My 1st Challenge

My "Artist Goal" for January was to enter some sort of competition. I selected the 'Art Bead Scene' which holds a challenge each month. It was a great inspiration to figure out the Flickr world and link a slide show into my blog. There are a lot of entrants; so it's unlikely I'll win. The coolest part is seeing the comments that others have left about my design. An entire community of beaders making their own beads; just like me....how fun!!

The Black Dress Necklace

This week I designed a necklace to compliment a black dress and gold coat that I purchased for a sales banquet. The comic part of this design was that I finished it at 11:30 PM the night before the event in my hotel room. It was the only beading opportunity I've had all week! Lately my life resembles the main character in the movie 'In Pursuit of Happyness' - constantly running, always late, too many things to do. Time to slow down...schedule some vacation time...and curl up with my beads. :)

Randomness

I hate monotony! While my randomness may not bode well for finding my keys on a regular basis; it's a perfect quality for designing wine charms. The beauty of these charms is that no two are exactly alike. The pattern, the shape, and the colors are all different!!

Ice Storm

Today's project was a design for the 'Art Bead Scene' monthly challenge. Their January's theme is Ice Storm; so, I slected shades of blue and white framed in silver.

Variety Adds a Little Spice!

Lately I've been making more pieces with this blue, turquiose and silver theme. I've also strayed away from simple patterns and started making 'theme' beads in a variety of different shapes, sizes, and colors to use in the same necklace. I think it adds a little spice and variety to the designs.

Another Holiday Smile

Here's a picture of my sister-in-law modeling her Christmas gift. This is the 2nd necklace set that I made with black and white beads. The other was fashioned in a shorter choker style.

Sister's Debut in Crimson Snowflake Set

Somehow my sister has managed to dodge the blog for almost a year. What an incredible ability to hide from my camera! Here she is wearing a crimson snowflake set that I gave her this Christmas. This is the sister that designed my blog header and logo. She's both talented and beautiful!

The Butterfly Project

My mom absolutely adores butterflies; so I designed a butterfly pendant for her this Christmas. It proved to be my biggest clay challenge yet! The orginal shape and size turned out great; but the shape of the butterfly distorted as I reduced the cane. The translucent clay wasn't as soft as the other Premo clay colors. This difference in consistencies caused the butterfly to bulge at the ends of the cane - weird and frustrating! I tried everthing - resting the cane, an overnight cool in the refrigerator, even adding more translucent clay to the ends...but to no avail. The end result is a a lot of Monarch scraps which I've saving for beads.

Here's the pattern, my gradient tubes, and lower part of the wings...

I think I sat in this position for at least 4 hours.... ...and wa lah - a Monarch Butterfly appears. Then, the project gets a little crazy as I add the translucent clay and attempt to reduce the cane.