Waterfall Necklace

Some pictures of Glen Onoko Falls in the Pocono Mountains near Jim Thorpe, Pa.

 The blue bead I found while hiking the trail that gave me the idea to bead the waterfall. I added it to the necklace, under a fern.

Close up of bracelet and necklace

I used labradorite and aquamarine beads along with two hole beads and seed beads to create the waterfall.

 Reverse view

 The sun came out for this picture

The entire piece is free form bead work incorporating brick, peyote, square, herringbone, spiral stitch and fringe. I worked on it over five months and am very happy it was chosen as a finalist.

Snowdrops and Ivy

Last weekend I went to Bead Fest Philadelphia. I had not been to a bead show since Tuscon in 2006. I was excited to be able to do some bead buying in person since the bead shopping around here is limited to chain craft stores. Judging from the crowds at the seed bead bead booths I wasn't the only one who felt that way. They had more than enough beads at the show that I easily blew my budget. Even though it's only a fraction of the mega show held in Arizona every February, I was still overwhelmed by all the beads. I bought a few tubes of colors I thought I needed and some other random treasure. There were lots of stone beads and I bought a few strands even though I have no thoughts yet on how I will use them. 
The winners of the Bead Star competition were on display, and one of my floral necklaces, Late Winter Garden, won second place in the glass bead category. 

There were a lot of beautiful necklaces there. I really liked a couple in the Emerging Artists category. It was great to see my necklace next to the other winning designs, and nice to live so close to the show!

Preciosa Ornela Christmas Contest

The makers of Preciosa Ornela seed beads would like us to use their beads to create Christmas decorations. The design is to be made using twin or seed beads in white, crystal, gold and topaz. The contest is to promote the new Atlas beads, and a special prize will be awarded for an entry that uses them exclusively.  The entries are to be posted to the Preciosa Facebook page by December 1st. The three pictures with the most likes will be selected as winners and the designers will receive a selection of beads from Preciosa.

In the past I have covered glass balls with netting and made ornaments from fire polish beads, but I haven't made anything to hang on the tree from seed beads alone. Stars are the obvious choice and they are easy to make, but probably a lot of people are doing that. The golds are a more subtle winter palette, and with the AB opaque white they should look pretty. Now what to make? I have been working on beaded beads, so maybe I will try them in these colors.

 

British Bead Awards

One of the contests I entered this year was The British Bead Awards sponsored by Bead Magazine from Ashdown publishing. I came across calls for entry in a google search, and having finished with the rush of springtime contest deadlines, I created this summer flower piece. The original title was "A Study in Centaurea (would not be complete without ants)". That was a bit wordy, and I had added the echinacea, so I called it "Inspired by Nature" which was pretty generic but fitting. 

 The awards were presented at the The Big Bead Show at Sandown Park, Esher, Surrey in the UK on October 19th. Although my piece was not chosen as a winner, I feel honored to have qualified as one of the finalists. The entries were displayed at the show and, as usual, I am impressed by the quality of the work as well as appreciative of the time it took to create these pieces. The Big Bead Show gallery on Facebook has a photographs of the winning entries.