Variations on a Squiggle

Ahhhhh...my squiggle! I spent some quality time over at Off the Beading Path down in Occoquan, Virginia (down the street) a few days ago and worked on my squiggles. Now that I feel sort of famous (in my own mind) based on some fun, curved metal, I'm ready to start branching out.Here's a variation on the theme featuring a little cube of quartz and a bit of tumbled glass. I love the way the squiggle hangs at a different angle--not straight horizontal or vertical (as though I could really even come up with something like that. haaaaaaaaaa)

I've moved all my beads and such up into my dining room because the basement's too cold, so now I'm in a maelstrom of art supplies when I walk in the door. It's kind of motivating because as soon as I get done with a crazy day at the office, exhausted from hours of Power Point drama at my desk and physical trauma on the treadmill, I see some sparkles on the table and I feel so much better!

Hope you enjoy!

One Page Wonder!

Hello all! I want to share my excitement! I had my first project published!

Check out the Spring issue of Step by Step Wire Jewelry--my Daring Squiggle necklace is the last project in the magazine. I'm so excited!

This is an easy project that features a couple of great art beads. There's a Happy Bead from Dare Van Vree and a lampworked glass disk from Linden Avenue Studios.

The "squiggle" is probably one of my favorite things because it doesn't take a long time to come up with something fun and pretty. Plus, you can hammer it and make lots of noise!

I'm going to work on a few more squiggle designs and you'll be able to see them for sale in my Etsy shop and in my upcoming Spring shows. :)

Giddy from Peyote!

Another great product of my weekend was some freeform peyote. And, yes, it has to do with beads and not some sort of specially enhanced meditation. haaaaaaaaaaaaa

One of my artist friends, Susi, came over and we ended up spending hours and hours working around my dining room table. My only request was that I wanted to learn peyote--a technique using seed beads and thread--so I could try something new. Well, we both ended up well into freeform tangents that ended beautifully! I was all over the map and that's good for this sort of project. I only spilled a little bit of wine...

So, waking up after hours of productivity, on Sunday morning I was eager to get back to it so I could come up with my interpretation of moon rocks for another entry into the Del Ray show. Well, here it is...a silvery bracelet featuring moonstone (really, that's what the little white beads are called), mica, quartz, and lots of glass seed beads.

I've always had a thing for lots of texture, so I'm thrilled with the colors and flow of this baby. Now I can't wait to start something else with a whole new combination of colors, textures, and flow!

New Year...New Moon...

It's time for another exhibit with the Del Ray Artisans and I've been working for weeks on these designs and I'm thrilled to start my new year with them!


The show is called "Nocture: From Dusk to Dawn" which centers on a theme expressing the shimmering effects of light between dusk and dawn. In those minutes after dusk, as I reveled in the moonlight wending its way through my dusty miniblinds, I had tons of bright ideas. I finally settled on clay. I wanted a moon made of clay--a blend of shimmery, opalescent, and silvery tones. Then, I'd mix it with my clouds of silver swirls and sways.

I ended up with about 30 different moons after a few hours of work and each one of them was gorgeous! I had trouble picking my favorites, but ended up embellishing some with texture, trimming some with silver leaf, and giving some of them a shiny glaze. A plain yet elegantly shaded moon paired up with the twists and turns of hammered silver to form the final piece called "Cloudy Night."

That Girl Has Stacks!!

I want to share some cool stuff from one of my new beading buds, Susi! We met during the Del Ray Artisan's bead exhibit and I fell in love with her work right away. She gives new life to old plastic. After lots of hard work digging through her apartment building's recycling areas to find any kind of plastic that would add to her palette, she cleans and goo-gones and scrubs and cuts each plastic piece out of its original shape and into small sheets. Then, she hammers away at them with dies to cut different sizes of discs. Her husband loves this part! haaaaaaaa I gave her an empty green deodorant container and it was like a little treasure for her!

She let me share her disc stash and make a few beads of my own. Little holes in the middle and a short stack on a wire makes for a very cool bead! I poked a few little holes in my hand, but not many...it was worth it for these. I love them!

What's also cool is that after I had worked with the plastic for a while, I reached into my glass bead stash--which is pretty significant because I love them--and started stacking. I used discs from HMB Studios and Linden Avenue Designs as well as some small beads from Lisa New to come up with these mixes. I love the color and texture and size of the finished pieces. I'm not sure how I'll use them, but for now I can at least admire them!

If you're interested in chatting with Susi, I can put you in touch--just drop me a line!

A Little More Wired Than Usual

Saturday night was my office Christmas party, so of course I had to come up with something fabulous to wear--jewelry drives the outfit in my house. I definitely had wire on the brain, so I worked up a fabulous big shape, about four inches wide. Then, looking around on my table, I saw a great big jasper stone that I thought would mix well--lo' and behold, I have this great work all tied together with leather!

I'm not sure where all this twisting and turning and wrapping and weaving and polishing and burnishing will lead me, but I'm happy to be on the trail...big pieces or small!

I'll keep mixing up my stones and glass and silver and follow where it leads. Oh, and one place it will be leading in the spring will be Step-by-Step Wire Magazine! One of my projects will be featured as the 5-minute project!! I'm so excited!

Wrist Love

I have had a lovely morning with a cup of coconut-creamered coffee and a refreshing look at my stash of stuff. I'm getting ready for a big show this weekend at the Del Ray Artisans, so I'm on leave from my "real job" and working here at home. I've had some big bracelet ideas...

The silver oxidized swirl and leather has been in my brain and on my worktable for a couple of weeks. When I get an idea just before falling asleep I scribble it down on whatever paper's nearby. Usually, it's a little receipt or something, so I have lots of scribbly receipts. I thought of this design a while ago and had to work it in parts with the shaping and weaving and oxidizing and polishing and then finally finishing it this morning. I love it!!

So, then I felt like going all color and texture. I love this hodge podge of a bracelet that has some handmade glass, stone, polymer clay, felted wool, and some special Czech glass that came from a little shop in Hawaii. This piece combines a whole bunch of memories of great shopping adventures into a fun, colorful bit of wrist love.