Beguiling Beads

My dear friend Elizabeth Rosenberg ( http://www.elizabethrosenberg.blogspot.com/ ) invited me to a bead show last month, and I had a divine ,delirious time! I bought a lot of gorgeous beads, including some amazing lampwork by Grace Quinyi Ma ( www.gracebeads.com ) . These beads came home and sat in my stash, dreaming of necklaces and bracelets, but alas, inspiration was not yet free. Then this past weekend, I dragged my friend Debbie to a local bead show and had another amazing time looking at beads, playing with colors and finally buying more beads. I came home and spent the last few days creating ! I had the best time, and so far am pleased with my initial attempts. I figure, like knitting, beading can always be redone, so any mistakes can be reworked and the materials re-used. Which is a freeing thought; one can't really make a mistake! There are only new opportunities...

This necklace, with black and white lampwork and a special bead from Venice, will be the perfect gift for my mother, whose birthday is coming up in June.This necklace I have been wanting to make for 4 years, ever since I bought the fabulous focus bead in Houston at Quilt Festival. I found the perfect beads for the necklace portion at the show last weekend, and strung this in time for Paula Nadelstern's fantastic opening yesterday at the Folk Art Museum ( www.folkartmuseum.org ). Her quilts are breathtaking, inspiring and just plain magnificent. Her exhibit is the first solo show of work by a living artist, and as such is a joyous tour de force. I was privleged to go to the opening reception last night, and wanted to wear my special beads.

This piece is another marriage of a focal Thai silver bead which I bought in Lowell many years ago, and Tibetan silver and gemstone beads purchased last month.

I love the Grace lampwork beads in this necklace and earring set, with Swarovsky crystal and Czech glass beads. I'm having a lot of fun playing with these instant gratification bits of color and light.

Carousel Lion

The Lion has landed! He is done, in all his glittery beaded splendor. I painted the sides and back with orange acrylic paint, and gave the beads a final coat of glue. I'm pleased with the result, and I hope the patrons at the Museum of Folk Art enjoy him. I still need to affix a hanging apparatus i the back, but as this is a holiday, the stores are closed. He was fun to make, and I enjoyed the result a lot, despite using messy glue and paint. Will I do this again? Maybe...but I'd rather knit.

Carousel Lion-first day

The Museum of Folk Art ( http://www.folkartmuseum.org ) in New York City has a fundraiser auction each year. Last year, they sent interested artists a blank doll and asked us to decorate it however we wished. I had fun creating a mermaid in a knitted skin, which was auctioned off. The event is a lot of fun; some of the artwork is quite elaborate and clever. This year the theme is "Carousel" and each artist was sent a wooden animal to decorate however we wish; the deadline however is in one month, so there isn't a lot of time to play around! I got the idea to bead my lion from my husband, who brainstormed with me about it when I opened the giant box. The piece is 21 X 15 inches, and about an inch thick. I was inspired by seeing the amazing work of Liza Lou, who covered ordinary settings in beads ( a kitchen, a back yard, a tool closet...). As I have a lot of beads, I though this would be interesting to do...as I don't usually work with it was a challenge to find a non-toxic glue which would be relatively easy to use. I thought hotmelt glue would be dangerous for my fingers, and was elated to find several glues at the craftstore which will work. Hopefully! I'm using Weldbond, which is a white glue made for glass, wood, etc. So far, the beads are sticking! I spent 5 hours today working on this part, and I'm enjoying the process, although it is painstaking and somewhat messy.
Here is my beginning, though, and I'm having a lot of fun laying out the beads. I hope they will stick! More in a few days...