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!

Summer necklace

The results for the Fashion Colorworks contest have been posted and my necklace was chosen as second place winner! I am very happy with that result. I worked on this necklace during the winter months, and the bright colors were a welcome relief from the snow covered view outside my window. I made quite a few flowers in various shades of orchid and cayenne, and bought as many colors that might have been sand as I could find. 
The flowers I didn't use are all together in a bowl on my work table.

This is one of my favorite contests and I enjoyed using colors that I wouldn't normally pick. All of the entries are displayed on the My Lovely Beads website. 

Battle of the Beadsmith

I kept a few guidelines in my mind as I worked on this piece- a comment from an interview with Kris Empting-Obenland about having stayed within her comfort zone when choosing colors to work in, Steven's sage words to "just make something pretty," and my own idea that the entries for this competition are all over the top in terms of the amount of work and the complexities of the designs. Originally I thought I should attempt to make something that had red carpet glamour. Unfortunately, that isn't my style. Having gathered lots of shiny baubles and gemstones I spent many directionless days wrapping cabs and playing with crystals with very little satisfaction. Finally I gave up and started using my favorite colors from the beads that I had picked out to correspond to the Pantone colors of the year. Since I have been on a flower trend, and there was a time limitation, I decided to eliminate the learning curve and make what I was comfortable with.
 I am drawn to using primarily seed beads without a fabric base in my work. I had a difficult time finding some of the colors I needed in Miyuki beads since both local bead stores closed in April, so I used some Toho beads I had in my stash. I was able to convince my daughter to pose for the photos, and she gave me her top model poses and faces, somewhat obscured by foliage and flowers.
The pictures of the designs are being posted on Facebook this week, and the work very impressive. I am excited to be included in this group of talented bead artists.

Montauk Daisy

One of the only flowers left in the garden right now is the Montauk Daisy. It is a plant that I always forget about until suddenly, when the air is cold and most everything has turned brown, there it is. The flower is very much the same as the daisies that bloom in the spring, and its a nice reminder of things to come. It is a great cut flower too; it lasts a long time in a vase and brightens the dreary, rainy fall days.
To make this flower I used size 15 Toho beads in matte milk white, opaque white and white color lined crystal. The center mixes sizes 8, 11, and 15 beads in opaque yellows and a frosted transparent chartreuse. I used different kinds of peyote stitch for the petals and the center. 

  I decided to keep this necklace simple. I used the daisy in the center of a diagonal peyote woven base made out of matte metallic green beads in sizes 8 and 15.

Allium

Alliums are one of those flowers that seem like they couldn't possibly be real. The chives growing in the garden, well ok, but the giant allium that grow 5 feet tall with 4" globe shaped blooms? And they're purple! The first time I encountered these flowers was at a rest stop in Virginia. I was amazed (and impressed by the landscaping.) I since have planted many types in my gardens, but the Allium giganteum will always be my favorite. 

While trying to figure put how to use pink fringe (or tassels) in my Haute Couture necklace I was playing with my favorite colors of vintage French seed beads. That would, of course, be the pinks and purples. When I used to buy from Pierre Bovis in the 1990's he told me his family had been selling beads made in their factory in France to people living in the southwest United States since the early 1800's. At the time I was buying beads they were having difficulties with color in the pinks, especially the opaque, because the formulas they had always used contained ingredients that were being banned for industrial use. Probably lead, but maybe some gold too because the transparent pinks and purples of these beads have a luminescent quality with an inner glow that is just beautiful. It is also a permanent color; unlike so many of the Japanese beads it will not fade or rub off. The beads are not very well shaped, and the sizes vary within packages and from color to color, but sometimes that is better because you get a more organic look with the finished piece.

After trying a couple of different ways to blend the various components it was clear if I insisted on fringe the overall piece was going to be too busy. Instead of the fringe I decided to make some flowers. In keeping with the tassel idea I made some chives. This was a pretty simple flower to make. I mixed the size 10, 11, and 12 beads for the center and fringe, and used some Toho 11 and 15 beads for the base. I am not sure how I will work the chives in since I already have a large flower for the focal point.

Another morning glory

Here is this weeks attempt at a morning glory. I found a nicer purple, and this time I used a size 10 vintage French seed bead for the base. I kept the increase, using the size 11 for the brick stitch.  By using the 11's combined with the 10's there wasn't as much ruffle and the overall shape is formed nicely.

Cape Fuchsia

This week I decided to try one of the flowers on my list, the Cape Fuchsia. Latin name Phygelius, this plant is native to South Africa, and not related to fuchsia.

I made a few flowers that had the wrong kind of bell at the bottom before I remembered to keep it simple. 

I used 3 shades of matte red to make these flowers. The flat 5 petal flower has the matte transparent cherry in the center of the petal, matte transparent Siam ruby filling out to the edges which are matte transparent ruby. I test color combinations by making these flat flowers because you can usually see the subtle differences in the beads. With these reds it was still hard to tell. I used the same three colors in the tubular flower, there the gradation is a little easier to see. I find using colors that are close to each other adds to the overall effect even if the difference is not readily apparent.
The centers of the flowers and insides of the petals are a yellowish orange color.  I used a faceted oval bead to reflect the light and mixed yellows for the stamens. 

Periwinkle Garden

Periwinkle was always my favorite color in the crayon box. In this necklace I used 5 different size 15 purples to make the flowers.

I made the butterfly wings the same way as the leaves, using a two direction peyote. The base is triangular herringbone stitch. 
This was a design I planned before beading, usually I make it up as I go.

Flowers in Fall Colors

As the summer winds down the flowers that are still blooming seem much more colorful than they did when the greens of the trees and grasses were so vibrant. The Pantone fall color palette has a rich orange called Koi that for me represents the color essence of autumn. From gourds and leaves to spiders and Monarch butterflies the color is everywhere. Even though I am more of a purple person the influence of the season always has an affect on my bead work. My color choices and subject matter often reflect nature. I make components like flowers and leaves because I can jump around to different palettes without having to work on one specific project. Eventually I end up with enough parts that I combine together into a finished work. I feel this approach gives the bead work a more organic feel than it would if I followed a set pattern.  Sometimes when I see a flower I get a flash of inspiration as to how I could make it out of beads, not giving much thought to its still to be determined use.
One of the flowers that is still blooming in my garden is a Gaillardia. The red-orange and cadmium yellow petals gave me an excuse to buy more beads.

At first I had used red lined amber drop beads for the center, but they were too bright. After a few mixes of red, amber, matte etc. I decided on a purple lined amber color drop bead for the center.

A nice thing about working in components is the ability to change the overall look by changing pieces.

 I made the flower in size 15 seed beads using a flat peyote stitch. The first try was a nice blend of colors but the petals didn't have enough orange or picot to properly represent the petals edges. I added a center to that base and made a completely different kind of flower. I like the effect even if it does not resemble a live bloom. 

Morning glory update

After finishing the first morning glory flower I took a trip to the local bead store to check out their collection of size 11 purples. They only carry Miyuki seed beads at that store, and the colors are always different than the Toho beads I mail order.  While I was there I picked up some matte silver lined green triangle beads in two shades of green which I am hoping to use for leaves.

My original idea for the morning glory still seems valid after creating the first flower- the beadwork is not floppy and the flower has a nice ruffle which gives it some dimension.

I think the next time I will try without the increase that made such a deep ruffle, and also build up a tube on the back side of the flower. I like the way flower is flat enough to easily attach to a base, but maybe it will look better from the side view if it has the shape of the real flower.

Once I had made the flower I felt compelled to search online for other people's take on beaded morning glories. I found two popular patterns that had been published in books. Diane Fitgerald's book The Beaded Garden has a flower that is created using brick stitch that is quite attractive. I found an example of it by Jann Block. Another book with a morning glory design is Barbara L. Grangier's Dimensional Flowers, Leaves and Vines. This one also uses brick stitch. A beautiful example of this flower was made by Svetlana Eltsova. There are so many talented bead artists who share photos of their work online. I am always amazed and inspired by them.