BJP 2013, January and February

I am still beading but really slow at getting anything posted.  For one thing, I can't decide if I should be working on a 3" square or 3" circle, so for now I am doing both.  Perhaps the "three inches" will be my unifying theme rather than the shape.

This piece will become part of my "Lest We Forget" series and is entitled "I'm Fading Away" which was pretty much the last coherent sentence spoken to me by my mother who suffered from Alzheimer's.  It is a tribute to all who suffer from dementia.

This piece is also a part of the "Lest We Forget" series and is entitled "I Spy".    My cat, Maggie, follows me around always keeping an eye on me.  This is to honor all the wonderful pets that enrich our lives.

Hopefully I will have a third piece up in the very near future.

May through August

 In just a few weeks we will be leaving for the summer and not returning to our home (my beads) until sometime mid to late September.  I've been a beading maniac trying to get a bit ahead so that I don't have to play too much catch up when we return.

May - the inspiration for this piece was azalea blooms.  My little neighborhood was ablaze in fuchsia, pink and whites.  It was so pretty.

June - the below photograph provided the inspiration for the June bracelet.  As you can see by the photo the view was shades of grey and then there was a break in the clouds illuminating the marsh on the far shore.

 July - just had to make another piece of patriotic jewelry to go with my ever-growing collection.  With Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4th and Veteran's Day there are many times throughout the year to celebrate with our national colors.

August - the beach!  This bracelet is an adaptation of the May bracelet.  I added more "waves" for this one and kept them all the same size unlike the original one which varied in height.

Submariners

This bracelet pays tribute to those who serve our country on board submarines.

130 men

90 days

no sun

no wind

no rain

running silent, running deep

I beaded this in such a way that one upper section can roll back revealing the steel grey "hull" of the "submarine". When all smoothed into place, the "submarine" is then fully surrounded by "water" as represented by the blue and green beads.

March BJP 2012

The title of this bracelet is Missing Pieces

Missing Pieces is about love and the sacrifices parents make for their children. I was thinking about the Mom in Indiana protecting her children during the recent tornado.

February BJP

The Fire Within - along the river series

Drawing on inspiration from the area in which I live, one recent morning the sky was full of dark grey storm clouds. There was a very narrow horizontal opening allowing the merest glimpse of the rising sun which shown through as a blazing orange.

The Fire Within

is about

the need to create

whether burning brightly

or

a smolder covered in ash.

Starting Over

Before we get too far into 2012 BJP, I am changing my plan for the year. These photos show my new bracelet design. There is no significance to the colors - simply matches a shirt I own. Inasmuch as this is my initial design I feel I should use it for January, 2012. This is one of the most comfortable bracelets I've ever worn - some flexibility but rigid enough to hold its shape.

February BJP

In an effort to better understand the decrease/step-up sequence, I worked this ornament in alternating panels of red and green. 3mm crystals encircle the bottom section.

January BJP 20121

For BJP 2012 I will be making twelve Christmas ornaments. The basic shape is from a pattern by Paula Adams to which I will be changing color placement/embellishment. The ornament measures approximately 3" in length. I did have trouble identifying the step-up when it fell at a decrease. Guess the next ornament will have to address that issue. (beads - Delica, 3mm AB crystals)

photography

Using matte finish, opaque beads sure makes taking a photograph so much easier! But, for the tree, it has to be silver lined beads. This panel isn't quite finished in that it needs decorative edges, but for now it will have to wait.

April and May BJP

Raspberry Fizz with a Slice of Lime -

For this piece I experimented with standing columns of beads ranging in height from 3 to 7 beads tall.

Quake

Lest we forget, this piece was done with thoughts of New Zealand and Japan. The reddish beads are actually a deep brown but I couldn't get the color to photograph properly. My experiment on this one is the different heights. The "blue water" is at a lower level than the "earth". For the earth, I beaded the two sections separately and then mounted them with some extra material to build up the original surface.

Not sure when I will be adding (or beading) any more pages. Since last I wrote we unexpectedly moved. We had been casually looking around for a piece of waterfront property with the idea that at some time in the future we would once again build a new home. But then ..... we found the perfect place. We are now in our new home and all the boxes are unpacked, but one of these days we will be heading back to New England for the summer.

Not Good (the beading-not the day :))

March - bead journal project page.Not good ----- I like the colors and I like the design but, I sure don't like them together. Seems with such a severe design the colors should not be so playful and, conversely, with playful colors it should not be such a severe design. Of course I didn't realize this until I was finished and I had it mounted on its square. For me, these colors need polka dots, ruffles, spirals, etc.; the design worked with a very deep colored circle against a mid toned ground, with a bundle of gold bars banded in red could be very dramatic. Oh well.

February BJP

For February I did two sections of flat peyote and then they were attached to the backing before adding the surrounding beads. When it came time to do the edge stitches for the peyote sections, I just wove a couple more rows in turquoise so those areas wrapped over the edge.

Finished

The throw is finished.




My sister, Shel, wanted a throw with a beach feel to it. Approximately 50 different shades of whites, ivories, tans and aquas were used - mostly all wool, including merino, alpaca, cashmere and a bit of acrylic.

Scarves/Throw

Here is a close up of the throw I am knitting for my sister.

As a respite from working on the throw, I've managed to knit a couple of scarves. The fibers in the green scarf are merino wool, alpaca, acrylic, rayon and cotton.

This pink scarf is all merino wool.

test

This is a test photo to see if in fact my new MacBook/blogspot will resize photos without my having to do it. My younger sister informs me that it is not necessary for me resize the photos because blogspot will do it automatically. Hooray for blogspot as I am having trouble resizing in iPhoto.

Thanks sis.

A New Year

2011 starts a new year in the bead journal project, this being my 4th. I've decided to continue on with the Circle and Line Series but plan to add dimensional elements or bead off the edge. The format is 3"x3" and the beads are delica.

Merry Christmas

Another in the Circle and Line series all done up for the holiday.

I started with the red beadwork on the right side. By the time I got to the left, horizontal rows, I finally had the knack of getting the beads to line up perfectly flat.

December BJP 2010

The final two projects for Bead Journal Project 2010. For this stone page (no. 8), I've added a bit of macrame. Scroll down and check it out ---- this macrame is done with sewing thread.

Behind the center opening of the stone donut I placed a piece of copper colored paper.

The 12th spiral done up for the holiday.

November Spiral

For November, I've used the rich gold of the season. The central core beads are triangles with hex cut gold for the outer bead.

These hex beads are the tiniest little things.

My previous blog post is the 11th beaded page of the year.

Circle and Line Series

Here is another in the Circle/Line Series.