Sunday, July 26, 2009

Stars, Elements, and a Giveaway!!!!

First of all, sorry it's been so long since I posted anything! Wow! Call it business, laziness, whatever...sorry for the silence!

Okay, now for the good stuff....this month I received my Aug/September issue of Beadwork Magazine and went straight to page 56 where I found Gwen Fisher's pattern for Archimedes's Star. Now, I love big, lacy beadweave patterns and this one was right up my alley. So, here it is in all it's glory. The clasps are my own design, I didn't have any buttons/beads to use for the clasps, so I made some six pointed litte stars to use as toggles. Enjoy!



For my next experiment, I challenged myself to find a way to use these little silver circle connectors that I bought at Joann Fabrics. So I made some circular peyote..um..circles, and connected them with jump rings. Now, here's the kicker...I don't like it. The connections aren't smooth and I don't think the spirals go with the little silver thingies. (On closer look, they're very "flower power") Which leads me to the next part of this post.....

....a Giveaway!! That's right, I'm giving away this bracelet.
I call it "Maiz" because it reminds me of Indian Corn. So, here's what you have to do:
Leave me a comment telling me what you think I can/should do with the little silver connector thingies in the above picture (or what you'd like to see me try) and be sure to leave an e-mail address, so I can contact you.

I'll leave everything open until midnight Tuesday, July 28. After that, I'll throw everybody's name in a hat and pick a winner.
P.S. If we can get more than 15 people to sign up for this, I'll throw an extra little gift in with the bracelet! :) So, come on people, help me out with the little silver connector thingies! (Yes, "thingies" is the technical term.)



9 comments:

  1. Oooh, count me in, the giveaway bracelet is lovely! I actually like the silver thingy bracelet the way it is! But...if you want change, maybe you could replace the swirls with open loops, kind of like those used to make up the first bracelet but round instead of stars. Does that make sense? I'm thinking that the silver thingies are fairly detailed so maybe they need simple to set them off. I love the proportions you used on the swirls and the colors though.

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  2. Marcie, I love the silver and blue swirls. Make into a bracelet make a toggle out of seed beads and wire. I might have to have that in my collection of beautiful bracelets. All your creations are gorgeous.

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  3. All are absolutely gorgeous! What an amazing closure you did for the Archimedes Star bracelet!
    I don't really see anything wrong with the silver thingies bracelet but I have to say the silver thingies don't really do your bead-work spirals justice! Hmmm...maybe you could do a little beadwork around the silver thingies and make them into earrings!

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  4. ¡Qué bonita son las joyas! I posted on Lorelei's site right after you and was drawn here by the giveaway(*shameless grin*). I took a look at your flickr pics to see what you do that might work better with the silver flowery connectors. I agree with one of the previous posters that they seem to need an open type circle to connect them. What about something like you did in Turbulence in Pom or a unit from the Daisy Flat. The swirl might still work if it were more monochomatic. Both the swirls and the flower pieces are interesting to look at, but at about the same level. Something needs to recede to allow the other to come to the foreground. Still, what fun, amazing work you do - here and in the flickr photos.

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  5. Wow, it's gorgeous! You can count m in on your awesome Giveaway! Thanks so much for this chance at your beautiful bracelet!
    Hugs...
    Bobbi

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  6. Cool blog! And your Etsy store rocks! So, what would you do for a clasp if you didn't change anything else on the swirly bracelet? I love the openess of the links, and I like Mellisa's suggestion of open beadwork to echo the links. What if you used them to embellish a wider, flat cuff?

    I'll post a link in the morning! (psst -- your blog says the cut-off date is Tuesday the 26)

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  7. Marcie, ya habia visitado tu blog y me habia enterado de tu giveaway!!! lo que pasa es que estaba de vacaciones y todo lo veia por la blackberry. Estaba esperando llegar a casa para poder entrar a participar usando la computadora.
    La pulsera del proyecto de Beadwork te quedo hermosa. Me encanta la combinación de colores!! Tienes un arte para escoger combinaciones de colores que me encanta!! y el cierre en forma de estrella esta espectacular. Buena idea darle un toque de creación personal a un proyecto o tutorial. En relación a los silver connectors te diré que están realmente hermosos!!! Yo pienso que ellos, de por si, son pieza que debe ser focal en una pieza de joyería. Son bien elaborados, por lo que creo que usarlos en una pieza con tejido en seed beads seria too much. A menos que utilices una técnica de tejido sencilla. Según mi gusto en particular yo la usaría como conector en un pieza de joyería en la cual ensartaría determinadas piedras (stringing). Realmente los conectores están bien bien lindos. Me gustan mucho y los utilizaría como pieza focal.
    Hecha mi nombre en el sombrero a ver si me gano tu lindo bracelet!!! Mucha suerte para mi!!!
    No se me ha olvidado el tutorial que te prometí. Lo que pasa es que no he ido al correo. Ese te lo tengo que enviar ya que no lo tengo en la computadora. Ya pronto te lo envió. hasta pronto amiguita.

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  8. I think the swirls the way they are are great.
    This is a great giveaway. Your work is wonderful.

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  9. I like your swirly bracelet, a lot, actually...but I would suggest placing the silver elements so that they are consistently oriented; i.e., so that the "flower" is always in the same position. I think that would make the piece a little less busy and allow the wonderful peyote swirls to provide all the visual movement. Again, however, I do like it as it ;)

    SandFibers@yahoo.com

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