lo and behold

There are no consolation prizes behind my doors 1, 2, and 3.  Each door offers me a wonderful and different present.  Hmmm, let’s see,  I can buy one for my birthday, one for my half-birthday, and one for . . . what I tell my kids is called an “I love you present.”  Just cuz. 

My door #3 is Daisychain Jewellery.  And that’s jewellery rather than jewelry because Jo the metal smith is located in Southampton, UK.  I first “met” Jo when I participated in the first Bead Soup Blog Party hosted by  Lori Anderson.  The second Bead Soup Blog Party is happening right now, and I couldn’t swing it play along this time, but I will definitely be crashing the party once the participants start revealing (next week) what they have made with the “bead soups” they received from another blogger. 

Anywhoo, for her bead soup jewellery piece, Daisychain made this lovely focal pendant with a hollow lampwork bead from Island Girl Insights.  

A week or two later,  she offered a tutorial on how to make it for the drooling commenters like myself who loved what she did. 

Let’s just say that I’ve been hooked ever since. On her blog, Jo is very generous with her experience and knowledge of working with metals, and if it she didn’t live across the pond, I’d sign up for one of her “private tuitions” in a minute.  Or, I’ll  just hop across the pond one day and say hello. 

But in the meantime, if I were to own one of Jo’s pieces for myself, here are a few I’d consider from her online shop. 

As one who is not interested in prissy flowers in the least bit, I’m an utterly enchanted by these. And now I understand why she is called Daisychain Designs.  That cuff – it is unlike anything I own – and I think I would love wearing it. 

And here’s another.  She calls it Dusky Rose, and I could put a different stone in the middle if I wanted. . . . This girl can rock flowers.  (And all the photos belong to the artist.) 

So, each of my doors is really a doorway into a different world.  Don’t be surprised to see photos of me sporting some new jewels before my next birthday . . . And can someone please tell my husband to read my blog?

I found each of the artists I am writing about this week through her blog.  And this person, Beth Hemmila, of Hint Jewelry, routinely stuns me with her beautiful and honest writing. Off the top of my head, I remember a recent post about having an open or closed heart, and another about the “every woman’s complex relationship with food.” Both of these posts articulated challenges that are well known to me. Beth shares openly about her failures, her lifestyle, and her business. 

On her blog, Beth describes her jewelry business this way: 

wild west spirit meets far east design :: handmade silver jewelry connecting people through simple beauty, pure craftsmanship, and common stories

On her Etsy shop, the banner says, Stories in Metal. Primarily, her work is making silver charms, mostly out of PMC, and some also in sterling.  Each carved and cast charm has a picture on it that symbolizes a part of the life force – those are my words, not Beth’s, but I think that’s the idea.  Here are a few of the charms that speak to me. The photos and the descriptive text are borrowed from Beth’s Etsy shop, with her permission. 

Prana, mighty life force and healer, come swim next to me in the borderland. Open my body to spaciousness and touch the places that hurt so as to lead me back to the sound of myself — the feeling that sings without knowing why.

Hummingbirds draw on the essence of flowers, extract sweetness from life, and show us the way to find joy in any situation. They are a symbol for celebrating a life fulfilled as well as losses in the form of loved ones and dreams. Deeply woven into the mythology of the Americas, hummingbirds are often considered tiny messengers between worlds, helping shamans keep the balance between spirit and nature.

A tree of life “to evoke the earth’s healing powers of creation, nourishment, and protection” and matched with wire wrapped gemstones in the colors of the seasons. 

Beth sells the charms individually and also uses them in lovely, luscious pieces of jewelry.  She makes some to sell (like the tree of life above), some on request from customers, and this year, she is building herself an “heirloom memory necklace.” Each month of 2010, she is adding something(s)to a necklace that remind her of that month.  I can’t imagine the time she is investing to write and draw and think about her life so beautifully and intentionally.  This is what her necklace looked like at the end of May 2010.

I can’t wait to see where it goes, and I LOVE reading what Beth writes each month about her process.  

As you might imagine, I am very drawn to this whole idea. Poetry in jewelry – that’s an interesting juxtaposition for me, as I feel that my poet self coming back alive but in a different medium.  I love the idea of making necklaces of this type as gifts.  And for myself, I could make a birthday necklace and add something each year.  Or, I could start a necklace now which I could continue to build until I am 50.  It would be a piece that represented the period of my life between ages 45 – 50 in which I feel I am re-birthing myself, or revising myself, or transforming in some powerful way (I don’t have the words yet – maybe something visual will help.)

If I got myself a birthday present from Hint this year, I think I would start with the Tree of Life.  . . . I would certainly add something glass that I have made, and something beaded.  Fun to think about.

I also want to hold Hint in my mind as a model of business.  I noticed that Beth gives away 10% of her sales to a different “good cause” each month, something that I did when I started my Etsy store.  I also wonder if I will find a way to bring meaning to the beauty that I am learning to create in glass.  I’ve thought about it, and sometimes certain ideas come up.  I think I’m getting closer that that ideal, but I know I will have to stay open to the desire and put the time in to really tease it out.  That’s a very good goal, and Hint is an excellent example. 

I had another great weekend learning, thinking, and dreaming glass.  This time, in Millville, New Jersey. 

After this class from Kristina Logan, following close on the heels of my work with Heather Trimlett and Jill Symons, I feel steeped in information and inspiration from the most skilled and talented glass bead makers I could find. 

I could not do it just from reading books.  I did not have the patience to work through trial and error for years to figure out all on my own how to move molten glass into the shapes and designs I see and can imagine.  I am not brave enough to hook up the gas first and ask questions later. 

Instead – and this was not a conscious and intentional plan from the beginning  - I have taken just the right classes from just the right people to now feel I have a solid footing.  

Five classes. Fifteen months:

• Intro to Flameworking – Sally Prasch at Snow Farm
• Into to Beadmaking – Nancy Tobey at  Snow Farm
• Encasing and Inclusion – Jill Symons at Blue Moon Glassworks in Austin, TX
• Buttons and Beads – Heather Trimlett at Blue Moon Glassworks in Austin, TX
• Beads:  The Next Level – Kristina Logan at Carlisle School of Glass Art in Millville, NJ

And now - I am so done. I know enough about theory and enough about practice that I feel grounded and ready to fly.  I can invent. I can build the walls and windows of MY house. 

I have been a sponge, and now I am going to be a hermit.  I am going to bid a grateful goodbye to my Hothead in the garage and set up a real torch in a real studio that I can work in year round.  A room of my own.  Finally.  

Kristina’s class was just the right one to end on.  (And I don’t mean I will never take a class again, but it will be a while, not like in the same intensity as this run. ) In addition to a full and open disclosure of what processes and techniques work for her, Kristina was also very wise and instructive about how to grow artistically.   She asked at the beginning what intention each of us had for the class. Some people said “to learn how to make your designs.”  Kristina was clear that learning to make her designs would not serve us (or her). Instead, her intention was that each of us would leave feeling that we could make our beads better. 

Here’s an example. You know how I love these dotty beads, right? 

Well, they started because of how enchanted I was to see opaque dots on a transparent round of the same color.  Originally, I used an even paler transparent gold so the opaque really stood out.   Something about the bare wisp of transparent color together with the deep rich opaque of the same hue just delights me to no end.  In Kristina’s class, I made “my bead” this way:

Three rows of dots:  big, medium, and small.  Kristina, “the queen of dots,” taught us about control of size and placement, and see – I could take my bead to another level.  I don’t love the bead I made, but I now have better skill with dots which  gives me a new freedom when I sit quietly and alone in front of my own torch.  (Yikes, look at the difference in photo quality between my old camera and my new one!)

There’s much more I could say, and I will, but for now, a few more photos of the weekend. 

We couldn’t take the torches outside, but we spent a few minutes in the sun learning how to prepare a rivet for the hole of a bead. 

How can it already by May? 

I am working on my April Report Card and also on ideas for my 100th post.  In the meantime, what do you think of this bead, not counting the bead release in the hole?  Kind of a different look for me. Pretty – or do those colors make you think of throw-up on a sparkly party dress? 

I ordered a new camera a couple of weeks ago – nothing too fancy, but a whole lot better than broken and blurry.  I was hoping it would come before I left for Austin, but it didn’t.  Since I got back, I’ve managed to get it out of the box and charged up. Here are a few snaps to show off the week.  Still a lot to learn.  First up: change the setting that prints the date on the front!  

Before I left for Austin, Isabel logged a lot of hours stringing beads for me so I could keep busy on the plane (and so she could add to her bank account).  As you can see, I’ve got a blue necklace in the works.   This piece of bead crochet is my very favorite.

This is a bracelet that has been waiting for my attention for quite a while.  I wondered if the three greens would work, and I think it does. 

Just as I was leaving for Austin, a package arrived from England with beads from EJR Beads.  Emma Ralph is one of the first bead makers I found online.  Her beads sell the minute they are posted, but I had forgotten that she also maintains a Lotto List.  When your name comes up on the list, you get a first right on refusal on whatever set is in her queue for the lotto.  I have no idea when I signed up, but I’m guessing it’s at least two years ago.  Well, my name came up for a set of Flamenco Tabs, one of her signature styles. In teals and blues, how could I say no, even though I am not buying many beads these days.  (photo styling by Isabel)

So, now, back to Austin. Remember the lovely purple bead with the little rosies?  My victory bead?  Here’s the bead that I made immediately before it.  Working so hard to get that stringer into a spiral.  When I look at this pair, I think:  “Well, what I lack in natural talent, I make up for in trainability.”  When I showed the two beads to someone else tonight, she said, “Wow, you are a fast study.”  Note to self:  Be kinder.  

Here are the buttons from Heather Trimlett’s class. It’s really tricky to get that glass wrapped around both tines of the mandrel evenly.  We practiced just the hole part like in the top of the photo before we were allowed to even try and build a whole button.  See those blue bumps?  Heather would call them cow patties.  She likes them with straight sides and rounded tops.  I think there’s one bump that qualifies.  (photo by Isabel)

Here are the big holes I made. I was so proud of getting a fairly even wrap around the mandrel, and then when they came off you can see from the bead release how uneven the footprint is.  Still, I really kind of like them.

And now, from the girl who just said she’s not buying many beads anymore: the Heather Trimlett beads that came home with me.  (photos by Isabel) 

I’m in Austin. My bag was the first one to come off the plane, I’ve figured out how to post from my phone, and I’m drinking a Marguerita with dinner. All is good!

About two years ago, I bought this bead from Nancy Tobey at a Bead Show.  It’s color and intricacy is really much more than what is visible in the photo. 

Last year, in the weeks before I was taking a lampworking class with Nancy, I designed a necklace around the bead.  I have to say, I love the way the necklace came out.  One thing I consistently love about making these rope type necklaces without a clasp is how many different ways you can wear them.  You can wear this one with Nancy’s bead and the oval gemstone on opposite sides of each other.  You can wear it with either one of them hanging down center front, and you can wear it with either one of them hiding in the back so there is only one, clear focal.  Each bead crochet piece is a different length and this is the most asymmetrical piece I’ve made. 

Today, I finally sent the photos to Nancy because she is having a contest for people who have made jewelry with her beads.  After years of asking people to send her pix, she finally had to bribe us to actually do it.  You can see my entry, and others, on Nancy’s Facebook fan page. 

One week from today,  one week from right this minute, I will be sitting at a torch in Austin, TX with Jill Symons. OK, maybe we’ll be eating lunch, but anyway.  Close enough.  When Blue Moon Glassworks had to cancel the Marble Class with Heather Trimlett that I had signed up for, I asked if they could get Jill to teach me a class. I had already bought my plane ticket, and even though it would have been nice to spend a day touring around the lovely town of Austin, I really wanted to use the day for learning glass. It’s like when I went to the hospital to have my first baby.  It was the middle of the night, and they said I wasn’t really ready to be there.  They gave me some medicine to help me sleep and in the morning, I woke up with no contractions.  Everyone kept saying, “Oh, but you slept. That’s so great.”  And I wanted to scream, “But I didn’t come here to sleep, I came here to have a baby and now I have no contractions.”   

So, now that I’m giving birth to myself, I did not want to sleep through a day in Austin.  So, I asked, they asked, and Jill said yes.  How’s that for putting what you want out into the universe and having the universe give you a big ol’ high five in return?  I’m very excited. 

Jill said I should suggest some things I’d like to learn, and this is the wish list I sent to her yesterday:

1. shaping spheres consistently
2. shaping and decoration - I will bring some specific examples of this problem
3. encasing:  how to avoid air bubbles, how to get the holes nice, how to control thick or thin layer of clear, design options for the core bead, how to use encasing as a design element
4. working with transparent glass:  how to avoid air bubbles, how to layer over clear evenly
5. colors:  is it my imagination or is Lauscha white stiffer than other whites? what’s the best black? purple – how do you get a good bright opaque?  how do you get a clear, saturated transparent that is still light enough to see through? 
6. working with metals:  copper, silver, gold, palladium, sheet, foil, wire - I have done none of this and it would be fun to get some overview instruction from you to save me the many hours of trial and error it will take me to figure it out on my own
7. working with silvered glass:  I have done none of this, so same as above.
8. would love to look through your “catalog” of past beads and see some demos

Have I mentioned I’m excited?  And following a day with Jill, I get two more days in class with Heather Trimlett. I don’t get to set the agenda in those classes, and I can only imagine what Heather will impart while she shows us her magic on buttons and big-hole beads. 

And, don’t worry.  Day of Discovery Part 2 is still coming.  I need to get some photos taken first.

I had a HUGE, I mean H.U.G.E day of discovery. Huge. And it came so unexpectedly.  My brain just about exploded this morning. 

I can’t even remember what I was looking at first. I made my hotel reservation for The Gathering, so maybe it was from there.  I made my hotel reservation for the  Kristina Logan class at Carlisle, so maybe it there. Maybe I was momentarily abducted by aliens. . . .I don’t know, but one way or another, I landed on a website called Mostly Glass Gallery.  And what I found there rocked my little artist-y world:  four seed bead jewelry makers, three of whom do bead crochet, on display at this very moment at SOFA in New York City, which opens tonight. 

First of all, I had never heard of SOFA, and I soon learned that the International Expositions of Sculpture Objects & Functional Art: SOFA CHICAGO and SOFA NEW YORK  are the “The World’s Foremost Fairs of Contemporary Decorative Arts & Design”  Their website describes them this way: 

At SOFA expositions, prominent international galleries and dealers present masterworks bridging the worlds of design, decorative and fine arts, showcasing the rich visual heritage of the decorative arts alongside new, innovative expressions.

So maybe I am just a babe in the woods, the last person on the block to know about the party, but I have never seen bead crochet jewelry recognized and included at such a high level.  The fourth seed bead artist used mostly freeform peyote to create stunning works of jewelry.  Undoubtedly, they are exceptional.  I have seen amazing stitched and woven seed bead sculptures, wall hangings, and fine art pieces, but it struck me as pretty unusual to find seed bead jewelry in the company of an international collection of sculpture objects and functional art.  At least I have never seen any in my limited travels. If I am naive, please point me the way to more.

But let me just get to the main point – introducing these artists to you.

Hildegund Ilkerl and Gabriele Malek:  These gals are from Austria.  Their personal website is mostly in German and I haven’t taken the time yet to read it in translation, but I did look at the pictures :)!  I think one of them is a lampworker.  Their work features bead crochet all over the place.  Some of it blows me away because it doesn’t seem that different from what I do or what I could do, and some of it blows me away because it’s what I can do but on steroids to the hundredth degree. I am using these photos without their permission, and I hope it will be OK; both the work and the images belong to them.  It looks like they often use size 15 seed beads, and I don’t have any idea how they do the flat pieces.  The third photo is a necklace. Click on the links above. Go. Treat yourself.  But come back.  There’s more to see. 

Karen Flowers:  I can’t even find a personal website for this woman. Mostly Glass Gallery says that six of her pieces are on display at SOFA – right now.  Tonight.  Do those squared have wire in them?  I want to hold that piece in my hand. 

And lastly, Mary Darwall. These beadwoven pieces were exquisite, but even more important for me, when I looked at her personal website, it looked like she and I are not so different:  she has no formal artist training, she was once a teacher, she wove her life around to art, and she loves the tiniest little beads and the process of working one bead at a time. She has an amazing eye for color. I am not trying to say that I am anywhere near as skilled or talented, but she feels to me like a model of what can be done.  Dare I say: what I might become. And look at her list of galleries.  Look at her list of shows.  The prices are high and it looks to me like she sells. I always wonder how the people behind this kind of art have the time to build an inventory, but somehow she has. One day, I will have to learn more about how she has done it.  

OK.  My day of discovery: I haven’t even started to say what I learned at my torch today. Part 2 coming in the next day or so.

One more step to go.  Well, actually two.  Final photo comes tomorrow. . . . It will be done.  And in time!

P.S.  Goal:  get a new camera. Learn something about photos.