Don't hide your toys....

 

they'll never get played with.

 

 

Mine?

 

Laying in wait on the underside of a soft piece of leather.

 

Oh, and the baggies?

Toys that have yet to be opened!

My Upcycled Vintage Tin Heart

I wanted to create something for Valentine's. I've never made a Valentine collection, and I've never been one to make things in bright red or rosy pink and sometimes Valentine's pieces don't translate well into everyday wear after Valentine's has come and gone.

 

So, a month or so ago when I stumbled upon this vintage tin tray in one of my Etsy-search sessions, my eye was immediately drawn to the tiny hearts hidden among the pattern. I also spotted the blooms and crawling leaves and knew I had to have it.

 

It worked out to be the sweetest little mini-Valentine collection and each piece a tiny reflection of the soul.

The first is a pendant and I was thinking of family when I made this, three hearts riveted to tiny leaves that mimic feathers. The hearts reminded me of a mother, father and child, or maybe they represent three children for a mother to wear lovingly around her neck.

 

Each little element was carefully sawed out of the tin and then riveted to a copper plate and strung on a beaded cord in anything but lipstick red or rosy pink.

 

The colors are bright and so is the message and the little dings and scratches on the tin remind me that that little french tray was well-worn, just like a mother's love.

The second design element that I pulled from the tray was this bright bloom. This almost growing floral motif that seems to put out arms stretching up and away.

I wanted it to have a little nest of leaves and the little shield was the final addition adding shape and depth to the piece.

 

 

The idea of a bloom and blooming just wouldn't go away and so it seemed appropriate to add a little message from the heart stamped into the copper backplate.

 

The back of this pendant sports the same little dings and dents as the front (the hammer occasionally falls where we least intend it) and I soldered two tubes of copper to the top to suspend the pendant without interfering with the blooms from the front.

 

I've added both pieces to the shop, Blooming Love, here and of course, Flying Hearts.

 

Oh, and here's the shrapnel....

I think I see a bitty ring in there somewhere! 

In my four walls...

Looking back, I wish that the girl of 19 had half the cajones of the woman of 30. Eleven years later and I think back to the professor who stood behind his lecturn, ran his hands through his hair, and pointed his finger, insulting those of us who dared to believe in something higher.

 

He called us...no me...out for daring to see design in complexity. He labeled me a fool for seeing purpose in the tiniest of cellular mechanisms. He flung my faith in my face and claimed that he was god in these four walls and his word truth.

 

Those words cut to the very core of who I was and while my heart screamed silently, my jaw clamped shut.

 

It has been ten years and living and learning have strengthened my heart and my jaw. If I could go back, I would climb behind that lecturn, hand on my belly, running my fingers through my hair, finger pointed in his face....
"Teach me, but do not lay claim to me."

 

"Show me the delicate balance between mitochondria and cellular function and how my life literally hangs on that balance. Teach me about DNA and how a simple chain of molecules can be responsible for all known forms of life. Talk to me about the complexity of the cell and show me slide after slide of subcellular organisms that work together in perfect harmony and work with each other and then bind together to form organs and bones and muscles that must in turn work together. You contribute it to cosmic chaos if you want, but as for me...."

 

"You see, I'm carrying the result of your cosmic chaos inside of me and it is anything but chaotic. My entire belly jumps with the force of wiggles and squirms that get stronger as the day wears on. Tiny hands and feet struggle with stomach and kidneys for room to stretch and explore. A little head bumps against bladder sending me for unscheduled and inconvenient bathroom breaks. (Oh, and that head? A single strand of your accidental DNA will determine thick curls or flowing locks, and I can't wait to see which.)

There are nights when sleep is sporadic as mother and child toss and turn to find the space in which both can sleep comfortably."

 

"I sometimes put hand to belly still in disbelief that the thing inside of me is already a person. She has a heart, lungs, a stomach, kidneys, the tiniest of brains. She has a face and a name and I can hear her heart beat one hundred and forty-five times each minute, more than twice the speed of her mother's."

 

"So you will excuse me, sir, as I listen and learn, respectfully acknowledging the years of work and study that have resulted in your body of knowledge.

But...

You do not own my mind and you have no claim on my heart.

I will continue to see purpose, creation, and intelligence in what you call cosmic chaos."  

 

"It is my right. The right of a man and a woman to determine for themselves who is God in their four walls."  

 

 



Happy Valentine's Day (A wee bit early)

This Valentine's wish actually comes from my mother.

I've told you before that she's the very talented creative gene behind whatever ability I received to make and create and for that I am very thankful.

 

A week ago she decided she wanted to decorate her mantle for Valentine's.

She ordered the sweet little string of light-up roses and off we went to Hobby Lobby to hunt down some deals in red, white and pink.

 

We were inspired to go kind of Victorian-esque and were lucky to find just about everything Valentine's related had been marked down.

So we snagged some little birdies to sit in little corners. 

And we picked up a few yards of red ribbon to embellish heart-shaped ornaments.

 

Two giant hearts flank the centerpiece with single red roses standing guard.

 

 

A couple of appropriately-themed candles were added to already existing candleholders and few little other Valentine knick-knacks fill in the empty spaces.

 

We didn't change the wall decor.

The picture of me at my wedding with my sisters was her Christmas gift and the cafe plates are part of the regular mantle decoration.

 

My favorite part of the Valentine mantle is the centerpiece.

We couldn't find anything at Hobby Lobby that we wanted to put front and center, and that also wouldn't break the budget.

So....

 

we took these letters which happened to be on sale that day for $1.37 and bought a Valentine's stack of scrapbook paper for $5 and went to town with red paint and mod podge. Mom made the base for the letters using the same paper and a cardboard box that was lying in the recycling bin.

 

I love the way the letters turned out and am seriously contemplating the same project for the baby's room. I think it would be sweet to do her name and I heard once that mod podge will last a pretty long time and won't yellow.

 

In the spirit of Paula Deen...

 

"Happy Valentine's Day, y'all, from my mama's mantle to yours!"

 

A trip to the Emerald City (and some mention of Pantone)

 

I suppose you've noticed by now, (unless you haven't), that the Spring color for Pantone this year is Emerald. 

I like this color. It has a real richness and depth to it (plus, it reminds me of the Wizard of Oz!) and I think it really represents the Spring and Summer seasons really well. 

The Emerald that Pantone uses really carries this blue undertone which gives it better legs in my opinion, (meaning I think it can go farther in your jewelry and wardrobe than just a straight green). 

I wanted to do a little study with this color and see what kinds of combinations were possible when you started playing with emerald on the color wheel. What kinds of colors blend well with emerald and complement it without outshining the color altogether?
Also, I think as jewelry artists we often struggle to figure out how to work trends into our jewelry especially when the trends may not be something that appeals to us directly.

I turned to my handy dandy Color Scheme Designer. (This is where I go when I bring home a bead or string of beads or tube of beads and I'm kinda stuck as to where to go with them colorwise.)

I started with the monochromatic color scheme, which basically means you're taking the same color or hue and playing with other elements that are more or less saturated. 

The important part would be here that you're staying with the same basic color.

I found this awesome print by Etsy seller SandraOvono and I think it's an excellent example of a monochromatic color scheme. She's done a great job playing with the depth of the colors, adding a lot of shadow to the center stones while lightening up the edge stones and even including the twinge of blue that the color emerald really showcases.

 The next color palette is the complementary, which means you're going right across the color wheel to find the color which complements emerald. With just green, you always end up with red (hence, Christmas), but with emerald, the tone heads more toward the orange/terracotta family which is a reflection of the slight bits of blue in the color.

Here's what it looks like:

 I found two great examples of this. 

I loved this print by bomobob the color effect is gorgeous on the different ferris wheel carts, and I really like the depth he's captured with the brighter yellow tones juxtaposed against the deep oranges and emeralds.

I also liked this vintage scarf from vintageview1.

This is a deep, deep emerald, I would say almost a navy and it may or may not fit exactly into the 'emerald' category, but I liked the different earthy orange hues that were mixed with it, and I liked being able to see how the colors worked together in this graphic print. 

Finally, and this one is more challenging, I tried the triad. This is a color scheme pulling from three points on the color wheel. Your points will form a triangle, hence the triad. 

This one is definitely more challenging with emerald. 

The orange becomes this dusty pumpkin and mixes with this deep magenta or fuschia. This one would be difficult to recreate and I'm guessing would probably look best with really saturated colors. 

Here's the example: 

I found two sellers on Etsy who I thought had really captured (by accident or on purpose) this color scheme. 

The first is this lovely photo by AmyTylerPhotography.

The stalk is that lovely rich emerald color (do you catch the blue?) growing up into these rays of petals that start with just the subtle twinge of magenta and shoot out into that lovely deep pumpkin color.

The last piece I found was this very organic jeweled bracelet by bellajewelsII. 

I love the gathering of these beautiful faceted rubies, emeralds and sapphires to create the color scheme and the piece ends up being luxe without being over the top. The artist has really downplayed the pumpkin orange, but it's definitely there and really lends a depth to the color scheme that it wouldn't have otherwise.

 

I wanted to do a color challenge with these three palettes, maybe a blog hop or something similar, but I'm so hesitant to commit to anything right now with the baby on the way.

Instead I'm enjoying pursuing creativity without any deadlines and feeling like my hands are creating and working through the ideas in the back of my mind before I settle down and start nesting!

 

That said, I hope these palettes are a bit of a color kick-in-the-butt for you! I hope you enjoy playing around with the combinations that are possible with emerald. Oh, and if you do make something, monochromatic, complementary, or otherwise, send me a photo or post it to my Facebook page!

I'd love to see what you're up to!

 

Thanks for the wonderful responses on my last post by the way, and it was nice hearing from the beaders who said that the information really helped them sort out some details about beadweaving.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Beadweaving Terms Explained or How to Read a Beadweaving Pattern

I've had a couple of my wonderful customers e-mailing me asking me questions about some of the terminology in my bead weaving patterns and also some general questions about bead weaving and following patterns, mine or otherwise.

I think bead weaving can be very therapeutic and relaxing if you've got a good base to stand on and you can jump into a good pattern with a strong knowledge of the basics. This allows you to relax and enjoy learning on a higher difficulty level and it allows you to challenge your creativity without getting frustrated over the basics as you work.

I've learned some of this information from the myriad of bead weaving books that I purchased a few years ago, some of it has been trial and error, and then the rest of it was me doing active research to fill in the gaps in my knowledge.

I hope this information helps you if you're just starting out bead weaving, or if you're a seasoned teacher who sees the students with knowledge gaps when they arrive in class.

Bead weaving Terms:

- pass through - this means to move the needle in the same direction that the beads have been strung. So, for example, if a pattern tells you to "String 2 beads and then pass through the 2 beads that you've just strung." then your thread path will look like this below:

 

- pass back through - this means to move the needle in the opposite direction that the beads have been strung. This is extremely useful for fringe as seen below, I've passed through the two red beads, added a blue and then passed back through the two reds. 

 

- cull - This means to go through your beads, choosing beads that are most similar in size and culling (or eliminating) beads that are not uniform. I'm a "cull-as-I-go", which means, I'll pour out my beads and as I'm working, I'll use my needle to find beads that are similar in size. 

It's important as you bead that you're not just sticking your needle in the pile and coming up with a bead, I can assure that they won't be uniform, and your pattern will turn out wonky. 

If you've never culled before, take a minute to pour out your bead tube (pick a size you like) onto your mat and just use your needle to rake through the beads, you'll really be able to get a feel for which beads are usable and uniform and which aren't. 

- following a key -  Here's an example of a list of materials from one of my patterns: 

13 Fire-polished Czech Glass Tanzanite 4mm Round Beads

18 Light Pink Quartz 4mm Rounds

1g Turquoise Toho Treasure Cylinder Beads Size 11 (A)

2g Transparent Matte Light Amethyst Round Japanese Seed Beads Size 11 (B)

1g Transparent Matte Soft Pink Czech Seed Beads Size 11 (C)

There are a few things going on in this list: 

1. Items are listed in the order they are used. Meaning, if you like to lay out your beads, you can start creating an assembly line with your beads laid out in this order. 

2. The letter in parenthesis is used to denote within the pattern what beads you are working with. So..."String 2A and pass through...." means that you'll pick up two of the turquoise toho beads on your needle. This is the "key" to the materials list.

3. Pay attention to bead type. It's not just for fun that I've used three different types of beads here. (Toho treasure, Japanese, and Czech seeds). These beads have slight variations in shape and size that make them ideal for the job that they've been assigned. Don't try to substitute! (Well, at least not the first time you work the pattern...I've been known to fudge, but shhhh! don't tell anyone!) 

You can also do this to help you follow a key if you'd like: (This is a very high level of anal retentiveness I know, however, if you're following a pattern with a lot of colors or types of beads, this can be oh so helpful.) 

- "round" vs. "row" vs. "step" - okay, there is no hard and fast for this and this is the kind of information that I think is more relevant to someone writing or editing bead patterns, but it might help you when you see it to know what kind of work you'll be doing. 

Generally, when instructions are written in "rounds", you'll be working the needle clockwise (or counter-clockwise), but it doesn't necessarily mean it's a round shape. My instructions for Bollywood Bling are written in rounds because it starts out with a circle as the base even though the finished project doesn't look anything like a circle. 

 

"Rows" are usually for projects worked back and forth like a peyote bracelet or herringbone cuff. 

 "Steps" is usually reserved for stringing projects or the finishing portion of a beadwoven project, though I've been known to use Steps in my tutorials when it just didn't feel right to work in rows or rounds. 

- conditioning your thread - Beaders use a myriad of threads depending on the project. My go-to is Nymo. A good thick nymo, like a Size D. I keep a large spool of it for bead embroidery and bead weaving and rarely pick up my fireline. That said, your thread will need to be conditioned before you start using it. (I have read about 10 different opinions on conditioning thread and if what I'm about to tell you has never worked for you, then by all means, DON'T CHANGE!) You have to feel comfortable working with your thread whatever it is. 

Here's what I do: regardless of whether I'm working with Nymo, Fireline, or Wildfire, I'll cut my thread and then give it a bit of a tug end to end to get out a bit of the elasticity. If it's Nymo, I run it through Thread Heaven, if not, I leave it alone. I tried conditioning Fireline once, I didn't like it, so I don't do it.

Okay, I could go on and on all day on different aspects of bead weaving, but I think that what I've given you here will help you follow a well-written bead weaving project.

When I write my projects, I try to follow the format laid out in the most popular beadweaving magazines. I include illustrations and photos to make sure that you know what you're doing. 

Here is an example of one of the illustrations from my Perfect Geometry Cuff.

The black dot shows the bead that your thread will be exiting when you finish the last round, the opaque beads are the ones that you will be instructed to add, and the transparent beads are those from the last round. (Notice: "round", so this one is worked clockwise).

 

The last thing that I would suggest to you if you get confused working a project, is to contact the author. All of my customers have my e-mail address or they know my Etsy shop and a quick convo or e-mail usually clears up any confusions or frustrations that they may have. 

If you're working from a magazine, at the end of each project there should be a little blurb about the author so that you can locate their e-mail address for any help you might need working the pattern. 

I hope that most importantly you have fun! 

I really have been enjoying so much branching out into metalwork, but there will always be a special place in my heart for those tiny little beadies and I think any beadweaver will agree with me....they are addictive! 

Enjoy your Thursday!

Marcie





First off, Thank you so much for your response to my rings. I was so encouraged by your words.

 

I sat down last night and took stock of my stash and really wanted to do a destash sale like I do about once a year, but this year, I wanted it to be a little more creative and a little more fun, so I created these little collections.

I call them Creative Bead Collection Kits.

 

They're starters, inspiration firestarters if you will.

 

An assemblage of bits and baubles, from soft silk to chunky chain with gems and ceramics thrown in for good measure, these collection kits are curated by myself and each piece is hand picked by moi. Each collection is designed around a theme or color combination to jump start your own creativity. I've supplied the basics from my own stash and you'll provide the skills and even a few embellishments from your stash to create something truly unique.

These are wonderful starter kits for the beginning beader or even the experienced beader who loves to challenge herself or himself with something new. Buy one for yourself, or let me know and I'll package it and ship it to your bead buddy who needs a creative jolt.

Here they are:

 

Technicolor Blooms Kit

 

Lady in Red Kit 

Grape Jelly on Toast

Whoops! SOLD!

 

Rusted Out



Blushing Rose 

 

Pining for You

My personal fav:

The Heart of Fez

 

I do hope you'll check them out!

I'm running up to Raleigh today for a bead show so I'll check everything this evening when I get in, and all kits purchased this weekend will ship on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend! 

Hidden Hope Sterling Silver Collection

I am an anxious person by nature.

My mind wanders to the worst-case scenario and I find myself constantly in a mind/heart battle with my heart holding hope like a waving flag while my mind flings doubt in front of my face with defiance.

 

I had a dream a few weeks ago that I had given birth and was holding my baby girl in my arms. She was covered from head to toe in words.

Small little cursive reminders: love, hope, joy, peace. They covered her skin like a thin veil and when I kissed her head they remained.

The doctor assured me that they would wear off, but I remember that I felt not one bit concerned.

I knew the word would wear off, but the meanings would remain.

 

It was that dream that gave me the desire to create this little rustic collection with more than just pretty stones and silver.

I wanted each piece to leave a message of hope for the wearer.

I've hidden the hope behind layers of silver against the skin so the only person to know what that little adornment means is the wearer.

 

The first is a teardrop of dryhead agate.



I've coaxed mountains out of the back of the ring with an eagle soaring above the peaks.

There is no mountain too high for the eagle. They float gracefully above the treacherous rocks on the cliff face and dip in and out of the deepest valleys with pride and confidence.

To have the heart of the eagle....



 

The second is a band of sterling with the same eagle, this time soaring over an entire range of mountains.

I've made the eagle large and close with the mountains smaller against the silver sky. The peaks are perfectly jagged, no soft bluffs on which to land.

 

 

On the inside, a message of hope for the wearer. "No mountain is too high." Not for the eagle and not for you or me either.



A second sterling band, this time an unruly vine bursting into a starburst bloom curves around the finger. There's no garden, no pot, just the growth of the vine in defiance of the impossibility. 

On the inside of this band?

"Never cease to grow."

There is hope in the change that comes with growth in the new place that we find ourselves after the growing pains have ceased. 

The last is a marquis of variscite.

The sea foam green that roils and boils on the surface of this stone reminded me of the sea during a storm how the water moves in completely unpredictable ways. 

Behind the sea, a tiny boat sails under the storm, battered, but not broken, and not sunk.

Storms last only a moment.

There is always the sun on the other side.

 

These are all finished by hand, dipped and dipped to oxidize them and then rubbed and rubbed to bring out the glow of the silver.

I hope the messages speak to you and that wherever you are, mountain, valley, storm or fallow soil, that your heart will remind you to hope.

 

"Hope is the dream of a soul awake."

- French Proverb

 

HERE

A Very Happy New Year

 

We ate homemade pizza (I ate too much homemade pizza!)

We got out coloring books and crayons for the kids.

We played Settlers of Catan.

We watched the ball drop.

 

I welcomed in 2013 surrounded by my family with one hand on a growing belly.

 

I think everything will grow just a little in 2013.

 

 

In the meantime, I will leave you with a sneak peek of the promised sterling collection. It's still not done, but I'll be back when it is!

 

 

May you have a very happy and very healthy first day of 2013 and all the subsequent days thereafter!