Ritual - Beadwork, Beaded Dolls, And Dragons

Still alive...somewhat...

2010-03-27T16:17:00.002-04:00

Real life has been keeping me from blogging as much as I should.
Been fighting with some major depression issues, which unfortunately tends to make me hibernate from the world, online and real life. I'm almost to the point of going back to see someone to get back on some type of medication to help have enough energy to actually do things, but I REALLY hate taking medication.

Need to get back to beading.

Long time no Post

2009-12-09T20:14:00.002-05:00

I had to take a break on here, simply to try to get back to life. Sometimes that hermit instinct takes over and you just have to go with it. But I bring you 2 Lady Pins: the Midnight Blue Lady Pin
and the Red Lady Beaded Pin:

Both are available for sale at my Etsy Shop, with a few other things.... Decided they all needed a better home than being stored away in my finished beadwork box.
I hope to have a few more updates coming soon.

Still Alive

2009-05-24T15:12:00.004-04:00

For some reason, I usually find the Spring months as a time for hibernation rather than the wakening months most people view it as. I retreat back into my apartment and hide from the world for a bit.
More often, I find myself "fidget beading." Where you get an idea, start working on it, but the muse runs away half way into it....leaving you with bits and bobbles all over the place with no direction? Sigh...

This was made for a swap at my local bead store. We have a group of ladies that get together every few months to do a swap with a theme. This theme was supposed to be "Springy Necklace." I thought the labdorite roundels, with their little flashes of blue, much like my recent fidgeting, was a perfect fit.

The goddess pendant hooks onto the copper clasp, so you can remove her if you just want a simple necklace.

Bronze Age -ish

2009-01-25T22:15:00.002-05:00

Trying to spark some new ideas, I grabs some colors that are not normally in my pallet and just played around with them to see what would happen....

Muse where are you?

2009-01-04T15:44:00.003-05:00

Apparently my muse has decided to take an extended vacation and forgot to warn me.
Normally, it only lasts for a week or two at the moment, but this has progressed for a few months now.

I do have a few pieces that I'm not too happy with, that I need to photograph, but here's hoping the New Year finds new inspiration.

Harware Store Necklace

2008-09-14T20:57:00.001-04:00

The bead store I teach at has a "Bead Goddess Club" that tried to have a theme every two months or so...which of course everyone waits to the last minute to do....

The theme was to incorporate stuff from the hardware store.

Normally that alone is enough to inspire me, but i've been so blah..... I got a piece of acrylic I wanted to use, then a neat looking marble lanolium tile to cut up..then some wood....then some washers....I just couldn't get anything to "work" for me.

So, off to the lighting department to get some chain and some wire to weave the base, then embelishment.......

*sigh*
Dear muse, come back!!!!!

Bead Embroidery Cuff Bracelet

2008-08-19T22:36:00.013-04:00

In an attempt to experiment a bit more as an artist, I decided to try to make one of the more interesting designs, a bead embroidery cuff.
I've avoided making one as I never really felt like I would have anywhere to wear it.

BUT, should that stop you from trying something new? Naaaaaa =)

Left side

Right side

I used some stiff felt to make the base and a brass blank to give it support. The back is lined with a nice light gray ultrasuede. It is a rather weighty cuff, but it does get a lot of notice.

New Beadweaving Links Added

2008-06-12T21:25:00.004-04:00

I'm in the process of adding links to the side bar of all the beading blogs I stumble upon.

I am endless fascinated by beaders in far off lands (well, far from me). You'll notice several blogs are written in non-english languages. It's a pity I can't understand what they have written, but the beadwork speaks for itself.

Some say that math is the universal language.....I like to think art is.

So, take a trip and check out some of the blogs on the side bar...you won't be disapointed!

Woven Crystal Bracelet and Right Angle Pendant

2008-04-30T21:26:00.006-04:00

Playing around with my picture set ups and some crystal pieces. Using a rather interesting diaginoal netting technique, I whipped this bracelet up using 2ab clear, satin ab blue, and a satin light topaz with matte ab grey delicas. Far from my usual colors....

A bit of an interesting right angle weave for ya. A Fairy Ring. Some ab clear seed beads, opal, tanizanite, and ab tanzanite crystals to finish it off.

I'm trying to decide if I should put these two up for sale on etsy.....not sure if it would be worth it or not....granted, I havn't been doing much with the etsy site as of recently....

More Beaded Dolls

2008-04-20T23:10:00.008-04:00

Opps, didn't realize I had already posted about Willow....so how about two ladies that took a journey out across the country.... River and Leaf....

I had made Leaf first, and had put her up for sale, to have the lady who found her ask if I had any other beaded goddesses for sale. I had yet to list River, but something compelled me to send her a picture of her, and she responded that she had to have both...that they were sisters and she wouldn't dream of seperating them.
So I packed both of them up, and off they went across the country to live in Washington. Sometimes I wonder how it would be to take all these journeys myself.

Random Beadwork

2008-03-24T23:21:00.006-04:00

Another beadwork piece from the past. A bit of freeform peyote and netting to form an organic looking cuff bracelet. I do love to do freeform work, but I have issues with my tension. If I'm not paying attention, I tend to pull things way too tight. Most of my freeform pieces end up standing up by themselves.

And one of my early, early beaded spiral lariats. Somehow, this piece has followed me through several life changes and moves across states and has survived for years intact. I never wear it. It just gets tossed from one box to the next.

The Bead Art in the logo/icon

2008-03-13T22:07:00.006-04:00

Every now and then someone askes me about the beaded pieces in the logo, so here she is... A face pin, with leafy fringe.

And as to the icon that I am using....that was a lovely doll who shared Best in Show with her sister at a small art show in Philadelphia. They are about 9" tall. Forrest has a netted shawl that she is holding behind her. Sea was based on the night sky over the ocean.

Another Beaded Dragon

2008-03-01T21:44:00.004-05:00

Another bead creation from the past:

I made this Beady Dragon several years go for a lady down in Texas. Purples, silvers, clears, and blue eyes.

When I was much younger, I would make different creatures out of my beads to play with as toys. This gave me a great freedom to have what ever toy I could figure out how to make. I would have a herd of simple beaded horses or a fairy or a mermaid....anything I could dream of.

I guess I've always had a knack for visualizing something in 3D. These beaded dragons are of my own design, and I never really wrote up how to do them because they always change, depending on how the beads handle the number of times the wire has to go through them.

New Bead Class Project - Mandella Medallion

2008-02-24T12:16:00.008-05:00

There is a local-ish shop that I teach the advanced classes on beading just about every Saturday. The owner is really nice and the regulars there are ready to lend a hand whenever you need one.

I'm writting this beaded medallion up to be a new class for the next schedual. Pretty simple, quick design, but has crystals in it. One of the things we've noticed is that people will sign up more for the projects that have crystals in them. Personally, I'm beginning to feel that crystals are being over used, and I tend to stay away from them as the focus of my designs....most of the time =)

Plus, people tend to like doing projects that they can finish in one class setting. Unfortunatly, most of the classes I teach take longer than the 3 hours per class to finish a project, as I try to focus on the technique oover a finished piece. And we lost one of intermediate teachers for a little bit, so I'm covering some of her classes. I'm having a blast, plus it gets me out of the house.

A color variation for the samples for the class.

No pay, but the owner lets us take other classes for free. Last week I got to take a Russian Snake class. It's one of the few weaves I hadn't gotten around to learning and it's a pretty neat one. I have to figure out a varaition to use it for...though, it's rather pretty on it's own.... hard to take a nice photograph of it.

Dryad Necklace

2008-02-22T22:41:00.007-05:00

Something a bit new..... something that a dryad might wear...

Another random experiment in playing with those lovely rivolis. They are very intimidating to work with. How can anything compare to their sparkle and fire?

I created a beaded cab for this one that completely encases the back side in 15's to help hold it. The bail lets it slide along the bugle and seed beaded strap. The beaded Russian Leaves also slide around and sometimes lets the rivoli peek out as if darting through a forest.

Color-wise, the leaves are not as purple or light brown...something strange seems to be going on with my camera.

You Made My Day Award

2008-02-20T23:08:00.011-05:00

I am truely honored, thank you Smadar!

I am absolutly fasicinated by beaders from other parts of the world and how different, yet the same way they approach beading. Do yourself a favor and check out her blog....you will be blown away by her creations!

Rules say it is not time for me to pass this honor onto 5 other bloggers who make this little corner of cyberspace a little more colorful =)

Talk about hard!!!

1. Judi Wellnitz - who makes my day happier with her wonderful dolls. They are filled with such joyful life, you can't help but smile when you look at them...so go, have a smile!

2. Kriszta - who makes my day more interesting with her amazing designs. Unfortunatly I cannot understand her native tongue, but the language of beads is universal.

3. Sand Fibers - who makes my day by sharing such wonderful inspiration. She has to be one of the luckest people on Etsy recently, as they have taken a shine to her work =) Which in turn, she gets to post a ton of treasury shots with a lot of inspiration to drool over.

4. Micki - who makes my day with her lovely mixed media fiber art. I see stories in her work that just make you want to sit and be a part of her world for a bit.

5. FaeryDi - who makes my day with such abbandon with her colorful fabric creations! You just want, na, need to reach out and touch her creations, they are so alive with activity.

*** Pass the award on, here are the details:***

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make your day.

2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.

3. Display the You Make My Day Award logo.

4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

**************************************

Harpy Lady Beaded Doll

2008-02-17T13:54:00.010-05:00

I guess you would call her my signature piece to date.....

She started out as an idea to enter a Guardian Angel contest a quilting magazine was having, but grew too ambicious for the alotted time.

Black quilter's cotten with grey swirls was used to make her body. I gave her a wired armature, with the intention of making her posable, but by the time I had finished beading her legs, her hip joint broke. So I set her into a kneeling pose.
Black polymer clay face from the Sculpty Art Doll mold, dusted with a few different shades of pigment powders.

Her hair is a black chinel yarn, and her thighs are wrapped in soft eyelash yarn.
Her wings are done in two different types of feather trim, and are still quite poseable.

If you could stand her up, she would be about 15" tall.

Embelished Mini-Quilt Wall Hanging

2008-02-14T20:38:00.005-05:00

It was a morning several years ago that I got the idea of making a quilt square logged firmly in my head.

The delight in how the fabrics lined up is very seductive...but still the beads hold my heart. But the siren call of the fabric is always there.

Embelished beyond my imagination....but I still think I need to add a bit more to it eventually.

"Sing in the Rain, Dance in the Sun, Dream by the light of the Moon"

About 16" x 20"

Gia - Beaded Tree

2008-02-13T20:50:00.004-05:00

This is Gia.

I have a love of willow trees, if you can't tell by now.

Gia was made a few years ago, but was such a pain in the neck to make that I can't let her go just yet.

The yellow "fronds" were brown when I started beading her....but have faded over time but is still enjoyable to look at.

She has runes beaded into her trunk. She is a mix of a lot of different beadweaving types. Peyote trunk, herringbone branches, and fringe fronds.

I learned that while branches may look nice...the fringe kept catching on what was done before.

Willow Doll

2008-02-10T15:45:00.001-05:00

This is Willow.

She's a little over 12" tall.

She started life as some wire and aluminum foil. then I built up parts by wrapping them in tulle strips. I like using tulle to form a base as it has a nice "grip" to the other layers I put on it. Then I patchworked some velvet and lace scraps over her torso and thighs, and lined the edges with brown seed beads. Her arms are uplostry cording that I wound some wire into and her hands are wire wrapped in floral tape.

Her legs are root-like wires wrapped in floral tape. She wears a train of random netted beads with leaf beads strung throughout.

She has a ruffle of greens and black seed beads around her arms. Her hair is various eyelash yarns. Her face is polymer clay dusted with pearlx powders from theSculpty Artdoll mold.

A fun doll...and she can balance on her own....but not very stable.....might have to revisit her..... But click on her to see a larger picture...it is very worth it.

Beaded Dragons....HairStick Topper

2008-02-05T23:25:00.002-05:00

I've always held a fasination with dragons. I'm not sure when it started, but I remember reading anything and everything having to do with them growing up. So of course, they found their way into my beading.....

This little fella is just a simple hair stick/pen topper.

I wrote out a tutorial on him, but it still needs a few bits of tweeking before I release him on the world.

Beaded Jumble Pin

2008-02-04T22:07:00.001-05:00

This was an experiment in making a jumbled pin. Just trying to use up a bit of beads that I had left over after making a random bead catapillar bracelet.

I need to find a supply of thick wire where the coating is bonded, as this was done with black plastic coated copper craft wire, and is starting to wear off. I still enjoy it though....when I remmber to wear it.

It is a bit heavy to wear on a shirt....unless pinned to the bra strap, but makes a wonderful coat or hat pin.

Beaded Green Woman Fairy Necklace

2008-01-31T21:32:00.001-05:00

Ah, found it.

Made this for a lovely fairy who attends the Spoutwood Farm Fairy festival in PA.

The polymer face was of my own design, set onto a piece of stiff felt, with cranberry, green and gold beads to match her outfit.

Beaded Spiraling studies

2008-01-31T21:18:00.001-05:00

It started with this pattern in a past Bead and Button...I wish I could remember the dates to give proper credit.... Normally I don't do the "super complex" looking patterns in the magazines, as I usually appreciate the originals too much to spend all that time on a piece that will sit in my box collecting dust. But this one....the "ruffling" on the edges caught my eye and wouldn't let go. I had to try it.

So of course, I swaped up the recommended beads a bit, but still like the overall look. Such a simple but effective design to add interest to a netted piece.

Though, if you click on it, you can pick out the cat fur that found it's way into the picture....*sigh*

This is what I messed around with after learning that spiraliling technique....and some beaded beads thrown in for good measure.....

Also, those were the last 3 glass drops I had gotten several years a go to make a fairy necklace....might see if I can find that picture around here.....

Netted Beaded Beads

2008-01-28T22:51:00.001-05:00

For a while, this blogger is going to serve to chronical some of my past exploites.

This was an experiment in making beaded beads using a netting technique. They are built on dark blue wooden core beads in various sizes.

I used a few strands of the seed beads to braid bits of the rest of the necklace.

Beaded Beads

2008-01-23T21:25:00.001-05:00

These were a few of the experiments I came up with after drooling over the wonderful work of Gwen and Florence at BeadInfinitum . Please go check them out, as you can spend hours there just amazed by the colors and bead mastery.

Wire and Beads - Wild Woman Statue

2008-01-18T19:33:00.001-05:00

I made this last year to give to my foster mother for Christmas.

She collects female figurative/goddess art, so I whipped this lady up for her.

Basic wire frame, then filed in with swirls, a tree of life type pendant, and secured her into a base of sculpty and fishing weights to keep her standing. Polymer clay face, and eyelash yarn for hair.

She stands about a foot tall. Please click to see a HUGE picture of her to see the details.....

Wire Working

2008-01-18T19:26:00.001-05:00

I also do a bit of the old wire working. To the left is a Copper, Labdorite, and peacock pearl creation. I made a bugle and seed bead necklace to hang it from based on a patern I found in an old Bead and Button magazine. I've seen it a few times, under different names, so I'm not sure who to give credit to for it. The pendant is all my own work.

It has since vanished from my bead box and I hope it has found a good home.

So it begins.....The thoughts behind the Beady Designs

2007-10-13T23:04:00.002-04:00

To start at the beginning, I suppose, is the best place to start.

I have been working with beads and crafts for over 20 years, and decided it's time to chronical some of my exploits.

To the left is one of my lady pins.

On to the thoughts behind the beady designs.....