Open Studio Notes

It was an incredible weekend. We were pleased to share my beadwork with Art Goers of the Santa Cruz Open Studios. It was exciting for us to see reactions to the large and intricate works on the faces of visitors and all the positive feedback felt good. I answered many questions about the process, the materials, and how many hours were required to complete different pieces. My husband really held things together as he moved all the big stuff and a lot of the little stuff, managed our mothers who both came to help, posted and took down all the signs, fed me, and so many other things. My mother drove from Sacramento and stayed for the weekend and his mother pulled herself away from family duties and the orchids to come greet visitors. Liz Penn, my most wonderful and fabulous assistant was situated in the studio proper and demonstrated off-loom beadweaving while working on a large Oothecal Bede necklace from Seed Bead Fusion in the turquoise colorway. We even sold a few of the Oothecal Bedes she made! Liz came from Redwood City both days to be here with us to demonstrate and was a great addition to the studio experience.

Sunday afternoon Jeffrey Luhn of Luhn Photo spent over two hours photographing jewlery on our model, Anna Belom, in the studio. Jeffrey is the photographer who also shot the image used in all my promotional material and my author shot in Seed Bead Fusion. We met through our interest in performing and playing jazz music in our local area and supporting the Santa Cruz Jazz Society. Little did I know he was such a talented photographer. And, a good friend. Saturday his daughter was married and Sunday he was here shooting in my studio. In addition to working with the model, he also shot my mother and me, my husband and me, and my assistant and me. All these photos I'm terribly anxious to see and look forward to also sharing them with you.

In preparation for the event 6 large signs and 5 small signs were prepared with the studio number, name and address. And, they were posted each morning of the event and taken down each night. Admittedly, we were so completely tired each night, we considered saving the work until later. Two portfolios of beadwork photographs were assembled and one focusing on wedding jewelry. We rented three 8' conference tables, one cocktail table, and a 4' riser along with all appropriate linens from Alexis Party Rentals. The rental worked out great and things went smoothly with Deb assisting us.

In addition to all the other excitement and orgainizing of participating in Open Studios, I was able to order in time a lovely salwar kameez outfit from India which was made to my body measurements. After a weekend of wearing custom clothing, I want to wear custom clothing every day.

Among the loosely counted 180 visitors, the studio was visited by former students Karen and Robin and Kay and others. And, we were also visited by former high school classmates Sioban Duran and Lyle Troxell. As a side note, when we were in high school, Lyle beaded in peyote stitch around a crystal and gave it to me as a necklace pendant and later introduced me to peyote stitch. We felt a moment of coming full circle with him in the studio! Ann Ostermann, the Events Manager, and a director from the Santa Cruz Cultural Council also paid the studio a visit. Sue Mahan who owns the local bead shop (Bead It) where I got my start also walked over to say hello, check out the beadwork and get a hug, or two.

WHAT'S NEXT
Previous to Open Studios was my brother's wedding and previous to tha was catch up on the pre-ordered kits that were to ship as Seed Bead Fusion was released. With Open Studios now over I'm please to switch focus on some new projects. With glass artist Patty Lakinsmith, we've planned a collaborative piece to submit for BeadStyle Magazine's glass challenge for which the due date is 10/16. Bead It and the Santa Cruz Bead Society are organizing the Bay Area Bead Off. I'm also wrapping up a set of photographs taken of a long-time bead friends's miniature books. Jewelry has been my staple for photography subjects so shooting her books has been a challenge. Assignments for the Illustrator and Photoshop class I've been taking are piling up, but I plan to catch up in the next few days. Unfortunatley, I missed class last week so I'll be reading up on the assignments through information the instructor has provided online. And, perhaps the largest project is working on the proposal for my next book. Several of the pieces are complete, but everything needs to be submitted and discussed by the publisher. I've also registered for the 2009/2010 Bead Journal Project that I've been wanting to participate in. Once I hear back about the first "due date", I'll begin making plans. I believe, I'll make a small pages size and stitch wire loops into each page so they might be assembled in a book format. We'll see.

Entrance to the studio...

Sent from my iPhone

If the stitch fits

The idea spawned a while back, and while I had my way with it, it was not my idea to begin with. We can really delve into history and get all factual like, but I sometimes prefer the innocent semi-egoistic half-truths of crafters. This is the selected option for now, when I say my brain was impregnated with the concept in the early 1990's toiling away for 3 Beads and a Button. The idea of beading around a needlecase, that is. My first bedecked and embellished needle case was a novelty which was forgotten in a forward airplane seat pocket along with a current project of the time on a trip out to Tucson for the yearly, mind-blowing February shows. Perhaps my mind was numb with excitement. Never the less, the case was lost and gone forever like poor old Clementine. The second bedecked and embellished needle case was a slightly more refined iteration of the first. Then the third was even more refined, and finally the fourth, pictured here, was nearly a copy of the third save for color variations, and I closed in on a pattern. The stitchwork wanders from one style of needle paths to the next, from 3-drop netting to right-angle weave embellished and worked upwards with tubular even-count peyote stitch, back to 3-drop netting, on to herringbone, to embellished right-angle weave, and returns to 3- drop netting. It did not fit into the concept of Seed Bead Fusion: 18 Projects to Stitch, Wire, & String, but may fit into the concept of my next book as a necklace. Oh, yes. A needle-bending and explitive illiciting and yet lovely and wearable necklace based on the topaz and soft turquoise colorway of the most recent needlecase. But, that is all yet to be seen. I may not make it through all the bent needles and it may lay to rest along with the other bad beadwork languishing in shrouded workbench draws.

This was the 3rd needlecase.







This was the 2nd needlecase.

Google Images For Inspiration

I spend more time doing Google image searches than I probably should, because it lines up the projects and ideas like there is no tomorrow. Below is a sampling of images I've found and saved in the past months, and with which I fantasize about basing beadwork on. Each image was found in a different manner and for varying reasons and will eventually result in very different pieces.

I'd been thinking about getting some more tattoo work done so I intermittently fixate on tattoo designs. When I found this image I was doing a Google image search for "bird tattoo"







Mari Leiby at Azhar does my hair every 6 weeks. We attended high school together and were both in color guard and even lived in close proximity back then. I was trying to think of a unique way to thank her so I did a Google image search for "skull scissor". This one was printed on t-shirt transfer, transfered, cut to a circle shape and beaded up with sian red crystals for eyes. Sadly, the piece is very lightweight which will not work as a pendant. Perhaps as a piratey eye patch. This is yet to be seen.




This one is an awesome image for which I wish I'd save the artist's information. I'm not sure how it was found or how I could interact with it on a beady level, but I do like it very much. There is so much going on.










To know me is to know I am fascinated by Indian design. This one is a textile design found by doing a Google image search for "Indian textile patterns". This would look simply amazing bead embroidered.

















Our neighbor's mother passed away and they planted a hydrangea in their side garden which is near our front door. Anne is a sweetheart and I'd like to give her a little beading something using this hydrangea image which was found by doing a Google image search for "hydrangea".







When Michael Jackson passed away I played The Wiz on the studio computer in the background. He played the scarecrow. This was a favorite movie from my childhood and was warming to watch. This image was from a scene near the beginning where a family gathering for Thanksgiving is being held in Diana Ross' Aunt Em's home and she is singing to the family. Her necklace caught my eye so I paused the movie, took a screen shot, imported it into Photoshop, cropped it, and saved it. Who knows this necklace may be reproduced in beads someday. I was a little disappointed at first that the image was fuzzy, but in a way it is a good thing. It just means there will be more interpretation than exact duplicating.


I was very moved by the actions in Iran after the recent election strongly disputed by the public. Image after image was saved into memory with hopeful plans of incorporating them into my work some day. Many of the images are raw and honest, displaying extreme passion and danger and despair. This image was selected because of the statement and the beadability of the wide-striped wall.




My husband, The Bun, gives the most wonderful, thoughtful gifts and this year I wanted to make something special for him. He's into orchids and he likes hats and he's an empath when it comes to my beadwork obsession, so why not a beaded orchid hat. One of his favorite orchids is a papheopedilum spicerianum. His boutineer on our wedding day was made with one. The resulting cap is stunning and I promise to post images soon. This image was found by doing a Google image search for "spicerianum". Of the images collected, ultimately, this was the one with the greatest beadability.


In 2008 during the Santa Cruz Open Studios, we visited a pastel artist's home where her pieces and reproductions and greeting cards were all on display. Her work was lovely and colorful, but my favorite view was of her pastel box. And, how nicely organized it is! The plan for this image would be to crop, print on t-shirt transfer, heat transfer to cotton and fusible interfacing, bead embroider it in 11/0 rounds, and eventually frame it. As a side note, I'll participate in this yearly event and will open up my studio to the public the 1st weekend of October. I can assure you this piece will not be completed by then.


I'm fascinated by beads, yes. I'm also fascinated by finely detailed mosaics and how they could be translated into beads. This photo was saved during a Google search for "Morocco mosaic". There are many possibilities for this image, but mainly, I just enjoy looking at it and getting lost in it's complexities and simplicities.

Feeling the Love

There has been a continuous, underlying feeling of something like a caffeine buzz ever since beginning the Seed Bead Fusion project with Interweave. Projects were designed, altered, edited, and submitted. And, edited again. And, edited again. There was a pause in the action and then a draft arrived by PDF. And, edited again. And, after a long quiet pause the advance copy arrived, all shiny and bright and smelling like white paper and fresh ink from a land far away. And, still the continuous, underlying feeling hummed away with a small question from the very start, "how well is this book going to do?" If success is measured by the breadth of kind and talented and gracious people supporting me, it will be successful indeed. I certainly feel the love radiating through the ether.

Jean Campbell, who edited Seed Bead Fusion posted a glowing review to her blog before the weekend hit. From the moment I heard her named on the phone mentioned as the book editor, I considered myself more fortunate than a cat in perfect rays of sunshine. And, then she writes something so positive about the work we've done, it is a wonder my head doesn't explode like some overfull water balloon. Click here and check out what she wrote.

Former student, Cynthia Poh, who is now living back in her home of Singapore profiled me as her crafter of the month in her blog posted this morning.

And, always gracious in mentioning my work and our friendship is my long-time bead friend Marcia DeCoster whose own rich, fabulous book Beaded Opulence is also releasing this Fall. In her blog this morning she is naming a new piece and mentions some of my crazy project names.

Can you also feel the love? Alright, now it is back to work... on to less egocentric things!