By Popular Request

Okay, so only one person asked. I dearly love the Astronomy Photo of the Day site. Lots of wonderful shots of space by professional astronomers, amateur astronomers and the Hubble telescope. This is a beaded quilt I made showing my interpretation of three of the galaxies.

Bead Bowls In Use

They work even better than I thought! They are 4" square and not deep at all. I've got to make more of these.

Bead Bowls

I have been doing some beading lately, and I needed some shallow bowls for my beads. I'm not fond of chasing seed beads around the table and a custard cup is a little too deep to use comfortable.

So I made my own bead dishes. These are coated with terra sig and bisque fired. I'm not all that happy with how I put the terra sig on the red bowls, but I do like the black. I figured I'd need black for the clear, white and silver beads. The red would work for all the other colors. I'll have to give them a test drive a little later.

Who Needs Art?

Me for one.

I was awarded a scholarship for a two-day pottery workshop. I learned lots - much of which wasn't on the syllabus. I've got all sorts of ideas and things flying through my head.

One question came up about art education. People put enormous emphasis on "traditional" areas of learning, math, science, reading and such. Art is often looked at as frivolous. Really? Consider what you are wearing right now. Why did you chose those clothes? Why did you chose those colors? That's art.

Suppose you want to open a store and sell wrenches. You have the best wrenches in town and you can't wait to sell them. What about a sign for your store? What about a window display? That's art.

Suppose you want some flowers planted around the house. You want them to look nice, right? That's art.

In the morning, I put granola in a hand-made bowl and drink my tea from a hand-made mug. Some of the peace and talent of the artist is in the bowl and the mug. I need to feel and connect to that peace and that talent.

Latest Beading Project

Ceramic Ornaments

These were some of my experiments with a new technique. Look for them in my etsy store.

Ceramic Ornament

I was using a technique I had just learned to make puffy tiles. Then, I did some glaze experiments to finish them.

It's Not This Pink - It's Peach

This is the latest beading project. It's an earthy teal green, peach and rust. Someday, I'll learn how to color correct on the camera.

Playing With Markers and Alcohol

I got out my markers, a piece of muslin, and started playing. Then I spritzed with rubbing alcohol. The result is drying on the line. Next, I iron it, make a backing, cut out the batting and turn it into a little quilt.

My First Beaded Cabochon

This is my first attempt at a beaded cabochon. I'm happy with the colors I got, but I think I need more practice before I tackle the rhodochrosite cabochon. Next, I have some small cabochons that would be perfect for earrings.

Playing With The New Beads

These are some of the Toho beads I ordered. I chose the colors at night under artificial light. I also didn't realize that the marble beads (they look gold) are smaller than the other beads (all were 11/0). Still, I'm basically happy with what I made. I played with the design as I went along. I don't think my eyesight will allow me to work from a pattern. Getting older is not for the faint of heart.

More Beading

I got to thinking about a mossy rock we photographed at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. I played around trying to work with the colors on the rock. I'm not exactly thrilled with this piece, but I learned from making it and that's as important as being thrilled.

Bracelets

I've got to do some thinking about how I want the ends on these tubular peyote bracelets. In the meantime, I've got some fun bracelets to wear.

Celtic Design Bracelet

This is BC. Before Carol Dean Sharp taught me how to weave in the ends of the threads. Still, it was a fun design to do. Now, I need to learn how to make the toggle and loop.

Close Ups

Some day, I'll get the hang of posting "upside down." I keep forgetting that the last thing I post will be on top rather than on the bottom.

The Latest Beading Projects

I'm still beading. It keeps the stress level down. I'm not all that thrilled with some of my designs, but I'm working on learning and keeping the stress down. Carol Dean Sharp was kind enough to teach me how to weave the thread ends in so from now on, I won't have those annoying little thread ends poking out.

The spiral ones will eventually get a wire through them, a bead on each end, and a clasp.

Been Dyeing

These are available in my etsy store.

Been Beading

I've been working with seed beads lately. Helps to keep the stress level down. The quality of my work isn't where I want it to be, but I'm getting better.