Beading Frenzy

I've written about this a long time ago,  but a few years ago I found the perfect storm of hobbies for me - combining my love of color from make up and my love of small sugary tempting things from sweets - beads!  I love beads,  the potential that each bead has to create something amazing.  And this week,  I went on a beading frenzy,  creating 4 beautiful (imho) necklaces,  using my beads for the first time this year (very bad!)  When ever I go to a beading show (there are 2 of them a year in nyc) I shop very carefully,  making sure I don't go crazy, and when ever I get home,  I wonder why I didn't let myself buy more!  So here are some not great photos of my work this week:

this one is my current favorite, a nd took forever!  I think I worked on it for over 4 hours  but I'm very happy with it.

these are honey colored pearls, which make a very dramatic collar necklace

these are all very soft pink shades which the camera kind of washed out,  but looks very feminine and pretty.

and these are a gorgeous lavender blue rondell, with Italian glass accent beads.  I'm sorry the color didn't come out so well in these pictures!

and finally this is the one DS designed and strung,  very classic.

I also photographed some older stuff that I have made,  but I'll put them up another day,  the computer is being tricky and doesn't appear to like having so many images uploaded...

But busy and productive times!

measuring my inner bitch

Me at Food Emporium buying pancetta

I'd like it an inch thick

He cuts me a hair thin slice

I say no, much thicker, an inch thick

He cuts me a wafer thin slice

I say no, an inch thick

He says an inch is relative

and without thinking I say, no, an inch is an absolute measurement.

And he slices me the width I want (which, realistically, was no more than half an inch)

And I laughed to myself, an inch is a relative term.. well, not really.

Beads, glorious beads

Have I told you my new obsession about beads? If I haven't, things have progressed. I now have made for myself about 10 necklaces, 5 bracelets, 5 pairs of earrings and about 12 rings. I know, I really need to get more earrings. One day I'll even manage to photograph some of them and upload them so you can see what I'm up to.

I love it. I said to my sister its like a perfect storm connection of all my other obsessions. I've always liked make up, the colours, the glitter, the combinations. And I love sweets/candy, the small burst of flavors, the colors, the combinations. Well beads surpass all that. So I'm not buying 22 shades of reddish brown lipstick in order to find the one true perfect one. I'm buying 22 purple beads in all sizes, shapes and colours, and mixing and matching them to find a combination that delights me, both in shape, and colour and texture. It just makes me happy.

This week, for the first time, I'm going to a bead fair, which is very exciting. I've been to the shops on 6th Avenue - there's a whole string of them from about 36th to 38th. But they are so expensive. I've become an ebay hawk, looking at all the beads, buying far more intelligently after a few early errors (you can't believe how small 3 mm is until you're handling it. But bigger is not always better, I've actually had more difficulty incorporating beads that were too large, because then they dominate and unbalance the pattern.) I've started buying A grade semi precious beads rather than D grade. And I've discovered the high cost of cheap findings. In beads, the beads can be cheap but the wire has to be the best available. Ditto the tools you use. No point buying the cheap ones, you'll just be back for the German made ones a week later.

But with beads, as in life, the right tools make all the difference. I can now use crimp beads properly, my bracelets no longer self destruct (sadly I gave my sister my first one and it broke on the plane as she left) I'm now designing pieces with people in mind, and gathering tons of garnets to make my mother her perfect black and red necklace (her colour choice)

It's interesting, people are polite about my necklaces (Oh, you made that, it's so pretty!) but really admire the rings. (they offer the comments spontaneously and when they hear I made it, instead of it's so pretty they're amazed. It looks so professional!) I went to one wire wrapping class and now have these gorgeous, interesting and yes, even quirky, rings which I feel happy wearing.

Photos to follow, I promise.

Works of Art

I've managed to avoid presenting youtube clips. It's just too easy in a way. Also, while many are quirky, it's such an invitation to waste hours of your life, I can't wholly condone it. But this, this is amazing. A guy recreates the Mona Lisa using Microsoft paint.

See, the potential for art is everywhere!

In our home, we are currently on a beading kick. When I first bought the bead sets, we threaded them and if you made a mistake you had to start again. Clearly not a sport for champions. But then, (and this shows you what a rank amateur I am) I discovered bead boards. Highly sophisticated - basically it's a board with grooves, where you lay your patterns out before threading them. And now, we going gang busters, churning out bracelets with ease. And I'm designing bead rings! I have large fingers and find it really hard to find jewellery that will fit, especially as my current obsession is to have rings for my thumb and pointing finger. But now I can measure them out for myself, and that makes me very happy. So we are hunting beads down and have just put in an order to make this. I'll tell you how it goes...