Back on the Blog

Good Morning, It's been quite a while since I have blogged, but I have decided to try and post once a month or so. Not sure whether any of the previous followers will still be interested, but time will tell. 2014 has been a very eventful year. During the Year I was involved with three new The Bead Show events, two in Sydney and one in Melbourne. Volunteer work for the Melbourne Bead Expo also continued, with many Facebook updates promoting the Bead Expo in November. There didn't seem to be time to Blog as well. My class at the Melbourne Bead Expo, Arrowhead Bracelet, was well attended and more than half of the students completed their bracelet in class. This is one of the sample pieces:

This year promises to be equally exciting, with a class at the BSV Members' Retreat in mid January, plus more The Bead Show involvement and the Melbourne Bead Expo in November to look forward to. Caged Pearls bracelet is the project for the retreat.

Add to that four gorgeous grandsons to dote on and you will understand why I don't blog quite so much anymore.

Wooden Boat Festival

The Wooden Boat Festival in Hobart has grown to be a huge and interesting gathering for all devotees of wooden boats and the care and use of the same. It is remarkable to see the variety of boats built from wood all in the same place. From small dinghies and sculls to 100 ft launches and yachts, they were all there for us to contemplate and admire. We spent two days on the waterfront checking out all of the exhibits and admiring the finish on so many of the boats. Having a wooden boat of our own, we were able to appreciate the amount of work required to keep a wooden boat looking so good. Two weeks before coming to Tasmania, we had been sanding down the hull of our own boat and antifouling. It is amazing how much bigger a boat looks out of the water when you are sanding it to when it is floating. It is a very big job and seems endless as once the hull is done, then you need to start on the deck, or the cabin. Wooden boats are a far cry from my usual beading pursuits, but still involve painstaking care for detail and helping my DH to antifoul has been a regular part of life for quite a few years. I am so glad ours is a relatively small boat and not one of the huge boats we saw in Hobart. I certainly wouldn't want to be trying to do all the maintainance work on one of them with just the two of us.

Melbourne Bead Expo

November is over and I still haven't posted anything about the Melbourne Bead Expo which took place over the second weekend in November. It was the usual fantastic weekend of beads, beads and more beads. Set up on Thursday was interesting. It was my responsibility this year to display all of the entries (nearly 60)in the BSV Showcase contest. I'm not sure why someone didn't tell me about the need for wearing knee protectors! Crawling around on the floor running the power cables from stand to stand was not my favourite activity. Thanks to Kerrie, we managed to get the set up organised and then I spent some time working out which pieces went together and which didn't. Meanwhile, others were setting up the "Inspired by" pieces and the "Want it, Take it" section. We also had a Featured Artist this year, the amazing Regina Krawets from New South Wales.

This is one of her wonderful necklaces, "Rafu-Sen". After seeing all of the items in her display cabinet, it was obvious why she had been chosen as Featured Artist! The Bead Challenge, set up at the opposite end of the foyer from the Showcase, was another highlight of the Bead Expo. Another 60-odd pieces, all using the same package of beads and all different! It was quite astonishing to see the variety of techniques and designs which were entered. The winning entries (including one from Regina K.) can be seen here: Bead Challenge Winners and the link to pictures of all entries is here. Make sure you check them all out.

Somehow I got carried away with the Beading Daily and Beadwork magazine Beaded Bead competition, and managed to finish ten beads - two of each style from the last five issues of Beadwork. Then the beads wanted to be strung and so became a necklace called "Purple Hues". Each bead is totally different from the others. They have been worked in different colours, using different sizes, but keeping the same tones. I am quite please with the way it turned out.

Voting is taking place over the next few days at the Beaded Bead Contest page but you need to belong to the Beading Daily community in order to vote. Interesting to see that there are at least two other Australian entries out of the 40 in total. Good luck everyone!

Retro Daisies by Janice Chatham

Today is the big reveal for Project 6 at Beading Babes, Bringing Beaders Together. There were three other projects, but I have only completed the Retro Daisies.

Started the Josephine's Collar, but got very bogged down and it is now in my UFOs tray for the time being. You can find photos of all of the Beading Babes gorgeous projects at Beading Babes Project 6 album.

What a week for etsy sales! I think it must be the best week yet, with five sales since last Wednesday. Not sure just what has caused the interest, but it is very pleasing, with some of my favourite designs heading off to the USA. Just when I think I need to redo the whole shop, this happens and I get a fresh burst of enthusiasm. Snake is off to New York, whilst Froggy has his sights set on Oregon.

It was greatly needed as a mystery bout of what I think was migraine but without the thudding head, reduced my beading capabilities severely over the weekend. With nausea and increased sensitivity to light I couldn't read, compute or bead and spent the whole day snoozing - something unheard of usually. Today I tried to make the Gwen Fisher Cluster Beaded bead from BeadWork magazine in different colours - I had made it once already. The brain freeze was still in operation though and whilst I could understand the basic shape, the lacy overlay just wasn't working out. After a quick nanna nap, I returned to the bead mat to a light bulb moment when I realised what I had done wrong. Out with the scissors and lets start again! This time I hope for a better result.

Gorgeous Rondelles

I found some more gorgeous coloured rondelles at Kays Artycles recently. They are just perfect for the Byzantine Bracelet project which I will be teaching at the Melbourne Bead Expo in November.

There are so many different options for this bracelet. I blogged about some of them earlier, but here is another one using a different type of bead:

This is the original bracelet inspired by the colours of the rondelles purchased from Beadglass at the Melbourne Bead Expo a couple of years ago. The subtle colours are just fantastic.

Byzantine Bauble Bracelet

Back when I was making Cynthia Rutledge's Honeycomb bracelet (Bead & Button magazine, April 2011)I fell in love with a whole swag of different coloured rondelles and managed to purchase quite a few strands of them. Well, one can only wear just so many Honeycomb bracelets, so there came a day when I had to think of another use for the rondelles. The Byzantine Bauble Bracelet was the result of playing around with a couple of strands of beautiful beads purchased from Beadglass (Sydney) at the Melbourne Bead Expo a few years ago. After receiving quite a few compliments on the bracelet, I submitted it to the Bead Society of Victoria Workshop Committee for consideration as a workshop for the Melbourne Bead Expo 2012 and am pleased to say it was accepted. The workshop is scheduled for the afternoon class on Sunday 11th November 2012 (1.30 to 4.30 p.m.) You can see all the classes being held on the Bead Expo weeekend by following the link. If you have a large stash of rondelles, this may be just the class you need to give you some different perspective on the rondelle shape.

Bobbly earrings.

This week's effort - earrings which will soon be on their way to my friends' shop, Opendrawer. Prue and Robyn have a beautiful gallery and shop containing many surprising and elegant gift ideas all hand made in Australia. If you are close by, drop in and say hello and tell them Chrisbeads sent you!

BSV Featured Bead Artist

The Bead Society of Victoria are searching for a "Featured Bead Artist" for the Melbourne Bead Expo in November. Applications are due in by 31st July, 2012. What a fantastic opportunity for someone! I really hope some of my blogger and facebook friends have entered. There are so many wonderfully creative people out there and this opportunity is too good to miss. There are more details on the BSV website for anyone in Australia who may be interested in applying.

Lady Charis Necklace

Craftsy seems to be an interesting place to promote tutorials and I have seen some of my facebook friends have also taken the opportunity to list on this website. Over the next few weeks I expect to put a few more up on the site, but todate have only listed the "Regatta Bracelet" which has appeared here before (see earlier in the year), and the Lady Charis necklace which is one of my favourites. It comprises a fairly simple brick stitch medallion in various sizes, which is then strung with complementary beads into a choker. I have taught this class a couple of times and never fail to be amazed by the beautiful necklaces produced by the students who generally use their own choices of colour and spacing in putting the necklace together.

It can also be adapted to make a bracelet.

Here is the link to the tutorial, Lady Charis Necklace

Bead Project

"Bead Project" hosted by Rachel Nelson-Smith has been an interesting exercise. Project one was to make something with two different stitches in two different colours. I enjoyed it although my samples did have their origins in some projects I had worked on previously.

Stretchy Sparkles Bracelet

The evolution of a bracelet tutorial can be fraught with unpickings! Last year I was asked to put together a tute for a stretchy bracelet which was made from size 5/0 Miyuki triangles - one of my favourite bead shapes. It was combined with some other triangle type beads which had a metallic stripe. One of my friendly suppliers, Kay from Kays Artycles undertook to source the metallic triangle beads, which I had bought some years ago. The original supplier had no more stock and after a few days' searching Kay advised that she had found some. Unfortunately when they were received they were 6mm and not 4mm so there were a few difficult decisions about constructing the bracelet with them. My first try was interesting, but not comfortable.

It was reminiscent of some sort of spiral and seemed to want to fold in the middle. After considering the bracelets for a while, there was a light bulb moment where I realised that two-drop peyote would probably work so I set out to make it happen.

This was definitely a much better and more wearable bracelet and I am quite pleased that samples made have been snapped onto the wrists of my daughter and daughter-in-law who are very pleased with their new bling.

Beading Babes

I can't really believe it is almost a month since my last blog post - although I have done two today. I discovered two great new groups for beaders on Facebook and have been madly making a project for each of them. They have been good creative excercises and I enjoyed them. The first group- Beading Babes - Bringing Beaders together - had a project based on two designs by Helena Tang-Lim. One featured in Bead and Button Magazine June 2012 and I doubt I would have got around to doing it if it wasn't for this group project. Fortunately, everything I needed was in my stash so I was able to make a necklace and earrings fairly quickly. Looking forward to doing more in the future. Here is my interpretation of "Echoes of Nefertiti".

Images of my interpretation of projects from Sabine Lippert's book "Beaded Fantasies". I really enjoyed making them.

Beaded Fantasies by Sabine Lippert

This book is terrific. I have had it a couple of weeks now and have made three of the projects, which is unusual for me. More often, I get a new book, flick through and then put it aside, thinking "maybe I'll make something later", but later rarely comes. This time, I was inspired to try some of the projects immediately, if not sooner! I have followed Sabine's progress both through facebook and on her blog "Try to be Better". Her style is very interesting and the book became a "must have" so that I made sure I was on the pre-selling list and got it very quickly. I will put some photos up later, but in the mean time, if you want to see some great eye candy, check out the link to her blog.

Posted a couple of larger photos in answer to Halinka's request to be able to see more detail of the stitches. The semi circles are Cubic RAW and the back of the cab is RAW.

Designer Quest 24 - Australian Beading Forum

The beautiful autumn toned beads supplied by Australian Beading Forum sponsor, Cranberry, tempted me to get involved in making a piece for the Designer Quest 24 which started back in March. I thought I would be able to make something whilst on holiday but unfortunately, the muse did not go to Tasmania with me. Once I returned home I spent some time mulling over what to do with the beads. I did manage to get the focal bead bezelled while I was away, and it was a matter of "what else". Eventually, inspiration hit, keeping me awake one night with visions of beads flashing through my brain. The results are here and I think it has worked out OK. Now for the judging. There are some very beautiful entries so I don't think I've got much chance of winning, but it has been an enjoyable competition and seeing the wide variety of entries is amazing. No two entries are exactly the same. How do we do it. Now I just need some inspiration for the BSV 2012 Bead Challenge!

Back from Holidays

We have been back from our holidays for just over three weeks and things have been frantically busy. Heaps of washing and cleaning of the car and van, plus baby sitting, dentists appointments and other sorting out of the piled up domestic dramas which accrued while we were away. I have also been busy editing the June issue of the BSV Connect magazine and finishing off my Designer Quest Challenge piece. I took the DQ beads away with me in the hope of being able to work on them while we were away, but this didn't happen. The muse had left me and I mainly did some knitting as I could do this in the car more easily.

I decided to try and finish this UFO which had been hanging around for way too long - so long I can't even remember when I started it. But now it is finished and Ian seems very happy with it so that's great. There is enough yarn to make our grandson a smaller version, which I have 3/4 finished as well. Thankfully, I did finish my DQ piece today and posting takes place next week, so after that I will be able to reveal it here. I am pleased with the way it has come together.