CROCHET WIRE NESTS FOR MY BIRDIE

My friend Yoshie wants me to wear my new MAKUstudio bird to the NY Bead Society meeting tomorrow night so I needed to finish the necklace.  Since I  hated to cut the pretty ribbon, I decided to make a small scarf ring as a fastener in back and crochet two wire bird's nests for counterweights.  You can see the finished necklace above.  I can wear the ribbon ends in front with the bird or hanging down my back for a dramatic exit.

The bird's nests were so much fun that I made two more sets and turned one set into earrings. 

If you want to try your hand at crocheted wire bird's nests, here is a site to get you started: http://www.craftstylish.com/item/604/how-to-make-wire-crochet-jewelry/page/all.

I did things a bit differently, starting with using 22 gauge wire which I would not recommend.  It makes great-looking bird's nests but it is hard on the wrists and fingers.  I will try 24 or 26 gauge wire next time.  Also, I chained 4 instead of 3 for a slightly bigger nest.  I formed the nest over the end of a large crochet hook to make it deeper and used the second tail to make a few squiggles and loops on the top edge of the nest.

Now I can't wait to wear my new necklace tomorrow.

UPDATE:  I stumble across an excellent tutorial for making another type of finding for the hand-painted ribbon if you don't want to just tie the ribbon or cut it and add a lobster claw and jump ring fastener.  Check out Jen Cameron's website Glass Addictions for instructions or just to view some lovely jewlery.

Raku New Year

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of attending the holiday party at Bead by Blanchewww.beadsbyblanche.com in Bergenfield, New Jersey.  My plan was to just buy some seed beads for upcoming class projects until I walked by the trays of raku pendants by Marianne Kasparian of MAKUstudio.  I managed to grab this little bird and pair it with one of Marianne's hand-dyed ribbons for an instant necklace.  You can check out more of Marianne's pendants, beads, and earrings at www.makustudio.com.  Everytime I look at this little birdie, it makes me smile so may you also find your own blue bird of happiness in this new year.  Happy New Year!

CHRISTMAS WINDOWS NYC 2011

We did our usual tour of the Christmas windows in Manhattan on Christmas Eve so here are a few photos of the high points.   First is Barney's with a Lady Gaga theme:

 Gaga's boudoir with everything covered in hair.

Another window at Barney's

Then it was on to Bergdorf's.  The side windows were fashion shoots with manequins in animal heads. 

The main windows gathered together items made of one material.

This was wood.

These items were paper.

A small window

This window had sea creatures made of tile.

This window was fiber animals.

This was the metal window.

This was the bead window.

Then it was on to Henri Bendel's

One of their smaller windows.

Tiffany's was doing a circus theme...

but they removed most of the jewelry from the windows, making them rather empty.

This was Diesel, not a Christmas decoration but an interesting facade.

Tommy Hilfiger wrapped their store in a big bow and the store next to it did their usual filagree belts.

Cartier wrapped their store in the traditional red bow.

The Rockefeller Center tree framed by trees with blue lights.

Bananna Republic.



Anthropologie: not Christmas but a fun background.

Sephora, which used to be the Charles Scribner's Sons bookstore.

Lord and Taylor did Christmas scenes.

These two windows with a beagle are for my parents.

More Lord & Taylor

 Macy's did windows that were full of motion and a little nightmarish.  The theme had something to do with the magic of ornaments.  Since everything was moving, I took short videos to give the idea.

Then we went home to watch for Santa.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL

Both Don and I have been so busy with theater work (the poor guy is still at the shop now on Christmas Eve) that we decided not to drive ourselves crazy decorating a tree or buying presents for Christmas.  Feeling bad that we couldn't put up a Christmas tree this year, Don remedied the situation a few days ago.  Behold this year's version of presents under the tree:

So may you all be as creative and unstressed in you holiday celebrations:  Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Kwanza.

ENCHANTED FAUST

 The months since September ran together as I worked on three knitted costumes for two operas for the Metropolitan Opera.  The first project was a lovely but challenging machine-knit sweater for the very pregnant Marguerite, played by Marina Poplavskaya, in a new production of Faust.  The costumes were designed by the talented Paul Tazwell. 

The yarn was two strands of different variegated yarns that were made in Italy.  The shopper thought that the yarn was cotton but, working with it, I came to the conclusion that I was knitting with cashmere.  It was very soft and light.

After that I was on to more chain mail for a new opera entitled Enchanted Isle, a mashup of Shakespeare's The Tempest  and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had to make as set of chain mail for Neptune, played by Placido Domingo, that was supposed to look like it was distressed from being underwater.  After many samples, the costume designer, Kevin Pollard finally chose this sample: 

You can see the sketch for Neptune here:http://www.wqxr.org/#/articles/wqxr-features/2011/dec/06/wqxrs-met-opera-preview-enchanted-island/slideshow/.  Scroll through the designs to number 5.  I am curious to see the final costume.

After I finished the chain mail pieces for Mr. Domingo, it was decided that I should knit another set for the understudy, a singer with the voice of an angel and a 63 inch (160 centimeters) waist.  So I madly knit another, bigger set that was finished on December 17.  Now I can take a break from knitting and get back to some beadwork designs with fast-approaching deadlines.  Oh, and  I think there is a holiday or two coming up.

INSIDE CROCHET CORRECTION

Wow, it has been so long since I have had a chance to post that blogspot has changed their setup.  I have been so incredibly busy with knitting costumes and beadwork design (more about that in the next post) that I have had no time for anything else.

Late though it is, I want to let everyone know that November's issue of Inside Crochet did indeed publish a lengthy correction with  proper credit for my bead crochet designs in the Turkish Delights article in Issue 21.

Here is a photo of the correction on page 71.  If you have trouble reading it, blame the current fashion of magazines printing text in grey.

Thank you for all of the comments that you left on the original post about Inside Crochet leaving out design credit for my beadwork.  I still don't know what happened, other than a representative of Inside Crochet told me that it was their fault.  Luckily, the matter was corrected.

MY WORK IN INSIDE CROCHET

I was going to wait until Inside Crochet published a promised correction so that I didn't have to do a grumpy blog post about not getting design credit but too many people have been asking about this, so here goes.

The latest issue (September 2011) of the magazine used photos of my designs without giving me credit.  A woman named Phyllis Serbes contacted me in February ago to ask permission to use some of my research in an article on Turkish crochet, the craft of her ancestors.  After I said yes, she asked for a few photos of my work for possible inclusion in the magazine.  I sent her some photos.


So now the article is out and I find my work used  as examples of anonymous crafters from Turkey.  Here is my Ziggy Snake Necklace described only as showing typical patterns of flowers and use of vibrant colors.  Aside from the fact that it is my design, the inspiration was actually Balkan.


Then we have my Turkish Delight bracelets--again no design credit-- with the description that Turkish crochet uses color combinations seen nowhere else.  Really?  Not even in my design studio?



Next we have one of the snake bracelet projects from my book Bead Crochet Snakes: History and Technique.  These were just described with  "Snakes are common creations in beaded crochet."




As an added tweak, the magazine also used the photo of my Side by Side bracelet design-- again with no design credit--and then published the strikingly similar pattern below by Phyllis Serbes in the same article:



Now, I don't think it is quite copyright infringement because I did put a free tutorial for the Turkish Flat Bead Crochet stitch on my website but it just seems bad form to omit design credit on the photo of my bracelet and then offer a pattern that is clearly taken from my bracelet.  I like the macrame closure, it's cute; so does that mean it is okay for me to start using her closure in my Turkish Flat Bead Crochet Bracelets?

Phyllis Serbes seemed like a nice lady and a representative from the magazine said that the design credit omission was their fault but this whole thing has spoiled the magazine for me.  I probably won't be buying any more issues or contibuting anything else to them.