njemacreative

Five for Monday

2011-01-24T14:26:00.000-08:00

After a nice break for the weekend, I'm back with the daily 5 for Monday. No real theme today, just 5 re-listed pieces. Today's deal: buy any of the 5 featured below, and get a $10 gift certificate for your next purchase from my shop!

Enjoy...

1. Sunshine and Flowers - a narrow cuff with lots of brightness and a handmade polymer clay button thrown in for fun!

2. Dots and Chevrons - another peyote cuff with pink arrows you can chase around and around and around and.. you get the picture.

3. A Midsummer Night's Dream - A bib-style necklace where you can get lost in the forest at night.

4. A Hint of Passion Earrings - Gray triangles. Yup. That's it... except for a bright pink lining - the hint of passion.

5. A Hint of Passion Pendant - Yes, it matches the earrings. Yes, it's on purpose. And the pendant comes with a memory wire choker, too!

See you next time!

Five for your neck

2011-01-20T21:37:00.000-08:00

On the finishing grad school front, I completed my paper and poster and sent them to my advisor for approval! Once I get his edits, I can send in the whole package.. I will get this master's! And maybe even next week. There will be much rejoicing. I also put in a job application today for something that looks fun, lots of field work and otherwise hands on stuff, and have two more jobs to apply for before the end of the month. Gosh, I feel productive!

And on top of that, I've listed five necklaces. While scrutinizing my "expired" list for the five I selected, I realized that two of them had never before been listed in my Etsy store. Fortunately, I had them photographed so it was pretty easy to put together a new listing. Today's deal: a custom bangle free with any of the five necklaces. Purchase one of today's five, and I'll get in touch with you about colors for your bangle to send along with the necklace.

And here they are..

1. Sunrise Temptation - a very wide and quite versatile necklace. With a whole chain of loops that can go around the button, you can wear it as a choker or a bib-style necklace. Definitely one of a kind!

2. Scorpion Fish - The fish are poisonous and beautiful, but the necklace only copies the looks, no poison included!

3. Cascade - long and sleek, like a feminine necktie without the choking part.

4. Beachcombing the Indian Ocean - Never before listed on Etsy! Featuring shells from the Kenyan coast and an adjustable leather strap.

5. Twists and Tourmaline - Also never listed on Etsy before! This was my entry to the 2009 Fire Mountain Gems beading contest, and it was selected as a finalist. Nice rainbow of tourmaline..

Five Wide Cuffs for Wednesday!

2011-01-19T17:32:00.000-08:00

Astute observers may notice that I missed a day, not posting any new items yesterday. It's true.. my first priority these days has been to finish my internship report and poster so I can meet the deadline to be a January graduate. Yes, that's right. 5 1/2 years after I first embarked on the grad school journey, I will FINALLY be getting that elusive Master's degree. Come the end of the month, I should have a Master's in Environmental Science! Which means it's time to start searching for a job... (That 5 1/2 years involves two different schools with a year off in between)

But for today, I have listed 5 new items - wide cuffs all, and one of them is a first time listing. That's right, a *new* cuff! Okay, so it's over 6 months old (I photographed it before leaving for Sudan), but never before listed on Etsy! Today's deal is a free matching pair of earrings made special when you order one of these cuffs before the next 5 is listed.

1. Offset Squares Herringbone Cuff - yup, it's the wide cuff in my blog banner! I think this is one of my coolest patterns, and I have worked it up in a second set of colors (not photographed or listed!), with patterns for a few more color schemes.. Maybe I'll get around to those some day. :D

2. Dreaming in the Garden - Lacy, delicate, and floral!

3. Midwestern Spring Breeze - One of my few freeform pieces, but it was so fun I may have to do more!

4. Gridded Circles in Orange and Blue - it's like an elementary school art project on your wrist!

5. Red Curls at Sea - The one you've been waiting for, the new listing! Wide, playful, shimmering, what more could you want?

There you have it! Head on over to my Etsy store, select one of these five cuffs before the next 5 are listed, and get a surprise matching pair of earrings free.

Polymer Clay Five

2011-01-17T20:58:00.000-08:00

For something a little different, today's daily 5 are all polymer clay buttons. And for today's deal, a surprise second (smaller) polymer clay button will be included with the purchase of any of today's buttons.

1. Whoa Orange Dots - one hole, and lots of bright dots!

2. Stripe me Purple - two holes, stripes and squiggles.

3. Don't hide that Green - tries to be subtle, but that lime pops through on this pair.

4. Sewn Heart - a little more cutesy than most of my stuff, but still fun. ;D

5. Six Eyes Green - one hole, and lots of eyes.. Creepy? You decide.

Head on over, buy one of these five, and get a surprise in your package!

Sunday's Daily Five

2011-01-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

It's day two, and as promised I have five more items listed in my shop! Today's deal is *free shipping* on any of the items added today. The shipping charges have already been adjusted, but will be changed back to standard rates when I add tomorrow's daily 5...

Today's five almost follow a theme. Four of the items feature triangles, and the fifth (item number one in the list below) matches one of the pairs of earrings too well to not feature at the same time.

1. Turquoise to Teal Narrow Cuff: Turquoise fades to teal in this unique cuff - definitely one of a kind with the handmade (by me!) polymer clay button for a clasp. The earrings in item number 2 match this cuff perfectly.

2. Turquoise Triangle Earrings: Dangly, turquoise, shimmery, triangles - what's not to like? This is a fun pair of earrings featuring dimensional triangles, and goes great with the cuff above!

3. Fun with Geometry: This cuff features zig-zag peyote, triangles, and a wonky square - lots of fun shapes working together well!

4. Linked Triangles: Decreasing dimensional peyote triangles and a herringbone rope to complete the bangle - it's like a party on your wrist! (Okay, that was cheesy, but it is a pretty neat bangle in my humble opinion!)

5. Terra Cotta and Teal Triangles: We'll end with one last pair of earrings today. Each one has two triangles with the terra cotta and teal beads reversed. The smaller triangle is attached to the larger at the center. Another fun pair of dangles!

That's it for today! I may choose to list some of my non-beadwoven items for tomorrow's five, but no promises so you'll have to come back and find out. :D

Head on over and get your free shipping on any of today's five! http://njema.etsy.com

The Daily Five, or I'm ba-ack..

2011-01-15T15:42:00.000-08:00

My Etsy store is finally reopened! I'll be relisting 5 items (nearly) every day until the inventory is all back up. And with the daily five, I'll be offering a special deal.. Until the next daily five is announced, get 10% off any of the first five in my store by using the coupon code "DAILY5TAKE1" and come on by tomorrow to see the next deal!

Here are the first five to reappear - you may notice they're the same items that appear in my banner. :D

1. Bright Polkadots Wide Cuff - a herringbone cuff with 9 different colors of dots in Czech seed beads and featuring homemade lampwork buttons by Heather of hmbstudios.

2. Entangled - a wide cuff featuring a purple three drop peyote base embellished with spirals of green and orange, and completed with a handmade (by me!) polymer clay button.

3. Window Into Time - created for an Etsy Beadweaver's "time travel" challenge, this necklace features fossiliferous limestone and strands of gray-themed beads in various stitches.

4. Icy Fall Leaves - a pair of earrings featuring the Russian peyote leaf technique, combining a nice terra cotta brown and icy blue, reminiscent of the first frost on the last fall leaves.

5. Tropical Seas - a calming blue and green necklace with a hexagonal peyote cup holding a ceramic pendant created by Kristie of artisanclay is held by a herringbone rope and a string of blue and green glass beads.

Stop on by the store for these five, and come back tomorrow to see the next daily five!

2010-12-26T10:42:00.000-08:00

My husband and I are back from Sudan! It was pretty fantastic, and you can read about some parts and see some pictures at http://brachtadventures.blogspot.com

We're not fully settled yet, so I'm not back into full swing with my shop, the blog, etc, but hopefully by mid-January!

Light as a Breeze

2010-04-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

The Etsy Beadweaver's challenge theme for April 2010 is "Light as a Breeze" and the instructions refer to the "delicate and gentle first warm breezes of spring." Well, here in Indiana spring breezes are not so much delicate, gentle, and warm. Spring is a fickle season, jumping from winter to almost-summer, then down to cold rain. There are a lot of gray skies, though you do get a few glimmers of warmth and hope mixed in. My ideal world is one where it's always summer. I'm fine with rainy and dry seasons, and while I like fall well enough, I wouldn't miss it. (Hmm.. I think I sound like someone who grew up on the equator!!)

So this bracelet is my interpretation of "Light as a Breeze." The wisps of blue and yellow represent the few delicate, gentle, and warm spring days in the midwest, glimmers of hope in the midst of the overwhelming gray, rainy, dreary spring days. But they do remind us that there will be summer once again!

Head on over to the EBW blog to vote for your favorite through the 14th!

Buy Handmade - send Ginny & Stephen to Sudan

2010-04-01T14:18:00.000-07:00

We're full swing into fundraising mode to get to Sudan for 6 months this year! While we've had a lot of generous donations, we've still got a little ways to go before we can leave. We need to raise enough to cover our airfare, living expenses, etc. From here on out, I will be funneling ALL proceeds (not profits.. EVERYTHING that comes in from a sale, excluding shipping) into our "going to Sudan" account. If I do a custom order and have to buy supplies, the cost of new supplies will be subtracted from the proceeds, but that is the only exception.

I also spent a good part of today uploading greeting cards to my Etsy store, so head on over and check those out!

In Which My Blog Has Been Sadly Neglected

2010-03-29T20:31:00.001-07:00

First off, I just got a treasury yesterday for the first time since, well, the last one I posted on here. Check out these great finds! The treasury expires Wednesday at 2:31 pm.

A lot of life has happened since my last blog post... At the time I posted, I was in Florida with my family helping to take care of my grandfather in his last week of life. That was, of course, a full time with family, followed by Christmas break for time with more family. I was at a conference between Christmas and New Years, and then spent most of the month of January in Guatemala. I was there for a service learning trip with a group from my school, working with local groups on water and sanitation projects. Also, two days before we left, we got to climb a volcano and roast marshmallows over a river of lava. As a holder of a BS in Geology, this was awesome.

Now, my husband and I are working on raising money to head to southern Sudan for 6 months later this year. We'll be working with an ongoing water development project there, and have set up a blog to chronicle the trip - http://brachtadventures.blogspot.com/.

In the meantime, I've finally completed a few beadweaving projects and hope to photograph them while I'm on spring break this week!

Cantankerous

2009-11-29T16:58:00.000-08:00

Got a treasury last night! It was down to 333 with 8 minutes left when I logged in, so I didn't have a chance to pick anything out before snagging one, and therefore titling it. :p So what do I come up with on the spur of the moment? cantankerous. Not sure these items fit that word, but hey.

Holiday Sale!

2009-11-28T08:45:00.000-08:00

The Beadweaving Emporium on 1000 Markets is having a holiday sale! Merchants are providing discounts, free shipping, gift wrap, or other promotions. You can find all the offerings here!

My participation is with free shipping on select beadwoven items. That's right, folks, free shipping here!

Some of the items I'm offering free shipping on are:

Turquoise Triangle Earrings

Linked Triangles Bangle

Turquoise Curls Cuff

Branching out...

2009-11-07T14:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, not really. I've actually been crocheting WAY longer than beading, but I haven't tried selling any of it yet. Lots of friends and family have blankets I've made down through the years, and I keep my own head warm in the winter with a hat I made. It has earflaps and a poofball, I should share a picture sometime. There have also been scarves, sweaters, slippers, and even a sock in my crocheting past. (Yes, just one sock. And the toe of the second, but that's it.)

Last winter, I started using some leftover bits of yarn, plus some that was given to me a while back, to make hats. I was just having a ball crocheting hats in my spare time, thinking maybe I should try to sell them. But then, it was summer. And who wants to buy a nice warm crocheted hat in the summer? So these hats have been sitting around all lonely until NOW, when I finally pulled them out again and did a little photoshoot. They're all listed on 1000 Markets, just waiting for a cold head to wander by and find them.

In progress

2009-11-02T19:53:00.001-08:00

Of course I have multiple pieces in progress at any given time! Who doesn't? Here's a little glimpse into that world....

First, some polymer clay cabs that I just worked up to bead around for a necklace. Some beads are even on the way to go with them... BRIGHT!

Then, a WIDE cuff. Once I finish the blue base, I still need to figure out what colors and pattern to add to the top of it... I bet it'll turn out pretty fun. You can see some bits of polymer clay in the background - colors I mixed for the cabs shown above, now leftover to be used for more fun things!

These, I've had in progress for several months. They'll end up side by side as a cuff. I could have sworn I've beaded more of the beige ones... hmmm, I'll have to have a look around for those.

...and then, a shot of my workspace for good measure. :) This 2x2 ft table is where the magic happens! And yes, there is rarely a square inch to be found clear. All around the table in various shoe boxes and other containers you can find my bead stash. That is, whatever's not on the table at the time....
What do YOU have in progress?

Beachcombing the Indian Ocean

2009-10-30T10:21:00.001-07:00

Are you guys getting sick of hearing about my travels this summer? ;)

Too bad, 'cause here we go again!

While on the coast in Kenya, I went out to the beach with a bag to do a little collecting. NOTHING live, of course! I only collect empty shells that have washed up onto the beach. Well, this one type of shell caught my attention. The shell is some sort of spiral, and most pieces you find on the beach have broken in such a way that you have a small cupped shape with a bridge from one side to another, creating a large hole. Of course, everything with a hole can become a bead, so I collected several of these.

It just so happened that, a couple months after returning, it was announced that the November challenge theme for the Beadweaving Emporium on 1000 Markets is "Beachcombing Memories."

What a perfect use for these shells! I found a mix of beads to match the colors in the speckled shells, created 14 lengths of tubular peyote, and added a shell to the base of each. I used some wooden beads from South Africa to connect each tube to the small length of tubular herringbone.

Two lengths of faux suede cord are strung through the tubular peyote, and tied off with two sliding knots to make the necklace fully adjustable.

AND I finally received my display bust in the mail yesterday, just in time to photograph my entry! I'm pleased, but I do need to find another background to photograph in front of... My go-to white cloth wrinkles too easily, and I can't see myself ironing it every time I need to do a photoshoot. Maybe a large piece of white paper would help... Any suggestions?

Check out the Beadweaving Emporium blog from November 9th - 15th to vote for your favorite entry!

You can find my "Beachcombing the Indian Ocean" in my 1000 Markets store.

Kanga

2009-10-19T15:31:00.000-07:00

While in Kenya this summer, I was inspired by kangas, a cloth used for anything and everything in many parts of East Africa. Kangas are all comprised of a border and an inner section with different patters, and a Swahili phrase at the bottom of the inner section. Apart from the basic structure, kangas vary widely in colors and patterns. Their uses are multiple, from clothing to baby slings to tablecloths, and more.

photo borrow from http://eyes4mwanza.blogspot.com/2009/02/kanga-fabrics.html

In this picture, I'm wearing a kanga for a skirt.

So far, I've designed two bracelets based on the basic structure of kangas - minus the Swahili phrase. I haven't yet figured out a way to write something in one row of beads. ;)

If you like, you can imagine this says "Haraka, haraka, haina baraka." - one of my favorite Swahili proverbs, which roughly translates into "hurrying brings no blessings." (haraka: hurry, baraka: blessing, haina: there is no)

This one I've kept for myself. I miscounted the squares while working up the pattern, and I ended up with an odd number of beads for the width. Since I was planning to work in herringbone, this was slightly problematic. I did find a work-around that makes it look more like square stitch than herringbone, but there's a number of places in the red section where you can see some of the crystal fireline showing through. Okay, so it's not terrible, but I had to have some excuse to keep it, right?

I've finally gotten the beads to work up the second kanga pattern I created, so once I have a little time, I'll work on that next project!

Power Goblet

2009-10-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

It's been a while (think May) since I last submitted a piece to the Etsy Beadweaver's monthly challenge. What with travelling and inconsistent internet access, it just didn't happen this summer.

When this month's challenge rolled around, though, I decided it was time to enter again. The October theme is "Super Powers" and I decided to bead around a goblet to make it worthy for any superhero.

Here's a snippet from my item description:

"A white streak splits through a background of purple fading to blue and then green. The streak is lined with a bold red, and this all comes together to create a POWER GOBLET. You want super powers? Then drink from THIS goblet. Okay, okay, I know it's all make-believe (and I do not recommend using the goblet for beverages), but if I were a superhero, I would darn better have a goblet like this one! And you can feel like a superhero with this goblet on display, possibly even as a candleholder."

Voting is open for the October challenge, and we'd love to have you help choose a winner! Head on over to http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com to vote for your favorite by the 16th.

Kenya!

2009-10-09T10:32:00.000-07:00

I've mentioned my trip to Kenya several times on this blog (mostly before the trip!), so I thought you all might like to see a few pictures of my trip back home - and my husband's first time to see it.

This is the boarding school where I attended from grades 6 - 12, in the highlands on the escarpment of the Great Rift Valley.

We took a game drive in Lake Nakuru game park. The lake is full of flamingos. Here, a hyena has been hunting them (hyena's do a lot more hunting than they're given credit for).

There were one or two places we were able to get out of the tour van. Not sure what I'm pointing out in this picture...

We pretty much got around by public transportation - matatus, to be precise. They're these 14 or so passenger mini vans (actually regulated these days!), and get you anywhere you want to go. In southern Kenya, at least, where the roads are good. Above is a matatu stand in one of the towns we went through.

Stephen was surprised when the turn-boy (driver's assistant who collects money and finds passengers) jumped into the already moving van, slid the door shut, and nearly sat on his lap. Personal space isn't nearly as important as it is in the US.

Yup, we crossed the equator! The matatu didn't stop, so we had to take a drive-by picture.

Yes, I got some beading in there too! This is on the farm my family lived on from the time I was in 6th grade on.

Joseph, the project manager, gave us a tour of the farm, pointing out all sorts of improvements and changes since my family left. That place is taking off! You can see a new storehouse for feed being built behind us.

The Kerio River, 5 km from the farm. It flows northward into Lake Turkana.

The mud was slippery... I was trying to wash Stephen's flipflop off after his foot had sunk it, and ended up sitting in the mud! Whoops.

We also spent a couple days down at the coast. There's the Indian Ocean!

We went out onto the reef at low tide one morning. Snorkels, tennis shoes (to ward off the sea urchins) and all. Good times.

Ft. Jesus, and old Portuguese fort in the town of Mombasa on the Indian ocean.

Then we headed up to northern Kenya. Here's the town of Logologo that I lived in for about 7 years as a kid.

This is the inside of a Rendille hut where we took a nap during our visit to Logologo. Note the beaded bracelet and necklace that a friend there gave me!

Amina, a good family friend, made the dress for me.

Many of the folks who live in Northern Kenya live off of their animals, mainly camels. We don't have too many pictures of people up north (other than friends) because they don't like having their pictures taken and we were trying to be respectful.

On our way back, we flew over Marsabit game park on Marsabit mountain in Marsabit district, before we stopped in Marsabit town to pick up a passenger. You can see the lodge in the park in the upper left of the picture, next to what used to be a very full lake when I was little. The drought in Northern Kenya has been very bad for the past several years.

This is what we got a ride on from Northern Kenya back to Nairobi - a 6 seater cessna. I ended up in the co-pilot seat, because the pilot thought I was short enough that my knees wouldn't bump the controls. :D

It was a great trip! Hope you enjoyed the pictures. :) Maybe at some point I'll pull out a picture or two from our stop in Spain on the way back to the US.

Cards

2009-08-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Well, the summer adventures are over, and I'm back in our apartment getting ready to start school next week. I've got several beadweaving pieces that I did throughout the summer that I plan to photograph tomorrow (and then share with YOU!).

But for now, I'll share a little project from this past weekend, some greeting cards. Essentially, it was me playing with acrylic paint, but I will have some of these for sale on Etsy at some point (let me know if you have any special requests!) I used for these both watercolor paper and some banana paper from Costa Rica. Anyhow, enjoy!

What's up with the silence?

2009-06-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

It's true. You haven't been hearing from me much lately....

Well, it's the summer! School got out in May, and since then we've done the following:

May 21: Indiana - Cincinnati

May 22: Cincinnati - Bryson City, NC (we took the scenic route)

May 23: Poke around the Smoky Mts, and end up in Knoxville, TN

May 24: Knoxville

May 25: Knoxville - Nashville

May 26: Nashville

May 27: Nashville - St. Louis, MO (through the land b/t the lakes)

May 28: St. Louis

May 29th: St. Louis - Dallas, we cut through a corner of Arkansas, because we haven't been there before.

May 30th: Dallas

May 31st: Dallas - ALBUQUERQUE, NM!!

Since then, we've been in New Mexico, everywhere from ABQ to the Jemez Mountains, camping in the Pecos wilderness, waaaay down to Las Cruces, to Socorro, Magdalena, Manzano mountains, etc.

And coming up next:

June 17th: to Florida

June 20-something: into New York, rent a car, drive around New England (never been there before!)

June 25-28: Near DC for a wedding

June 29: DC - New York - London (for 12 hrs)

July 1: ARRIVE IN KENYA!!

July 1-15: go all over Kenya. To the coast, to the North, to the west, etc....

July 15: Nairobi - London

July 16: London - Barcelona

July 16-21: Barcelona - Santander, hang out in the Pyrenees in between!

July 21: Santander - London

July 22: London - New York

July 23: New York - ABQ

then, up to Yellowstone/Grand Tetons (Wyoming), across to South Dakota, and eventually wind up back in Indiana mid-August.

Sometimes I have good internet, and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I don't have more than a couple minutes to spend on the good internet. Soooooo.... I've been a little quieter. I think you can forgive? :D

In other news, I just found out last week that this necklace has been accepted into the second round of judging for the Fire Mountain Gems contest! Woooooot. I need to get it in the mail soon. Like Monday. That's chips of tourmaline I used in it.

A bowl

2009-06-01T17:56:00.000-07:00

It's a bowl!

I created 18 individual peyote triangles, and then sewed them together to form the little bowl. You could use it to hold a few special large beads, shells, little wrapped candies, your rings while you sleep, or a myriad of other small and precious items.

I liked making something different, something not typically made with beads. No two triangles are the same in this little bowl. In fact, no single color was used in more than one triangle (though the gold beads in the rim were used in a triangle). It was fun watching this come together, and experimenting with joining the pieces.

This is, as always, available for sale at my 1000 Markets store and my Etsy store.

Entangled

2009-05-18T20:38:00.000-07:00

This is my entry for the first Colorworks challenge, "Tertiary triad." The challenge was to use shades of green, purple, and orange to create a piece (though, if I remember my elementary school art classes correctly, green, purple, and orange are secondary colors... )

However it is, I love how the colors work together and jumped at the chance to use them! Here's my entry, "Entangled," which features a mix of purple beads in a three-drop peyote base, and embellished with mixes of green and orange beads. I created a polymer clay button to work as the closure.

I like it, and I guess we'll find out if they do too sometime next month! :)

Hollywood Red Carpet Challenge

2009-05-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

The entries are in for the Etsy BeadWeavers May challenge! Head on over to the EBW blog to find links for all the entries. Voting opens May 9th, and continues through the 15th.

Cascade

2009-05-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

This month's Etsy Beadweaver's challenge was themed "Hollywood Red Carpet Creations". I wanted to create something classy and elegant, while still standing out from the crowd. After a number of sketches in the margins of my notebooks (by which I mean doodling during class - with purpose!), I came up with the concept for this necklace which, in my opinion, fits my criteria exactly! It's long, draping, and definitely one of a kind!

I used alternating mixes of sapphire blue and garnet red Czech seed beads to create looping herringbone tubes, attaching them to each other as I went. Originally, the wide strip was supposed to lie flat. Well.... the beads didn't cooperate, and the necklace was flipping in funny directions. As I was playing with it, I realized that if I folded the strip at the bottom of the v, it would lie well without flopping, twisting, and otherwise looking not as great as I wanted.

So, I went back to my work table, searched through my stash, and found a brown bead that would work great for joining the two sides. And voila! No more funky flipping.

You can find it both in my Etsy shop and 1000 Markets store.

Then, starting on May 9th and continuing through the 15th, head on over to the EBW blog to vote for your favorite challenge entry!

Dreaming in the Garden

2009-04-29T09:49:00.001-07:00

Last Friday, the art department sent out an email to the whole school looking for submissions for this year's student art exhibit. One of the categories listed was jewelry, so I sent an email to the department to get more info, and started thinking about what to submit.

I thought about submitting something I had already made, but I didn't really want to pull anything out of my Etsy or 1000 Markets stores, so I did a little brainstorming about what I could make new. I then spent the weekend making this lacy, flowery cuff. Come Monday morning, I get an email back from the art department, telling me that the department chair wants to limit the exhibit to undergraduate students. I was kinda bummed, but now I've got this spiffy cuff in my stores. Not just for your viewing pleasure, but also for your purchasing pleasure, right? ;)

on Etsy and on 1000 Markets .

Reusable shopping bag contest

2009-04-27T09:01:00.000-07:00

Kroger is sponsoring a reusable shopping bag contest, and I decided to submit an design. The photo is from sunset at the Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in central New Mexico, as the wintering cranes came in for the evening. I'm gonna give credit for the photo to my husband, though we were passing the camera back and forth enough that who knows who actually took this specific picture!

The contest allows one vote per bag per browser per computer per day, until May 15th. After that, a panel of judges picks 10 finalists, taking voting strongly into consideration. Here's my design, and I'd love your vote here.

Otherwise, I've got a few things in the works... I started on a bracelet for a student art exhibit, but just found out that it's not open to grad students, so I'll be listing that as soon as it's done! I'm also hard at it on my entry for the EBW May challenge.

Bright Polkadots - and VOTE!

2009-04-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

First of all, head on over to the EBW blog and vote for your favorite entry in the Time Machine challenge! My entry is #31, A Window Into Time.

Secondly, I just listed this new bright and colorful herringbone cuff, featuring two fantastic lampwork beads from hmbstudios. You can find it in either my Etsy shop or 1000 Markets shop!

A Window Into Time

2009-04-06T10:17:00.000-07:00

You thought that last month I barely got my entry in on time, didn't you? Well, what with school, tests and traveling this past month my "Time Machine" entry was finally listed at 11:59 PM last night. And yes, the deadline was midnight.

Here it is: A Window Into Time

A snippet from the listing: This OOAK necklace was created for the EBW April challenge, themed "Time Machine." What is more of a window into the past than rocks and fossils? The limestone pendants tell of an ancient marine environment, where crinoids grew abundantly. Ocean jasper, a variety of orbicular jasper, speaks of a more fiery past where quartz or feldspar crystallized into radial aggregates in volcanic rhyolite or tuff. Check out the EBW blog from the 9th to the 15th of April to vote for your favorite entry!

Look at the crinoids in the limestone!! woohoo!

Ghanaian Powder Beads!

2009-03-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

Back in January, my mom took a trip to Niger. She picked up a couple strands of beads for me, and just sent them last week. They came in the mail this morning, and look! Aren't they cool? I don't have any ideas yet, but I'm pretty excited to have them.

She said someone told her that they were made in Ghana. I did a little bit of internet research, and found Ghanaian powder beads that look to be in the same family. So that's my story - my mom went to Niger and brought back two strands of Ghanaian powder beads for me.

In other news, my dad just got back from Kenya, and sent me a box of 100 tea bags! And I just got back from New Mexico, and have 8 tamales in the freezer (there were a dozen..hehe).

tired!

2009-03-18T11:37:00.000-07:00

Life has been pretty busy lately... Being a grad student, school does have to take priority! I'm taking microbiology this semester, and it's been 9 years since I last took a biology class so I have to put a LOT of work in. Got some early mornings, so I tend to be tired a lot these days! (seriously, who ever invented 7 am labs??)

Anyhow, if I seem a little, um, inactive in my creating-world, that's the why of it!

Fortunately, spring break is coming up next week!! Got a trip back to NM in the works - with a home show while there. I'm not sure how much creating time I'll have, but I will at least be refreshed.

"fossil stone"

2009-03-11T14:07:00.000-07:00

I have now received the mysterious fossil stone of which I spoke a couple posts down. With a super quick scratch test, I have determined that it is in fact limestone. Don't worry, I didn't scratch up the whole thing, I found a hidden away inside-spot, and just tested a little area. As advertised, it is full of crinoid stems! (okay, that wasn't advertised - "fossil-like patterns" were advertised, but the picture showed a piece with crinoid stems, which is visual advertising to me)

I was kinda hoping (but not expecting) that it would be silicified (ie, composed of quartz) since quartz has a hardness of 7, and is therefore less scratchable than limestone. Limestone is comprised of calcite, which has a hardness of just 4, and is easily scratched by common items - such as a pocket knife. (My pocket knife was used for this test) Limestone also dissolves in weak acid. Because of the softness and the dissolution, calcite just doesn't seem like an ideal gemstone to me. However, I have to keep reminding myself that jewelry is exposed to much gentler conditions than outcrops and buildings! The pendant will certainly hold up in normal use for a very long time.

By the way, marble is metamorphosed limestone (or dolostone, a magnesium rich calcium carbonate). Marble is also completely comprised of calcite (and/or dolomite). The softness makes it a good sculptural medium, but the dissolution in weak acid means that anything exposed to the elements will be surficially eaten away in a relatively short time span. (natural waters and rain are usually slightly acidic, and even more so if it's being affected by industry as is the case with "acid rain")

Voting is open!

2009-03-09T10:26:00.001-07:00

Head on over to the EBW blog to vote for your favorite entry in this month's Temptation challenge! Voting is open until midnight on the 15th.

Prizes!!

2009-03-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Audrey, Billie, and Melody for being the three randomly selected winners! I have contacted them all, and will be mailing their prizes off shortly. They will be receiving buttons A, B, and C respectively. (not very creative names, I know..) Congrats, ya'll - and enjoy!!

Of winnings and temptations...

2009-03-05T18:43:00.000-08:00

First off, there are 3 randomly chosen winners to my giveaway! I am in communication with the three recipients, and will be doing a more complete post on that soon.

Secondly... (drum roll please) I give you my March "Temptation" EBW Challenge entry - Sunrise Temptation. Here is an excerpt from my listing description: "Give in to it, allow the radiant hues to wrap themselves around your neck! This OOAK (one of a kind) collar features mixes of reds, yellows, and purples/blues to create the image of a sunrise. Sunrise represents the beginning of a new day, and the promise of starting over. Sunrise tempts you to forget yesterday's mistakes, and tempts you to make today glorious."

For me, creating this necklace was also an exercise in resisting temptation. One temptation for me (and all who indulge in this type of creativity) is to collect fantastic one of a kind, handmade beads. Another temptation is to purchase new beads for every project. Well... that's all well and good when the budget allows. Right now, however, I am a grad student, my husband is an adjunct professor at a community college, we're not going to have an income over the summer, and we'll be doing a lot of traveling. We HAVE to stick to our budget in order to do that. So rather than giving in to the temptation to spend money, I pulled out some of my imperfect beads - the ones that I bought when I first started beadweaving and didn't know what to look for. The sizes are inconsistent, so I just don't use them much. But blending together different colors for this wide collar was a fantastic use. The only new component on the collar is the polymer clay button, which I created out of polymer clay already in my stash.

Now get ready, voting is coming up in just a few days! (I have never listed my challenge piece this close to the deadline before....)

Time Machine

2009-03-03T12:36:00.000-08:00

*This is a public service announcement: You have until Wednesday the 4th to enter this drawing for one of three polymer clay beads!*

'Time Machine' is the theme for the EBW April Challenge! I've started giving it a little thought, while also finishing up my 'Temptation' piece (eek! only 2 days left...).

Now, there's no specific period in history that particularly jumps out at me. And I do have a background in Geology, so my first thought was rocks. After all, rocks and rock structures tell you about the earth's history so they're like little time machines, right? My second thought was fossils. I've done a little poking around online, and I've found a focal piece just covered in crinoid stems! It's pretty amusing, though, as the description says the "fossil stone has tiny fossil-like patterns that cover the surface of this natural gemstone."

It's pretty clear from the picture that it's not fossil-like patterns.... it's fossils. hehe... I guess I'll have to wait until I get it to determine if 'fossil stone' means limestone, or if it's silicified. (converted into silica - ie, quartz) People won't be pouring acid on their jewelry, right? So it won't be an issue if it's limestone (calcite effervesces in even weak acids, and limestone, of course, is calcium carbonate - ie, made of calcite!).

Stained glass belt

2009-02-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

I started off thinking I was making a necklace out of tubular peyote. Lot of bright colors, and some matte black for a stained glass look. However, when I finished, I realized that it was not flexible enough for the neck. So..... add a little braided suede, and voila, it's a belt! It's 5 feet long, and so can be worn by folks with a variety of waist sizes. The beaded portion is 17 inches. You can, of course, find the belt in my Etsy shop. :D I'm pretty pleased with it, and will probably have to make more at some point.

ps - see post below to win one of three polymer clay buttons!!

Blog Giveaway!!

2009-02-23T18:03:00.000-08:00

You may (or may not) have noticed my recent launch of a polymer clay button section in my Etsy shop, to which I am still adding new pieces. To help launch this new section, I'm hosting a giveaway on this blog! I'm giving away THREE buttons. Each of three lucky recipients will win one of the following three buttons:

A) A burgundy-based triangle with ropes and dots of green, yellow, pink, and white. This triangle is ~ 1.25 inches (3 cm) on each side.

B) An orange square with translucent ropes, and dots of white and purple. Each side is 1 inch long (2.5 cm)

3) A mustard-yellow/light brown rectangle, surrounded by a shimmering white rope and dotted with white, teal, and a deep purple. This button measures 1 x 1.25 in (2.5 x 3 cm)

Any of these buttons can be used as a closure on a piece of jewelry, an embellishment on any number of crafts (just don't send it through the washer!), or some other use you may find for it.

To enter the giveaway, leave me a comment with a name and link to an artist (other than yourself) you think I should feature on my blog, and why you like that artist. I'll use some of the suggestions in the future! All comments must be in by next Wednesday (March 4th), and I will announce the winners on Thursday the 5th. Button A will go to the first winner selected, B to the second, and C to the third.

If your comment doesn't automatically link to a blogger profile, be sure to also leave me a way to contact you - a link to your blog, shop, profile, or an email address will suffice!

Now go find a favorite artist!

Monday again!

2009-02-16T18:33:00.001-08:00

I promised you a look at who's behind the art every Monday - and this time I'm a little more prepared than last time!

Fact of the week: I had the most awesomely fun wedding ever. It's true! We had sack races, enchilada casserole, fry bread, chai, and even a ring-heist. I figured that something has to go wrong at every wedding, so why not create our own disaster? We had the ring-bearer bring up two boxes. The one that was supposed to contain my ring had a ring pop, and the one for my husband's ring was empty. One of my friends in the audience had the real rings, and when the ring pop and empty box were revealed, she took off running into the bushes. Three other friends chased her down and recovered the rings. These were the only people (other than us and the ring-bearer's parents) who knew what was up. I was surprised at the number of people who came up to me afterwards thinking I had known nothing about this switch ahead of time. :)

If all that wasn't enough to make it fun, the scenery was gorgeous up at the base of the Magdalena mountains in New Mexico!

(If you're surprised by the lack of jewelry, this was before I started making it - I did, however, make my dress!) ;)

Sneak Peak

2009-02-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

The March Etsy Beadweaver's challenge is themed "Temptation." On 1000 Markets, I've joined the Jewelry Artisans Market which is also doing a monthly challenge (only, there's no voting or winning, but pieces submitted are displayed on the JAM blog). The February theme is "Sunrise." I'm making one piece to fit both themes, and here's your sneak peak! It's gonna be big. I think the sunrise part is obvious. When it's done, I'll explain to you why it fits the "Temptation" theme (for reasons other than that I hope it will tempt buyers :D ).

Voting is Open!

2009-02-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Voting is in full swing for the Etsy Beadweaver's "Tropical Holiday" challenge, and you can vote for your favorite entry here until February 15th!

If you're having a hard time deciding, my Scorpion Fish necklace is number 2 on the mosaic. ;)

(You know, of course, that while I appreciate every vote for my necklace, I want you to vote for your honest-to-goodness favorite!!)

Monday again!

2009-02-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

Eeek, has it been a full week since my last blog post? I should regularly schedule a second blog post each week (maybe Fridays?) to keep myself on track!

Anyhow, I've promised you regular 'get to know me Mondays' so here I am ready to deliver! (If I can just think of a good topic...)

How 'bout this one: I'm a procrastinator. Here I am, Monday evening, with no blog post and no ideas that have been floating around in my head. I was nearly voted 'worst procrastinator' of the girls in my senior class - I think the only reason I didn't win that prestigious award is because the guys didn't realize it (I did, however win most artistic for the girls!). I went to boarding school, so ALL of the girls knew about my procrastination skills from dorm life.

I think I have this tendency for two main reasons:

1) I work fast, and I know it. I also get distracted way too easily when I don't have a time crunch, so I work much slower when the deadline is not fast approaching.

2) I like to live in the moment. Some say that if you get your work done now, you'll have time to play later. I say if I get my work done now, there will be more to do later. However, if I play now, I'll work faster later and therefore have time for both! Sometimes this works for me, and sometimes it doesn't. But I usually can get away with it, soooooo.... (shame upon my head!)

I'll leave you now with my latest creation, a teal/turquoise two-drop peyote cuff with a fun polymer clay button closure:

Get to know me Monday!

2009-02-02T07:50:00.000-08:00

You know what they say, the eye is the window to your soul. In that case, welcome to my SOUL. (said in a deep, guttural voice)

Though neither of my parents would consider themselves artists, they provided plenty of opportunities for my siblings and I. They were able to purchase boxes of scrap paper dirt cheap from a printing press, so we never ran out! Among our favorite games were pictionary, and what we called 'chain pictures' where everyone would have a given amount of time to draw a picture, and then we would pass it to the next person who would add to it for a set amount of time - so on and so forth until we went all the way around the circle. At that point, we would explain the whole picture - if we could get through it without laughing too hard! (armies of marching ants as well as some advertisement for 'Eat at Joe's' were common occurrences)

I kept up with art in highschool. My teacher did a great job of teaching us how to draw. Or, teaching us how to see, and then translating that onto paper. I branched out into ceramics, painting, a little bit of sculptural work, and more. In college, I took art classes whenever my schedule would allow, and learned a LOT from those teachers.

Yesterday, I decided it's been too long since I've done any drawing, so I pulled out a mirror, paper, and pencils for a sketch of my eye. Which you now see above. I want to keep up with my drawing. I think it's a good exercise to draw from reality every now and again, and I want to be a well-rounded artist as much as possible. Speaking of, I should probably pull out my oils sometime soon... Maybe I should do a series on eyes in different media.

Home again home again, plus some show and tell

2009-01-30T16:59:00.001-08:00

Breaking news! My husband and I just booked tickets to go to Kenya this summer. It's about time, I haven't been home since summer 2003 - it'll be 6 years by the time we go. (The picture to the left is where we lived from 1994 on, and one of the places we'll visit!!)

In other news, I have a couple of new listings that *aren't* beadweaving. (whoah nelly!)

Bright dots on green teardrops polymer clay earrings - aren't they fun?

Next, a fun jar (perfect for guacamole with a little kick?). I finally got the chance to take another pottery class last spring, and still have some pieces to photograph and list. I looooooove ceramics, it's too bad the required equipment is bulky and expensive. Not practical for someone who's not going to be very stationary for several years.
There you have it! Kenya, and some fun new listings.

(I'm going to Kenya! I'm going to Kenya! I'm going to Kenya!)

Get to know me Monday

2009-01-26T18:25:00.000-08:00

My newest idea for this blog is to write a 'get to know me' post every Monday - give you a window into who's behind the work you see here. We'll see how exactly this plays out, but I'll probably do different things each week - factoids, stories, etc. If I forget to post, feel free to remind me. ;)

This week, it's a simple list making its way around various blogs, and brought to my attention on Carol Dean's blog. Here's how it goes: the things on the list that I've done are in bold face. I've written in little notes of my own on some of these, but it isn't a requirement. If you're interested in propagating this list, you can just be free! (as we say in Kenya...)

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii - no, but I'd sure like to!

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disney World

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris - on a 10 hour layover, I was tired and grumpy with sore feet by the end of the day.

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables - I love having a garden, too bad I don't have my own yard this year. Sigh!

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train - took one going to the coast in Kenya every year when I was little (until they jacked up the price)

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill

24. Built a snow fort - siblings and I tried in about 2 inches of snow, but didn't complete the task. :)

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse - just lunar, I've only seen a partial solar eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors - Ireland!

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied - Money isn't what satisfies, I could be perfectly happy with none.

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt - hooray for Geology!

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa - I think living there for 16 years counts.

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted - if painting it myself counts. :D

48. Gone deep sea fishing - shallow Gulf fishing, but far enough out to not see land!

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain

53. Played in the mud - my mom sent me outside to play every time it rained (a rare occurrence)

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie - if the Freshman class film from college counts. ;)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen - not a soup kitchen per se, but I volunteered regularly at a food pantry while I lived in New Mexico.

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy - for a time, anyways.

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt - a very simple one, and I'm still working on it. :D

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle - my uncle in Vienna had UN tags that allowed him to go any speed he wanted. Riding on the back coming out of the Alps was an experience to remember!

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper - when I was born!

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous - Elisabeth Elliot! I went to church with Jim Elliot's little sister while I was in college, and Elisabeth was just visiting. :D

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone - not 'till 2005 when I first started grad school

99. Been stung by a bee

100. Read an entire book in one day

That makes 44/100, how do you score?

Christmas presents!

2009-01-22T20:33:00.001-08:00

These are some of the things I was busy with late last year, but couldn't show - just in case the recipients found their way here!

A necklace for my mom - two herringbone ropes with a fabulous pendant made by Mak of MAKUstudio.

For my MIL - a set of ornaments

For a SIL (BIL's new wife, and my former room-mate!), a herringbone cuff with a cluster of labradorite chips as a centerpiece.

For my other SIL (husband's sister), a bookmark. I didn't get a good picture, because I failed to take one before she showed up at our house, so I had to take this under some pretty bad lighting hidden away in my room.

And for my Grandpa (who I'll see and give this to over the weekend), a portrait of him playing sax in herringbone. The real thing looks a little better than the picture, but you get the idea!

More fun with polymer clay

2009-01-20T09:03:00.000-08:00

Just playin'! This time doing additive stuff, just putting colors where I thought they'd look good. The orange is a little more yellowy than it appears in the pictures.

Playing with translucent clay.. see the squiggles just beneath the surface?

This has chips of a pre-baked disc on the inside.

Now, off to do more!

Just being a show-off again...

2009-01-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

I just finished making and listing this cuff, and I LIKE IT. Not just because it's orange and blue (Gators are National Champs!! Have I mentioned that?), but also because herringbone always comes out so well. This pattern took a little while to make, it's pretty easy to make a little mistake. The actual pattern is actually a very large square, and theoretically I can cut portions of the pattern to make quite a variety of cuffs (or other pieces??) from the one pattern.

And my final bit of bragging is on the button closures - like em? I made them! One more reason to play with polymer clay - I can make my own cool embellishments that MATCH. (That comes partly from knowing how to blend colors. ;p)

Fishing for Purple

2009-01-13T14:58:00.000-08:00

You all know I've been playing with polymer clay recently. The object, of course, is not simply to have fun with this medium, but to use it in my work. (of course, if I didn't find it fun, I wouldn't do it!) I thought it would be fun to wildly embellish a cuff with some polymer clay beads. I started by trying to match seed beads to some already made beads, and chose a dark purple which was at the center of some blue beads I'd made.

I faithfully started netting (the obvious stitch choice for these purposes), and quickly realized that would need to make a whole new set of polymer clay beads to match the cuff. (what a drag, right?)

Well, here's the end result! How 'bout that expanding ruffle at the end?

Gotta admit I'm a little bit pleased with this effort. It was just.. fun. You'll probably be seeing more combination of polymer clay and seed beads in the near future, what with it being my new kick and all. ;)

I would also like to acknowledge an award: Stormee has given me the Lemonade blogging award, and just wanted to say thanks! She does some pretty inventive sewing.

Now, there's certain 'requirements' for this award, such as picking other blogs to pass it on to. Being a bit of a rule breaker (not really... I have an overactive conscience) I'm not going to specifically pick blogs to pass this on to. But if you're itching for an award, consider yourself tagged. ;)

Scorpion Fish

2009-01-11T14:54:00.001-08:00

It's done!

For your viewing pleasure, my Scorpion Fish necklace. I went with a herringbone rope, and hung the polymer clay strips along with strips of peyote for the fins. You can vote for your favorite entry in the February challenge entitled 'Tropical Holiday' beginning Feb. 9th at the EBW blog.

Just for fun

2009-01-07T11:42:00.001-08:00

Over Christmas break, my mom put on a home show for me. It was my first, and went quite well! As a result, I had a little extra, so I went and collected beads from folks I've been admiring from a distance for a while. Aren't they fabulous??

We have, generally from left to right, two fun varieties of disk lampwork beads from HMB Studios, a fabulous pendant and two surprise raku beads from MAKU studio, and two types of playful fiber beads from Ebrown2503. Feel free to check these folks out for yourself. :D

Of Poisonous Fish and Polymer Clay

2009-01-07T11:21:00.000-08:00

Warning: lots of pictures ahead. For the summary, just look to the left!

<--------------

Just before Christmas, I started playing with some white Sculpey I had leftover from a raised relief saxophone-playing jackalope I had made a little while back. (What?? Yes, sax-playing jackalope - as a Christmas present for my sax-playing and figurine collecting Grandpa.)

I picked up more polymer clay at the store over break. I stood in the aisle for a while hypnotized by all those colors. But being the good budget-keeper that I try to be, and having taken enough art classes to know how to make more colors out of what I had, I went with red, yellow, blue and silver of one type, and sienna, silver, and translucent of another type. I've been playing the last few days!

Task 1 was to figure out how to imitate scorpion fish fins (see post below for fishy picture). Here's the final result, using the sienna alternating with mixed translucent and silvery clay.

And here is the final result with the prototypes. I used the lower cost stuff to figure out how to make it work. And I might end up using some of the prototypes in the necklace. (This is for the February challenge - tropical holiday, remember? Don't worry, there will be plenty of beadweaving as well!)

And then I just played with the clay to see how it worked and try out different stuff. I like this blue set! The largest is ~ 1 inch across.

These were the fin-making leftovers. I like the stripedy one just beside my pinky.

These are red themed, I promise. (Okay, so they're pink. sigh...)

Just for fun! I baked a little disk of reddish clay, then chopped it up and mixed it into the light blue clay for baking #2.

Purpley beads. We'll have to find a use for those spirally beads.

And random leftovers. The white spiral has some of the silver mixed in, so it actually shimmers a little in real life.
...Now I'm inspired to go make more! I know, these are pretty rough, and have fingerprints on them, but I'm having fun playing. And besides, some of them need to be a little rough. It's in their nature!

Inspiration strikes!

2008-12-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

I've continued to ponder the 'tropical holiday' theme, and I know where I'm heading now. In my last post, I spoke of spending time at the coast every year. During those holidays, we explored the reef whenever the low tide was at the right time. Some of my favorite memories involve snorkeling in pools around brain corals. The big ol' blobs hosted the most abundant and fantastic array of fish.

Most days, we would be fortunate enough to see at least one scorpion fish. When we saw these, we would always back up slowly and admire these very poisonous and fantastic fish. The bold stripes and the long, ribbon-like fins always inspired awe and respect.

I want to make a necklace inspired by these fantastic fish. I just picked up some colored polymer clay to play with, so I think I'll use a mix of hand made beads (woohoo!) and strips of peyote to imitate the fins. Of course, by the time it's done it will have evolved somewhat from this original brainstorming!

I'm excited. :D

2008-12-10T09:53:00.000-08:00

It's time to vote again in the Etsy Beadweaver's December challenge! Visit the EBW blog and cast your vote.

My entry: This choker fit for an icy queen!

Tropical Holiday

2008-12-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

The next Etsy Beadweaver's challenge theme was announced a couple weeks ago or so. The theme is 'Tropical Holiday' and pieces will be submitted by February 5th (an extra month for the busy holiday season!) I haven't had much of a chance to think about this theme until today.

Today, I did start to think about what a 'Tropical Holiday' means to me. As mentioned previously, I grew up in Kenya. (The picture to the left is my dad, sister, and I - holding the stick - in Kenya back in the day.) We lived first at latitude 2 degrees North, and later at latitude 26 minutes North (~ 1/2 degree).

The pin shows the location of our first home, in Logologo, Kenya (Google Earth got the spelling wrong - at least it is improved from the previous spelling - Lokuloko- yikes!). The picture below shows a ground-level view, during the rainy season. Normally, you wouldn't see any green on the ground.

The picture below shows our house where we lived later, at the bottom of the Kerio valley, a very steep valley within the East African Rift system. We were on an agricultural development project, with a yard full of papaya, mangos, bananas, pineapples, and oranges. I grew up thinking of apples as an exotic fruit.

I went to school at latitude 55 minutes South (almost 1 degree South). (It was a boarding school, which I totally loved.) We crossed the equator every time we went home. If that ain't a tropical childhood, I don't know what is. The picture below was taken when I went home for the summer after I had started college. I swallowed my pride, and took a very touristy picture at the Equator sign. (I'm on the left. We wore long skirts because it would have been totally culturally inappropriate where we lived to wear pants, shorts, or short skirts).
So, what does a tropical holiday mean to me then? Well, a very normal holiday to say the least. Every year, we went to the coast for a couple of weeks. There were cottages available for us to stay in, and we could stay there making our own food and cleaning ourselves for two weeks, or stay in a fancy hotel for maybe 3 nights for the same price. We took the 2 week option. My dad would walk down to the fish market and find something fresh to grill. Coconut trees grew in the yard, and the fruit was free for the taking. There is a fringing reef just off the beach that we would snorkel in almost daily. By just off the beach, I mean that at low tide, you could just meander through very shallow water to the front of the reef.
Another bonus of staying in the cottages is that we essentially had a private beach. It was technically public, but the only public access was by walking from farther down the beach. We were able to avoid the most intense of the hawkers, and more importantly the very frightening western tourists (think large frames, sunburnt to maroon, far too little in the way of swimsuits, and very little understanding of local culture, all on a crowded beach).

I'll have to keep thinking about how I can translate all of this into a beadwoven piece!

Free shipping!

2008-11-28T08:24:00.000-08:00

Friday through Monday, Dec. 1st I'm offering free shipping on all orders from my Etsy shop. Enjoy!

Snow Queen

2008-11-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

I finally listed my EBW December challenge piece! It's been sitting around finished for quite some time now, but between school and trying to find a dark background for pictures, I didn't get it listed 'till just now.

So here it is, in all its icy glory, a choker fit for a Snow Queen!

I used a variety of clear, silver lined, and opaque white beads, along with three larger foil-lined clear glass beads as centerpieces for three netted icy flowers. Hanging from each flower is a small section of tubular herringbone, with coraling beneath that to create icicles. In between the flowers are strips of freeform netting. All this was hung from memory wire strung with silver lined beads. You can find this necklace listed here.

ps.. the black background is the cover of one of my sketchbooks.

Also, this past week I was featured in a treasury created by Ileana of enchantedbeads. I didn't manage to get a screenshot of it, but thanks to Ileana anyways! Check out her shop for some beautiful beadwoven brooches and more!

Treasuries

2008-11-16T17:05:00.000-08:00

This has been a good week for me in the world of treasuries! Between the main Treasury and Treasury West, there are 3 currently running Treasuries featuring my work, and 2 created by me. That makes 5 currently running njema treasuries! Wow.

For your viewing pleasure:

Live here until 5:23 AM on Tuesday, FrancescasFancy curated this treasury, titled 'Peppermint Twist.' She featured my Red and White Beaded 'Double Circle' Earrings (whoa, those could use a new name!)

Live here until 9:08 AM Tuesday morning, mamabetsy curated this treasury, titled 'f o n d memories.' She featured my Offset Squares Herringbone Cuff.

Live here until 1:50 AM Tuesday morning, thebeadedlily curated this treasury titled 'A Room to Paint.' She featured my Bright Stripes Peyote Cuff.

In Treasury West, you'll find this list of delightful items I curated. Live until 12:47 PM Monday, you can check out the artists of these 'Colors of the Earth.'

I don't know about your locale, but here in Indiana it's getting cold and gray, prompting me to curate this treasury titled 'Need me some SUNSHINE!' You can view it here until 7:08 AM Tuesday morning.
So go ahead, visit these treasuries and give them some comment and click loving! And be sure to check out all the wonderful Etsians who saw fit to feature me this weekend. I'm sure they wouldn't mind a sale or two...

Christmas Ornaments!

2008-11-15T14:16:00.000-08:00

Here's the ornaments I've finished so far, hooks and all! I just got the wire this week, and formed it into some simple little hooks. It took me a while to figure out how to do hooks. I didn't want to use cheap craft store wire, but sterling silver was too expensive, both for my budget, and for the price I wanted to keep the ornaments at. Finally, I settled on silver plated wire. A nice compromise, I think, for this purpose! So far, I've only gotten the blue and silver ornament listed, but look for the other ones soon!

No Virginia, there is no Santa Claus.

2008-11-13T08:49:00.000-08:00

(yes, my full name is Virginia, and no, I've never believed in Santa Claus. And yes, I had a very fun filled childhood and have no interest in squelching anyone's joy!)

Here's a bit of a 'get to know me' blog post!

Warning: A bit of an odd (maybe controversial?) topic today. :D

But lets have a little fun with this...

I don't really get the deal with telling kids that North-Pole living, Toy-making, Magic sleigh-riding Santa is real. Maybe it has a bit to do with my upbringing regarding Christmas. I grew up in the middle of the desert in Northern Kenya. My neighbors were dirt poor semi-nomadic camel, cattle, and goat herders. Being just a little north of the equator, December/January was dry season - the hottest time of the year. Christmas time was all about church for our community - the Christmas play was performed by excited and animated adults, with a mean Herod, an angel with a booming voice and violently flapping arms (the words "fear not" seemed like a good introduction in this portrayal), and complete with live donkeys

wandering across the front of the church. On Christmas Eve, church went from about 7 or 8 until midnight, and Christmas morning everyone was back again for another 4 hours of singing.

In this context, it wouldn't have made sense for my parents to present us with the typical 'Santa' story that most Americans get. After all, if he goes all around the world delivering toys to all children, why was it that my neighbors would get just one new outfit that they knew their parents had saved up for? Why the discrepancy between what wealthy kids got and what poor kids got?

Santa wasn't totally out of the picture for my family, though. We learned the historical story of St. Nicholas, and how that evolved into the present day story of Santa Claus. And we DID 'play Santa.' We would label some gifts as being from Santa, but we all knew it was pretend. We were good at playing pretend, though! Aren't most kids? Why do adults feel the need to convince kids that Santa is real when kids can have just as much fun knowing it's pretend? I was in the US in 5th grade, and was surprised when I got in trouble for telling my 2nd grade cousin that Santa wasn't real. First, I had no idea that people *actually* believed the Santa story. And second, I was a big fan of knowing the truth. I thought she would want to know what was true, and didn't expect to get in trouble for being honest!

My biggest question today is this: Why can't we let the Santa story be a 'play pretend' story? Would that *actually* take any of the joy out of Christmas for children? Based on my own experience, and the wonderful ability of kids to make believe, I don't think it would. So why is it important to adults to do so? (Really - this is an invitation for discussion) :D

And what does this have to do with creativity? Maybe imagination, the ability to create worlds and ideas, but still have a grounding in reality. I think that's important for me as an artist and a scientist. I had the best time making believe as a child, but was still very interested in what was real. I still love having a mix of getting lost in creativity and learning fascinating information about how the world actually works.

On another note, here's my newest cuff! Bright Stripes Peyote Cuff. This equatorial girl is NOT excited about the grayness this Indiana winter is already bringing. Ah, for the sunshine and heat of the Kenyan desert this time of year...

Time to vote!!

2008-11-09T12:05:00.000-08:00

It's that time again.. Go to the EBW blog and vote for your favorite in this month's challenge, themed 'Ancestral Expressions.'

After a school-induced hiatus...

2008-11-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

I've been neglecting my blog lately. That's what happens when a student sets realistic priorities! As well as being busy with school, my creative focus lately has been on Christmas presents. As people on my list just might be able to find this blog, I'm not going to upload pictures of those until after the fact. :)

I *can* tell you that I've been working on the herringbone tapestry of my grandpa I showed you the pattern of in a previous blog post. I know that he won't find this blog! (Several years back, he wrote one or two emails, which I think is the extent of his internet experience.)

My exam this morning marked the end of one period of constant work, so I took time to day to do some much needed updates to some of my Etsy pictures.

Though I listed all of these pieces ages ago, my photography skills have improved somewhat since then. I thought ya'll might enjoy the updated photos of these items!

I still have a number of pottery items that I have never added to my store. Maybe I'll have time for that soon!

Three-footed little mug

Red flames bowl

Small brown cup

Stained Glass Coral Flower Peyote Cuff

Whaddaya know?

2008-10-27T14:13:00.000-07:00

I just took a look through some posts on the Art Zoo, and found that on October 16th, they featured my Evening Elegance Herringbone Cuff! :D So here's a quick hooray for that!

Orange & Blue

2008-10-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

With all of my brainstorming, you might think it would be difficult to settle on a direction. But with budget constraints, I needed to choose a design using beads I already had in my collection. So I went with this orange and blue bangle! Go gators. :) It is now available for purchase in my Etsy store.

Herringbone, and some 'in progress'

2008-10-14T09:15:00.001-07:00

I've just discovered herringbone within the past month, and it's my new favorite.

I finished this wide cuff over the weekend, and it's now available in my Etsy store! The inspiration for this came from a hotel carpet. Inspiration is everywhere! I finished it off with three brick stitch buttons, which can go on the top OR bottom of the wrist, depending on what look you want.

Okay, so I'm pretty proud of this cuff. Plus herringbone just feels so cool! Very flexible.

And... a herringbone rope necklace in progress. I've got three ropes done, and one more that I want to do before combining them and adding some sort of a closure.

Continuing with 'in progress,' this peyote cuff is mostly done. I just need to add a closure, and maybe add a little bit of a 3D flair.. But I'd need to buy specific beads for that, and right now my 'fun budget' is going towards christmas present supplies. So eventually you'll see the final version in my Etsy store. :) Patience!

And I'm in the throes of making a bunch of ornament-stars both for gifts and to put in my store. Here's the first four!

Vote Vote Vote!

2008-10-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

It's time to vote in the Etsy Beadweaver's October Challenge! So go to the EBW blog, and pick your favorite. :)

And in other (very exciting) news, I'm a winner! :) I showed up for the BAO trunk show last night, saw some very cool art, and won a door prize! Not just any door prize, but this incredible pendant by MAKUstudio. I've been looking for a special pendant for a special purpose, but was going to do without for budget reasons. This fits the bill EXACTLY. I don't think I can describe how incredibly exciting this is for me. I can't wait to have this in hand, pick out the perfect seed beads, and dive into the special project I have in mind!

Ancestral Expressions

2008-10-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

The November challenge theme was just announced - Ancestral Expressions. This is, so far, a thought-provoking theme. There are so many roads I could go down with this one! My first thought was a Gators themed cuff (yes, as in University of Florida). There have been 5 generations of Gators in my family, starting with great-great-grandaddy Rolfs (Peter Henry Rolfs) who was the Dean of the College of Agriculture. In fact, the horticulture building on campus in Rolfs Hall. Then I thought I could do an agriculture themed piece. Or maybe something Brazilian inspired, as PH Rolfs founded an agricultural college in Brazil.

Then there's this plant pathogen, Sclerotium rolfsii that he was the first to describe. Perhaps this picture of mitosis in the plant could be some inspiration for me. :) (Picture taken from here)

Then, there's the other side of the family. I have some Irish roots through my grandmother, and have a grandfather who has been a professional musician for over 70 years. In fact, I've already converted a photo of him playing saxaphone into a pattern that I might bead up for a christmas present.

So there are my ideas so far - something orange and blue (go gators!), Sclerotium rolfsii, or Grandpa playing the saxophone. Or something agriculture-themed. I probably won't do something Irish themed, because I'm more intrigued by my other ideas. :)

The Mane Event

2008-09-30T18:01:00.001-07:00

The theme for the EBW October challenge was announced on August 29th - Animal Instincts. My immediate thought was the obvious - some sort of animal print peyote cuff. Then I thought about what it would mean to *use* my 'animal instincts' to create an entry. Sarah (thebeadedlily) wrote a post about wanting shark teeth. That reminded me that I have some shark teeth, maybe I should use those! But no, I couldn't do that for this challenge, that was gonna be her thing (you can see her amazing piece here). I'm sure I'll use them at some point, after all, it's been on the back of my mind ever since I collected them. Just not for this challenge.

Eventually, I remembered that I have these little wooden animal beads - giraffes, zebras, lions, and leopards. Along with these beads, I have several large bone and wood beads. All of these were picked up in South Africa by my husband's aunt, and eventually made their way to me.

Those beads, along with a melange of brown-themed seed beads, a couple of large glass beads, and some tiger's eye came together in this truly OOAK necklace, 'The Mane Event.'

Sorry, I just couldn't resist the bad pun. :) As well as featuring lions (among other animals!) this necklace is reminiscent of a lion's mane.

Starting October 9th, visit the Etsy Beadweaver's team blog to vote for your favorite entry! I (of course) hope you pick mine, but it's okay if you choose to vote for one of the other marvelous entries. ;)

Question of the day: Besides something animal-themed, what other roads could you go down with the theme 'Animal Insticts?'

Bead It Forward

2008-09-29T07:47:00.000-07:00

For the past few years, Jeanette Shanigan has been collecting and sewing together beaded squares into quilts. These quilts are then donated to Bead Artists against Breast Cancer for their annual auction. You can check out previous squares and find the information for how to contribute to this project here. This year, the theme is hearts. Several members of the EBW team are trying to get enough squares together for an entire EBW quilt.

Here, at long last, is my contribution:

1) Asymmetrical heart in peyote

2) my first foray into the world of herringbone! A very simple heart pattern, but I like how it turned out.

3) Two-drop peyote with a freeform heart attached to the top.

4) Regular peyote black background with two red hearts attached to the top.

And here they all are together! Which is YOUR favorite? I'm torn between the asymmetrical heart and the herringbone heart.

Green Peyote Triangles Cuff

2008-09-22T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've dipped my toes slightly further into the peyote triangle pool, and came up with this cuff. Since adding it to my store about a week ago, it has already been featured in two treasuries, as you can see in the post below!

I had fun with it, and it has sparked new ideas to store away in my list of things I want to make. That list should probably start materializing on paper before my brain gets too crowded.
This cuff is available for purchase at my Etsy store! Here is the direct link to this piece.

Speaking of my mind getting crowded with ideas - I've been on a designing spree for flat cuffs (in a variety of stitches). However, I have a slight problem in that I don't have the beads I want for actually making them. I also don't really have spare change to purchase said beads. On top of that, I don't have much spare time between attempting to keep up (more like catch up!) with readings for my classes, plus doing some teaching. You know, grad school. :)

Someday, I hope to be able to share those cuffs with you! In the meantime, I'm strategizing over how to save up and use my spending money for beads. :) My husband and I have alloted ourselves monthly 'spend on whatever we want' money. We're having to be thrifty with me in grad school, and the job market the way it is right now, but having that set amount worked into our budget is... nice. It's guilt-free bead money! (Little though it may be) Now if only the sales would just start rolling in....

Treasury Thank-you's

2008-09-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

A big thank-you to everyone who has featured my items in a treasury the past couple of weeks! I know there is at least one treasury which I didn't get a screenshot of, but still a big thanks to those curators as well!

And now.. Thank you to Kim of RegalBeads for featuring not just one, not two, but THREE of my items in this lovely treasury entitled 'Stained Glass'! Included here are my Stained Glass Cuff, Green Peyote Triangle Cuff, and my Pink Ruffled Circle Earrings.

Be sure to check out Kim's shop for her lovely beadwoven items!

Esther of GreenEnvyDesigns also included my Green Peyote Triangle Cuff in her lovely treasury 'Foraging Etsy's Forest'.

This treasury entitled 'OMG Beads! EBW Team Beauties' from a couple weeks ago features my Midsummer Night's Dream Necklace. Unfortunately, I failed to record the curator of this treasury. :( If it was you, give me a holler so I can properly thank you!

This Treasury entitled 'Just a Preview' was (I believe - correct me if I'm wrong!) curated by Ileana of EnchantedBeads. It was a pre-voting preview of some of the entries for the EBW September Challenge, and feature my No Shades of Gray Cuff.

A big thank-you to everyone who has featured my work in your Treasuries!

Stained Glass Cuff

2008-09-16T07:01:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, I made this pair of stained glass earrings, using the brick stitch. They sold at a rodeo I went to back in June. But I liked them, and kept the general idea in mind.

Finally, a week or so ago, I finished this brick-stitched cuff, my Stained Glass Cuff. I like how it turned out.
I tried to keep the colors both quasi-random and quasi-regular. What I did was have two piles of bead containers - 'used' and 'unused'. I actually did a good job of keeping on my tray only the colors I was currently using. Then when I finished a diamond, I put those beads away, and the container went into the 'used' pile. Once all of the 'unused' had moved over to 'used', it became my new 'unused' pile. Kinda silly? I like the look of randomness, but at the same time, I couldn't bear the thought of using MORE of one type of bead than all the others! Or, heaven forbid, have adjacent diamonds of the same bead! (It was hard enough to convince myself that it was okay to have two of the same color touching)

Random regularity will bother me if it's not of my own making. For instance, bathroom tiles. If there are a bunch of tiles in repeating size patterns, I always look for repeating color patterns. I think that they should be laid out in repeating patterns so that I can find the patterns! Is anyone else weird like that?

Stars and Butterflies

2008-09-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

Remember those wonky squares? The ones I used to make this bracelet, these earrings, and this bracelet too? While playing with them, it seemed like I could make stars by putting 5 of them together.

Tada! It's true.

On the red star above, I had put together 3 of the 5 squares, and held it up to show my husband. His response? "It looks like a butterfly." Brilliant. So then I made a couple of butterflies.
These can all be used as pendants. I picked up some ribbons yesterday to string these on, photograph them with, and send with them when they sell. Once the Ike rains move through and we have a sunny day, I'll be able to photograph that and list them on Etsy!

Maybe I should several of the stars as Christmas ornaments...

September Challenge!

2008-09-10T18:30:00.000-07:00

It's that time again folks... Time to vote in the Etsy Beadweavers September Challenge!

Here's a preview of the entries. Go to the Etsy Beadweaver's blog to find links to each piece, and vote for your favorite. Voting ends at Midnight EST on September 15th.

2008-08-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

Cheryl of littlestonedesign has included my little Brown and Green Skirt earrings in her treasury

Not NEARLY Neutral

Who Says Browns Have to be Boring?

These browns sure aren't! Thanks Cheryl for including my earrings. :) Be sure to check out her Etsy shop for some beautiful work.

Farewell to the Desert

2008-08-26T07:45:00.001-07:00

It's true, I've moved away from the desert to a land flowing with - well, water. This was the last piece I finished before taking off across the country. It's appropriate, then, that is has something of a Southwestern flair in chevrons of desert colors.

The inspiration for this piece was a carpet in a little restaurant just outside the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest Nat'l park in Arizona. It was kind of a tacky carpet, but translated well to a bracelet. :) Besides, I didn't copy the pattern - just used it as inspiration.

I made my very first brick-stitched circle for the closure, which turns out to be a great focal piece of the cuff. I'm having some issues uploading pictures, otherwise I would show you one of the bracelet closed! In the meantime, you'll just have to check it out on Etsy. :)

No Shades of Gray

2008-08-21T11:20:00.000-07:00

I kept telling myself that I just wouldn't have time to submit an entry to this month's EBW Challenge, Complimentary Contradictions. After all, I moved across the country mid-month (I miss New Mexico!), have a wedding dress that I need to finish for a week from Sunday (not to mention a bridesmaid dress that needs SERIOUS altering...), and will be starting grad school on Tuesday.

However, this week I decided that I just needed to enter a piece! While my original ideas had all been about fairly elaborate necklaces, I decided to go with the same themes and create a bracelet instead.

The theme was Complimentary Contradictions. What, I thought, is more contradictory than opposites? And what is more opposite than black and white? For the sake of elegance, I decided to go with silver beads instead of white, but I think you can forgive that. ;) My next thought was about the contrast in a very structured stitch vs. freeform. I loved the way the freeform 'bubbles' looked on peyote cuffs (as in my 'sea and fire' and 'fire and sea' cuffs), so I knew how complimentary those contradictions can be!

Thus, 'No Shades of Gray' was born. I debated for a time between my matte and glossy black beads, and finally decided to use both. My initial plan was to do a checkerboard, but as I began the 3-drop peyote, the alternating lines just looked so sleek, that I ended up making alternating columns of matte and glossy instead of the checkerboard pattern. On top of that, I made freeform 'bubbles' out of silvery beads, and finished off the cuff with a simple, classy sterling silver bar clasp.

You can go to the EBW blog starting September 9th to vote for your favorite entry in the September Challenge! In the meantime, you can search for 'ebwc' on Etsy to get a sneak peak at the gorgeous entries.

Peace

2008-08-17T18:12:00.000-07:00

Paula of PFordCustomJewelry has included my 'Starshine' earrings in this great treasury entitled :

Peace

Let there be peace on earth.

She is donating all profits from her Peace bracelet (upper left hand corner) to Lutheran Peace Fellowship, plus offering you free shipping for that item! 10% of her profits storewide will be going to the same organization, so go check her out and be a part of bringing peace on earth!

August Challenge Winner!

2008-08-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Congratulation to Julie of GemsbyJules on winning this month's Etsy Beadweaver's challenge! This is her fabulous peyote cuff, entitled Search Light Art Deco Bracelet. It is available for sale in her Etsy shop here. You can visit the EBW blog for a more detailed run-down of the challenge.

Voting is open!

2008-08-12T08:09:00.001-07:00

...and has been for a couple of days, but I've been on the road. So go ahead over to the EBW blog and vote for your favorite by midnight EST on August 15! Here's a sneak peak.

Moving sale!

2008-08-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

I will be offering FREE shipping on all orders placed in my Etsy shop while I'm in the throes of moving. See my store for more details!

Moving

2008-07-30T15:53:00.000-07:00

For those of you who are avid readers of my blog and wait with baited breath for each new entry, you'd better sit down.

No, I'm not deserting blog-land. Let's just get that out there straight away.

But I am moving in a little over a week, which means I'm not doing as much beading right now. Because supposedly I'm packing up my house. Consequently, there probably won't be any new pieces to show until after I've moved. Of course, then I'll be starting grad school again (I'm planning to actually get that degree this time), so beading time will become a luxury item. Therefore, blog posts might be few and far between. As a result, you should subscribe to the RSS feed or whatever-mathingy you do like that so you can be automatically notified when there IS a new post. :)

And I promise to keep you updated on my creative life, even when it's moving slower!

(I am looking forward to round two of grad school. I'm gonna co-teach intro geology, so here's to molding young minds!)

The Manicured Garden

2008-07-25T10:38:00.001-07:00

That's what I decided to name this newest cuff. When it was finished it looked to me like perfect grassy paths lined with well trimmed bushes leading up to a forested area, with every tree in its proper place.

In general, I'm a fan of wild vegetation - I like it when bushes, flowers, grasses, etc. intermingle. Perfect suburban lawns are not my cup of tea, but hiking through the mountains seeing wildflowers in bloom is. When I went to school in suburban Chicago, the first spring flowers were grid-like tulips and daffodils looking very lonely in their perfect place surrounded by mulch. That was very depressing to this Equator-raised girl, used to much more bushy and wild vegetation. Me, I can't be bothered to raise plants purely for their aesthetic value. I do enjoy it when my okra and zucchini starts to bloom, though!

However, this is not plants in soil, it's a bracelet. And although it reminds me of a manicured garden, I like it. :) I like how it's spiky and how the 'bushes' add another touch of dimensionality to it. Sometimes, it's okay for everything to be in its proper place.

Dimensionality

2008-07-22T13:44:00.001-07:00

A while back, there was a bit of a 'triangle craze' going on in the Etsy Beadweaver's team. They looked pretty neat, so I dutifully made a triangle. My next thought was 'I wonder if I can use the same basic principle to make a square.' So I tried it out, and got a square like shape that wouldn't lie flat. At that point in time, I wanted a flat square for a pair of earrings, so I messed around and ended up making a relatively decent flat square.

But I kept the dimensional square stored away at the back of my mind 'for later use.' Yesterday, I pulled it to the forefront. Using two shades of a corally pink, I made 7 of these squares and joined them together into this bracelet.

The next logical step was to make some more squares to join together for this pair of earrings. Now, I'm not much of a pink girl, but I am pretty pleased with how these pieces turned out!

Next up, a spiky green bracelet using the same squares. Here's a sneak peak! Each spike is made by joining two squares together in the corner.

August Challenge!

2008-07-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

I know, I know. I'm a little ahead of the August 5th deadline for the Etsy Beadweaver's August challenge themed Art Deco. But here is my entry!

When the theme was announced, my first thought was 'I have no idea what falls into the category of Art Deco.' So I went on a Google image search, and found a lot of geometric designs and straight lines.

And this is what I came up with!

The middle geometric pieces were made using a combination of brick stitch and a square stitch. I used a circular version of the net stitch to create the pinwheels at the top.

The centerpiece called for a rope-style chain, which I made using a variation of the Peyote stitch. Relating back to my earlier post about the creative process, my newest idea is to make bangles using that same variation of Peyote. So keep an eye out, and when I get to that project, I'll show you the results.

And with that, it's time to sign off. Happy creating!

Etsy Beadweavers Midsummer Madness Sale!

2008-07-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

The Etsy Beadweavers Team is putting on our first ever sale. Various team members are offering special deals during the week of July 21-27. You can find out what is being offered here!

My shop is offering 15% off on select items, found in the 'sale' section on the right hand side of the page, and free shipping on multi-item purchases storewide.

Be sure to take advantage of all the limited time special offers by the whole EBW team! And remember, you can find beautiful, quality items any time from any of the stores represented. :)

Freeform

2008-07-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

Since joining the Etsy Beadweavers Street Team my toolbox of techniques has gotten bigger and bigger. I've learned new stitches, been motivated to bead my own closures, and been challenged to push myself.

There has been a lot of talk in the past month or so about how one goes about making a freeform piece. One of our own, Claire, has made a series of posts on freeform, using a bracelet she made as an example. Here is the first of those posts.

This among other things have inspired me to create my first deliberately freeform bracelet. A lot of my work has some elements of freeform, in that I pick out the beads and let them take me to a finished product. However, a pattern usually emerges very quickly. With this bracelet, I very deliberately stayed away from a regular pattern. I thoroughly enjoy how the wooden beads interact with the silvery glass beads. I just might have to make a freeform necklace using the same palette..

Here's to more freeform fun!

The creative process

2008-07-09T14:53:00.000-07:00

So how does the creative process work? Where does inspiration come from? It's obviously different from person to person, and even project to project, but for me a lot of ideas have been stumbled upon.

Take these two bracelets that I just finished, for example.. The story starts below this picture.

While I was working on my July challenge piece (pictured below), I went to a friend's wedding. Her new sister-in-law beaded her necklace. The stitch she used was similar to techniques I had seen in other necklaces and bracelets while poking around the internet. I should probably figure out what the technique is called...

That particular necklace inspired me to add the white 'moonbeams' to the necklace, using this stitch I had seen around.

When I finished the necklace, I had a jumble of blue, green, and some red beads which I really didn't want to sort out, as well as a jumble of white beads. Obviously, the logical choice was to make a matching bracelet. Well, I ran out of the blue, green, and red before the bracelet was long enough, so I finished it off with the white in that same stitch, and then embellished one end of the blue with a 'moonbeam'.

I really liked the look of the white circle type thingys on the blue bracelet - not just the color contrast, but the dimensionality of it. And that evolved into my two newest bracelets. The turquoise and red ceramic beads inspired the color choices, as well as the creation of two of these bracelets.

Sometimes, I'll come across an idea while I'm making another piece. I made the earrings below based on a portion of a pattern on a dress of mine. While they were coming together, I reached a point where it looked like a daisy-type flower. That wasn't the goal for this pair of earrings, but I stored it away for later.

And I used that 'stumbled upon' technique in these earrings (and a matching necklace).

Then I used it again in this necklace (my June challenge piece)

Anyhow, that's how many of my ideas come about. One piece inspires another inspires another, I accidentally do something that inspires another piece, and so forth. It's fun.

Vote!

2008-07-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

Voting for the Etsy Beadweaver's July Challenge is in full swing now!

Go to http://etsy-beadweavers.blogspot.com to vote for your favorite entry.

On pendants and lack of sales

2008-07-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

While I thoroughly enjoyed being in the Sangre de Cristo mountains of Northern New Mexico, and I gave out business cards to everyone who came to my table, the sales part of this trip was not so great. I sold a grand total of one small pair of earrings and one small candle holder. There just weren't that many people who came! Although, the people selling paper products next to me had sale after sale. (Granted, they did very nice work! I suppose a fair like this one was the right niche for their products, I just need to find the right niche for mine.)

So, here I am in the darkest corner in a dark room, despite being next to a window.

and my pottery.

But there was a dude there who did wire wrapping with sterling silver. I couldn't help but pick up a couple of pendants. I'm excited to use these.. Unfortunately, he doesn't yet have a website that I can direct you all too. There were some beautiful pieces a bit out of my price range - some fabulous ammonites, and a great chunk of labradorite.

This one is labeled amazonite, and I traded for a piece of pottery.

This one is a mixture of hematite and tigers eye, and I straight up bought this one. :)

While on the national parks trip, I bought a couple of other stones for use in jewelry.

I need to learn how to do a beaded bezel and use this slice of agate!

I also bought 3 pieces of petrified wood (collected on private land, NOT the national park.) :)

I'm not sure if I want to figure out how to bead around these, or if I want to get them wire wrapped - the guy who sold me the pendants above said he can wrap stones like this.

Off to sell again..

2008-07-04T21:41:00.000-07:00

I've just returned from a whirlwind trip of 7 national parks in as many days - Arches, Canyonlands, Capitol Reef, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Grand Canyon, and Petrified Forest, for those who are interested.

Since I am finding it impossible to sit still this summer, the next two days will be spent as a vendor at the Arts & Crafts who at the Sipapu Ski Resort. (No, there's no snow this time of year!)

When I get back, it will be almost time to start voting for your favorite entry in the EBW Challenge. This month's theme was 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' and all of the entries I've seen so far have been breathtaking. Visit the link on the right hand side of my page to go to the EBW blog and vote starting July 9th!

Of course, I would be delighted if you voted for my entry, but please only do so if you like it the best. ;)

Award!

2008-06-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

Thank you to Smadar's Treasure for giving me the Arte Y Pico Award!

The rules of this award are as follows:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award based on creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, regardless of language

2) Each award has to have the name of the author with a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given him/her the award.

4) Award-winner and giver must show the link to the Arte y pico blog, so others can see the origin of this award

5) These rules must be shown

I will shortly start looking through creative blogs to pass on this award to others. At that point, I will update this post! Thanks again to Smadar's Treasure. Go check out her blog - she does fantastic work!

New Bracelets

2008-06-05T13:57:00.001-07:00

I've been super impressed with all the lovely bracelets I've seen made by EBW members lately. Also, the concept of making your own closure has seemed particularly interesting, as I've been getting fed up with the quality of the clasps I bought. So this week, I've been working on a few bracelets (and closures!) of my own.

Saturday and Sunday: I realized how few brown/earthy pieces I've made. Which is odd, considering how much I like this family of colors. So, I made a netted bracelet.

Sunday and Monday: I've been hearing 'peyote, peyote, peyote' ever since I joined EBW, so I thought I'd look into that stitch, and how it was made. Well, I opened up some instructions, and realized it was a stitch I'd figured out for myself a few months back, but just hadn't done much with. So I decided to use it for this bracelet, inspired by stained glass.

Tuesday and Wednesday: Then I was on a roll, so I tried two-drop (?) peyote. I really like how this bracelet turned out - the pattern is based on detailing I've been using in some drawing and just basically sketches in the margins of notebooks. The bracelet drapes delightfully!

Thursday: This idea just came into my head, and at the last minute, I decided to add the orange beads for a little extra flair. Somehow, I keep coming back to floral themes... They're just so fun to make!
Any of these that don't sell will go up on Etsy after I get back from the Ft. Sumner rodeo next week! Maybe I'll have to check out the Billy the Kid Tombstone race while I'm there...

Jewelry Displays

2008-06-04T15:46:00.000-07:00

In a little over a week, I'll be selling for the first time in person. The last few days, I've been busy preparing my jewelry stands. Here's a look at the process:

Plain boards and dowel rods... interesting starting place. :) Step 1 was to get them all cut to acceptable sizes, and step 2 was to drill lots of holes for where they'd be attached.

Next, cover the boards in fabric. I attached the fabric to the boards using electrical tape. It seems to work so far, but if it starts coming off, I'll go back to good ol' duct tape. I suppose wood staples, tacks, or nails would also suffice. Also probably glue. But that could get messy..

The tops of the boards look great, though!

The dowel rods got spray painted black.

And stuck full of nails.

Screw the dowel rods to the boards, and voila! Some of the rods and nails are a bit catty-wompus, but it adds to the uniqueness.... right?

And finally, a preview with earrings. I need to hem up the cloth they're resting on to use as my table cloth.

Kenyan beadweavers

2008-05-29T14:45:00.000-07:00

These bracelets were made with a rubber inner ring - anything rubber, arm sized, and round was sure to disappear quickly. :) A favorite was the seals for the caps of our barrels.