A Surprising But Welcome Request

In my last post, I stated how excited I was to be studying color, playing with bead soup, and thinking about fall colors. Well, since then, I got and read the book The Beader's Guide to Color by Margie Deeb. Then I had started reading Color by Betty Edwards: A Course in Mastering the Art of Mixing Colors. I couldn't wait to start beading fall colored jewelry. But then all of that got put on hold, because I got an urgent request from the most unlikely of all people. So I immediately dropped everything else and completed this project for my new biggest fan. So first I'll show you the pic, and then I'll tell you why this piece is now my favorite and why I am so proud of it.

Ok, so the pic is not all that great, but it is a heavily fringed bib-style necklace. The colors are a gunmetal black and a silvery blue. This necklace is definitely meant to be noticed and makes quite a statement. Either you are going to love it or hate it, no in between. Well I happen to love it. And so does the thirteen year old named Miss Thang Tammy. 

Now, there is a story with a moral about this necklace. I started beading this at least a year and a half ago. It was a project in Bead & Button Magazine. At first I wasn't too sure about it, but then fell in love with the colors which have to be seen in person to be appreciated. I even named it, "Ebony & Icicles" You know, like the song Ebony & Ivory.  Any how, Tammy was a bit younger then and really didn't like my beadwork at all, especially this piece. She just loved to tell me how my stuff was too "out there" for normal people. That was her opinion, and she was entitled to it. So right after she told me that, I accidentally spilled coffee all over it. Not just any coffee, but coffee with extra,extra,extra sugar in it. I carefully cleaned it up with hot water and dish suds, but it felt a little weird afterwards, so I just threw it into a box and thought to myself, well maybe Tammy's right. It is a little out there. I was about halfway through the fringe, and figured I'd rip it apart and use the beads for something else. 

So, moving on with the story, the necklace got put in a box and thrown into a bigger box in the closet where it sat, unthought about for over a year and a half. Then all of a sudden, last week, Tammy comes up to me with the necklace in her hands, and says,  "You never bead anything for me. You have to finish this necklace, and I want it for my Bday" "Please?". So I checked it out and it no longer felt sticky. I immediately sat down and started working on it, and fell back in love with it. Tammy now wears it alot and tells everyone it was made  just for her by her mother who owns Abracadebra Designs, where you can get the coolest beaded jewelry!

Now you know why this is my favorite piece and why I am so proud of it. As to the moral of the story......
Pouring coffee on your beadwork makes it look nicer. No, just kidding. The moral is that if you are unsure of your beadwork, set it aside for a while. Maybe when you pick it up again, you will see it differently.

TTYL and make it a good night.
Debbie

It's All about the Colors

"Colour is my day-long obsession, joy and torment." Claude Monet

"The best color in the whole world, is the one that looks good, on you!" Coco Chanel

As I posted last week, I was getting pretty tired of beading with pink beads, so this week I decided to bead up something in my favorite colors. By favorite colors, I mean the colors that look the best on me. So here is a pic of my latest project.

Now that I am done with pink beads and have used my favorite color combo of black and red, I have to start doing fall colored stuff for my Zibbet shop. As I was going through my bead stash, I noticed that it is getting quite low. I am not totally out of  beads, but what I have is mostly beads leftover from past projects. Little bits of many different kinds of beads, but not a whole lot of any one type or color of bead. So instead of  buying more beads,  I ordered the book Beaded Colorways by Beverly Ash Gilbert. She makes amazing freeform beaded jewelry using bead soups. Bead soup is when you mix a whole pile of color-related seed beads, gemstones, crystal, etc together creating colors and textures of great depth. I plan on making lots of bead soups to use up all my left over beads. The book comes with two color wheels and templates to use with them to explore many different color schemes. The book has gotten me very excited about color.

So in closing, here is the new fall 2010 color guide for women from Pantone.  Pantone is a world wide authority on color across several different industries including fashion and interior design.

I hope you find these colors as inspiring as I do.
TTYL and make it a good day,
Debbie

All Pinked Out

OK, so I finally remembered to purchase the beads I needed to finish the project I told you about in my last post. Remember, the project that I was really excited about? Well, I did whip right through the project and  I did thoroughly enjoying beading it. I kept forgetting to stop at the Bead store though, to pick up the Swarovski crystals I needed to complete the project! The bead store is between my work and my house, and every morning I would tell myself that I would have to remember to stop at the bead store on my way home. Every night, though when I would sit down to watch tv and bead I would kick myself for forgetting. I guess that's what work does to one's mind :) Anyhow, without further ado, here is my latest project:

The pattern is from Christina at Good Quill Hunting. She is very gracious to let me use it. If you want to see some major beaded eye candy, you need to check out her work at http://goodquillhunting.wordpress.com/ .

These earrings were done in the second stitch I ever learned, which is brick stitch. I hadn't done any brick stitch in a while. When I first learned it, I must have done about 20 pairs of fringed brick stitch earrings in a row! No wonder why I haven't done it in a while, I guess I just got sick of it.  Anyhow, the earrings are beaded with galvanized purple and light pink delicas. At the bottoms and tops are a 4mm purple Swarovski crystal bicone bead.

OK so, as the post title says, I am all pinked out, so while I was waiting on my purple Swarovskis, I beaded up a fall themed piece. No pink involved. Here it is:

I had seen some necklaces like this for sale at the Brimfield Antique Show & Flea Market, and I thought to myself,  "Hey, I can do that" so I had the Donut and the chips in my bead stash, and filed the thought away for later. So while I was waiting on my Swaros for the earrings, I remembered that I was going to do the necklace, so here it is, just in time for fall. The gemstone chips and the donut are Fancy Jasper. The seed beads are metallic rainbow green.

Well that's all I have to show for now. As usual, I have already started my next project. This one is going to include a bezeled focal stone. The only problem is that I have never bezeled anything, so the project will be a learning process for me. Hopefully it turns out well. I'll be sure to let you know.

TTYL

and make it a good night

Debbie