"Yerrrrrrrrrrrr OUT!"

The voters have weighed in, and I'm out of the Battle of the Beadsmith competition. My piece fell to a spectacular entry and I wish Kris Empting-Obenland much luck with the remainder of the challenge.  Now I can sit back, relax, and enjoy the fun as I get back to work on smaller pieces.

Currently, I am busy working in black and white.  I made a number of cabs, large and small, for bead embroidery projects.  Once the beads are out, I thought I might as well do them all at once.

Here is what my worktable looks like today:

Originally, I had planned to use some super-sparkly AB Swarovski crystal bicones in these projects but I couldn't find them anywhere in my studio. It was driving me mad.  I gave up looking and finished the beading without the sparkles. It turns out I had over-organized my space. Last year, I decided it would be smart to create project boxes: cabs would be stored with the beads I had in mind for them, labeled, and stored where I could easily see the labels. One of those boxes held black and white cabs.... and those danged crystals! When I made the new black and white cabs shown above, I completely forgot about the existing box! What a knucklehead.

Thanks to a dear old friend, Paul Hallinger, I've now been diagnosed accurately with BOSS (Bead Over-organized Stress Syndrome) HA! :D

I hope to have several pairs of earrings ready to put in my Etsy shop by the end of the weekend.


 copyright 2013 Shibori Girl

Beginnings... and Surprise Endings

Some folks have asked me to explain what inspires me at the beginning of a project. Is it a specific color? A particular bead? A "light bulb" moment in the shower? Well, my answer is "yes": all of the above, though the moment of inspiration varies from project to project.

This past week, I chose to use some mottled blue jade teardrops I bought at the last bead show. When I first saw them, my brain fritzed and short-circuited. They were beautiful - and a whole strand of them together, well, it was A Moment. I brought them home and didn't do anything with them, that is, until now. My plan was to make bead embroidered earrings. Oh, they would be spec-TAC-ular!

I finished the first one and it was apparent they were to big for earrings. I made the second, since the stone was already glued down.

When finished, I laid it next to the first piece, and realization hit me like a brick - these would be great strung together. Good thing I'd glued more of the jade stones down!

To soften the final piece, I wanted to make smaller elements to place between the jade medallions. I have some mother-of-pearl coin beads in a very soft blue. Perfect! I made a pretty round piece, and when I put it between the two jade elements, my reaction was, "Uh.... no."

Didn't really like the stark white seed beads in there and, again, too big.

I tried again, but kept it even simpler, and "Hazzah!" Just what I was looking for.

A few hours later, I had enough pieces to arrange the final layout.

Satisfied, I used freshwater pearls to attach everything together. The finished result, 18 hours after I started, is romantic, soft, and very elegant. Do you think it's too late to see if Kate Middleton might want it for her Big Day???

Oh, and don't worry... that medallion I decided not to use gets to shine in it's own piece as a simple pendant.

copyright 2010 Shibori Girl

Today's Worktable

After last week's post, I knuckled down and made progress on a couple of the UFO's shown in the What's On My Worktable shot. I spent the weekend making serious headway on the clutch bag, and I'm delighted with it's progress. The blue and brown fringed foliage necklace is finished and listed for sale. The other items in that shot will have to wait for another day.

This week's shot includes two new pieces:

The mailman delivered a shipment of lovely Lucite cabochons and I've been busily putting them to work:

I like them all, but my favorites are the blue and gold cabs.

The first piece turned out to be a pretty, sparkly brooch and is now listed in my Etsy shop.

The other one, well, it's turning into one of those pieces that takes on a life of its own. The main bead embroidery is a fringed pendant.

I completed that phase last night, and all that's left is to weave a neck strap for it.

I hope you all are enjoying a wonderful Holiday season!

copyright 2010 Shibori Girl

Weekly Worktable

Hello, my name is Kate, and I'm an addict... a beading addict, that is. I have so many ideas running through my right-oriented brain, that I leap from project to project, leaving a wake of UFO's.

Betty Stephan, a fellow beader, show's pictures on her Facebook fan page called "weekly worktable". This seems like such a good idea. If I try to do this, maybe I'll get the bug to finish pieces that show up too many weeks in a row? What the heck, I'll try it and see if it helps.

What's on this week's worktable:

Tan: A beautiful labradorite cabochon is front-and-center of a collar-to-be.
Green: a bead embroidered clutch purse I've had in the works for about a year
A brown and blue fringed foliage necklace I should have finished later today
A polymer clay pendant that's waiting for the perfect bead to embellish the little leaves.

What do you do to keep the UFO's under control? Really... I'm asking.

~~~

Meanwhile, I did finish a fringed foliage necklace and got it listed yesterday.

Head on over and take a peek. Also, I'm offering free shipping within the US and Canada through December 15.

Have a creative day!

copyright 2010 Shibori Girl