It is the flipped version of box 2. I flipped my charted pattern and the lampwork bead for the finial.

I also decided to take the two matching pairs of lampwork beads and make earrings to go in these two coordinating boxes.

I now only have 4 striped beads left from the original set. I am thinking about making either a striped hexagon box with four feet or a triangle box with three feet and a finial.