New Accessories

I finished the fish piece on Friday. After stringing it onto SoftFlex, I determined that it needed a bit more structure, so found the big coil of necklace wire I have and strung it onto that. Now it looks like the fish is swimming around the wearer's neck, rather than sinking to the bottom of the sea (smile). I still want to get one of the round clasps with rhinestones that I saw at Byzantium last week, but other than that, I bring you the fish necklace (kicky name to follow):


And a detail of him swimming amongst the coral and pearls (my only regret for having to put it on the wire was that I had to switch to mother-of-pearl rounds instead of the awesome freshwater pearl beads I had chosen):


And then, as a reward for working on the book project, I played in the studio and gathered my collection of vitrail and Swarovski and funky beads. This is the first piece from that treasure. It is made using the funky flowers I got at Byzantium last year, the Swarovski cabochons I got at a gemshow eons ago and the Swarovski margaritas I got from Becky at St Theresa Textile Trove Oh, and the 24K Black Violet Japanese seed beads I've been rationing out since 1996:

Detail of the side piece, bead embroidery on Peltex.

Detail of pendant piece.
Now it is back to work again on the book project (I promised to send it by the end of the month). But I have a few more things to bribe myself with. Enjoy!

In Process

While picking up some more beads for the book project (which I am sworn to secrecy on, but as soon as I can show/tell, I will, it's awesome ) I found this wonderful fish (and the twisty beads in the green tray, which may or may not end up with this piece now...)


Isn't he adorable? He also came in a red fin version. I love what people are doing with foil and dichroic these days.

And a closeup of the beaded component. It's made in three separate pieces and will be strung together like this. I'm thinking earrings too.... I just may need more of the clear blue beads, le sigh ;)

I still need to post popsicles (blue/green and banana) and will post this when it is more finished. Enjoy!

Current Project

Mixed flavor popsicle in process (it is one of those double popsicles) :

Detail, showing the stick and the join where the popsicles are melded together :


I am making a bunch of beadwork popsicles in sculptural peyote stitch. My Gran always had popsicles in the summer, my favorites were the banana ones, but I also liked the other flavors. Blue was an indescribable flavor, I can't think of anything in nature that tastes like the blue popsicle. This piece in process is a hybrid of lemon-lime and "blue". (When Deva was little, we were at Little Professor one day. She had a lollipop from the bank, and when Rich asked her what flavor she had, she replied "Red". ) And of course I am still madly working on the mystery project for the book, but I can't show that one yet, sorry.

Entries Completed

One of my entries for the Interweave Press Beaded Bag competition. It's entitled "Shhh" and is 3.5 inches high by 4 inches wide by 1.5 inches deep. Peyote stitch , right angle weave, and knitted i-cord on 0000 needles.

"Midnight Princess" submitted to Lark Books for the 500 Handmade Dolls. Vinyl cupcake doll, sculptural peyote, embellished with Pinata paints.

"Fire Princess", similar techniques to "Midnight Princess", sculptural peyote including magatama beads, vinyl cupcake doll, Pinata paints.

House Arrest

One of my entries for the Interweave Beaded Bag competition, in process. Japanese 11/0 seed beads, right angle weave and peyote stitch.


Detail of working the side.

My entry for the Mary Lou Zeek invitational Shelters show. We were each sent a piece through the mail to work with. This year the item was the cardboard seen here. I wanted to convey the feeling of having to be on a city street, with the hope of a home and streets paved with gold.

Detail, right angle weave, three dimensional peyote sculptural traffic cone, rubber snake.


This is what happens when I stay in and make things. All this work has worn me out!

It's Never Too Late

A very good article and reminder. Betye Saar was one of the first assemblage artists I remember seeing. Her shared show with her daughter Alison at the Cincinnati Art Museum was a huge inspiration. She is still a huge inspiration. If you ever get an opportunity to see her work in person, I highly recommend it.

Madly Working

And I found out that 0000 knitting needles aren't as small nor as sharp as I'd thought they'd be when I bought them way back when (bear in mind when I first started knitting everything was knit on at least a size 10.5 because my tension was soooo tight). The digital's card is currently full with my entry for the Lark Books doll book, but once that is cleared, I will post photos of what I've been working on. In the meantime, here's a hint: it's pink.

Happy New Year!

And may 2007 be better than 2006. :) With that in mind, today we uploaded more hats to http://www.stitchinkitten.com/index.htm Enjoy!