Focus on Life / Week 11

This week, Sally Russick's Focus on Life prompt is "The Possibilities are Endless".  

 

Growing up as a child, my mother ALWAYS baked daily - breads, cookies, cakes - you name it.  I did not want for any carbohydrates, which explains alot.... There is nothing like the smell of freshly baked goods wafting from the oven...nothing compares!

 

When Mom moved in with me, I promised her I would try to have homemade bread on hand for her (and me!) , as well.  So twice a month, I bake bread.  And life is good!

 



 Hop on over to Sally's blog to see everyone else's Possibilities...

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your weekend!

Thank you Christine Altmiller!

I have met some wonderful beady friends through social networking such as blogging and Facebook.  One of these very special friends is Christine Altmiller of One Kiss Creations.  It is because of Christine's co-sponsorship of a bracelet donation blog hop to the Rare Foundation's 7000 Bracelets of Hope Campaign in 2012 that I have donated many bracelets to this wonderful organization.  Thanks Christine!

 

Christine always writes the sweetest comments on my blog posts.  Recently, she commented that she loved my wire work, especially the swirled link chain that I have been obsessed with lately.  So, I wrote her back, told her to give me her address and I would send her one.  She had an even better idea - let's swap jewelry! 

 

Now, unlike Yours Truly, Christine is an extremely talented bead weaver extraordinaire. In addition to hosting and participating in several blog hops related to this gorgeous art form, she and Therese have a monthly challenge  where they use the same beads to create their own designs.  I cannot even fathom threading a needle and weaving these teeny, weeny, tiny beads to form such beautiful wearable art!  Anyway, this is what Christine made just for me!!!

 

Look at this fantastic bezel around a rock that Christine picked up at the shores of Lake Michigan!  In her own words, she "picked the rock for the sneak peak inside the opening."  How many people do you know can pick up a rock and see the gorgeous beauty?  A true artist sees the beauty in nature, as she did here!

The back of the focal is as beautiful as the front! 

The chain is stunning - it is made with garnet and citrine - in my mind, I imagined myself counting beads, dropping beads, stringing the wrong bead, becoming upset, tearing it apart...you get my drift here....

Look at this toggle!!!  In her note, Christine named all the stitches she used to create this beautiful piece and I still have no idea how she made this toggle (or any of it!)  Isn't this amazing?!

This necklace is the perfect length - and I gravitate towards darker colors as well.  It is absolutely beautiful!

Not only did I receive a stunner of a necklace, but she made me these gorgeous matching earrings which she calls "Feather Earrings" - THE PERFECT SIZE EARRINGS FOR MY LITTLE EARS! (I did not mean to shout - but I am excited!)

The best part of this "trade" is the new friendship I have formed - I am so deeply grateful - I have few "live" friends and I cherish the friendship I have formed!  I feel so blessed!

Now - I will repeat that I am not a bead weaver - so I made Christine a necklace with a gorgeous piece of jasper - landscape jasper to be exact.

 

I made the bail with the two-tone coiling technique I learned from Kerry Bogert.

I made some rolled beads (actual name is Cocoon Beads) as Christine commented that she likes those!  Of course I added some swirled links (thank you again Kerry for the tut!)

The coordinating jasper beads have a wonderful, almost tubular shape to them.

 



 

I added an awesome twisted wire copper clasp made by Marie-Noel Voyer- Cramp

I had a hard time picking an earring design...

 

So, I just sent two pair!

I made Christine's set during a very troubling period - my niece had just lost her four and a half year golden retriever Daisy.  Daisy was a very intricate part of my life.  When my first dog, Abby passed away nearly 3 years ago, Rachel had moved close by and I took care of Daisy (with my remaining boy, Sam) during the day Monday-Friday (like a doggy day care!)  Daisy became Sam's rock - as he just was not the same after losing his litter mate sister, Abby.  After Sam passed away last June, Daisy would come to keep me company twice a month - in addition to weekend jaunts with her cousins in my yard.  Her illness was quick - and the 10 days she was sick, which included surgery, was very hard on everyone in my family.  To this day, I still cry for Abby, Sam, and now Daisy.  Daisy was truly an Ambassador of Love.  There is NO LOVE like that of a Dog.  I love you Daisy - and I miss you - and I thank you for being in my life for the short time you were here!

Daisy and Sam

Thank you again Christine, and thank you for stopping by!

Craft Show...I THINK I am Ready....

These past few weeks have flown by - I am attending my first Craft Show of the year this Saturday.  So, I have been trying to create like crazy.  Stand back - lots of pictures today and very little words!
 

Lively lampwork from JavaBead.  The two lampwork spacer beads are by Sue Kennedy of Sue Beads.  I love how they coordinate with the JavaBeads!

 

I love both the shape and the color of these lampwork beads by Sue Kennedy- it makes me yearn for a creamscicle (anyone else remember these frozen treats?)

More lovely lampwork by JavaBead

Yes - I was on a JavaBead binge! - Beautiful denim-blue.

More lovely lampwork by Sue Kennedy

I made my sister-in-law a gold bracelet for Christmas (she does not wear copper or silver).  Her house was burglarized last Tuesday and they took her bracelet.  Since I do not work with gold very often, I had some on hand from the last bracelet I made for her- so I replaced it with this. 

Lovely - and I mean lovely - lotus pendant by Barbara Bechtel of Second Surf fame.  I flanked the pendant with some ceramics by Natalie McKenna.

I CANNOT stop making the spiral link chain that I learned in the e-course by Kerry Bogert!

My new love - Jasper.  I am determined to find it in every color, as I believe Mother Nature would want me to!

My mother fell in love with this necklace the second I pulled it out of the tumbler.

This focal was handmade by Melissa Meman of Melismatic Art Jewelry (whom I met at artBLISS last year - such a sweet lady)! She posted this focal and others on her blog and said she would "maybe list it on Etsy"...I was so glad she did! I have no idea how she created this masterpiece but I plan on quizzing her at artBLISS this year...I hope she is going!

 

I hate to pick a favorite - but this one is truly IT for me!  I ordered these beads from Sue Kennedy's direct website  (as opposed to her other shop on Etsy).  They were so pretty that I wanted to try and make them even more special.  So, I bought a Rolled Bead Tutorial EARLY LAST YEAR (ahem) and dug it out.  I really love how this necklace turned out!

 

Of course I made earrings!

There is more to show here, but I fear blogger will crash if I attempt to post any more photos!

 I still have 3 necklaces to finish up before Saturday morning - they have been "made" but I need to antique, buff, and tumble.  In the meantime, my little world is expecting its first substantial snowfall tonight/tomorrow in FOREVER!  I am so freaking excited!  It has been way too long...

 

Thank you for stopping by!  I love to read your comments! :)  Enjoy the rest of your week!

What Makes a Good Teacher

I attended a 2-day very intense soldering class this past weekend.  I signed up for the class last fall and I have literally been counting down the days - I was so excited! It was offered through a local bead store, and featured a supposedly well-known teacher. Well, I will not divulge his name, as that is not what my blog is all about.  I will share some things today.

I am basically self-taught.  I have lots of books.  I have taken several e-classes.  I even have more DVDs than I care to mention.  But I have only taken a handful of classes through artBLISS.  And after this weekend's class, I realize how blessed I am to have taken the classes at artBLISS (Jeannette and Cindy  - thank you!).  The teachers at artBLISS are well known - Kerry Bogert and Stacie Florer.  The teacher this weekend COULD NOT EVEN HOLD A CANDLE to these two exceptional teachers.

 

The first problem, in my opinion, was booking 11 students who sat around elongated 8' tables.  We were dealing with fire people....my opinion is that the class should have been limited to 6 students maximum.  The five of us on one side of the table felt utterly and completely neglected.  At one point, I soldered a charm to my piece.  He came over, asked "did you attach it properly", and then fiddled with it, and the charm fell off.  Instead of assisting me, or giving me any guidance whatsoever, he snatched it from me, and yelled "I have another repair to do".  He proceeded to place it at his station and then walked around for 29 minutes (yes...I timed him) while I sat with my arms crossed...waiting....

 

This went on for 2 solid days. I am not the only person that experienced this in his class. Not once did I hear ANY positive feedback.  I am not saying that I needed to hear "Oh Patti...you are wonderful!"  What I needed to hear was "Yes, Patti, you are doing that correctly". Or, "No Patti, that is wrong, let me SHOW YOU how to do it correctly".

 

I added up my total "idle time" from the two days (15 hours) - AT LEAST 4.5-5 hours.  There was actually one point on Sunday, around 1:30 PM, that I almost got up to throw my $50 kit fee on the table and just walk out.  But,  I kept repeating my word...my mantra - FEARLESS - in the back of my head, and I stuck it out.

 

I am also in no way, shape or form, a "prude".  However, I do not want to hear about a man's bathroom habits while I am attending class in hopes of learning a new jewelry design technique.  I would also like a little enthusiasm...just a little.  I am not even sure he actually he actually enjoys creating jewelry. 

 

Okay - my rant on this past weekend is over.  Phew!  I feel better.  Now, I do want to again thank Kerry Bogert and Stacie Florer for exhibiting the qualities that I believe make for being a good teacher:

• Enthusiasm-they actually enjoy what they do!
• Congeniality-two of the nicest women you will every meet!
• Knowledge of the craft - oh to spend just one day in their studios would be a dream come true!
• Preparedness-not just for the task at hand, but also what to do if something goes wrong
• Patience - if these women were flustered by the students, man, I could not tell!
• Ability to involve the students in the task at hand-both Stacie and Kerry had students exchanging ideas - it was awesome!

I know that I am leaving things out of the list above, but those are the most important, to me.

 

In the end, I am STILL glad that I went to the soldering class.  I really did learn a ton of information, even though it was truly an agonizing weekend!  Here is my completed pendant:

 

 

 

I try so hard not to be negative on this blog - but I actually feel better after venting! 

 

Thank you for stopping by and indulging me in my rant! :)  Enjoy the rest of your week!

Sue Beads and Kerry Bogert

I like the title of my post today - two artists that I greatly admire in one sentence.  Sue Kennedy makes awesome lampwork beads. AWESOME-PERIOD.  Last year, I donated 75 bracelets to the Rare Organization (Global Genes Project) and I commissioned Sue to create over 50 sets of blue lampwork beads - and she did not let me down!

 

And, Kerry Bogert, while an awesome lampwork artist as well - is also a jewelry designer/wire wizard extraordinaire!  I know I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating! I have taken two classes in person with Kerry - and two online courses as well.  I also own both of her books - Totally Twisted and Rustic Wrappings - I truly love them both!  (I hope that does not make me sound like a stalker.....hmmm...)  The necklace below was inspired by one of Kerry's designs in her first book Totally Twisted - but I had recently ordered two sets of Sue's Blue Denim Sparkle Beads just for this project. (You can find Sue's beads in two place online - her webstore here or Etsy here).

 

(Click on pics for a larger view)

 

Yes - this is a double strand necklace.  BUT - I wired half of one chain of Sue's beads and connected it to a spiral link chain.  (In addition to the necklace design, the spiral link chain was also inspired by Kerry, from her Aspire to Wire class.)  The other side of the necklace is the same - but opposite.

 

 

 

 

 

I made two pair of earrings - as I just could not decide whether I wanted to highlight the spiral in the chain or the beautiful blue of the bead - I did not like the two elements together in an earring.  We need choices, right?

I have a craft show coming up March 9, so I have been making jewelry like crazy.  I have absolutely fallen in love with this handmade spiral chain and have incorporated elements of the spiral into many pieces lately!

In my continuing saga to both photograph and present images, I have also been playing with my pictures in PicMonkey - the edge on these pictures is kinda funky and I think I like it!

That's about it for this past weekened - I hope you had fun creating, too! Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful week!