For some reason I'm totally not able to think of anything to say.  We visited the National Museum of the American Indian last weekend, and the quality of the shows was a thousand times greater than I've ever seen displayed.  As always, the beadwork is breathtaking

I'm sure many of you have noticed the lack of new beadwork for a while... it's been almost 8 months since I've been able to settle down in any normal sense of the word.  I've reached this level in my 'real job' where I travel a lot.  Most of the time this is not something that would bite into my bead time - I bring my beadwork onto airplanes, trains and boats all the time.  But the last year has been mostly in a car - which puts a damper on the beadwork but opens an opportunity to explore the world. 

Anyhow... I did finish one piece.  A doll, of course.  The face is a Himalayan carved bone pendant - I chose to embellish in reds and pearls.  I like his happy-yet-evil look!  So I have a 2010 doll!  Yippie!!!

OK - I admit I have been traveling so much I haven't had much time to think about beadwork, much less post about it!  I did have the honor of touring the Walters Art Museum and the Baltimore Museum of Art this weekend, however.  Check out these Egyptian necklaces!  I LOVE the scarabs - the design and pattern is amazing.

I have indeed been beading while on the road... I need to actually get a chance to photograph all the things I've been doing.

Still from the weekend's road trip... we stopped at a small village called Roscoe, Ohio.  Roscoe Village is a 19th century Erie Canal town which has been completely restored and touristic-ified.  There was a museum there, the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum, that seemed to be overlooked by most of the tourists - and I'm so very glad Bruno and I stopped in!  Imagine the amazing prehistoric work found in the native mounds of Ohio ... and the beadwork!!!  The top image is a close up of charlottes beaded into a baby carrier.  The detail is exquisite!!


This second piece is a Creek tobacco bag stitched onto deerskin.  The fringe and beadwork is almost immaculate - as if it were created only a few  days ago rather than over 100 years ago. Definitely a good case to dig out the beads and stitch away a bit of bead embroidery!

This is actually a single piece - We took a road trip to Cleveland Art Museum over the July 4th Weekend.  AMAZING amulet belt from Africa - Yoruban (I think?)  I need to dig out the beads!!

This one calls for a closeup - it's impossible to even tell what the heck this thing-o-beads is from the photograph here.  Anyhow, I got these really super-creepy-cool wooden skull beads in SoNo at a store called Beadworks.  (Of course, I highly recommend checking out the whole area if you find yourself in Norwalk, Connecticut.  While there check out the Ginger Man for some beer....)

Anyhow, I had this idea of a little doll o'VooDoo.  It's completely beaded in reds, browns, greys, blacks and golds and sports my skeleton head nicely.  The large heart milagro came from the Queens Museum of Art gift shop.  He now hangs in the doorway from the kitchen to my studio. I'm thinking it's a pretty appropriate item to have made in time for Mardi Gras season this year!

I've also taken a bit of time over the holiday break to play with my torch.  I admit, I'm focusing on more 'production' style beads.  Nothing wild, bumpy or colorful.  This set was more of a turquoise set - I strung it all onto a choker with faceted green and auroraborealis - amber rondelles.  I wanted something that would work with simple turquoise earrings and could be worn with a simple black suit. 

I need to chase down what happened to my last order of glass- UPS sent it back to the shipper, who told me it would come out via USPS instead (usually better in New York City...) but it's been almost 2 months and no glass!  D'oh!  I could use some more supplies!!

I know I started this piece waay back in October last year, but life and travel interfered quite a bit.  (Yes, I bead while on planes and trains, but when that's the ONLY time I have to focus on beadwork, it tends to take longer to finish a work...) 

Anyhow she's DONE!  I'm absolutely thrilled with  how she turned out - she hangs from her hip from the ceiling and has an almost tragically-natural twist for a mid-air tumble.  The spiral-stamped bead in her mouth makes her appear to be screaming.  (Maybe "Look out below!!!?")

She is already an addition to a private collection, so she will be ceremoniously hung in her new home within the week, so I had to snap up these portfolio shots quickly!  I sorely need to update the website and add all the works I completed over 2009 - and we're already to 2010!  D'oh!

... not to mention the Bead Journal Project for 2010 has begun and I haven't even started on my first piece!  I have an idea... but that's for later.

I think now I can officially say I'm back to where I was before my jewelry went missing in Washington DC.  I've taken the holidays off from work and have been simply burning beads and making pretty things.  It's a strange vacation for me - usually when I take time off it's to explore the ends of the earth... but this time it's all been spent at home, sleeping in, and creating beads.

I have to admit the orange/reds are my favorite colors for necklaces - but this green piece with czech crystal rondelles hasn't left my neck much since I put it together.  I've got more glass in the mail heading my direction, too!  Maybe I should be making some pastel colors?  Or earth tones?  Hmmmm....

I've been traveling a lot for work lately.  It's funny - you need to be careful what you wish for because it may come true.  I used to wish I could travel more, see the world... now I rarely see my home or husband.  I miss my cats, and I have to deal with all those hassles of living out of tiny shampoo bottles, lack of conditioner for my hair, and luggage.  Which brings me to my beads du jour.  While en route or in my hotel in Arlington,Virginia, my jewelry was stolen.  (In case you're in DC area and just happen to see someone wearing some beautiful lampwork jewelry, I've posted pics of three of the missing pieces around my neck...)

Anyhow, I am missing a few of my favorite accessories!  So I've hit the torch to try to replace them with something somewhat similar in palate.  I played with the white-hearted deep blue beads, and experimented with green in olive-clear.  They seem to have turned out yummy enough!  I also pulled out the deep reds and topaz colored clear last night to come up with the colors I miss out of my autumn necklaces.   I still need to find time to visit Metalliferous to get findings and silver to compliment these beads.  I also need a few faceted rondelles which always work so lovely with lampwork... but I think I'm soundly on my way to re-building my jewelry wardrobe.  *sigh*  Somewhere in the DC area, there's someone wearing some pretty stuff.

The African rooms at the Met usually are somewhat abandoned.  People seem to be much more interested in catching a glimpse of the impressionists, or having their photograph taken in the Temple of Dender than to actually tour the African wing.  So I feel a bit spoiled when I can savor these pieces all by myself.

The necklace is actually from the Oceanic section - possibly the most beautiful area of the museum.  The other pieces are from the African art section - my favorite little nook had the large piece (last one) which is (believe it or not) a Bedouin tent divider.  The figure is a Sonofu tribal doll - I've got a few Sonofu pieces in our home.  I can't help but love them.

I wish I had written down which region the knife sheath was from - definitely dead center of the African display, but it looked so Native American that I wanted to get a good picture.

Anyhow, I hope everyone enjoys checking the work out and finds a little bit of inspiration.  I know I'm totally inspired! 

I'm savoring the brief time I will have a car for work - and have been taking it on mini road-trips around the area to enjoy the sights of New England.  This time of year is especially amazing - the autumn colors in this area of the world are spectacular. I've never seen such bright reds and golds in my life - for some reason autumn is much more special in New England than anywhere else I've ever lived.

So... it's only natural that I pulled out my reds, oranges & golds and burned a few beads!


I actually prefer to make sets of beads in a sort of random pattern.  I have a few in here that are orange base, rolled in red frit and then encased in topaz clear... then there's those that are mustard base with a stripe of red filigrana.  There's a few in-betweens.  I stuck with only 4 different colored rods and had at it.  I'm pretty happy with this set.

I moved on to playing with greens - these are actually all using the same color combination, but different intensities of heat.  I created a core of opalescent lime green and covered it with a clear teal - and voila! 

I can see having the studio inside the apartment rather than separate will be a good thing.  I get a guilt factor when I come home and contemplate doing something non-artsy.  I swear those rods of glass are calling my name!  (Not to mention, it doesn't hurt that I'm home alone without Bruno for hours on end every day.  I should re-join the gym, too, if this guilt thing keeps working...)

Oh - and I tried another button.  I feel like I'm getting better at these!

I've moved my studio out of the back yard and into the spare bedroom - and have been putting it to use again!

I've been exploring the blue thing so I put a few different combinations of blue beads together.  I hope to toss together a necklace from all of these.

I've also been playing with chopsticks and I taped a few mandrels on either side to make - you got it - buttons.

One thing I've learned - buttons are a whole new can of worms.  They're totally different than making beads - my first buttons (and more recent ones...) are horrid lumpy uneven things.  They may be interesting to put into a piece of crochet or knitting, but they're not something I want to sew onto my coat.  (YET!)  I need to keep them more thin - not an easy task when you're trying to get enough glass melted between two parallel rods to create at least an oval shape. 

Anyhow, I'm still working on things!  With Bruno working every day, I'm trying to focus my evenings more and more on creating art - and having a studio right inside the apartment is going to help a LOT!  (That is, if I can get the cats to stop sleeping on my drawing table...)

I couldn't resist and made yet another fallen woman from the same pattern that I used to make Fatima's doll.  The face has a hell of a lot more expression --- I am really addicted to these dolls! 

This time I'm sticking with blacks and greys.  She's got this whole sort of nightmare feel about her already - I hope she turns out nice!  If you click on her picture, it brings up a huge closeup of her.

I'll have to post some progress pics!  Sorry about them being so dark -- the black and greys just happen to be difficult to photograph, even with my new little camera.

I can't even begin to tell you when I started this bead painting.  It's been a long time - I had this idea, and it's about damn time seeing it come to fruition!  This bead painting is roughly 15 inches by 20 inches - in other words, BIG.  I was originally inspired by the images posted in the news of the survivors of the Tsunami asking for help.  Then Katrina happened and the same image echoed in my mind.  It seems every time I turn on the news, I see these same hands - people asking for help, people helping, people celebrating... reaching... it's such an ambiguous image.  I'm happy it is completed!

As for the technical details, this is backstitched beads onto an acrylic painted canvas.  The white beads include freshwater pearls, and vintage beads from the 1930's.  The black beads are all czech with czech cut crystal jet beads and fossil.  The silver are a mixture of vintage silver-lined czech beads and new japanese silver beads (which have happily tarnished to add depth.)

WHEW!  I have a few other UFO's I need to dig out and finish before the next round of the Bead Journal Project!  Time to start digging!

I'm not the only artist in my family - I think a lot of people know that.  My niece Alexis just earned her degree in Art Therapy and also creates beaded dolls (taking after her favorite auntie.)  My brother Richard also has published beadwork in Bead Art and The New Beadwork... and I think it's only appropriate that my final Bead Journal page be from another artist in my family's work, Grace Kaszuba aged five.  (Well, age five when she painted this masterpiece of my Otro Gato.)

OK... Otro is a gray cat.  I know.  Where she saw the stripes of orange and sorta-blue are beyond me... but I honored her original masterpiece and transposed it into beads for August.

So I guess that makes a whole year!  D'oh!  I admit I have a few other bead projects needing a bit if attention before I start digging into next year's bead journal project... I'm really pleased with the whole year's work.  I still need to get it all organized to publish out on the Bead Journal Project website.  But heck!  I'm DONE!  Yippie!!!

I didn't completely abandon the beadwork!  I just had a bit more going on in my life which happens to drag me away from my computer! 

I guess this qualifies as Julys journal page, although it's already September.  D'oh!  This is actually based off a drawing I had made of a photograph taken by Matisse.  The drawing, of course, had to honor Matisse... but the final piece reminds me more of the nudes of Tom Wesselmann. I like her shape at least!  I prefer 'REAL' nudes over the idealized shapes encouraged these days.

I've started to dig into August's piece and hope to be done also sometime this month.  The subjects will be shared soon enough!  I've been neglecting my 'life blog' as well as my beadwork... it's just one of those things.  But I promise to start photographing and uploading those sketchbooks, and finishing up this journal project! 

I was supposed to make a wedding veil for a friend who is getting married next month, but then she found another veil that looked perfect with her dress... so I was off the hook.  Well, I had a whole slew of glass pearl and machine-cut crystal beads, but that's not so bad.  (I have a few yards of the veil material, too... I'll have to figure out something for that later.)

So I decided to make something out of all the supplies.  I'm going to be giving the necklace and comb to the bride anyhow - she can figure out what occasion she can wear them.  I thought they turned out nicely!  Maybe the mother-of-the-bride wants something for HER hair for the wedding?  Hmmm...

Just for fun, I whipped up my own hair and snapped a shot of how the comb looks when worn.  Granted, I didn't go to a professional hairdresser or anything so it's not exactly right... but I thought it was pretty neat against the hair!  Maybe I should wear it to the wedding!!  At least the bride will like the pearls for everyday.  (She's wearing her grandmother's heirloom necklace for the wedding.)

I admit sometimes I draw in my sketchbook thinking about the beads.  When I posted the more recent sketchbook images out on my New York blog, a few of you commented which should be the next bead journal project page.  Well... you guessed it!  The day I was drawing the Spanish Madonna at the Hispanic Society, I had already begun beading the image in my mind.

Of course, color never quite stays the same from my sketches to my bead journal.  Sometimes I find myself in love with a sequin or a color combination and I want to explore a little more... so the only real similarity ends up being the black lines of the drawing. 

Anyhow, I'm back in the swing of things and I've got June completed in the month of June!  I'm still drawing away, and I've got an idea or two for July.  I've been keeping all these finished bead journal paintings in my bookshelf - one more month and I've filled one section of the shelf.  (Well, I don't include a few pieces that aren't around anymore...)