Mandalas

Because I was in a little 'nyah' period last year, I bought myself the book 'Beading - the creative spirit' by Rev. Wendy Ellsworth. The first project she gives is making mandalas. So I set to. I made one with the seed beads I had using size 8 beads. It's actually really fun. Here it is.

Well the idea is to make several 'geometric' mandalas so you have time to get into the zone and play with colours etc etc. And I thought to myself, 'what will I do with all these mandalas?'

Well....

This little pot has been sitting on the coffee table in our house for as long as I have memory. No idea the story or where they come from. A little pot of coasters - wood with cork inside. I almost threw them out when I moved house because they were old and scrappy but at the last minute I kept them. A small thing that has always been in your life you know.

So I thought that I would make the mandalas to replace the corks. I used size 15 beads (for those who like to know these things ) and glued them down a couple of days ago. I'm quite pleased with them.

The set....

The individual coasters.....

The next project in the book is to make a personal mandala. This is going to be a challenge but I have some ideas floating around. Hopefully I'll have it started by the end of the year. I already have a place where I'd like to hang it in my house. Hopefully a story about that will come soon.

My Beautiful Sister

I drove my sister to Newcastle yesterday. She'll be staying there for a few weeks. We stopped off at one of the suburban shopping centres for lunch. As we made our way to the ladies, a cleaner saw my sister, recognised her and said hello.

I asked my sister how she knew the cleaner. She replied that it was probably because her clothing is distinctive and then told me this story.

She said that a while ago, while waiting in line for the toilets the cleaners had been working. (The above lady being one of them.) She said the cleaner walked into one of the cubicles and ..... 'argggh'. She called the other cleaner and ..... 'eeewwww'. 'How can people do that and leave that? Some people are so disgusting', they said.

Well, my sister, having overheard this conversation felt sorry for the cleaner. She said she bought a $1 card and wrote in it, 'Thank you for all the hard work you do in this centre. You do a wonderful job.' Then she left it on the cleaners cart. She doesn't know whether the cleaner saw her leave it there.

Such a small action that would have made such a big difference to the cleaner's day. Also, very much something that my sister would think of doing.

I am so lucky to have such a beautiful person as my sister. Just had to share.

Water

When I was in New Zealand I took most of my photos looking at the textures and colours. The fabulous scenery was purely the bonus. Here are some of my pictures of the water. It's amazing how many different textures and colours there are.

A crater lake:
Acid pools:
Huka Falls:
I love photos and Valerie from Everyday Inspired puts words and photos to inspire and help with creative ideas regularly on her blog. From clocks to raindrops and pebbles. The photos and sayings are great to read and look at.

I Won!!

One of our enterprising Australian beaders has begun a series of design challenges. These challenges are run through a Facebook page called Australian Beaders. The challenges are run very similar to the Design Quests that I enter except that a focal piece is included that must be used. This first challenge was named 'Bushranger's Bounty'. The focal was a Hummingbird. Here is what I came up with.

Beautiful beads as you can see. The focal began life as silver but I didn't like it at all and set about covering it up. I put a layer of Faux Dichro Liquid Glass and stuck copper/gold foil to it that I had left over from my card making days. I put around three layers of the foil on. It looked messy and bumpy and so I looked through my stash and found some gold coloured dry gouache. I sprinkled that on the top layer Liquid Glass and let it dry again. (The Faux Dichro takes a few hours to dry so I added a new layer every couple of days) When I came back to look the bird was no longer gold but blue! Not quite sure how that happened. Perhaps it reacted with the liquid or maybe somehow the dye in the cutting process had joined into the fun I don't know. Luckily the colour matched beautifully with the other beads. Don't you love it when complete accidents end up helping you out.

As for the design. That came about as my designs often do. I started playing and then decided if I'd keep it or not. I began with the green squares and black seed beads and worked out a simple weave. Underneath that diamond weave I added a frill so that I could use the pearls and swarovski beads. After that I needed a background for the bird and still had some beads left over so I added some fringing.

I like some aspects of the necklace and am not so fussed about others. How cool is it that I won.

Photo Inspirations

Also while away in NZ I took some photos of patterns and colours in nature - bark, flowers, leaves etc. I don't know if I ever will use them but I'd love to incorporate some of this beauty somehow in my jewellery. There's no rush. Here are some of the things I spotted.







Julie from JulieChats also uses photos for inspiration. Last year while stuck for ideas for her scrap booking, Julie photographed details from her garden. Here is one of them; a gorgeous mushroom straight out of a fairy story. The colours and textures are lovely. You can also look at some of the other pictures she took on her post.

Playing with Photos

When I was in New Zealand recently for a holiday I took so many photos. I have such a great camera (Canon Power Shot). Most of the time I just guessed what I was shooting as there was so much glare I couldn't see what was in the window. With the setting set onto landscape I took photos of my holiday.

Most of the week was spent at Rotorua. One of the days my friend B and I drove around the lakes and stopped at the Buried Village. Hadn't really wanted to go there but gosh, was it interesting. Loved it all and there was a walk down steps to a waterfall that was so pretty. I 'Gimp'ed my photos of it today to see if I could join them together.

People always sigh when they get their holiday snaps back because the shots never do the scenery justice. I always take several photos and then arrange them together David Hockney style in my photo albums.

Here are my photos:

And here are the photos put together. Not too bad. Tell me what you think.

Rose Quartz

Rose Quartz is such a pretty stone. If I wore pink, I'd make so much from this delicate pink crystal. You may remember a couple of years ago I came second in a Designer Quest. That pack included three lovely double drilled rose quartz pieces. You can see a picture of it here. One of the favourite pairs of earrings I have made are also rose quartz. I wire wrapped them with sterling silver wire.

Annette Piper is an Aussie beader I was lucky enough to meet at a Bead and Gem show a few years ago. Annette has a background in gemology and gives a wonderful description of rose quartz on her blog 'Under the Loupe'. I encourage you do read it and see her beautiful rose quartz bracelet.

Re-Using and Re-Purposing

I love to take apart older pieces that are no longer worn and remake them into things that I love anew and give new life to the old. I've already shown a couple of things I've made for others from pieces they've been given and not worn that I've remade. You can see them here and here.

I still have lots of my mother's old stones and pendants that I want to make into pieces that I will wear. I also have her gold watch given to her for her 21st. The face is so small you can hardly see the time but it is a memory of my mum. She wore that watch for years and along with the wedding rings of mum and dad, I'd love to incorporate them into something I can wear myself.

This necklace was made using one of the old coral chip necklaces so popular in the early 1980s. I hadn't worn it for ages so took it apart, added some colour and some wood beads.


Cate from the blog Heart on My Sleeve has re-purposed a turtle necklace. She loved the beads but never felt comfortable wearing so used the turtles in other ways. Cate shows both her re-purposed work and that of others in her blog. It's worth a look. Here is one she made into a brooch using an old earring loop.

If you'd like me to link to your re-purposed works then provide the link in the comments section.

My Latest Designer Quest Entry

At long last I'm in enough semblance of order to put up a post. How long this will last, who knows. The first term and a half of the year has been one of the busiest I've known. I'm not even sure why but I've not kept up with anything I ought.

Just before the Easter holidays the first of this year's Designer Quests was due. I bought myself a pack and it sat there for so long as I had no idea what to do. There just weren't that many beads if I was to make something without adding anything. Eventually I decided to add.

I've never tried fringing and have wanted to so I figured I'd fringe and add in the beads given. I plaited a kumihimo braid that blended the colours of the pack and set off. My goodness! I had no concept of how much time fringing takes. I think in the end I must have put around 50 hours into this. The last day I worked 13 hours straight just to get it done. I also ran out of beads and had to unpick a previous piece to scavenge the beads. I think it will be a while before I make another fringed masterpiece.

A masterpiece this is. I love it. Am really happy with it. Of course I didn't win as you can hardly see the original beads at all. It did get a few votes in the open poll though.

What do you think?

Dichroic Glass Pendant Necklaces

Wendy from Guru Creations has been changing her focus and therefore selling off a lot of her work. I have managed to buy quite a bit of stuff that I'm looking forward to using over time. Here are two necklaces I've made recently. Both are simple but still a little different.

This first one is an experiment. The circles of colour needed to be featured but I didn't want them to be over taken. What I decided to do, after attempts at Kumihimo and other braids, was a simple plait. Except that the amount of wires wouldn't fit through the holes of the beads. Hmmmm. So, ever the improviser, I made that a little feature too. I found tigertail in colours that were in the pendant, continued the circles in the round shapes of black glass beads, some faceted, some not, and this is the result. It's actually lovely and light and sits well on the neck.


The second one I attempted began with the black lines on the glass. I've always wanted to achieve a simple spiral rope. Every other time I've tried the thread is too thick, the needle too big, and I haven't been able to pass through the beads enough times to make the spiral. This time it worked. Again, I found some beads in the colours used in the pendant. These are scattered throughout the rope. The main part of the rope is in various types of black seed beads. There are delicas and myuki beads used and several sizes also. After all, making a rope all the one size gets boring! I decided to see what would happen if I increased the number of beads in the outer beads. Once I reached the pendant I changed the size of the inside bead and kept increasing. The asymmetry of the necklace is quite fun, I think and takes a simple piece just that little bit out of the norm.

I'd love to know what you think of these necklaces. Also, I played a little bit more with arranging my photos. What do you think? I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in comments.

Pattern and Colour

I have discovered over the years that I simply love pattern and colour. I love scrapbooking paper with all the patterns and different materials. I'm particularly fond of geometric shapes and muted colours.

You can imagine what I thought when I saw all the wonderful materials used by Melanie of Bags by Melanie. Melanie sews beautifully. Her work is simple yet eye catching. My aunt makes bags and is always looking for great material. She'd also love Melanie's taste.

Here are a couple of items she has for sale in her etsy shop.

Happy Childhoods and Inspiration for Creation

I ducked over to Rae Anne's blog today. She has a blog that is so fun to read. She is raising two kids who she's obviously adores buckets and the grins on the kids speak volumes. I loved the caption on this picture. It reminded me of the care free days out I used to have with family and friends. None of all that health and safety stuff that becomes so exhausting now-a-days. Just days in the sun with family doing fun things. She writes....

"Grandma is holding the chair so that Q doesn't fall off the slope. We are all about the safety. Not pictured? Open flames. And sharp sticks holding lots of ill-refrigerated processed meat. Parents of the year."
LOL

Full of pictures, this one caught my attention.

When I finally make it into my new house (could be as little as a month now) I want to get out mum's old slides of the orchard (before it became a nursery) and also of some of her travels to see if I can make them into beaded scenes. If I had a picture like this I'd be looking at bead colours immediately.

Experimentation

I have all these buttons at home. Some are from old sewing projects, some I bought simply because I liked the look of them. I want to make things with them but am often at a loss as to what to do. I make things and then just don't like them. Here is a ring that I made recently that is not too bad. It will need to be worn by an arty person being large and purple and orange (the colours I always associate with art teachers from school). So, tell me what you think.

The Importance of Little Things

Every now and then I remember to take some time out. After a tough couple of weeks I sat down on the porch in the sun with a cup of tea. As afternoon gradually became twilight I watched a couple of Kookaburras on the lawn in front of me having their dinner. As the shadows lengthened these two beautiful birds would sit in the tree branches waiting and then land on the ground and kill whatever it was they found. All was peaceful and quiet. I could hear their wings flap and their beaks snap. I brought me to a place of calm.

It's been ages since I've seen Kookaburras at home. When I was growing up they used to sit on the washing line and we'd see them almost every day, especially as mum would put out the scraps of meat from cooking dinner.

It really is the small things that make life worthwhile. Mum used to love the colours of the rain on the trees as the sun glittered through. She would have loved to sit and watch these two birds with me. And I thought of other small things that make life that much better. My friend Nifty spending ages finding just the right eyebrows for my mini-me on her Wii last night.

And then there are the beautiful illustrations and artworks of Gretchen of Chichiboulie. Earlier today, the childish fun and simplicity of her drawings made me smile. How can you not smile when faced with this?










Or this?

There is so much joy to be had on Gretchen's blog and in her shop. I can tell you, you'll enjoy the time you spend.

Using my Kumihimo

A couple of posts ago I showed some of the necklaces that I'd managed to incorporate my braids into. I have also made a couple of bracelets. The first one is incredibly simple but then the braid itself is so pretty it didn't warrant any other detail really. It was with this one that I made the coil that makes for a very simple end that makes the braid very usable and also keeps the attention on the braid rather than the link.


The second braid is not quite so successful. I love the look of it but the wire at the side needs a little adjusting as the plait comes out of it. I love the effect of the button but it is a little heavy for the braid. Looks great though. I also love my picture as, after lots of fussing I finally managed to make it look great and uncluttered.


I really must put more time into the photos so I can get myself some sort of portfolio to show people. That is for another day though.

Wonderful packaging ideas...

Packaging and presentation of your work to buyers is always important but not always thought through. Susy from Earth Expressions has given some very simple and practical ideas on her blog. You can read her suggestions here. Susy makes a whole range of things. Lots of paper is used, vintage findings and wire. Her work ranges from bookmarks to pendants and earring and decorating other objects. I especially love her simple tins. Susy presents her pendants and pendant necklaces in these.

Full Family Life

Amanda has a busy family life. She keeps a blog with pictures and stories at Confessions From HouseholdSix. I have to say that reading it reinforces my love of life with only the kids I teach and can hand back with lots of time to myself. Amanda obviously loves her family though and lets us laugh and groan with her day to day life. Somehow she also finds time for a little bit of crafting and I really like this computer scrapping she did and made into a tumbler.

For Friends

I was having dinner with some friends of mine a few weeks ago. One of them asked about my jewellery and how it was going and I ended up with a couple of requests. One friend, Meryl, asked me to string some pearls. "Of course", I said, so I've taught myself to string pearls. I had fun. I bought all the proper silks with the needles attached and made use of my embroidery knotting skills. I started three times and it's not a professional job to my inquisitive eyes, but I'm quite pleased with myself.

The request from my other friend, Aline, was even more fun. She had a necklace of her mother's that was too heavy to wear but that was Venetian Glass Beads from her trip to Venice. Was their anything I could do? Here is what the necklace was originally.


So we decided to make a series of necklaces for her daughters and granddaughters. Eight in total. It took me a while to get going which isn't unusual, but I love what the results were. I made each necklace a different colour and mostly different styles. Because there were nineteen beads and I had to divide them into eight, some necklace have three of the original beads while others have only two.

Lavender
On gold tone fine chain with Swarovski crystals.

Burgandy

Red tigertail with fresh water pearls and Swarovski Crystals.

Blue
Silver tigertail with Swarovski Crystals. Pendant is a chinese cube from a pattern by Valerie Hector. Smaller beaded beads are made using Right Angle Weave.

Teal

Fresh water pearls with Swarovski Crystals and silver tone chain. Pendant is a chinese cube from a pattern by Valerie Hector.

Purple Velvet

Silver tone chain with Swarovski Crystals.

In the next three designs I even incorporated some of my Kumihimo braids. I am so pleased that I can find different ways to incorporate them.

Mint

Kumihimo braid with delica beads and Swarovski Crystals. Beaded beads are made using Right Angle Weave. Can be worn assymetrically or symmetrically.

Amethyst

Kumihimo braid using tigertail, hand made gold tone clasp and Swarovski Crystals. Beaded beads are made using Right Angle Weave.

Light Amethyst

Kumihimo braid using tigertail, hand made gold tone clasp, fresh water pearls and Swarovski Crystals. Beaded beads made using Right Angle Weave.

So there they all are. Aline loves them although I might have to rework the Blue one so it fits the personality of who it's going to better. If I do change it I'll show you what I do. I really enjoyed the challenge of using the same beads in so many different ways.

For the Love of Paper......

I have always loved paper and stationery. I have always made my own cards and loved wrapping presents. Kim is a woman after my own heart. She sells paper products she designs herself. Her work is simple and effective and wonderfully personal. I recommend taking a look at her store. Kim's blog is a comfortable insight into her life as a WAHM (work at home mum). She looks at her discoveries and everyday events. My personal favourite is the this picture of her dog. I guess he just reminds me of one of my soft toys. It also comes at the end of her story about the day at the chocolate shop - another subject close to my heart.

Kim's posts are personal and show her delight in life. And this post shows the shows the importance of working hand in hand with local businesses.