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.