the end of the story

When I started this blog, I thought it was a good idea to keep different projects in different places -- at the time, it seemed tidier that way

Here's the real problem -- I'm not, by nature, a "neat" person

there is fabric in the dining room

there are beads in the kitchen

there are quilts in the family room

there are bears in the garage

life is, well, MESSY!

at least my life is, so I've decided that making myself crazy by trying to categorize everything into a neat little cubby hole just isn't a good idea

(I don't even match my socks, why would I try to put anything else into a neat little roll!)

All of my future posts about whatever it is I'm working on will be over on the studio blog.

I hope you'll come over there and take a look at what is emerging from the chaos!!

Its on the newstands now!

The Fall 2008 issue of Art Doll Quarterly is now on the newstands, and I went last night to pick up my copy.

In this issue (starting on page 50) is the write up about the Pink Artist Doll that I donated two squares for earlier in the year. We got top billing on the cover and an amazing write up in the "from the editor" page of the issue as well as the article that our leader, Monica Magness, wrote about the project.

For more information about a chance to win this beautiful creation (and have your money go to a great cause!), use this link to get further information from our project leader.

New Web Site Launched!

The new web site has been launched!

Now you can view our jewelry (and our bears), click on the button and have a piece winging its way to you right away.

To take a look, click here

Two new pieces!

Last fall when I did a show in Springfield, MO, I got some very cool glass cabs from an artist there

This is one of the smaller ones, and all of the netting and the chain are a gold wash AB finish which has the same deep red base as the glass cab

The cab is about 1 inch long by .75 inch wide, and the chain is about 21 inches long




This one is a piece of agate that I've had for a while and just recently figured out how to "wrap" it with beads so the light could come through it

Slightly bigger than the piece of glass at 1.25 inches long by 1 inch wide, the chain is 20 inches long

I'll be adding these to the Etsy store soon

Love Squared Revealed

If you've been reading my blog for very long, you may remember that back in February I was working on some beaded squares to donate to The Pink Artist Project.

This is the doll that was created from the many, MANY!, squares donated by artists from everywhere. In the smaller, close up picture, in the yellow square (added by me) is one of the two blocks that I contributed. I spotted it in one of the pictures of the back of the skirt of the doll that Monica posted on her blog (see link below), and I was so tickled by being able to pick one of mine out, I decided to show off here.

(to see more pictures and read about the process that created the doll, use this link)

This doll, titled "Love Squared" will appear in the Autumn 2008 issue of Art Doll Quarterly which should be on the news stands on August 1.

There will be raffle tickets available for winning this lovely piece of art. I will put up the info as soon as I have it so you can have a chance at owning this great piece, and proceeds of the raffle will be donated to the Susan B. Komen Foundation.

I'm proud to be a part of the group that created this piece.

The shaving is complete!

As promised, a picture of my bald head!

If you want to take a look at the whole story of the shaving, used this link to take a look!

Its not too late for you to support the cause.....you can use this link to make a contribution --- everything helps, no matter how small!

Thanks for your support!!

New Stuff on Etsy!

Can you believe it?

Yup, just loaded these two new items in my store!



This is a great necklace, with that got to love it right angle weave flexible "chain".

I had finished this piece a while back and just never got around to getting it posted out there!



And I created these this weekend!

The beaded beads were an experiment with some left over materials, and now that I know they work, I have some other ideas to do using the same technique (stay tuned!)

Going Bald for a Cause

Thanks so much to those of you who have already contributed to my "going bald"!

In case you missed that post, all of this long hair will be cut off and my head shaved in the next couple of weeks as a show of "solidarity" for kids with cancer.

In addition, because the hair is long enough it will be going to an organization that makes wigs for kids that have lost their hair.... YEAH!

If you'd like to support the cause with me, use this link to join me in this worthy cause.

The last of the eye glass cords

at least for now.

This one is more matte and pearl finish beads, which does look a bit different.

Just listed this morning on Etsy, available by using the link at the top right of the blog.

I'm not sure what I will be doing next. I had done some drawings for a custom piece on request, but I've had no response from the customer, so I'm just thinking that piece is not going to happen.

Time to do some thinking about what piece to work on now

One more item finished and listed!

Ta Da!

Another finished object!

I'm getting pretty quick at creating these, and I'm just about to the end of the building as I'm not planning to purchase any more pieces to make these until some of them find homes.

This one has been listed on my Etsy Shop, so for more details you can use the link at the top right of the blog!

Eye Glass Cord complete

and newly listed on my Etsy shop.

This piece is 22 inches long -- keep your glasses handy for when you need to read that fine print!!

Just use the Etsy Shop link at the top right of the blog to see more details (or to order it for yourself or as a gift for a friend!)

And the winner is......

{drum roll here!}

Ta Da ==== Heather from Jeweled Elegance!

Send along your snail mail address to me and I'll ship your package!!

Thank you so much to all 90 (WOW -- 90!!) of you that entered. I look forward to continuing to visit all of your many wonderful blogs and keeping in touch until the next One World, One Heart give away.

Its a Valentine's Day Give Away!!

What with Valentine's Day coming up and all, The Big Black Dog will be giving away this piece as a "sweet heart" of a gift to some lucky reader!

This pin measures 2 inches by 2 inches and is made up entirely of size 15 seed beads in two shades of blue.

The beads are all hand stitched to a backing (no glue here!). The embellishing flowers and leaves are also glass beads.

The back of the pin is a dark blue velour and it has a safety catch on the pin.

To be eligible to win, just leave a comment on this post no later than midnight MST on Wednesday, Feb 13.

The Big Black Dog will make her selection from the comments on Valentine's Day morning and the notification will be posted here.




This give away is part of a world wide web One World, One Heart event. To see a complete list of all of the participating artists, use this link and check them all out!

New Heart Pin in Etsy Shop

Freshly listed in my Etsy Shop.

This is a great little pin -- even better than the picture shows here.

All bead embroidered (no glue here!) with a lovely soft velour backing.

Order it now and you'll have it to wear on Feb 14th!

Use the Etsy link on the top right of the blog.

Contributions to The Pink Artist

Over at Girl Gone Thread Wild, there is a further explaination of The Pink Artist if you want the full story.

The short story is that I have created two 2 inch square blocks which will be included in a larger project which will later be auctioned for charity.



This is the block I created as a memorial to my Aunt Janie. She had been a piano teacher (listed in the Who's Who of American Music back in the 1970's), and music is always one of the things I think of when I think about her.

So, here the music lives on with angel's wing.



And this is the one I designed for my son-in-law's mother, who is doing well in her fight with breast cancer.

Both of these have been mailed off (well before the March 1 deadline, I might add!).

When there are updates on the project, I'll post a notice so you can check it out!

New Stuff from the Studio! (at long last!!)

Ok, I hadn't realized just how long it had been since I posted anything here -- lots of pre-Christmas shows, then Christmas doings, then the post-Christmas "blahs" sort of ate up a couple of months here.

It's not that I haven't been working, however, I've just been doing other stuff!!

So, here are the newest pieces from the studio.

At a show before Christmas, a customer asked me to make her a cord to hang her eye glasses from because she was tired of loosing them, and she liked my work.

So I made her one.

Then I made my sister one for Christmas. Then she ordered another one.

Ok, I get the point, these things might be something someone else wants too!



This one has mother of pearl bears at the ends -- nice color combo too -- goes great with pinks, aquas, lavendars -- those of you that are "spring" should do well with this one.

Its available for sale in my Etsy Store, here's the link.




And knowing that one size fits none, I figured there might be an "autumn" out there loosing the glasses too, so I whipped up this one in browns/rusts/golds.

Its got sort of golden stone bear beads at each end. Nice

Its also avialable for sale in my Etsy Store, look here.

See, I'm not gone, just slow getting things put here!

More soon, I promise

The Sunflowers have returned.....

Now a while back I had done several sunflower themed pieces, and there were some bead embroidered centers (both browns and greens) left over that I have just not done anything with until now.

These little gems are post earrings that are 1.75 inches in diameter. I wasn't sure that I would like the look of the rectangular bugle beads as the petals, but I'm real pleased with the effect.





In this close up of the edge, its easier to see the details of the work.

Along with these brown centers, I had a pair of green ones that are the same size. I have started working on those as well, and we'll see where that goes -- the main problem is that I don't have enough of those rectangular bugle beads left for another pair, so I'm using regular bugle beads and I'm not sure I like the look as well.

More on that later!

Another complete piece!

This one is all black and silver.

Two pieces of jasper with peyote stitched bezels backed with grey suede.

The "chain" is all beads too, worked in right angle weave, and the fringing took a lot of hours to complete.

Finished just in time for me to tag it for next weekend's show....YEAH!

Lots of new pieces!

The DH has been quite busy the last week.

These pieces are all his work, I just make up the chains and do the paperwork.

Made out of Art Clay Silver, these are all .999 silver -- almost pure! They have been hardened by tumbling them with steel shot so they will stand up to the wear and tear of being worn.







These three pieces were made by painting the silver clay paste over actual aspen leaves.

Usually these pieces sell quickly as there is something quite appealing about the shape of the leaf and the idea that it is a permanent "record" of one leaf







and yes, we are seeing stars!

These are made with the silver clay, cut and "pasted" together to the desired shapes before they are fired in the kiln.




the curved shape of this one was created by forming the circle medallion over a light bulb while it dried




the original shape was dried flat on this piece then curved using traditional metal working techniques after it was fired





because of the size of this piece it was originally made in 3 seperate pieces, fired (where the clay does shrink about 10%) then the assembly was "pasted" with a special silver oil paste and refired. After firing, he used traditional metal techniques to give it the brushed finish. The stone in the center is a natural garnet -- one of the very few stones that will take the heat of the kiln without changing color.




And don't you love the rustic look of this piece?

All of these pieces will be available at the show we are doing this weekend at Green Mountain High School. If you are in the Lakewood, CO, area on Saturday, please come by and visit with us!

A new bracelet complete.....

And done in record time, I might add.




The big stones in this piece are Lorimar oval, pink quartz rounds, and ruby cab ovals.

This bracelet is different than the previous ones for a couple of reasons:

1) there was no matrix in the stones to give me a pattern to work from, so I decided to make the entire "field" monocromatic

2) on all of the prior bracelets I used all the same size seed beads to create the pattern, while on this one I used one mixed (soup!) tube of beads and picked out the right size and shape to fill the background

This lovely creation didn't stay in the house long, tho' -- its on its way to the Belle Armoire Jewelry magazine editor for consideration for their next issue (I'm keeping my fingers crossed!)