WIRE DEMOS AT BEAD AND BUTTON

I am shortly leaving for the airport, but I took a quick photo to let you know that I will be demonstrating wire techniques at the Parawire booth at Bead and Button.  Stop by on Friday from 5-6pm or Saturday from 12N-1pm to see how to make some of these simple wire flowers.  See you there!

FLORAL TRIBUTES FOR OUR SWEET MERLE

When we first talked about the idea of my posting the pieces made in memory of Merle Berelowitz for the Ms. Maddie's Fabulous Florals category of Bead Dreams 2014, I had a clever theme to introduce the photos.  I was going to do a play on the Salon de Reufse (exhibition of rejects),  an exhibition of works rejected by the official jury of the Paris Salon.  Most famous was the exhibit of 1863 when the works of  such artists as Edouard Manet and Camille Pissaro were rejected by the Salon.

 I was going to say something about being anxious to see the fabulous pieces done in the spirit of Merle that beat out our efforts.  Having seen the finalists in the Ms. Maddie's category of Bead Dreams 2014, I will only say that here are pieces that were made as a tribute to Merle, her medium of acrylic flowers, and her aesthetic by people who knew and loved her.  They are presented in alphabetical order.


First is a very sweet macramé bracelet made by Judith Bertoglio-Giffin using acrylic flowers and leaves, fire polish beads, seed beads, and fiber.

Judith Bertoglio-Giffin

Next in our tribute is Marlene Brady's entry made of right-angle weave, bead embroidery, and fringe.

Marlene Brady

Back view, Marlene Brady's entry

Next is Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah by the supremely talented Diane Hyde.  It is made of Lucite flowers, seed beads, crystals, and a separating zipper that really works.  The technique is bead embroidery.

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah by Diane Hyde

Close up of Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah

Pat Kraemer made a fun entry using acrylic flowers and seed beads.

Pat Kraemer



Close up of Pat Kraemer's bird

Then there is my entry entitled Miss Morticia Beads her Garden.  Prompted by the black plastic flowers and lime-green, plastic hearts that I found at CJS Sales, I envisioned a mostly black and white necklace beaded by Morticia Adams as she waits for the endless snow to melt so that she can see her real garden.  What can I say?  It was a long, cold, snowy winter. 

Adele Rogers Recklies

Adele Rogers Recklies

Adele Rogers Recklies


Thus ends our beady tribute to our sweet Merle.  If anyone else has an entry to the Ms. Maddie's category that I didn't find or if you just have a beadwork tribute to Merle that you would like to see included, just let me know. 

If you would like to see all of the finalists of Bead Dreams 2014, you may do so here: Bead and Button.  You can even vote for 1 favorite entry.

BEAD AND BUTTON 2013: CLASSES

I had a great time at Bead and Button, even though my camera died and I was so rushed that I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to.  I took some wonderful classes.

First was Monday night's WireLace Floating Flower, a pin made with WireLace, Crystal Clay, crystals, and head pins.  WireLace is a ribbon woven with very fine wire of brass, copper, or aluminum bonded with an enamel coating.  I had been curious about the product, so I figured it would be a good idea to take a class from the innovator, Linda Hartung.  We had a fun time and walked out of class with a finished flower.

Here is my finished flower pin.





Here are some of the other flowers that Linda made as examples.

 

Bracelets made with WireLux, another of Linda and Tim's products.  More about this later.


On Tuesday, I took Soldering 1-2-3 with the talented and ever-patient Gwen Youngblood.  This class taught us to cut, stamp, texture, and solder metal as we made two pendants of copper and silver.  Thanks to Gwen, I conquered my fear of torches and walked out of class with two finished pendants.

My 2 pendants.

Unfortunately, I had so much fun in class that I forgot to take any photos but you can visit Gwen's website at Metal Art Lab to see more of her classes.


Wednesday brought the Prong-Set Enameled Earrings class with Kim St. Jean.

Here is Kim surrounded with some of the tools and supplies for class.

My favorite of Kim's many samples of her work.


Thanks to Gwen's solid instructions in using a torch, I was more comfortable with fire and finished 1 pair of earrings.

My earrings


Wednesday night was the ever-popular Meet The Teachers, where I spent a lot of time catching  up with friends and admiring a lot of lovely jewelry.  I couldn't resist taking a photo part of the line for admission.

The line extends around the corner.

Thursday was the Soutache and Bead Embroidery Cuff taught by Amee K Sweet-McNamara, otherwise known as Amee Runs With Scissors.

Here's Amee on the right.

One of Amee's more colorful pieces of soutache jewelry

We did a lot of learning but didn't actually get very far with our motifs.

Here is 1 of my motifs, which will get sewn to a wide cuff.


Friday was back to the 1970's (in spirit) as I spent the day in Joan Babcock's Introduction to Micro-Macrame.  Although I joke about back to the 1970's, Joan's work is definitely up-to-date and we had a lot of fun learning our knots.  My camera was broken by now but you can see some of Joan's gorgeous work at her website: Joan Babcock Designs.

The start of my bracelet. We spent most of our class time practicing knots but I will get back to this project.


So that was it for  the classes this year.  Tomorrow I will share my goodies from shopping.