BEAD SHOW AND CLASSES IN NEW YORK CITY

The Innovative Beads Expo (or as someone misread it last night the Innovative Bead Sexpo, which would bring in a whole other crowd) is back in Manhattan on May 4, 5, and 6.  We have an exciting group of classes including 3 bead crochet sessions taught by yours truly.

Friday afternoon's class (May 4, 1:30-4:30) will be The Side by Side necklace.  This is a good class for someone who wants an introduction to crocheting with beads because we use larger beads and fiber. 

On Saturday morning (May 5, 10:30-1:30), I will teach the Turkish Delight Bracelet.  This is an intermediate- level bead crochet project based on a stitch that I learned in Turkey.  It uses smaller beads and crochet thread to create a sparkly bracelet with an eye-catching closure.  The closures are done with needle and  thread.




Sunday morning's class (May 6, 10:30-1:30) will be an introduction to Tubular Bead Crochet.  Students will make a bead crochet tube and turn it into a pendant with a bit of simple wire work.  Crochet experience is helpful but not required.



Students who register before 5:00pm on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 will save $10 on the class price.  For more information and registration form, please visit Innovative Beads Expo.

Along with my classes, Marti Brown will be offering wire work and Viking knit classes, Meg Fillmore will be teaching a stringing class and an earring class, and Pat Reisner will be offering 3 fun, needle weaving classes.  Hope to see you there.

POPCORN CABOCHONS

My friend Michael Harrington, the artist behind Beads That Bounce, brought some of his latest experiments to our Bead Society meeting tonight and caused quite a stir.  Michael has taken his cold inclusion bead technique and made what he calls Popcorn Cabochons.  These are made of epoxy so they are light as well as beautiful.

The cabs range in size from 1 1/4 inches (3.2 centimeters) to 2.67 inches (7 centimeters).  Michael will be at Bead and Button with all of his beads but in the meantime, here are some quick photos that I took at our meeting.

     This blue bead above is one of my favorite ones because it looks like a modern art painting.

This one above almost looks like a something under the sea.  A few of us got cabochon samples to play with and I am anxious to play with my yellow, diamond-shaped cabochon.  To see some of Michael's cold inclusion beads made layer by layer with beads, sequins, and optical-grade resin, visit Beads by Michael.

CROCHET CORAL AT ANTHROPOLOGIE

The coral I made during the demonstrtation.

 The NYC Crochet Guild was asked to give a crocheted coral workshop for the shoppers at the Anthropologie store in Rockefeller Center on Friday.  This was part of their Earth Day celebration.  Along with the Guild, the store had some live coral in a tank, a lady who helped kids make sea anemone out of dyed toothpicks and styrofoam balls, and sweets.

 Here is Mary, the organizer from our Guild at our table.  Notice her lovely knit and crocheted necklace.
Some of our coral on on the table in front of her.

                                                                             Below are some of our intrepid volunteers at the teaching table: Willena (facing us) and Kim
(standing) along with people working on their own coral.










More of our coral display.  My coral with the crabs was a bit hit.



The other end of our display.








Demonstrating and teaching.

 A whole coral landscape made by Willena.

 We had so many people wanting to try their hand at crochet that Kim had to take a seat on the store's couch.





A few pieces of coral made at the teaching table are resting on the orange coral.



Here is another shot of the coral that I made during the afternoon spread out so you can see the structure.  Most of it is a blue microfiber with bits of Fun Fur (both by Lion Brand)  crocheted in.  A last row of Fun Fur gives it a lush look.  Lion Brand was one of the comapnies that donated yarn for the afternoon's activities.

As a thank you gift, the lovely staff of Anthropologie gave us these Air Plants in plaster and chicken wire baskets.  A lovely way to remember a fun afternoon.

MORE HYPERBOLIC CROCHET CORAL

The New York City Crochet Guild put out a call for more hyperbolic crochet coral for a small version of the reef we did in 2008.  Here is what the reef looked like the last time NY Coral Reef.  It was part of an exhibit to draw attention to the fact that rising temperatures and pollution are destroying coral reefs.

The coral is fun to do, so I got out my crochet hooks and some yarn.  I decided to share the details of the design process in a nod to someone close to me who is under the charming, but mistaken, impression that the rest of us know what we are doing.  So here we go.

My inspiration was this photo by Jim Maragos/AP of coral near Jarvis Island in the Pacific Ocean.

Last time around, I did this yellow, green, and white coral with a lot of increasing, so this time around I decided to try increasing only every 3 stitches.  I also vowed  to finish the coral even if it didn't match the perfect version in my head.

 My first try wasn't bad, so I proceeded to make a bigger coral. 

I decided to

lighten the color by adding a green slubbed yarn to the blue.

It lightened overall effect but made my coral really floppy even with a combination of stiffer glitzy yarns around the edge.











It's not bad if you fold it over but I decided to try again.

I went back to my original blue sample and made 3 different sizes.  I then sewed them together but it still needed something.  I got out two coral-colored yarns and added them to the center of each coral piece.  That helped but it still needed something else.

So I came up with some crocheted crabs.

Here is the finished product.  Now I am waiting to see all of the other crocheted coral pieces put together.