Wednesday Words: Showcase 500 Rings: New Directions in Art Jewelry

 

Need Bling?  Serious Bling?  Original Bling?  Finger Bling?

In Showcase 500 Rings: New Directions in Art Jewelry,
Lark Books - doing what it does best - offers the debut title in their redesigned Lark's Showcase 500 Series for our consideration.
And what an offering it is!
From the midieval-inspired simplicity of Aliki Apoussidou's hot-forged Siegelring Rund to Kristin Deiner's aptly named Ring Form: Contraption (truly, a party on your hand),  juror Bruce Metcalf and editor Martha Le Van have selected an eye-catching collecton of jewelry from classic to quirky.

My personal favorites ran the gamut...

Would I wear Julie Lynn Romanenko's elegant diamond and 14-karat gold set Untitled? Absolutely! COULD I see myself wearing the polymerclay fantasy that is Jeffrey Lloyd Dever's Convergence?

The artful sprite in me is screaming "Sure, you can!"

I am longing to own every letter in Trudee Hill's imaginative Letters From Words: Alphabet Rings!

Think of the creative fun you could have wearing those! Ask me how I feel today?

And last, but far from the least, Stefanie Kölbel's Striped Rings spoke to the fiber artist in me with her exquisite translation of a traditional bobbin lace techinique.
 

 This book lives up to the Lark Books tradition.  It's a jewelry store between two covers.

Sewing "Little Doll" and Other Angel Projects

Today was spend sewing... sewing on white fabric... sewing lots of different white fabric.  A lovely lace covered wedding gown.  One of the last five I'd promised.  (Always keep my promises)  The second a tiny First Communion dress for a friend's daughter... the college trainer friend who picked my son up off the field several times when he was bloodied, broken or injured during his college baseball playing days. 

Lastly a tiny doll from old white linen and wool who will fly through the mail... hand-stitched from a simple pattern taught to me in childhood by the wonderful woman who cooked for my grandmother and one of her friends; a woman I so respected but who wasn't always respected by society or that era at large.  Miss Julia's ancestors were surely enslaved as she was born of Southerners, but the independent Miss Julia was beloved by all who knew her and her talents were a large part of my life.  I never learned to cook; she gave me a hard time about my lack of kitchen skills, but I still can hear her praise of my needlework skills.  I think of her often, miss her a lot and daily thank her spirit for being such a patient teacher for a bouncy little kid like me. 

(picture shown above - "Wanda's Wing" by Diana Welte - vintage quilt scrap, wire, foil, organdy ribbon - in private collection)

Wishcasting Wednesday: Renewal and Grace

When I was a little girl, I wished on stars all the time.  Lying in bed, looking out my window... sometimes lying in the grass outside on a summer night just as the stars were first blinking.  I wish I may, I wish I might...  It was fantastic and hopeful and sent me to sleep with a new excitement for the next day. 

As grown-up girl, I find I still wish on stars... but as an afterthought.  Isn't that sad?  I was such a happy kid.  In recent years, I have increasingly yearned to be that person again.  Knowing that my life was much easier when I was that little girl and wishing again for a way to get back to that place of more hopeful thought, a  Wishcasting Wednesday post from Jamie Ridler Studios caught my eye. 

So beginning this week, I am casting my wishes upon the waters.  They will come true... they always do...  I just have to make sure that I have the courage to wish them in the first place.

This week I am wishing for a renewal of spirit and a measure of grace.  That's a good start, don't you think? 

Welcome To The Party!!! - The Postman Bracelet...

Through rain and hail and sleet and.... well, you know the rhyme. 
Although for me and mine, it's been Hell as well as hail and we've yet to see sleet and snow.
(Sssshh! Diana!)
I excitedly signed up for the 5th Bead Soup Blog Party because I wanted to challenge myself. 
Little did I know the challenges would be external
and have nothing in the world to do with my beading skills. 

As I'd made my sketches and had the components configured,
I received word just last Friday morning that my sweet, funny 21 yr old nephew
had been in a traffic accident on his way to work and didn't survive. 
Levi thought me being an artist was 'cool'. 
I had told him about what I was doing and he said, as he always did, "can't wait to see that!"

Well, baby boy, here it is. 
I am proud I got something done at all. 
More proud still that I got something finished that I will wear. 
I thought about wrapping the focal stone, but I like the weight of it
and the 'cool'ness as it lays on the top of my hand.

My bead partner, Ann Sherwood, chose beautiful stones and beads and a clasp that I absolutely love.

I used copper wire in 20 gauge, 24 gauge as well as copper and gunmetal finish jumprings.

The bracelet wraps twice with the focal bead and the clasp close so they lay together when worn.

I have plans to go back and add more of the tiny pearls to the links,

and make earrings from the leftover soup. 
This is a keeper.  Thanks, Ann! 

Also visit Ann's blog to see what she did with the lace agate focal bead
enclosed in Delicas that I sent her...
http://ann-sherwood.blogspot.com/

She and I seem so alike... right down to the wire girls... I like that about her. 
It means she runs at life headlong just like I do...
with an enthusiasm for filling, or over-filling, her life to the brim. 
Take on everything because you don't want to miss anything. 
I think if we sat down over a cup of something
- soup, I am sure, is too tame for the likes of us -
we would find a friendship.

Coming late to the party because of a nasty storm that flew through Kentucky last night,  

I am just happy to be online again and on my way to the blogs! 
You may notice little X's on some of the thumbnails in the LinkyTools below...
click there anyway...
not sure what I did, but there are awesome treasures hidden in the boxes! 
Join me, won't you?


 

Hostess, Lori Anderson

Special Book Sneak Peeks, Cindy Wimmer

1. Adlinah Kamsir (Kingdom of Bahrain) and Hajer Waheed (Singapore)

2. Adrienn Lukacs (Hungary) and Agata Grygiel (Poland)

3. Agi Kiss (Hungary) and Carolien Muller-Genger (the Netherlands)

4. Agnes Asztalos (Hungary) and B.R. Kuhlman

5. Alesha Conklin and Becki Mendivil

6. Alice Peterson and Carol Dillman

7. Alicia Marinache (Canada) and Dita Basu

8. Amanda Dittloff and Brandy Thomason McNair

9. Amanda Tibbetts and Andrea Trank

10. Amy Freeland and Kay Mallery

11. Andra Weber and Christine Murrow

12. Ann Sherwood and Diane Welte

13. Barbara Bechtel and Kerry Bogert

14. Barbara Lewis and Cat Pruitt

15. Bonnie Coursolle (Canada) and Fay Wolfenden (Canada)

16. Carmel McGinley (Australia) and Tracy Stillman (Australia)

17. Cassie Donlen and Deryn Mentock

18. Cathie Carroll and Janel Dudley

19. Cece Cormier and Morwyn Mullins

20. Charlene Jacka and Christina Hickman

21. Cheryl Brown (Canada) and Diana Ptaszynski

22. Christina Stofmeel (the Netherlands) and Eva Kovacs (Hungary)

23. Christine Damm and Deb Brooks

24. Cilla Watkins (Canada) and Elaine Robitaille (Canada)

25. Sabrina Straub (Switzerland) and Kathy Combs

26. Cindy Cima Edwards and Eleanor Burian-Mohr

27. Cory Celaya and Rhea Freitieg

28. Courtney Breul and Dana Hickey

29. Cynthia Abner and Jennifer Boreck

30. Cynthia Tucker and Jean Peter

31. Debbie Goering and Heidi Post

32. Dee Elgie (UK) and Joanne Lockwood (UK)

33. Dian Hierschel (Germany) and Eniko Fabian (Austria)

34. Diane Cook and Lyn Foley

35. Donna Bohler and Lisa Lodge

36. Donna Millard and Kiersten Giles

37. Doris Stumpf (Germany) and Eszter Czibulyas (Hungary)

38. Elisabeth Auld and Eva Sherman

39. Elke Leonhardt-Rath (Germany) and Marjolein Trewavas (UK)

40. Ema Kilroy and Laurie Keefe-Cecere

41. Erika Nooteboom (the Netherlands) and Giorgia Rossini (Italy)

42. Erin Grant and Jean Wells

43. Evelyn Duberry and Gaea Cannaday

44. Genea Crivello-Knable and Heather Powers

45. Ginger Bishop (military, Okinawa) and Martina Nagele (Germany)

46. Heidi Kingman and Lori Greenberg

47. Helen Kemp and Lisa Wangeman

48. Helene Goldberg (Australia) and Karen Vincent

49. Jamie Hogsett and Jeannie Dukic

50. Jeanette Ryan and Jelveh Jaferian

51. Jennifer Cameron and Tania Spivey

52. Jennifer Justman and Kari Carrigan

53. Jennifer Tough and Lorelei Eurto

54. Joanna Matuszczyk (Poland) and Julianna Kis (Hungary)

55. Joanne Tinley (UK) and Michaela Pabeschitz (Austria)

56. Julie Anne Leggett and Kelley Fogle

57. Karen Hess and Linda Landig

58. Karyn Bonfiglio and Kathleen Lange Klik

59. Kashmira Patel and Kat White

60. Kat Barron Miller and Kelly Morgan

61. Kathy Lindemer and Rose Binoya

62. Krafty Max and Sandra Miller

63. Kristen Latimer and Pam Ferrari

64. Kristie Roeder and Lea Avroch

65. Kristina Johansson (Sweden) and Penny Neville (Canada)

66. Krisztina Erlaki-Toth (Hungary) and Nicole Keller (Germany)

67. Lara Lutrick and Lisa Suver

68. Laura DeMoya and Lisa Hanna

69. Libby Leuchtman and Melanie Brooks

70. Linda Koch and Rosemarie Cowit

71. Lisa Chapman and Menka Gupta

72. Lisa Liddy and Marion Simmons

73. Lori Anderson and Marcie Abney

74. Lori Bowring-Michaud and Mary Govaars

75. Lori Dorrington and Maria Rosa Sharrow

76. Lori Finney (Canada) and Marie-Noel Voyer-Cramp (Canada)

77. Lynn Bennett and Mandi Ainsworth

78. Marta Kaczerowska (Poland) and Milla Starchik (Canada)

79. Mary Harding and Shannon LeVart

80. Mary Jane Dodd and Stacey Curry

81. Melinda Orr and Molly Alexander

82. Melissa Meman and Michelle Escano-Caballaro

83. Michelle Jensen (Canada) and Sandra Young (Canada)

84. Nan Emmett and Nicole Valentine-Rimmer (Canada)

85. Nancy Boylan and Suzette Bentley

86. Natasha Lutes and Patti Vanderbloemen

87. Pam Hurst and Rebekah Payne

88. Patty Miller and Sara Rhoades

89. Rebecca Anderson (UK) and Lori Anderson

90. Rebecca Sirevaag and Sharon Driscoll

91. Rochelle Brisson and Shannon Chomanczuk

92. Rosa Maria Cuevas (Mexico) and Tejae Floyde

93. Sabine Dittrich (Germany) and Sally Russick

94. Sandi Volpe and Sarah/Saturday Sequins

95. Shanti Johnson and Tracy Mok (Canada)

96. Skylar Brez and Theresa Buchle

97. Sonya Stille and Traci Zeller (Canada)

98. Stefanie Teufel (Germany) and Tania Hagen (New Zealand)

99. Stephanie LaRosa and Vonna Maslanka

100. Terri Wlaschin and Wendy Blum

I've been BEJEWELED!!!!

Thanks to Ann Sherwood, my Bead Soup Bead Party partner,

I feel like a princess with a jewelbox in which to play! 

Now, what to do with this amazing Labrodorite focal bead?

Those sparkly sea blue Swarovski bicones! Black garnets!

Picasso Jasper (jasper is one of my favorite stones, by the way) and brushed sterling.

Okay... my little creative brain is spinning! 

What beautiful choices!

Ann also sent this fantastic hammered toggle, made by a friend of hers. 

I am in love with it. 

And quite thankful that the little randomizer on Lori Anderson's Bead Soup Bead Party

paired me with this totally cool person. 

Thank you, Ann!

I GOT RANDOMIZED!!!!

.....and made it into Lori Anderson's 5th BEAD SOUP BLOG PARTY!!!!!

I am sooooo excited and hope that my bead trading partner, Ann Sherwood, will like what I send her.  Already designing in my head and thinking about what I have to complement the designs.  

Just the creative boost I needed! 

Watch this blog and mark your calendars for the March 3rd reveal

when you can see some amazing jewelry by some amazing artists...

 and little ol' me!

Yay!

My Love With Teeny Beads

Peyote stitch is so relaxing and I enjoy working with the tiny size 11 seed beads and Delicas. 

I can see this quickly becoming an obsession.  :)