A gift certificate for you....

This has happened to me a few times lately and I guess it's a sign of something - increasing readership, I guess.  Some businesses have approached me with the idea of advertising or promoting on my blog.  It's all a bit weird as what they are selling has nothing to do with what I'm interested in or talking about, so I guess they are homing in on a certain demographic that they feel must be reading my blog.  After all, I make no pretence at youth myself - although in my head I feel young and full of ideas - funny, that!

Then last week, an online bead business called The Bead Chest asked me if I'd be interested in promoting their shop a little for a gift certificate.  Now, I make beads, and since I'm just starting this business, I try really hard not to buy beads - and this is despite the sore temptation that I experience in this area every day on Etsy.  There is so much beautiful work out there...but at this point, I'm better focusing on the task at hand:  that is, learning to make beads, learning to sell beads and learning to make jewelry with my beads/components.

But I did think about all of you out there in my weeny bead universe and I said 'Yes' to the gentleman who asked me - 'Yes, I'd like to do a giveaway on my blog and use your gift certificate!'.  And the lovely gentleman said, 'That's great!  So now I have a lovely 30$ gift certificate for The Bead Chest, and I went over to the store and found some wonderful images of  beads that are wonderful and classic.  Like looking through Lois Sherr Dubin's book 'The History of Beads'.

The Bead Chest carries a wide variety of trade beads, some modern, some older, and a wide selection of contemporary African beads.  The lovely gentleman (Isaac, by name) who dispensed the gift certificate told me: 

"Regarding our business, we are a small family-run business and have been selling beads for several decades. Our favorite part of being in the bead business is seeing what our customers are able to make out of the beads we sell. We are always impressed by their beautiful creations :) As far as acquiring the beads, we work with bead traders in Africa. We travel to Ghana regularly. We always do our best to ensure the beads are fair trade, and are committed to supporting developing communities and economies in Western Africa. We also focus on African beads because they tend to be more eco-friendly than beads that are mass-produced in China and India. We do not have a brick and mortar store, but we sell online 24/7, and have done gem & jewelry shows in the past."

If you click on any of the pictures, you'll go straight to their listings!

I am in love with these gorgeous red simple glass beads, and as an ex-glass person, I can tell you that reds like this are the Holy Grail for glass blowers!

These are probably made from old 45 records...

Beautiful bone beads..

You could do a lot of things with this brass filigree, just think of Gilder's paste...

 

Classic beads..

Given a chance, I would buy a ton of these snake beads, they are so beautiful and useful...

Well, there you have it!  If you'd like a chance to win a 30$ gift certificate from The Bead Chest, just comment on my blog about the first beads you ever really loved - something given to you, the first (momentous) bead purchase you made, the 'aha' moment from making something that really worked - anything at all!  I've been thinking a lot about my creative progression recently, so I 'd like to hear something about yours.

I'll be drawing for this next Wednesday, April 13!  Have a lovely spring weekend!

Nastasha revisited and reworked

Have you ever looked back to see what first sparked your interest in the medium you work with now?  Recently, while cleaning out my clogged workroom, I unearthed some of the original products of my first obsession with polymer.  Natasha beads, ( aka inside-out beads) in all their perfect symmetrical cane-i-ness, represented for me at that time all the fabulous design potential of polymer.  And all this yuminess was available without actually having to be good at caning because of the accidental nature of each design.  For me, it was also a natural carryover from the making of millefiore in glass, something with which I was very familiar.

I've since lost my taste creating perfect symmetry (not least because I have no patience..) - primarily because I lack the skill to produce symmetrical canes/designs in polymer that really sing and have depth.  Those amazing canes that make use of skinner blends and colors that are finely tuned to work for maximum effect in miniature....I hold my breath when I see the work of artists in polymer who can really do this well.  But these Natasha beads in my hand?  Pedestrian, to say the least.  How could I breathe some life into something that I seemed to have loved so well?   Go back to what you know.....

In glassblowing, the movement inherent in the forming process naturally adds zest and life to the most overworked designs, especially when you have trained yourself to work 'hot', and always keep the glass as fluid as possible.  It is the land of 'the happy accident', particularly when you are learning.  (And when you are learning, you can't remember how you did it...)  It is these qualities precisely that make glass a magical, energetic and challenging medium.  The glass is a fluid, first and always, and that state adds a quality that is difficult for the hand to duplicate in any other material.

Seizing on this idea of movement, I felt that if the symmetrical planes in the bead could 'flow' to form differently shaped beads ( something other than a squared off brick...)  In doing this, it would be difficult and perhaps not entirely desirable to maintain  perfect symmetry, but the resulting mirror images would be more distortions or memories of each other...sisters, rather than twins!  Fanciful for a little bead, I know...

I contented myself by doing the obvious and making rounded ends to the rectangles - bullets - then bullets with a twist.  Then paint and surface texture entered the picture a little...
I called this set 'Smoke on Cherry Blossom'...

At this point, all of these experiments were made using my scrap pile - always, the perennial challenge of the scrap pile....

Then, the corners of the Natasha 'brick' began to move outwards, and the bead to shorten - they became propellers and pods and mostly maintained their symmetry.  It surprised me how a small change in  the shape entirely changed the character of the final piece.

  I started in earnest at this point to etch and scratch away at the emerging and disappearing lines, the remains of the original perfect mirror images.  I even investigated triangular forms (see diagram) which became pendant shapes (I think).

 Applying paint to the surface of course pulled the etching forward and also removed the very plastic quality of the polymer (of which I am not fond), and emphasized the now (to me, at least) more dynamic quality of the symmetrical lines.  Reading this pompous paragraph back to myself, I have to laugh - as a glass artist I was forever sandblasting my glass pieces because I disliked the 'glassy' quality of glass.  I guess I haven't changed, because I don't like the 'plasticky' quality of plastic, either!

Sorry about this long and rather wordy post about work in progress, it's really a result of thinking about where things come from in my experiments.  I'm not usually so analytical, but it's sometimes interesting (and perhaps a little alarming) to trace an evolution and realize with some regret, and some relief, that I really haven't changed over the years.

Voila!

June is the month for - many things (berry-picking and the end-of-year school rush jump to mind) - but now it seems to be my month to be a polymerista on the (relatively) new site of Voila!  This site is really focused on bringing forward what's happening in Europe and I have to say that there is a lot of amazing work to look at.  I'm thrilled and honoured to be selected as one of the 'polymeristas' for the month of June.  Christine Dumont, the creator of Viola, invites guest curators to look at submissions to the site.  For June, her companion was Ronna Sarvas Weltman, so this is all very exciting.  Please add this site to your list to follow and do join if you love to work in polymer!  Next month will see Loretta Lam  taking on the role of guest curator!

I'll leave you with a photo of many earring sets in progress, as I have finally come up with a few methods and designs that work more sucessfully.  My problem lately (oh don't lie, it's not lately...) is that I never want to make more than one or two of anything.  Endless variations on a theme, that's my life. The next idea is always beckoning seductively and I 'm constantly gritting my teeth in disappointment that there is not more time in the day... My theory is that it is the route to artistic happiness, but definitely not the road to riches...but you know, that's OK.  There is a balance to be found here and I will find it!

 Some little post earrings in progress...

A variety of hanging earrings in progress with detail... soon to be in my shop!