Music to My Eyes Blog Hop

I am a huge fan of blog hops - I love how differently each artist takes the theme and creates something of their own.  They also challenge me to finish a piece (usually) within a limited time period which means I can't dwell in indecision for long.  So, for the first time in all of history, I hosted my first ever Blog Hop!  The theme: create something inspired by your favorite song (or at least one you like a lot).  I wanted to leave the hop open to all who create - from painting & drawing to beads & baubles.  We all have something in common and I wanted to bring that out by inviting all artisans.  I am SO excited to share with you what I created along with all the beautifully talented artists that joined me!  Please be sure to read all, as I am also posting the talented Vicky Sophon's work.


It didn't take me long to think of which musicians I could use...I was torn between two options:

Queen - Another one bites the dust

or

Starset - Ricochet

Thing is...if I went with Queen, I would DEFINATELY be using a fossil (teehee - Another One Bites the Dust...get it?) but Starset is my favorite band as of late and there is this one line in Ricochet that I wanted to replicate: "We were one and the same, running like moths to a flame..."  It was decided...I would go for the harder option and create a MOTH...because MOTHS!  As a side note, all I could think about as I stitched this little fuzzy wonder of the night was Mon Mothma. For all you non-Star Wars geeks out there...here she is in all her glory:

Sometimes you can't escape your nerdom...just saying.

I started looking at moth pictures and drawings and picked this little guy as my model.  I really loved his fuzziness and thought that the brown and white coloration would provide some good contrast to the warm colors of a flame.

Then I started to do strange things (shocker).  I don't know if this happens to any of you, but I was so excited about this little guy, I forgot all my best practices for beading.  I cut out wings from Lacy's Stiff Stuff before I had even started beading.  This isn't really a WRONG tactic...just not best practice in my book - I am not even sure why I did it.  Anyway, I cut out the wing shapes and grabbed a small snippet of brown bunny fur I had picked up from Mood Fabrics in NYC (it was in the scrap bin and I couldn't help myself) and started beading.

Wings with floof!

For the second time in the last couple months I found myself beading...with 15s.  UGH!  I figured the only way to get the level of detail I wanted would be to use smaller beads.  I wanted to mimic the picture of the real moth's wing pattern as closely as possible so I chose 4 colors, brown, matte brown, matte cream & a bronze.  I knew the brown and bronze appear very subtly different, similar to the picture of the real moth's vein structure in the wing.  Its harder to tell the difference in the pics.

I began by beading the veins and the lighter coloration areas and then began to fill in with the matte brown color.  Once I completed this I realized that I didn't really account for the head of the moth so I snipped a tiny piece of fur and then trimmed the fuzz down just enough that I could make a distinction between the head and the...collar (?) of the bug, glued it to Lacy's, and added eyes.  I then attached the head with a few stitches hidden in the fur and began the process of backing and edging.

This is how the little guy turned out.  In all the beading I somehow missed I also needed a body - for some reason I didn't really account for this in my plans so I went digging around in my stash and found the PERFECT bead.  Every time this happens I am surprised...how is it that I only had one of this bead and it turned out perfect for this project? Who knows!

SO CUTE!

The next thing I had to create was the flame.  I had an idea for this in my head before I started...I was going to use soutache to create a flame.  *facepalm*  So...a few things to note:  1) I have only used soutache twice EVER 2) I was doing something I had never even seen done before 3) This wouldn't be a piece of mine if I didn't somehow get myself in a pickle.

I will be honest here...I really don't want to show you the awfulness that happened as a result of my ill planning.  Its sad.  It reminds me of a poor attempt at drawing flames as a 3 year old.  *sigh*  But...for the sake of being honest about how sometimes arting is an adventure that goes down the wrong path and then a bear chases you down that path and you run but get lost and then somehow you find yourself naked in the woods with no food...here is the pic of my horrid attempt at soutache flames...

Yikes...

So anyway...that was an epic failure.  After that debacle I kinda dropped the project for a week - I was irritated and unsure how to move forward.  I have a bad habit of getting stuck when things don't work out as planned.  I finally decided I just needed to go back to what I know.  So I picked up some Lacy's and drew out a shape.

SO much better!  This time I was not ABOUT to use size 15 beads - not only did I not have time, it was completely unnecessary....thank heavens!

I didn't take many pics of the process...but here is the end result of the flame beading:

What you don't see here is that cutting out a shape like this is...uh...so delightful *glowers*.  And then I had to do it again with the backing material...yay!  Here is the pic I took before the worst part.  I think I felt like I needed to document the fact that this was my favoritest thing ever...*drips with sarcasm*

I am realizing that while I didn't really bite off more than I could chew...I really didn't plan well.  The end result isn't my favorite thing...but it did what it was supposed to do.  I have a few things I need to correct - like the crazy strap wire (the stuff I used was WAY too thin and it ended up curling a bunch).  It also needs a bit more weight in the middle.

I wouldn't' say this was a success...but I don't think it was a complete failure either.  This really is just the nature of art - sometimes you have a direction...and sometimes you don't.  The bright part is that no matter where that journey leads you (yes...even naked in the woods without food LOL), you always learn something in the process.

Now I'm off to see if I can get some concert tickets so that I can show off my music inspired necklace (maybe I will get to meet the band?!)

Don't forget to check out what the other artists in this hop created!

Here is Vicky Sophon:

I have to admit that when I decided to join this blog hop, I was primarily trying not to be "booted" from the group. I hadn't really done much beading in months and my musical taste runs somewhat towards the eclectic. I figured the challenge would be good for me.

Classical music has always had a special place in my heart. The nuns exposed us to it beginning in the first grade. In fact, my first concert was by the local symphony orchestra. Later, in college, I worked in a local gift/stained glass shop called, "Classical Glass." Classical music played all day.

The first time I remember hearing Gymnopedie No. 1 by Erik SATIE was on a holiday tape I had picked up at Victoria's Secret.  It felt so familiar. It's lyrical and sweet -- romantic, yet innocent.

In my research into Satie's piece, a certain image kept popping up - dancing naked youth. Eureka! I had my focal point.

For years, my go-to technique has been bead embroidery. I find it affords me a degree of freedom to draw in a variety of colors, texture, sizes and materials. I hope you enjoy it.

Gymnopedie No. 1 - Erik Satie

Artisans:
Kelly Rodgers - You are here!

Verily Vexed

Lennis Carrier

Melissa Trudinger

Cory Tompkins

Sherri Hartman Stokey

Vicky Sophon - and here!

Kayla Freeman

Not so long ago in a Galaxy far, far away...

...I won a spot to participate in the August Art Elements blog hop!  Caroline Dewison, ceramic artist extraordinaire created awesome little iridescent blue & gold "galaxy beads" and shipped them over the big pond for me!  (Thank you!)

Even before I received the beads my creative cogs began turning.  First, I thought about using a donut focal for a simple necklace...but simple isn't really my M.O.  My next thought was to create a "Space Siren"...a come-hither beauty calling all astronauts into meteor belts only to crash their spaceships...or some such. As per usual I pulled a whole load of things that were good options and then obsessively checked my mailbox on the daily.



My poor empty mailbox...

Once the beads arrived I realized the face cab I originally pulled was definitely not the right style...so I began searching again. Eventually I came across a polymer clay face Lindsay Starr gave me AGES ago...and it was PERFECT.  Now I will be honest here...It is not easy to change direction on a dime when you have this great idea you sold yourself on.  However, sometimes you have to let go and let the muse take you where it travels...even if in the midst of that journey you are lead off the main path.  That is pretty much what I did with this piece...I let go.

I immediately knew I wanted a stripy bezel but when I pulled gold Delica beads for this project I noticed that the gold used in Caroline's beads were a more realistic gold tone that your typical "gold color" beads.  So back into my stash o' awesomeness I went and pulled out a tube of Delicas I have had for pretty much as long as I can remember.  They are gold...REAL gold...24K gold to be exact and at the time I bought the wee tube (seriously wee tube), it was $8.00....I don't EVEN want to know how much they would be now.

I threw in some Eggplant and Navy Iris Delicas to match the little moon-girl's face and quickly had her ready to go!

I had also pulled some sweet little star cabs by Sue Kennedy that I just HAD to incorporate.  I didn't even intend to do it but 3 Art Elements blog contributors' work is incorporated in this piece!  After gluing and re-gluing said stars (insert incorrect glue mishap here) I traced around their shape with more of the stupidly expensive gold Delicas.

I took great amusement in the next series of pictures...they may not be great pictures but they definitely tell the story as I beaded...and beaded...and beaded...and beaded some more with Navy Iris size 15s.  (What was I thinking?!)  At one point I had these pics cropped and lined up in a row on my computer and could click thru them really fast and see the design grow! (It's all about the simple pleasures!)  I probably stabbed myself more times in the beading of this piece than I have in all my beading years...apparently working on this scale with 15s is a bit more hazardous than the norm!

The next step was to 'help' the empty space of the piece...I fretted over this some but finally decided to try rays of the gold beads and ended up with this:

When it came to backing this piece, I wanted to give it a little extra support since it is a bit floppy so I decided to put a piece of cardboard in-between the beadwork and the Ultra Suede.  I have to admit there is a part of me that finds the back of a beadwork piece beautiful (particularly on this one) - all that stitching...there is something more personal about that side...it might be hidden to have a more finished look but there is beauty there...even on the "ugly" side.

When I glued down the moon-face cab, it was to the left of a large piece of Lacy's.  I thought I knew what I was going to do. Well, I ended up not giving myself a whole lot of room to work with on the left which mean that the piece was more elongated than cloud shaped.  Sometimes following the muse means you also have to adjust for limitations you might not have realized you put on yourself.  I also ran into strangeness after adding the fringe - the fringe distracted from the piece itself.  All the sudden there was a strange imbalance to the piece.  I loved everything about the fringe by itself...but it took away from all the work in the embroidered portion.

This is definitely the ugly duckling phase - though I am pretty sure that without starting entirely over on the fringe, it won't escape this phase.  All I can do is learn where I 'went wrong' and move on.

I think the biggest issue is that I added such large lampwork that it took over...I also think that the messier style of the fringe exacerbated the problem.  Had I left the messy fringe but eliminated the lampwork it would have worked far better. Now I have some hardcore decisions to make...either rip out the fringe and start over entirely (with very little time on the clock) or leave it as is.  Rip it, it is!  So...with only about 24 hours to go I removed the fringe putting me back to square 1ish.

Post ripping of fringe..."squid tails"!

Artists tend to surround themselves with other artists...they may not work in the same medium but they are "my people" and typically have a similar way of thinking.  I find that the more I surround myself with other artisans the more they influence my work.  In this case a good friend of mine, Kara Clouse of Iridescent Eye, was the one that prompted me to use the little gold stars.  She had some in silver for using in resin and they were PERFECT so I ran to the store and snapped up some gold stars and quickly reworked the fringe.

YAY!  I like this much better - I feel like the new fringe suits the piece and isn't so distracting.  Last but not least come the straps.  I felt like even though this piece was smooth in its creation - I didn't get too hung up on indecision like I have in the past, it was fraught with challenges.  I believe it turned out really well in the end, which I guess is the important thing.  I do find it rather interesting that stars have played such a role in life this month...including but not limited to seeing my first solar eclipse on the 21st. I hope you have enjoyed this journey with me - please make sure to hop to the other amazing artist's blogs to see what they created with these amazing galaxy beads!  And without further ado, here is my final completed piece:

Guests:

Cheryl Zink
Kelly Rodgers -- Chewie, we're home!

Art Elements Team:

Diana Ptazynski

Cathy Spivey Mendola

Niky Sayers

Laney Mead

Susan Kennedy

Claire Fabian

Lesley Watt

Lindsay Starr

Caroline Dewison

The WHY

Recently I caught a fascinating Facebook post/conversation instigated by Christi Friesen asking, "Why do you create or make things?" Such a seemingly simple question.  While I pondered how I would answer I realized that while most everyone has a good reason to create, it can be hard to express why - especially the deeper why.

In this post I want to explore a few of the reasons why *I* create but I want to also challenge you to ask yourself the same thing.  Be warned: This is a word-heavy post!  Art is not just a form of self expression but also a form of self exploration and when we dig deep to discover what makes us tick it can help us hone in on our journey and the future direction we want to take our work in.  This brings me to my first WHY:

1) Self-Expression/Exploration (Uniqueness)

I believe that every human being is unique and diversity is a great asset, however, looking at mainstream goods production would make you think otherwise.  For instance, the amount of mass produced every-one-looks-the-same jewelry out there is evidence that trends rule and that the masses flock to the same things.  This is why we have so many cheap jewelry stores with people's names in the title - I mean, who is Charlie anyway?

Personally, I enjoy having something no one else has.  This in part may be personality but I like big, you-can't-miss-me, you've-never-seen-anything-like-it jewelry.  I relish displaying my taste and if it is bold, funky and strange...fine by me!  But frankly, I generally can't afford one-of-a-kind jewelry for everyday life...leading me to my next reason:

2) Affordability

Okay so I realize that creating ISN'T cheap...and honestly if I spent as much money on unique jewelry as I did on beads I could probably afford some cool stuff.  However, there is a freedom in being able to take things in the world around us and create whatever our imagination concocts.  And even $150 in beads will create a necklace WORTH far more than that - time is money, people!

3) Boredom

Let's face it - we NEED to be doing things.  When I think back to how I began my beading journey boredom played a big part.  I was a high school freshman, I was bored, and About.com had a cool beaded pansy necklace pattern for pony beads that I adjusted to suit seed bead bracelets, because....glass > plastic! Eek that was a long time ago!  I have found that beading fills and satisfies a certain area in my brain but I usually watch TV and bead because I need more than just 1 part "working".  I need things "going on" to get things done.  It's an extravert thing I guess.

4) Peace/Tranquility/Calm/Stress Relief

There are real physical benefits to creating.  Research has found that hobbies trigger Eustress (positive stress), lower blood pressure, help with depression, and even improve brain function!  There is a sense of peace, relaxation and happiness when you create - dopamine anyone?  So, the next time you have a horrid knot in your thread or a disastrous bead spill, don't throw in the towel - creating is good for you!  I call myself the idea girl - I can come up with ideas like crazy - more than I could ever create in my lifetime.  Actively creating focuses all your ideas on a single point - there may be many directions you can take but they are focused on the current project...and that can calm the storm raging in our heads.

5) Recognition

You might not want to admit it...but I will.  I take GREAT pleasure in being recognized for my work.  Sometimes this is a driving force, "I need to make something new so I can get more compliments". (Thought but never said!)  I will also throw in here that sometimes seeing other people's reaction to your strange necklace or weird design is amusing.  Either way, it's as if we wear our heart on our sleeve.  Art is deeply personal and in many cases reflects a part of who you are to others.  Humans love compliments and when you get one about something you made it helps validate what you spent valuable time on.

6) To Solve A Problem

I often need a necklace to compliment a particular outfit - how better to resolve this than to create something myself?  Almost like trying on jeans to find a pair that fits, finding the right jewelry can be a lengthy process.  When you make your own you don't have to go searching hoping to find the perfect thing.  For me, this is almost a lifestyle...when something breaks or a problem arises I often find alternative means of resolving the issue.  For instance, many years ago my car ran out of gas.  I had a gas can in my trunk so I walked to a gas station, filled it and returned...but then I had a bigger problem.  The gas can did not have a neck to extend into the tank...it would just pour gas down the side of my vehicle.  I looked around for help but all I had was an empty water bottle and a knife.  I cut the bottom out of the water bottle to create a funnel, stuck one end into the car and poured the gas in.  THIS is a creative solution to a problem.  Just call me McGuiver.

7) Financial Gain

This might be a reason you create - for the extra income...or it may be an outcome - because you have too many necklaces to wear yourself.  Either way, being creative can afford you anything from supplemental income to your entire income.  Thinking out of the box gives us the ability to address problems in a new innovative ways and that is a marketable skill!  This is why pricing is important...paying yourself a fair wage that still is a competitive.

8) Unexplainable Internal Drive

I think almost all of us would say that we create because "we have to".  I do think that we are made for a purpose and sometimes our purpose is this.  Artists are the color in between (and outside of) the lines of life.  There is something within us that urges us to make things and to color outside the lines...to be different and pay no attention to the rules.

While this is far from an exhaustive list, I hope this helps jumpstart your self-exploration into WHY you create.  Some of these may be a reason and some of them may be an outcome.  Regardless...seek out those reasons, find the direction they lead and pursue them!  And let me know...what other reasons are why you create?

A Beading of the Minds

Now THAT is a rotund robin!

It seems beading artists, bead shops and bloggers alike are on the search for ways to engage and expand.  It's not always about growth, though, sometimes it's just a way for people to gather with other like-minds and create something without feeling like they have to invest loads of energy and time into a project.  Here, I want to show you one way a local-ish beadstore in my area is doing this!

White Fox Beads in Knoxville, TN has held a beading round robin for the past 3 years.  I have participated in the last 2 and it has been a fun and interesting way to work with items and color combos I wouldn't normally choose. I have learned a lot during these events and I wanted to share with you how this community of beaders comes together to create in this unique way.

Example of my UFOs...I had 3:
3 green & 2 white bead circles

The concept is relatively simple.  On a set date participants bring in a UFO (Unfinished project) - it could be a component or a bead swatch - just some piece of work that wasn't finished.  Each item is put in a bag with your name on it as the original creator.  Every week the items go to a different beader who would add a little something to the item and passes it on.  Sometimes a beader will keep an item a couple weeks (life, ya know?).  However, on the final date you receive your contribution back, finished into a beautiful piece that several artists had a hand creating. There is a freedom in the process - because you only add a little bit of yourself into the piece and pass it on.

This year, the first piece I received I forgot to take a picture of before I started and somehow also forgot to record the original creator (oops!).  It was a piece of soutache that was glued to a large piece of red ultra suede.  I decided to go ahead and finish the backing and edging to make the next beader's contributions easier.  In the pictures below I had already cut out soutache shape and begun the edging.  This is all I contributed for this piece before passing it on to the next artist.

The back with the beginnings of the edging.

The next piece I received ended up being two different components.  Since two different artists worked on these I am not sure what is original and what isn't.  The original artist is Judy Woodson and the second was Judi Talley.

Totally going to have to recreate this
awesome square rulla component!

When I received these I was inspired by the teal and copper beaded square and wanted to riff off the colors from it (they were ME colors).  I also knew I wanted to create a focal so I decided to play with shibori silk ribbon and a new Czech cab from my stash.  Experimentation was in order - it had been a while since I used a fiber in my work!  Here is what I created:

I really didn't intend for the piece to look like an eye, however, maybe I was subconsciously heading that direction because I have been a bit eye-obsessed as of late.  *shrugs*  Either way, I created this shibori piece and attached it to the square.  I left the other ring component for the next person to figure out.  Here is the back of the piece:

The next piece I received looked like a completed pendant with an extra component in the bag.  The original creator was Judy Tally.  Other contributors to this piece were Judy Woodson, Stephanie Pettiford, Phyllis Dermer, and Gail Deluca.

Check out that cool wire flower and vase.

I really didn't want to add anything to the pendant itself so I decided to create the strap.  After what was a surprisingly brief stash raid (this normally takes me a long time...distraction usually plays a role) I found the perfect beads to create the necklace for this pendant.  I used soft flex, size 8 beads, some small glass rounds and some large square glass beads I think have been in my stash since the beginning of time.  I decided again to leave the extra component for someone else to figure out how to incorporate.  Please pardon the following picture...it was taken in haste.

The shadowy final results.

The final piece I received to work on was a big challenge for me.  The color scheme was far from my comfort zone.  It took me a long time to consider what to do.  It wasn't the individual colors that threw me but rather the combination.  Unfortunately, I forgot to record the creator and the others that worked on this piece.

Apparently I can't take pictures...yeesh!

After much indecision I decided that the bracelet really needed to have something of more interest for the center.  I considered the option of putting some art beads in the center but decided against it...especially since I didn't have anything in particular that would go with the colors.  I finally landed on the idea of making 3 flowers to jumble into the center.  I gathered my supplies and then considered the make of the flowers themselves.  I finally landed on a particular style and gathered the center with them.

Here is a close-up of the flowers I added:

During the finale party we ate pie (it was on 3/14) and discussed our process and what each of us contributed.  We oogled the final pieces we all contributed toward and generally just had a good time, it was truly a beading of the minds.

Now you get to see the final product from my UFO!  The artists that helped pull this piece together were: Phyllis Dermer, Judy Talley, Stefanie Pettiford, Judy Woodson, Gail Deluca and of course myself.

What started as a few little beaded circles ended up in this gorgeous piece!  You can see a circle used in the center of the pendant and then 2 more on either side at the straps.  Here is a close-up:

I hope this inspires you to look for new and exciting ways to expand your beaded horizons and get out of your comfort zone!  For me, this is a never-ending process that continues to grow my work.  Maybe you can even suggest for your local bead shop to start their own round robin!