Monday, October 15, 2012

Jewelry this Week

It's been a beady kind of week! Beading Babes has a challenge going on and I chose to do "Scalloped Pearls" from October 2012 edition of Bead & Button. I enjoyed making it so much I made another. The first is done using the same size beads suggested in the tutorial. I only had one color of the cubes so that's what I used. The second bracelet is made using the editor's suggestion to substitute size 6 and size 11 seed beads for the two sizes of cubes. The purple pearls don't show as purple in my pic. It's kind of Red Hat Lady but I like the way it came out! My friend Annette Holbert has her Tila Bead design "Simply Triangular" in Oct-Nov 2012 Beadwork. I decided to give it a try. Kassie Inman's design "Quilt Cuff" in the same edition is next! I found a chainmaille weave that I haven't done so I tackled that also. It's called Viper Scale and it so much quicker than Dragon Scale!

Monday, September 3, 2012

Teaching Byzantine in Orlando

I'll be teaching Byzantine chainmaille weave at FDJ Tool's Firefly Studio in Winter Park, FL. The class is scheduled for 5:30PM on Thursday September 20th. So if you're in the Orlando area come check us out! There are many cool metal fabrication classes. http://www.fdjtool.com/ProductInfo/EDWR104-092012.aspx

San Diego Trip

As usual time passes so quickly! I've gone and I'm back from two lovely weeks in San Diego, CA with my son and his family. I haven't done much in the way of jewelry making except to finish off a couple of bracelets for my granddaughter, Emma. She love the Dragonscale so I gave her one in gold and gunmetal. She also got a RAW beauty to go with her uniform colors of navy and orange. Of course I totally forgot to take pics of either of them!
Here's a picture of Will, Bill and Emma taken from the deck of the aircraft carrier, Midway, with a view of San Diego in the background.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

Helm's Weave

If you're in the Orlando area I will be teaching Helm's Weave Chainmaille bracelet on July 5th at FDJ Tools in Winter Park, FL at 5PM. http://www.fdjtool.com/ The class size is limited so please call or register on line ahead of time to reserve your spot in the class!
I've been into making wire wrapped rings lately! Thanks to Mei Tan's great tutorials it has been easy! Here are just a few examples. For her tutorials see the link below in "My Favorites"!
Thanks to a lovely pattern by Sabine Lippert I was able to make this Granada pendant. To show it off to its best advantage I managed a Russian spiral with rose gold beads from Cindy Beadlady! The story behind the spiral rope is I had a student request to learn a Single spiral. I went into the shop (Beads & Baubles in Fort Pierce, FL) armed with beads, tutorials and all the supplies to make a beautiful single spiral. On arriving I found that she did not want to single spiral but a "simple" spiral. This was the bead shop owner's name change for a Russian spiral which I had never done before! The shop owner handed me her tutorial and said "Here you can teach it". So I did. I learned it and taught it at the same time! The student was extremely happy with the resulting bracelet and I continued mine for this beautiful rope! Have you ever had an experience like this? If not and you meet up with one just exude confidence like you've been doing it forever......it works!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

The Great Bead Escape

Coming this week I'll be teaching at The Great Bead Escape in Orlando, FL! My classes are Byzantine weave, Olivia weave and Japanese 4 in 1 earrings. Check it out! There still may be time to register. There are many other wonderful teachers and classes including wire wrap, beading and silversmithing.
Now to get into the present year! The Florida Jewelry Artist Retreat Group started out the year in fine form! We had our 3 day 4 night retreat in Everglade City! Suzie arranged for us to all gather at Everglades Isle Resort! What a great time we all had. I taught European Lace chainmaille and Going Round in Circles beading project! The Naples Princess took us on a boat tour of all the fabulous homes in the Naples/Marco Island area!
California saw me again in March! I had, again, a wonderful time! This time the timing was right to see Will in some baseball games. He's getting to be quite a good player and Bill is a great manager.......he's so patient with the kids! I also designed a new piece using twin beads. It is simply a brick stitch pattern around a round crystal and still using the brick stitch I bridged the two holes with 3 size 15 seed beads! Easy! Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! I'm spending the day with my daughter, Mary and her family!
Oh, so much time has passed since I last blogged! A whole year! I don't expect to catch up but here goes! I taught many, many classes in 2011 at Beads and Baubles in Fort Pierce, FL and those continue on! I attended and taught at 4 retreats last year. Two in NC and two in FL. I also had some very nice get togethers with my beady friends in SC. I made a trip to CA to see my son and his family in August (in time for Will's birthday) and I repeated that in March of 2012 in time for Bill's birthday! I designed La Mesa Sunset with Tila beads while sitting looking at the magnificent sunset from my son's windows!
I did a lot of traveling between South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida! California gave me a different coast altogether! I never get tired of seeing both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean one day after the other! I make a point of doing that! I spent Thanksgiving and Christmas with Mary and Oliver which is always a wonderful thing! My son Nick moved from NY to Denver. I brings him a little further away but gives me a new place to visit and he seems to be quite happy with the move!