A new project for 2013

The Johnston Collection is a house museum in East Melbourne, which has a wonderful collection of Georgian and Victorian antiques [http://www.johnstoncollection.org]. The House and contents originally belonged to Mr William Johnston, who left his collection to the people of Victoria.

One of the interesting things about this Museum is that they completely redecorate the house every few months, moving things around and bringing some items out for display and retiring others. This means that the display is regularly refreshed, unlike other house museums where the same things may be on display for years.

At Christmas every year, the curators work with the craft guilds of a region of Victoria to decorate the house. Each guild (or an individual artist or group of artists) has responsibility for one room in the house. The members make items inspired by items in the collection, the life of Mr Johnston or the story of Christmas. It's a great concept, as it encourages each guild to work collectively on a project, but it also encourages the guilds to work collaboratively. I've heard that in the past it has been a real network building exercise.

Next year, 2013, is the turn of the Mornington Peninsula craft guilds. And, even though there's only about five or six Bead Society of Victoria members living on the Peninsula, we have been invited to participate. I was extremely hesitant at first, because I thought we would have to festoon an entire room in beads and I couldn't picture what we would have to do and didn't want to have to do all that work! However, after going to a couple of their presentations, and seeing the museum, we have developed a strong concept and I feel confident that we can achieve it, even if I end up spending hours making netted baubles!

We will be decorating the White Room in the museum, and will have a Christmas tree (hence the baubles). We will also make various small items such as snowflakes to hang from the sconces and beaded snuff boxes to display on the mantlepiece. Our colour scheme is inspired by the Collection - dark red, dark gold, cream and black.

I've just finished the first part of the job - sourcing the patterns, choosing bead colours and working out the first order of beads, which took ages. The next job is to recruit helpers (we are allowed to recruit people from outside the Peninsula to help, as long as it is led by us). We have selected a variety of patterns ranging from very complex down to quite simple, and hope that other BSV members will help.

I plan to keep a record of how it all goes on my blog this year.

Here's some of the beads I have compiled so far for the project - don't you love that gorgeous rich red?

Another project finally completed

It never ceases to amaze me how long it takes to finish some pieces. I don't know why, considering I have some embroidery projects sitting around that are more than a decade old that will probably never be finished.

So I'm always slightly surprised when I do actually finish a project! I have blogged about this one before, when I was stuck for inspiration back in May. As I mentioned then, I had been stuck on this design because I was trying to combine the wrong pieces. Once I finally decided to abandon the original concept and go for something else, the project has moved along quite smoothly, although it was heavily delayed by my adventures in Milwaukee etc.

This photo shows the piece halfway through beading. I decided to try a twist on a multi-strand necklace and actually do a plait of beads on each side of the pendant. I worked out by trail and error that a four strand plait would look better than a three strand plait. I have to say, it took ages to make all those herringbone strands and it was very tedious! It took quite a bit of fiddling around to get the plaits right and attached to the clasp correctly, but I'm very happy with the result.

There's quite a bit of movement in the plaits but the necklace sits very nicely and is very comfortable. The plaits are only joined at the pendant and the clasp.

I learnt a lot about working with multiple strands here and I'm going to try some more variations of that in future work. I really like the effect of the plaited beadwork, but I'd like to try cascading strands and other ideas.

 This picture shows the nearly completed necklace - I was just starting the fringing here.

I had a lot of trouble with the clasp and if I was to have a do-over I would make it quite differently I think. However, I do like the effect of using the 'button' made with the watch face and the way it links to the watch face on the front of the pendant.

I doubt if anyone would call this full-on Steampunk, but I wanted to evoke that style anyway.

Here's the finished item - rotten photo I know, but if waited until I had time to set things up for a perfect photo then I'd never do any blog posts!

I found with the fringing that I had two major difficulties:
1. Fringe length: there should be some perfect formula for calculating fringe length but there isn't. I started off with quite a long length but kept on shortening and shortening - I think it's now the same length as the actual pendant. I would suggest that the fringe should always be kept to some sort of ratio of the pendant height, which is what architects do. I might do some more experimentation in that area.

2. Knowing when to stop! I could have kept on fringing all the way up to the herringbone strands I suppose, but I think that would have looked too OTT, and in any case it wouldn't have sat well. I kept on going to the end of the bead embroider underneath the cabochon, and I think that looks good. It actually looks like the fringe is just a continuation of the bead embroidery, and I really like the effect.

I started off using Swarovski bicones in the fringe but ran out before I had gotten to where I wanted to go. I dithered about waiting to finish until I could get some more beads. Going through my stash, I found some delicas that are a similar colour to the bicones, so in the end I used those. It actually means that the fringe narrows as it goes up the sides, which I think is a better effect. Carrying the crystals all the way up the sides may well have looked too bling.

I wore this for the first time yesterday and found it to be very comfortable, although the fringe was a little distracting! Overall, I'm happy with what I have achieved with this cabochon.

Bead and Button Show Review

I can't believe how long it's been since I did a blog post. I've been so busy with work and other stuff the past few months that it never seems to get to the top of the to-do list.

I went to the Bead and Button Show in June and had a wonderful time. I did a three day Masterclass with Sherry Serafini which was a fabulous experience. Over three days you really have an opportunity to get to know other students and talk in depth with the teacher, which I really like. I haven't done much on my necklace that I started in class since I got back, but I will be getting on to it shortly.

Since I got back I have really focused on completing my class projects and doing some of the kits I purchased at the Show. This was because after going in 2008, I ended up with a few kits that I never completed - they are still hanging around in fact - and I didn't want the same thing to happen this time.

Here's a photo of three completed projects: a loomwork project done in a class with Judy Walker (green/black), a  bracelet kit from Jill Wiseman (silver) and a kumihimo bracelet (gold/brown) - my first ever! I have completed a few other things but they are currently with the Bead Society of Victoria, as they were on display at the recent Melbourne Bead Expo [http://www.melbournebeadexpo.com.au/]. I will post photos of those later.

The Show was very enjoyable and also very damaging to my bank account :) I was inspired by all of the classes that I took while at the Show, and really enjoyed the opportunity to learn. The trading hall was like a treasure trove. It was funny to see all of the Show attendees on Thursday night, lined up waiting to get into the preview sale. I worked out which stall I wanted first (Gary Wilson's cabs) and made a bee-line for it as soon as the doors opened. I wasn't the only one, either, there was people stacked three deep around the stall at one point, sorting through hundreds of trays of stones to choose their favourites. I was very happy to have had the chance to buy some earlier in Sherry's classes, and I think Gary gave her some of the best ones to sell early. I'm going to have lots of beading fun with those cabs over the next couple of years. I was more focused than last time I think, and really hunted for things that I knew I could not purchase in Australia. Even then I seemed to end up with an awful lot of seed beads! I will definitely aim to go again.

I should get a chance to get back to my necklace I started in Sherry's class soon. It has some wonderful cabochons that I purchased from Stone Femme [http://www.etsy.com/shop/StoneFemme] and I'm quite certain it will look stunning when it's finished.

I noticed that an earlier post boasted about the number of honeycomb bangles I had completed, but did not show a photo, so here one is. I will get around to taking proper photos of everything eventually!

There's nine bangles here - I have actually completed ten, but gave one away because it's too small for me.

Once you get the hang of the pattern these are fun to make and every bangle is quite different depending on the beads used. I still have a few strands of nice crystal rondelles, so I'll probably make a few more of these before I'm done.

Works in Progress

 Well I have actually been doing some beading lately. Sometimes I get so stuck on design elements that I can't do anything until I mentally work my way through the issue. This project at left is a case in point. I originally planned to combine the pendant with some lampwork beads in similar colours. They are very chunky beads, and the plan was to have one hanging off the bottom of the pendant, and the others on the necklace, in an asymmetrical design. Well, I tried several different ways to achieve this. I fussed about this project for a few weeks - trying to work out how to achieve the effect I wanted to achieve. Eventually I had to admit something: the polymer clay cabochon (from http://helenbreil.com/) simply will not work with the lampwork beads! Wrong scale, wrong design, wrong look - the only right thing is the colours. Funnily enough, once I admitted that, and put the lampwork beads away, the ideas started flowing ... the beading is now going strong. The current concept isn't as elaborate as the initial design, but then, if I am to be honest, I wouldn't wear a really elaborate design anyway. If my current concept works like I hope it will, then this will be wearable to work and social events, which is always my standard for a successful necklace. I think that means I spend too much time at work! I really hope it works - I love the cabochon which is a vivid mixture of my favourite blues, greens and gold.

The ideas have also started flowing on my steampunk piece again, and I include a photo to show that work is actually progressing. Once again, I had to abandon the initial concept because it just wasn't working. Then the new concept required items which weren't readily available (the watch faces), so I have slowly been collecting these through the magic of ebay. I have enough to get started now. There has been some truly tedious work with felt, to make the watch faces into larger cabochons (layers of progressively larger felt circles). I finished the first sample over the weekend and I'm happy with the way it turned out, so I will keep going now.

I rather wish that I was better at drawing. It would be easier to design my beadwork if I could draw out my ideas and see if they work. I think I might have to hunt up a drawing text book! At the moment all I can achieve is very simple sketches, which are enough to 'save' an idea, but not enough to really work through the construction issues of a design concept, which is what I need.

Of course, there will be another hiatus in these projects shortly as I am off to the Bead and Button Show. Only 20 days to go now! I was extremely fortunate to win a place in one of the master classes with Sherry Serafini (http://www.beadandbuttonshowstore.com/b12b2.html). I am taking the gorgeous grey and yellow cabochons I purchased from Stone Femme (http://www.etsy.com/shop/StoneFemme) to use in the class. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find grey beads (not silver)?! Pale yellow is even harder. Anyway, I have found enough beads to get started, and hopefully will come across more at the Show. I'm getting very excited about the Show and the rest of the trip (Chicago and Hawaii). I can't wait to get in amongst all those beads!

I may actually ask some of the teachers whether they draw their designs first and how they do it.

A Pin for Every Purpose - Threads

A Pin for Every Purpose - Threads:

'via Blog this'

A very useful article on different types of pins and how to use them.